Kontrollitehtävien käyttö toiminnanohjauksen arvioinnissa
Teacher-student interaction and lower secondary school students’ situational engagement
BACKGROUND Prior research has shown that engagement plays a significant role in students' academic learning. AIMS The present study sought to expand the current understanding of students' engagement by examining how situational engagement during a particular lesson is associated with the observed teacher-student classroom interactions (i.e., emotional support, instructional support, and classroom organization) in the same lesson. SAMPLE The participants were 709 Grade 7 students (47.7% girls) from 59 classrooms in 26 lower secondary schools and 51 teachers. METHODS The data consisted of 155 video-recorded lessons (90 language arts and 65 mathematics lessons) coded using the Classroom Assess…
Appraisals of education-related goals during educational transitions in late adolescence : consequences for academic well-being and goal attainment
Kirjojen lukeminen tukee luetun ymmärtämisen kehitystä
Tässä artikkelissa esittelemme keskeiset havainnot tutkimuksesta (Torppa ym., 2020), jossa tarkasteltiin vapaa-ajan lukemisen ja lukutaidon kehityksen suhdetta. Kysyimme, ennustaako lukutaito lukemisen määrää vai ennustaako myös lukemisen määrä lukutaitoa. Tutkimuksessa mitattiin lasten (n = 2 525) lukusujuvuutta ja luetun ymmärtämisen taitoa luokilla 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 ja 9. Vapaa-ajan lukemisen määrää mitattiin samoissa aikapisteissä kyselyillä. Luokilla 1–4 lasten vanhemmat vastasivat lukemisen määrää koskeviin kysymyksiin, ja luokilla 6–9 lapset vastasivat kyselyyn itse. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin, että lukutaito ennustaa lukemisen määrää erityisesti varhaisilla luokilla, kun lukutaito on v…
How Are Practice and Performance Related? Development of Reading From Age 5 to 15
Does reading a lot lead to better reading skills, or does reading a lot follow from high initial reading skills? The authors present a longitudinal study of how much children choose to read and how well they decode and comprehend texts. This is the first study to examine the codevelopment of print exposure with both fluency and comprehension throughout childhood using autocorrelations. Print exposure was operationalized as children’s amount of independent reading for pleasure. Two hundred children were followed from age 5 to age 15. Print exposure was assessed at ages 5, 7, 8, 9, and 13. Prereading skills were tested at age 5 and reading skills at ages 7, 8, 9, 14, and 15 (the latter with t…
Leisure Reading (But Not Any Kind) and Reading Comprehension Support Each Other—A Longitudinal Study Across Grades 1 and 9
This study examines associations between leisure reading and reading skills in data of 2,525 students followed from age 7 to 16. As a step further from traditional cross-lagged analysis, a random intercept cross-lagged panel model was used to identify within-person associations of leisure reading (books, magazines, newspapers, and digital reading), reading fluency, and reading comprehension. In Grades 1-3 poorer comprehension and fluency predicted less leisure reading. In later grades more frequent leisure reading, particularly of books, predicted better reading comprehension. Negative associations were found between digital reading and reading skills. The findings specify earlier findings …
Symptoms of psychological ill-being and school dropout intentions among upper secondary education students : a person-centered approach
A person-centered approach was used to identify the profiles of symptoms of psychological ill-being among Finnish upper secondary education students (N = 2889); to examine whether gender and educational track (i.e., academic or vocational) are associated with these profiles; and to investigate the role of profiles in school dropout intentions. Using latent profile analysis, one asymptomatic profile (normative, 79.2%) and three symptomatic profiles (internalizing symptoms, 9.1%; externalizing symptoms, 9.1%; and comorbid symptoms, 2.6%) were identified. Boys in the vocational track were overrepresented in the externalizing-symptoms profile, whereas girls in both tracks were overrepresented i…
Assessment of students' situation-specific classroom engagement by an InSitu Instrument
The present study aims to expand the current understanding of engagement by examining variations in students' situation-specific engagement in lower secondary school. In addition, the validity and reliability of a new situation-specific InSitu Instrument were examined. The sample consisted of 1809 Finnish students attending Grade 7. The students filled in mobile ratings on their lesson-specific engagement after lessons. Furthermore, they answered questionnaires concerning their overall engagement, achievement beliefs, and task values in math and literacy. The results showed substantial variation within and between students in situational engagement. A five-factor structure was identified fo…
Leisure Reading (But Not Any Kind) and Reading Comprehension Support Each Other : A Longitudinal Study Across Grades 1 and 9
This study examines associations between leisure reading and reading skills in data of 2,525 students followed from age 7 to 16. As a step further from traditional cross‐lagged analysis, a random intercept cross‐lagged panel model was used to identify within‐person associations of leisure reading (books, magazines, newspapers, and digital reading), reading fluency, and reading comprehension. In Grades 1–3 poorer comprehension and fluency predicted less leisure reading. In later grades more frequent leisure reading, particularly of books, predicted better reading comprehension. Negative associations were found between digital reading and reading skills. The findings specify earlier findings …
Stability of social support during school transitions: Associations with truancy and not completing upper secondary education in normative time
Not completing upper secondary education is often presignaled by truancy from school. Student-perceived social support from family, peers, and teachers can prevent truancy and the risk of not completing education. However, prior studies have not focused on the stability of social support across school transitions. This longitudinal study of 1901 Finnish students examined the extent to which social support was stable or specific to primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary schools. Moreover, we examined whether support was associated with not completing upper secondary education in normative time and whether truancy mediated the relationship between support and not completing education. …
Adolescents' engagement profiles and their association with academic performance and situational engagement
Abstract This study examined adolescents' engagement profiles and their association with situational engagement and academic performance in lower secondary school settings. The data consisted of 301 Grade 7 students from Finland. By utilizing person-oriented approach with Latent Profiling Analysis on subscales capturing students' overall engagement, four subgroups of students with different overall engagement profiles were identified. These profile groups were further analyzed with respect to differences in student background (gender and maternal education), academic performance (GPA, and reading and mathematics tests), and lesson-specific situational engagement. The profile groups showed d…
Student Engagement, Truancy, and Cynicism
Abstract Truancy in upper secondary education is a widespread problem, which contributes significantly to school dropout risk. However, the underlying mechanisms of truancy have remained unstudied. This longitudinal study of 1853 Finnish students examined how initial levels and changes in student engagement from primary (Grade 6) to lower secondary school (Grades 7 and 9) predicted truancy in upper secondary education, and whether cynicism (losing interest in school) mediated the relationship between engagement and truancy. Growth curve models showed that high engagement levels in primary school and increases in engagement over time predicted less truancy in upper secondary education. Cynic…
Muutostrendien tarkastelu nuorten koulumotivaatiossa ja -hyvinvoinnissa : kohorttitutkimus yli kolmen ajankohdan
Tässä kohorttitutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin seitsemäsluokkalaisten koulumotivaation sekä kouluhyvinvoinnin tason muutoksia yli kolmen ajankohdan (vuodet 2007, 2010 ja 2014). Vuosien 2007 (N=339) ja 2010 (N=266) aineistot edustavat kahta kohorttia Lapsen Kielen Kehitys-seurannan osallistujista, ja vuoden 2014 (N=1167) aineisto on osa Alkuportaatseurantaa. Tulokset osoittivat, että seitsemäsluokkalaisten kohorteissa koulumotivaatio ja - hyvinvointi muuttuivat vain vähän ajankohdasta toiseen. Nuorten matematiikan arvostus lisääntyi hieman, mutta kiinnostus äidinkieleen heikentyi. Nuorten ilmaisemissa koulutuspyrkimyksissä tapahtui muutosta: yliopisto koulutuspyrkimyksenä oli tyypillisempi ja amm…
Sisäinen motivaatio ja kouluinnokkuus edistävät nuorten opintopolkuja
Tämä artikkeli on yhteenveto tutkimuksesta (Vasalampi, Nurmi, Jokisaari & Salmela-Aro, 2012; Vasalampi, Salmela-Aro & Nurmi, 2009; Vasalampi, Salmela-Aro & Nurmi, 2010), jossa tarkasteltiin nuorten koulutuksellisiin tavoitteisiin liittyvän motivaation, kouluinnokkuuden ja koulu‑uupumuksen roolia kolmessa peruskoulun jälkeisessä koulutuksellisessa siirtymässä. Tutkimuksella oli kolme tavoitetta: 1) miten nuorten koulutustavoitteisiin liittyvä motivaatio muuttuu koulutuksellisessa siirtymässä, 2) mikä on koulutustavoitteisiin liittyvän motivaation merkitys kouluinnokkuudessa ja ‑uupumuksessa ja 3) mikä on koulutustavoitteisiin liittyvän motivaation sekä kouluinnokkuuden ja -uupumuksen rooli n…
Adolescents' engagement profiles and their association with academic performance and situational engagement
This study examined adolescents' engagement profiles and their association with situational engagement and academic performance in lower secondary school settings. The data consisted of 301 Grade 7 students from Finland. By utilizing person-oriented approach with Latent Profiling Analysis on subscales capturing students' overall engagement, four subgroups of students with different overall engagement profiles were identified. These profile groups were further analyzed with respect to differences in student background (gender and maternal education), academic performance (GPA, and reading and mathematics tests), and lesson-specific situational engagement. The profile groups showed difference…
Variation in situation-specific engagement among lower secondary school students
The majority of previous research has examined school engagement as an overall student characteristic. The present study contributes to the field by examining variation in students' situation-specific engagement from one lesson to another and by investigating situational determinants of such variation. An intensive one-week lesson-to-lesson data collection was conducted in four lower secondary school classrooms. Students rated their situation-specific engagement at the end of each lesson with a mobile-based InSitu instrument. Data comprising a total of 57 students and 1328 ratings were analyzed with two-level hierarchical multivariate model (between students, and within students between les…
Reading comprehension difficulty is often distinct from difficulty in reading fluency and accompanied with problems in motivation and school well-being
This paper examined if difficulty in reading comprehension (PISA) is distinct from difficulty in reading fluency and if the distinct types of reading difficulties are differently associated with learning motivation, school burnout, and school enjoyment. The participants were 1324 Finnish ninth graders. Findings suggested that difficulties in reading comprehension are often distinct from difficulties in reading fluency. Three reading difficulty groups were identified: (1) poor readers with both fluency and reading comprehension difficulties (n = 46, 3.5%), (2) slow readers with only fluency difficulties (n = 70, 5.3%), and (3) poor comprehenders with only reading comprehension difficulties (…
Career pursuit pathways among emerging adult men and women : Psychosocial correlates and precursors
The present study examined career pursuit pathways in 100 Israeli emerging adults (54 men) who were followed from age 22 to 29. Employing a semi-structured interview at the age of 29, participants were asked about current work and educational status, work and educational goals and status changes in recent years, and to reflect on the meaning of the processes they followed. Analyses of interviews yielded four distinctive career pursuit pathways that were associated with different levels of concurrent well-being: Consistent Pursuit, Adapted Pursuit, Survivors, and Confused/Vague. Self-criticism, efficacy, and level of motivation measured seven years earlier predicted pathway affiliation at 2…
Development of Participation in and Identification With School: Associations With Truancy
This longitudinal study covering two educational transitions examined 1,821 Finnish students’ participation in and identification with school and their associations with students’ academic achievement and truancy. The students were surveyed (a) at the end of primary school, (b) at the beginning of lower secondary school, (c) at the end of lower secondary school, and (d) in the first year of upper secondary education. In alignment with the participation-identification model, higher levels of participation in school activities at the end of primary school predicted higher levels of identification (i.e., feelings of belonging and valuing school) at the end of lower secondary school. This asso…
Intra‐individual dynamics of lesson‐specific engagement: Lagged and cross‐lagged effects from one lesson to the next
Background Student engagement denotes active participation in academic work through commitment and involvement in learning tasks (Appleton et al., 2006, Journal of School Psychology, 44, 427). This study looks at questions such as whether engagement experiences in one lesson have an effect on the next lesson. In the present study, process‐oriented analyses were conducted to examine lower secondary school students’ engagement experiences and the stability of those experiences from one lesson to the next. Aims (1) To what extent are students’ engagement experiences, in terms of behavioural and cognitive engagement, emotional engagement, and disaffection, stable from one lesson to the next (au…
Early Antecedents of School Burnout in Upper Secondary Education : A Five-year Longitudinal Study
AbstractSchool burnout symptoms are prevalent among upper secondary education students, but thus far, very little is known about the background of these symptoms. The present study examined the extent to which school burnout symptoms (i.e., exhaustion and cynicism) among upper secondary education students have their roots in primary and lower secondary school and whether early antecedents of school burnout symptoms could be identified. The sample consisted of 1544 Finnish students followed up four times (Time1–Time 4) from the end of primary school (T1; mean age 12.74 and range 11.71–14.20) to the first year of upper secondary education (T4; mean age 16.66 and range 15.55–18.39). The result…
Kuulluksi tuleminen on oppimismotivaation avain
Jo pienillä lapsilla on tarve kokea autonomiaa. He haluavat olla aloitteellisia ja itsenäisiä sekä kokea ohjaavansa elämäänsä. Voidakseen kiinnostua koulutyöstä, lapsi tai nuori tarvitsee kokemuksen, että hän tulee kuulluksi, kirjoittaa Kati Vasalampi Jyväskylän yliopistosta. nonPeerReviewed
Task-Focused Behavior Mediates the Associations Between Supportive Interpersonal Environments and Students’ Academic Performance
In the longitudinal study presented here, we tested the theoretical assumption that children’s task-focused behavior in learning situations mediates the associations between supportive interpersonal environments and academic performance. The sample consisted of 2,137 Finnish-speaking children. Data on supportive interpersonal environments (characterized by authoritative parenting, positive teacher affect toward the child, and peer acceptance) were gathered in Grade 1. The children’s task-focused behavior was measured in Grades 2 and 3, and academic performance was measured in Grades 1 and 4. The results supported our assumption by showing that all three supportive environments were positiv…
Students' Positive Expectations and Concerns Prior to the School Transition to Lower Secondary School
This mixed-method study examines students' expectations and concerns before transitioning from primary to lower secondary school and the role of students' school-related wellbeing and self-esteem in their concerns. Students reported their beliefs about the forthcoming school transition and filled in a questionnaire assessing school burnout and self-esteem. The results showed that the students had positive expectations comprising comfort, friendships, learning, school environment, increased freedom and teacher -student relations. The students' concerns were mainly related to friendships. Furthermore, results indicated that students who reported concerns about peer relations were likely to ex…
The Role of Perceived Social Support as a Contributor to the Successful Transition from Primary to Lower Secondary School
Following approximately 1,800 Finnish children, this longitudinal study examined the associations between students’ perceived social support (teacher-student relationships, family support, and peer support), behavioral engagement, cynicism towards school, and academic achievement during the transition from primary to lower secondary school. After controlling for parental educational level and cynicism before the school transition, the results showed that the more students experienced pre-transition peer support, the less they reported post-transition cynicism. Furthermore, pre-transition peer support contributed to students’ increased academic achievement and behavioral engagement after the…
Education-related goal appraisals and self-esteem during the transition to secondary education: A longitudinal study
This study investigated whether adolescents’ appraisals of their education-related goals change during the transition from comprehensive school to postcomprehensive secondary education (academic vs. vocational track) and how such appraisals contribute to their self-esteem. Six hundred and seven 16-year-old adolescents were surveyed three times: (1) at the beginning, (2) at the end of the final spring term of comprehensive school, and (3) one year after the transition to postcomprehensive secondary education. They were asked to appraise their education-related goal in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic reasons for goal striving, goal progress, effort, and stress. The results showed that, when …
Students’ agency profiles in relation to student-perceived teaching practices in university courses
This study addresses the gap in our understanding of the role of pedagogy in agency construction among higher education students. In the present study, profiles of students’ agency experiences were identified and analysed with respect to the students’ perceptions of teaching practices in their courses (i.e., student-centred learning activities, forms of instruction, and student-teacher roles). The Agency of University Students (AUS) Scale (Jääskelä et al., 2017) was used to assess the students’ experiences of their personal, relational, and participatory resources of agency. Agency profiles were found to be associated with students’ perceptions of teaching practices in the courses. The find…
Typologies and precursors of career adaptability patterns among emerging adults: a seven-year longitudinal study.
The present study examined career adaptability in 100 Israeli emerging adults who were followed from ages 22 to 29. Participants were given an in depth interview and were asked to talk about their current work, difficulties they might have had in the past and how they coped with them. In addition they were asked to elaborate on the extent to which their job fits their interests and is meaningful to them. Analyses of interviews yielded three distinctive career adaptability patterns that were associated with different levels of concurrent wellbeing: Integrated, Compromised, and Vague. A lower level of identified motivation measured seven years earlier predicted membership in the Compromised p…
Assessing agency of university students: validation of the AUS Scale
Fostering agency as a core component of professionalism is seen as a critical task of higher education. However, the tools for assessing university students’ agency, and the pedagogical and relational resources needed for its development, are lacking. The present study describes the theoretical foundations and factor structure of the newly developed Agency of University Students (AUS) Scale, which assesses students’ course-specific agency. In the factor analysis, ten factors emerged. Four of these – Interest and motivation, Self-efficacy, Competence beliefs and Participation activity – are seen to represent individual resources of agency. The other four factors – Equal treatment, Teacher su…
Changes in Students' Psychological Well-Being during Transition from Primary School to Lower Secondary School : A Person-Centered Approach
This person-centered study examined the patterns and the dynamics of pattern change based on 1666 Finnish students' self-reported psychological well-being during the transition from primary school to lower secondary school. Moreover, we examined the stability in the profile memberships and the influence of changes in perceived support from teachers, families, and peers on changes in students' psychological well-being. Six student profiles were identified using the I-states-as-objects-analysis (ISOA) procedure: (a) High well-being profile; (b) Average well-being but low educational aspirations profile; (c) Low well-being profile; (d) Low well-being but high educational aspirations profile; (…
Classroom effect on primary school students’ self-concept in literacy and mathematics
AbstractAccording to the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLP) model, high individual academic performance in a particular subject is related to high self-concept in that subject, whereas high average classroom performance has a negative effect on self-concept. In the present study, data from Finnish primary school students in grade 3 (504 students), grade 4 (487 students), and grade 6 (365 students) are used to examine whether the assumptions of the BFLP effect model hold already in primary school. Furthermore, we examined gender differences in BFLP effect. The results showed that as expected students’ high performance in literacy and in mathematics was related to high self-concept in the sam…
Koulupudokkuuteen on puututtava
Promotion of school engagement through dialogic teaching practices in the context of a teacher professional development programme
This study was conducted in the context of a teacher professional development programme that aimed to improve dialogic teaching in the classroom, and it describes the programme and examines the change in teachers' dialogic teaching practices and pupils' classroom engagement during the programme. Data on pupils' school engagement were collected using classroom video recordings and students' self-ratings at the end of the lesson including dialogic teaching practices. The participants comprised seven in-service teachers and their 140 pupils (10- to 15-year-olds) from two comprehensive schools. The findings indicated positive change in the use of dialogic teaching practices and in observed pupi…
Teacher-student interaction and lower secondary school students’ situational engagement
Background: Prior research has shown that engagement plays a significant role in students’ academic learning. Aims: The present study sought to expand the current understanding of students’ engagement by examining how situational engagement during a particular lesson is associated with the observed teacher–student classroom interactions (i.e., emotional support, instructional support, and classroom organization) in the same lesson. Sample: The participants were 709 Grade 7 students (47.7% girls) from 59 classrooms in 26 lower secondary schools and 51 teachers. Methods: The data consisted of 155 video‐recorded lessons (90 language arts and 65 mathematics lessons) coded using the Classroom As…
Students' school performance, task-focus, and situation-specific motivation
Going beyond studies of individual differences in and profiles of students' motivation, we investigated situation-specific (intra-personal) experiences of autonomous (enjoyment, interest, and task choice) and controlled (having to do, and the teacher wanting them to do a task) motivation across learning situations during one week, and how these were related to student characteristics (teacher rated academic performance and task-focus). Three-hundred and fourteen primary school students (Years 5 and 6) completed electronic questionnaires on Personal Digital Assistants, on an average of 11.2 learning episodes during a week. Multilevel Structural Equation Models provided support for a model ba…
Externalizing behavior problems and interest in reading as predictors of later reading skills and educational aspirations
This study examined the developments in children’s externalizing problems and interest in reading during their first four years of school (Grades 1–4) and investigated whether this development predicted the children’s Grade 6 reading skills and educational aspirations. Data comprised (1) teachers’ ratings of externalizing problems and children’s (N = 642; 43% girls) self-ratings of their interest in reading, collected between Grades 1 and 4, and (2) measures of reading fluency and comprehension, and children’s self-reports of educational aspirations, collected at Grade 6. First, latent growth modeling showed that a higher level of externalizing problems in Grade 1 was associated with a lowe…
The Role of a Supportive Interpersonal Environment and Education-Related Goal Motivation During the Transition Beyond Upper Secondary Education
This longitudinal study investigated the role of parents and peers as well as of education-related goal motivation during educational transitioning in late adolescence. The sample consisted of 1520 upper secondary education students attending either academic or vocational upper secondary school in Finland. They were surveyed three times: (1) in the first year of their upper secondary education, (2) in the second year of their upper secondary education, and (3) two years later. The results show, first, that when students in upper secondary education pursued their educational goals out of autonomous motivation they also invested more effort in their goals, which was reflected in high levels o…
Profiles of school motivation and emotional well-being among adolescents : Associations with math and reading performance
This study examines profiles of school motivation and emotional well-being and their links to academic skills (reading and math) among adolescents (N = 1629) at the end of comprehensive school (age 15–16). Using a person-centered approach (latent profile analysis), five distinct profile groups were identified. Three of the identified groups had a flat profile in motivation and well-being but at different levels. The first group manifested high motivation and well-being (n = 178, 11%); the second group was average in both (n = 1107, 68%); and the third had low motivation and well-being (n = 121, 7%). Two groups had mixed profiles; one group manifested only low motivation (n = 140, 9%) and th…
Opettajien kokemuksia dialogisen opetuksen toteuttamisesta perusopetuksessa
Tässä artikkelissa tarkastellaan opettajien kokemuksia dialogisen opetuksen toteuttamisesta perusopetuksen ryhmissä osana Vuorovaikutus, motivaatio ja osallisuuden tukeminen (VuoMo) - nimistä ammatillisen kehittämisen ohjelmaa. Dialogisen opetuksen tavoitteena on vahvistaa oppilaiden osallisuutta lisäämällä näkökulmien jakamista sisältävää vuorovaikutusta ja keskustelua ja siten tukea oppilaiden oppimismotivaatiota. Tutkimuksen aineisto koostui kuuden kehittämisohjelmaan osallistuneen opettajan haastatteluaineistosta, joka analysoitiin temaattisella analyysilla. Opettajat kokivat, että heidän dialogisuuteen liittyvä pedagoginen ajattelunsa muuttui ohjelman aikana. Erityisesti dialogisia ope…
Long-term effects of the home literacy environment on reading development: Familial risk for dyslexia as a moderator.
This study aimed to gain better understanding of the associations between literacy activities at home and long-term language and literacy development. We extended the home literacy environment (HLE) model of Sénéchal and LeFevre (Child Development [2002], Vol. 73, pp. 445–460) by including repeated assessments of shared reading, oral language, and reading comprehension development, including examination of familial risk for dyslexia as a moderator, and following development over time from ages 2 to 15 years. Of the 198 Finnish participants, 106 have familial risk for dyslexia due to parental dyslexia. Our path models include development in vocabulary (2–5.5 years), emerging literacy (5.5 ye…
Integration of personality constructs: The role of traits and motivation in the willingness to exert effort in academic and social life domains
There has been growing interest in recent years in exploring different types of personality constructs and the nature of inter-relationships between personality variables in predicting outcomes in different life domains. The present study explores how personality traits and autonomous goal motivation predict the willingness to invest effort in academic and social life domains. Using a sample of 4133 upper secondary school students in Germany, multilevel regression analyses yielded three main results. First, both personality traits and motivation were substantially related to the willingness to exert effort. Second, the mediation effect compared to the direct effect was relatively small. Thi…
Learning Outcomes in HMD-VR: a Literature Review
While the educational technology has developed to the point that Extended Reality (XR), including immersive Virtual Reality (VR) can be used in education, the learning outcomes of these technologies in the large scale is still quite unknown. This literature review aims to take a comprehensive look to the field of immersive VR in to find out where the learning outcomes of HMD-VR stands out, and how they compare to other technologies and methods. The main result of this paper is that while HMD-based Virtual Reality Learning Environments (VRLEs) may not be superior compared to other technologies such as desktop-based VR environments regarding direct learning outcomes, a clear indication toward…
Adolescents’ Self-Concordance, School Engagement, and Burnout Predict Their Educational Trajectories 1This paper is part of a series on “Youth Development in Europe: Transitions and Identities” that will appear in the European Psychologist throughout 2008 and 2009. Taken together, the papers aim to make a conceptual contribution to the increasingly important area of youth development, especially within the context of an expanding Europe, by focusing on variations and changes in the transition to adulthood and emerging identities. The series will conclude with a summary by the organizers of the series, Katariina Salmela-Aro (University of Jyväskylä, Finland) and Ingrid Schoon (University of London, UK).
This study investigated whether self-concordance of adolescents’ achievement-related goal predicts their school engagement and lack of burnout during upper secondary school as well as their subsequent educational trajectories. We also examined whether goal effort and progress mediate these associations. The sample consisted of 614 17-year-old upper secondary school students, who were surveyed three times: (1) in the second grade of upper secondary, (2) in the third grade of upper secondary school, and (3) one year later. The results showed that when adolescents pursued their achievement-related goal for internal reasons, they also invested effort in their goal, which was reflected in a hig…