Citation

Zhen R, Wu X, Zhou X. Sch. Psychol. Int. 2020; 41(2): 89-109.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0143034319884615

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Recent studies have examined academic engagement trajectories, but many focused on the overall academic engagement of adolescents, and few assessed specific engagement dimensions of adolescents with trauma experiences. The current study recruited 342 adolescents who had experienced an earthquake to examine their behavioral and psychological engagement trajectories. Participants were asked to complete self-report questionnaires at 3.5, 4.5, and 5.5 years after the Wenchuan earthquake in China. The results identified two types of behavioral engagement trajectories (high-stable and decreasing), and two types of psychological engagement trajectories (high-stable and increasing). The behavioral engagement trajectories showed strong agreement with the psychological engagement trajectories. We also found that gratitude could prevent behavioral engagement from decreasing over time, and that social support facilitated increase of psychological engagement. The findings suggested that the developmental paths of behavioral and psychological engagement were both heterogeneous among adolescents following an earthquake, and gratitude and social support played different roles in predicting engagement trajectories.

Language: en