The Academic Self-Concept, Self-Efficacy, and Learning Motivation at the End of Schooling in Children with Comprehensive Learning Problems

Some children experience pervasive learning difficulties in reading, writing, and arithmetic, persisting throughout their educational journey. These difficulties are distinguished based on underlying intellectual abilities: Borderline intellectual functioning (school performance T < 40 and IQ < 85) and mixed disorders of scholastic skills according to ICD-10 (school performance T < 40 and IQ ≥ 85). This longitudinal study investigates the development of these two groups compared to a control group of children without learning difficulties until the end of schooling in young adulthood.
Already in primary school, children with learning difficulties perceived their challenges, particularly reflected in a low academic self-concept (Skowronek et al., 2018). Both groups rated their abilities in reading, writing, and arithmetic comparably lower than the control group. The question arises whether this pattern remains stable throughout the school years and is still observable at the end of schooling. Furthermore, the study explores whether there are also impacts on academic self-efficacy and learning motivation (hope of success; fear of failure). In the follow-up assessment of the longitudinal study, a total of n=15 participants with borderline intellectual functioning, n=18 with mixed disorders of scholastic skills, and n=71 control participants were involved. Measurements were conducted as app-based questionnaires around their 18th birthday.
The findings revealed that young adults with borderline intellectual functioning and mixed disorders of scholastic skills did not differ from each other concerning their academic self-concept, academic self-efficacy, and achievement motivation, but scored significantly lower than the control group. This pattern of results suggests that the impact of learning difficulties remains stable in the examined areas until the end of schooling, regardless of the level of intelligence that differs between the two groups.