Family Context and Academic Reengagement: Adolescent Relatedness, Competence, and Autonomy as Mechanisms Facilitating Motivational Resilience

• In Event: How Do Context and Socializers Shape Motivational Beliefs Across Theoretical Perspectives?

Abstract

Using a motivational model based in self-determination theory, the current study examined whether children’s self-systems of relatedness, competence, and autonomy mediated the association between initial levels of family support (provision of involvement, structure, and autonomy support) and changes in reengagement across the school year within a sample of 590 students in grades 6 – 8 in a school in the Pacific Northwest. Results supported the hypothesized mediational model with significant indirect effects from T1 family support to T2 reengagement through all three T2 self-systems, while controlling for T1 reengagement. This suggested that families are not directly shaping reengagement but instead supporting it indirectly through their fulfillment of youth’s fundamental needs. Future directions and implications for families and interventions are discussed.

Authors

• Kristen Raine, Highline Community College

• Ellen A. Skinner, Portland State University