Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to examine the role of students' social comparison and perceived academic competence in improved academic performance. Junior high school students (N=579) completed a new Social Comparison Behavior Scale that was composed of performance and learning comparison items. The scale was designed to examine effects of social comparison and students' perceived academic competence on improved academic performance. The results showed that in math, the effect of students' perceived competence on improved academic performance depended on the level of performance comparison.These results were similar to those of Toyama (2006). In the students' Japanese classes, the results revealed significant interaction effects between students' perceived academic competence and learning comparison on improved academic performance. If students who perceived themselves as less competent compared their learning with others', their academic performance was more likely to improve. In contrast if students who perceived themselves as less competent did not compare their learning with others', their academic performance fell off.
