Association of School Engagement, Well-being, Resilience, and Growth Mindset Among Adolescents in High School

The present study was designed to examine the relationship between school engagement and well-being through a sequential mediating role of growth mindset and resilience among adolescents. A sample of 350 adolescent students (male = 150) (females = 200) age ranged between 13-17 years participated from three main schools in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Results indicated that present study variables including growth mindset, resilience, school engagement, and well-being were found to have positive associations with each other. Moreover, the sequential mediation path analysis showed that resilience and growth mindset acted as significant mediators between school engagement and well-being among adolescents. Furthermore, gender differences were also calculated indicating that female students showed greater school engagement, higher levels of growth mindset, and psychological well-being in comparison to male students. Findings of the present study emphasized understanding the key positive role school environment could have in enhancing resilience and growth mindset among students resulting in their greater well-being.

Development and Validation of a Model Predicting Students’ Sense of School Belonging and Engagement as a Function of School Climate

For many years, studies have explored the relationship between school belonging and engagement, two concepts that are associated with several positive outcomes. However, the relative influence that school climate may have on these components has received little attention. Based on the theoretical perspective of Janosz et al (1998), school belonging and engagement were examined as a function of multiple dimensions of school climate, and were tested across genders. The research took place in Morocco, and participants were 238 students from 9th grade (101 males, 137 females; Mage = 15.1) living in the cities of Casablanca and Témara. Students completed a questionnaire aimed at measuring school belonging, school engagement, and school climate. Correlational and structural equation modeling methods were used to analyze the aforementioned relationships. Results showed that only the climate of justice had a positive effect on school belonging, which, in turn, had a positive effect on the three types of school engagement. The multigroup analysis revealed the relation between school belonging and behavioral engagement to be partially invariant across genders. These results highlight the benefits of creating a positive school climate which can support students' belonging and engagement.

School engagement and school climate of students with high and low grade point averages

For adolescents, school life and learning is one of the most important domains of their lives. School achievement, depending on whether it is high or low, can motivate students to learn or make them reluctant to engage in school learning. Students' engagement in learning is closely related to their perceived school climate. The present study set out to investigate how these two variables distinguish between groups of students with high and low grade point averages. The participants in this study were students from secondary schools from among whom the students with the lowest and the highest grade point average were selected. It is found that students with higher grade point average are more engaged in learning and perceive their school climate as more positive than students with low grade point average.

Does a Strong Bicultural Identity Matter for Emotional, Cognitive, and Behavioral Engagement?

In the course of their acculturation process, minority students need to negotiate the adaption to the host society’s culture and the maintenance of the culture of their country of origin. This identity construction is complex and may encompass contradicting and competing goals. The adjustment to school is seen as a relevant acculturation marker. An increasingly prominent multidimensional construct is students’ school engagement because it can provide an insight into the way students feel and interact with the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral domains of school. Successful adjustment to school culture, and acculturation in general, can be closely related to school engagement. There is yet no common knowledge about the role bicultural national and/or ethnic identity plays for the three dimensions of school engagement. The present study focusses on minority students in Germany who report a strong bicultural identity (in comparison with single stronger ethnic or national identities, as well as weaker bicultural identification) to explain students’ emotional, cognitive, and behavioral school engagement when controlling for gender, SES, and cultural capital. Data is derived from paper–pencil questionnaires administered in secondary schools in Germany. Regression analyses show that students with a stronger bicultural identity have a significantly higher emotional, cognitive, and behavioral school engagement than their peers with a weaker bicultural identity, when controlling for gender, SES, and cultural capital. The results hint at the relevance of fostering students’ ethnic, but also their national, cultural identity to support their school engagement. Implications for teacher education are discussed.

Impact of COVID-19 on Youth With ADHD: Predictors and Moderators of Response to Pandemic Restrictions on Daily Life

We examined COVID-19 symptoms and infection rates, disruptions to functioning, and moderators of pandemic response for 620 youth with ADHD and 614 individually matched controls (70% male; Mage = 12.4) participating in the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development study. There were no group differences in COVID-19 infection rate; however, youth with ADHD were more likely to exhibit COVID-19 symptoms ( d = 0.25), greater sleep problems ( d = −0.52), fear and negative emotions to infection risk ( d = −0.56), trouble with remote learning ( d = −0.54), rule-breaking behavior related to COVID-19 restrictions ( d = −0.23), family conflict ( d = −0.13), and were less prepared for the next school year ( d = 0.38). Youth with ADHD were less responsive to protective environmental variables (e.g., parental monitoring, school engagement) during the pandemic and may need more specialized support with return to in-person schooling and daily activities.

Development and Validation of the Digital Addiction Scale for Teenagers (DAST)

We present the development and validation of the Digital Addiction Scale for Teenagers (DAST), describing the pilot study ( N = 40 students) and main study ( N = 4493) with Estonian students aged 11–19, in spring 2020. Our aim was to create a scale suitable for psychoeducational assessment of teenagers’ behaviour and feelings towards digital devices. We used the mixed research framework . Half of the study sample was collected before the coronavirus crisis (Sample I: 1972 students) and the rest during a distance-learning period (Sample II: 2521 students). We found that factor structure in both subsamples were similar. The DAST shows a negative relationship with emotional school engagement and life satisfaction and positive correlations with school burnout, learning difficulties and screen time. We discuss potential uses of the scale for assessing health-related digital competences.

Breakfast skipping and cognitive and emotional engagement at school: A cross-sectional population level study

Objective: Research on the consequences of breakfast skipping among students tends to focus on academic outcomes, rather than student wellbeing or engagement at school. This study investigated the association between breakfast skipping and cognitive and emotional aspects of school engagement. Design: Cross-sectional study using data from a population level survey of children and adolescents’ wellbeing and engagement at school. Linear regression with adjustment for confounders was used to estimate the effect of breakfast skipping on school engagement. Setting: Government schools (i.e. public schools) in South Australia. Participants: The participants were students, Grades 4 to 12, who completed the Wellbeing and Engagement Collection in 2019. The analysis sample included 61,825 students. Results: 9.6% of students reported always skipping breakfast, with 35.4% sometimes skipping, and 55.0% never skipping. In the adjusted linear regression models, children and adolescents who always skipped breakfast reported lower levels of cognitive engagement (β = −0.26 (95% CI −0.29, −0.25)), engagement with teachers (β = −0.17 (95% CI −0.18, −0.15)), and school climate (β = −0.17 (95% CI −0.19, −0.15)), compared to those who never skipped breakfast, after controlling for age, gender, health, sleep, sadness and worries, parental education, socioeconomic status, and geographical remoteness. Conclusion: Consistent with our hypothesis, skipping breakfast was associated with lower cognitive and emotional engagement, which could be due to mechanisms such as short-term energy supply and long term health impacts. Therefore, decreasing the prevalence of breakfast skipping could have a positive impact on school engagement.

MPOWER: The Impact of a Purpose Program on Adolescents’ Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations

Purpose has been defined as an active engagement toward goals that are meaningful to the self (i.e., personal meaningfulness) and contribute to the world beyond the self (BTS). These BTS contributions may reflect the intention to meet a wide range of needs from family financial needs to more macro-level concerns, including social injustices. This study investigates the efficacy of a school-based program called MPOWER expressly designed by the authors to cultivate the BTS aspect of purpose. Previous research suggests that the BTS aspect of purpose has beneficial effects on school engagement, goal-setting abilities and orientations, and ultimately school performance. Ninety-four students participated in this study that utilized a randomized, pre-test-post-test between-subjects design to evaluate MPOWER (52 in MPOWER and 42 in the control group). The ANCOVA results indicated a significant increase in the BTS aspect of purpose among program participants, compared to controls. Moreover, participants had higher post-test levels of general self-efficacy and grade point averages, and decreased performance-approach (e.g., playing to be the best, comparing self to others) and performance-avoidance (e.g., avoiding risks of failure, fear of social consequences) goal orientations. Findings can be used to design programs that aim to cultivate students’ intentions to contribute to the world beyond themselves, as well as associated personal benefits (i.e., goal orientations, self-efficacy, academic performance).