Christoph Niepel

Students identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or otherwise non-heterosexual or non-cisgender (LGBTQ+) are increasingly represented. However, they still face additional challenges in educational settings, so Educational Psychology needs to research these issues. In this preregistered systematic scientometric literature review, we investigate (a) the extent of LGBTQ+ centered research in Educational Psychology journals, (b) common themes and trends, and discuss systematic gaps for future research. After searching all 41,992 articles on ERIC, published in the most impactful (Q1 and Q2) Educational Psychology journals, we combined scientometric-quantitative and qualitative methods to review 68 eligible articles. We found a surge in publications from 2000 onward, driven by special issues. For almost half of these high-impact journals, we found no published articles on LGBTQ+ issues on ERIC; most publish only a few per thousand, even though this topic falls within their scope. Most often, these articles were empirical, correlational, and US-based, with inconsistent measures of LGBTQ+ identities. Through qualitative thematic analysis, we identified seven research themes and highlighted pertinent research gaps. To strengthen the evidence base in the field, future research should conduct rigorous longitudinal and intervention studies with culturally diverse samples and adhere to open science standards.

Negative experiences in daily life are related to feeling older, but the role of daily positive experiences for subjective age has rarely been investigated. Furthermore, the directionality of the relation between subjective age and daily experiences remains unclear. We thus investigated the dynamic interplay of daily subjective age and both daily stressors and uplifts. We hypothesized that the experience of daily stressors would be related to an older subjective age and daily uplifts to a younger subjective age. We also predicted reciprocal relations of stressors/uplifts and subjective age across days and addressed these questions using both a single item and a multidimensional operationalization of subjective age, asking about felt age in different domains. We used data from a daily diary study including N = 69 participants aged 52-75 years (M_age = 62.72, SD = 5.57, 58% women) who reported on their subjective age, daily stressors, and uplift experiences on 14 consecutive days. Dynamic structural equation models showed a differentiated picture: More uplifts were related to a younger subjective age within and between persons. Reporting more uplifts than usual on a given day predicted a younger subjective age than usual on the next day and vice versa, albeit the latter effect was only significant for the multidimensional operationalization. Surprisingly, stressors were unrelated to subjective age. The findings emphasize the importance of uplifts for daily aging experiences and provide empirical evidence for the conceptualization of subjective age as both a product and a driver of daily experiences in later life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

An expanding literature has explored the impact of second language (L2) self-concept on language achievement and motivation. This review adopts a psychological lens to examine L2 self-concept, beginning with an outline of prominent theoretical frameworks: situated expectancy‐value theory; Shavelson et al.’s (1976) hierarchical, multidimensional model of self-concept; and the integrated Marsh/Shavelson model (Marsh et al., 1988). Building on these foundations, we introduce Marsh’s (1986) internal/external (I/E) frame of reference model, which posits that, within domains such as mathematics or verbal subjects, achievement and academic self-concept are positively correlated, whereas achievement in one domain relates negatively to self-concept in a different domain. Originally confined to mathematics and a single verbal subject in the firstlanguage (L1), the I/E model has been extended to additional disciplines, including L2, through dimensional comparison theory (DCT; Möller & Marsh, 2013). Central to this paper is a synthesis of findings from a recent meta-analysis investigating I/E effects that incorporate measures of L2 achievement and self-concept. Results demonstrate that higher L2 achievement bolsters L2 self-concept while simultaneously diminishing self-concepts in math, physics, biology, and L1; conversely, accomplishments in those other fields exert negative influences on L2 self-concept. We conclude by discussing both theoretical insights and practical applications of self-concept research for language education generally, and L2 instruction specifically.

In psychological assessment, gauging the impact of personality traits on academic outcomes is vital. Many studies explore the relation between academic achievement and traits like conscientiousness but prioritize description over prediction. Addressing this gap by focusing on actual prediction can refine assessment methodologies and deepen theoretical understanding. Our study focuses on predicting the influence of conscientiousness facets on standardized test scores using various machine learning strategies. Data from N = 7,949 Luxembourgish Grade 9 students showed a gradient boosting model with item-level predictors outperformed traditional linear regression ( R² = .123 vs. R² = .077). This model revealed both linear and nonlinear ties between conscientiousness facets and achievement. Our findings accentuate conscientiousness’s underestimated predictive power for academic success and advocate for machine learning as a pivotal tool in psychological testing, particularly for outcome prediction.

The generalized internal/external frame of reference (GI/E) model assumes social and dimensional achievement comparisons to form self-perceptions. These domain-specific comparisons have been shown to shape two facets of test anxiety (i.e., worry and emotionality) both directly and indirectly through academic self-concepts. However, examinations of such domain-specific relations have rarely integrated general components, although the hierarchical nature of both test anxiety and academic self-concept is well-known. Thus, the present study implemented a nested factor modeling approach. We examined social and dimensional comparison effects on worry and emotionality as well as mediation effects of academic self-concepts in the math and verbal domains while controlling for general components. We contrasted this approach with the conventionally used first-order factor model where general components were not considered. Data from N = 348 German secondary school students (M_age = 15.3 years, Grades 9–10) were analyzed using structural equation models. Direct negative within-domain and positive cross-domain achievement-anxiety relations emerged, yet, the pattern of cross-domain relations changed across modeling approaches. Only the nested factor model showed indirect cross-domain mediation relations. Our findings suggest the importance of structural representations of hierarchical constructs. The nested factor model approach enhanced predictions within the GI/E model, particularly those related to dimensional comparisons.