Suchergebnisse

AbstractAcademic well‐being and expectations change in educational transitions during economic downturn.

The present study investigated the developmental trajectories and the possible antecedents (e.g., gender, school track, academic achievement, self-esteem, parental affect, and monitoring) of 17- to 21-year-old young adults' engagement in their studies and work. The study is part of the longitudinal Finnish Educational Transitions (FinEdu) study involving 804 participants. The results revealed four latent trajectory groups of study and work engagement: high increasing (72%), low increasing (14%), high decreasing (9%), and low stable (5%). High parental affect and high self-esteem among 16-year-old adolescents manifested themselves as an increase in engagement in studies and work during the transition to work or higher education in early adulthood. Moreover, a lower level of parental affect resulted in a decrease in subsequent engagement.

This review examines the development of students' engagement with school and how it may contribute to future academic success and individual well-being in different social contexts. The review discusses the two main approaches of school engagement research: one examines students' behavioral, cognitive, and affective engagement (North American approach), while the other examines study-related vigor, absorption, and dedication (European approach). This research shows that a high level of school engagement is positively associated with academic success, and negatively associated with students' ill-being, such as depressive symptoms and burnout. High engagement with school also fosters several aspects of students' well-being, such as positive emotions and life satisfaction. Moreover, several contextual factors, including parental affect, teachers' support, and a mastery-oriented atmosphere in the classroom, promote students' engagement with school.

A series of six papers on "Youth Development in Europe: Transitions and Identities" has now been published in the European Psychologist throughout 2008 and 2009. The papers aim to make a conceptual contribution to the increasingly important area of productive youth development by focusing on variations and changes in the transition to adulthood and emerging identities. The papers address different aspects of an integrative framework for the study of reciprocal multiple person-environment interactions shaping the pathways to adulthood in the contexts of the family, the school, and social relationships with peers and significant others. Interactions between these key players are shaped by their embeddedness in varied neighborhoods and communities, institutional regulations, and social policies, which in turn are influenced by the wider sociohistorical and cultural context. Young people are active agents, and their development is shaped through reciprocal interactions with these contexts; thus, the developing individual both influences and is influenced by those contexts. Relationship quality and engagement in interactions appears to be a fruitful avenue for a better understanding of how young people adjust to and tackle development to productive adulthood.