Individual, family and teacher level correlates of behavioral and cognitive school engagement

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine predictors of behavioral school engagement and two cognitive school engagement subdimensions, future aspirations and control and relevance of school work. Another matter of interest was to find out what kind of different school engagement profiles can be identified in terms of engagement, and what are the factors to predict these engagement profiles. The cross-sectional data of the study consisted of Finnish upper comprehensive school students (N=841, 13–16 years) from seven schools located in Middle Finland.

Participants answered self-report questionnaires during winter 2010 and 2011. The data was analyzed with multiple regression analysis, multinomial regression analysis and cluster analysis. Hierarchical cluster analysis and K-mean cluster analysis were used.

As hypothesized, teacher-student relationships predicted strong behavioral engagement and experience of schoolwork relevance. Family support affected strongly the adolescents’ future aspirations. Four engagement profiles were identified, and the lowest engagement profiles differed from strongly engaged group in terms of teacher-student relationship, self-esteem and special education status. Results also suggest that there are fairly disengaged students with high future aspirations and strong family support. Study results indicate that Finnish adolescents have positive attitudes to future education that vary mostly due to parent values. However, in promoting relevance of school work and behavioral engagement, warm interactions and prevention of weak teacher-student relationships in school are important.