Co-Development of Academic Interest and Effortful Engagement and Its Role for Educational Attainment in a Tracked School System

Abstract

Internal dynamics of school engagement and their impact on educational attainment have been studied scarcely. Understanding these processes is crucial, particularly in view of declining school engagement across adolescent years. This study examines dynamic interrelations of motivational and behavioral engagement components across mid-childhood and mid-adolescence. We analyze how levels and changes of academic interest and effortful engagement interact and scrutinize their co-development for its impact on educational attainment in a tracked school system. Structural equation models based on ten-year six-wave Swiss longitudinal data show that academic interest triggers a feedback loop with effortful engagement gradually leading towards differential educational attainment.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are very grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for their highly valuable comments. We thank Emily Murphy for collecting part of the literature used in this article and for prior fruitful discussions.