Conscious Self-Regulation, School Engagement and Academic Performance in Adolescents: Differential Psychological Aspect

Abstract

The problem of the relationship between school engagement and self-regulation of students is a topical area of modern research in the field of educational psychology. The objectives of this study include: 1) identifying individual typological groups of students depending on the rates of the behavioral, cognitive and emotional components of engagement; 2) conducting a comparative analysis of self-regulation and academic performance in the selected groups; 3) revealing regulatory and personal resources for the performance of adolescent students with different profiles of school engagement. The sample consisted of 7-9-grade students of general education schools ( N = 484; boys - 53%; M = 14.11; SD = 0.76). The study was conducted using the questionnaire “Self-Regulation Profile of Learning Activity (by V.I. Morosanova), the Multidimensional Scale of School Engagement, and the Russian-language adaptation of the questionnaire “Big Five - Children’s Version”. Depending on the profile of school engagement, four groups of the participants were identified with significant differences in the levels of conscious self-regulation, particular regulatory components and academic performance. The data analysis revealed the following special resources for academic success in the selected groups: the regulatory competences “modeling of significant conditions” and “evaluation of results” as well as personal disposition “openness to new experience”. The results obtained are discussed in the context of the resource approach and the practical technologies for maintaining academic performance and school engagement in adolescence.

Keywords

• conscious self-regulation
• school engagement
• academic performance
• differential approach
• adolescents