Assessing the Links between Emotional and Behavioral School Engagement and Academic Performance among High School Adolescents

Frank Avenilla, Pennsylvania State University

This research investigation examines the relationship between emotional and behavioral school engagement and academic performance among high school adolescents. Two specific, fundamental questions are examined. First, how do high school students’ emotional and behavioral school engagement predict their grades (i.e., GPA) and standardized test scores in reading and math? Second, how does the association between emotional and behavioral school engagement change over time during high school? Data are drawn from three waves (8th, 10th, and 12th grades) of the National Educational Longitudinal Study – 1988, (n = 7,601). Multilevel path analysis is used to investigate the causal links between emotional and behavioral school engagement and academic performance. On the basis of a social learning theoretical framework, I test the hypotheses that (a) behavioral school engagement predicts academic performance (i.e., GPA and test scores), and that (b) emotional school engagement enhances the impact of behavioral school engagement on academic performance.