Adolescent Behavioral, Emotional, and Cognitive Engagement Trajectories in School and Their Differential Relations to Educational Success

• Published in: Journal of research on adolescence Vol. 22; no. 1; pp. 31 - 39
• Main Authors: Wang, Ming-Te, Eccles, Jacquelynne S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.03.2012; Wiley-Blackwell
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Academic Aspiration; Adolescent Development; Adolescents; Black White Differences; Black White Relations; Correlation; Educational Attainment; Educational Reform; Females; Grade Point Average; Learner Engagement; Learning; Metacognition; Prediction; School Involvement; Secondary School Students; Student Participation; Student School Relationship
• ISSN: 1050-8392; 1532-7795
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1532-7795.2011.00753.x

The current study used a multidimensional approach to examine developmental trajectories of three dimension of school engagement (school participation, sense of school belonging, and self‐regulated learning) from grades 7 to 11 and their relationships to changes in adolescents’ academic outcomes over time. The sample includes 1,148 African American and European American adolescents (52% females, 56% black, 34% white, and 10% others). As expected, the downward trajectories of change in school participation, sense of belonging to school, and self‐regulated learning differed as did their predictive relationships with academic performance and educational aspiration, with school belonging declining most markedly, but being least predictive of changes in grade point average.