Understanding the Relationship Between Socioeconomic Status and Academic Achievement of Chinese Adolescents: The Role of Student Engagement (Poster 7)

• In Event: Saturday Poster Session 9:35 am
  In Poster Session: Learning and Motivation in Social and Cultural Contexts 2

Abstract

Through analyzing a nationally representative dataset of Chinese adolescents, hierarchical regression models were employed to explore the role of student engagement in the relationship between socio-economic status (SES) and academic achievement. The findings indicated that higher SES adolescents tend to exhibit greater levels of student engagements, including school/class attachment, utility value of main subjects, perceived difficulties and less disengagement, which lead to improved academic performance. Among these factors, student’s perceived difficulties toward main subjects have the strongest association with academic success. However, student engagements failed to “override the effect” of SES on academic achievement. These student engagement factors partially mediate the SES-academic achievement relationship. High utility values contribute to narrowing the achievement gap between high SES and low SES adolescents.

Author

• Fang Xu, University of Oxford