Self-concept and self-efficacy scales structure in PISA 2018 and their relationships with reading achievement

Using data from 37 OECD countries, this study investigated the factorial structure of the reading self-concept and self-efficacy scales newly introduced in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA 2018) and their relationships with reading achievement. A three-factorial structure – self-efficacy, perception of competence and perception of difficulty – fitted the data best. The two-factorial structure of the self-concept was confirmed overall and in the vast majority of countries. All three scales showed moderate to strong within-country correlations with reading achievement. The direction of the correlations of the three scales was the same at the within-country and at the country level ; the attitudes-achievement paradox was not observed for anay of the scales. Comparatively, self-efficacy showed better psychometric properties than the self-concept scales and had more stable across countries and stronger correlations with reading achievement.