Content area
Full Text
Received: 15 October 2009 / Accepted: 15 February 2010 / Published online: 4 March 2010
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010
Abstract Situated within a positive psychology perspective, this study explored linkages between adolescent students' positive subjective well-being and their levels of engagement in schooling. Specifically, using structural equation modeling techniques, we evaluated the nature and directionality of longitudinal relationships between life satisfaction and student engagement variables. It was hypothesized that adolescents' life satisfaction and student engagement variables would show bidirectional relationships. To test this hypothesis, 779 students (53% female, 62% Caucasian) in a Southeastern US middle school completed a measure of global life satisfaction and measures of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement at two time points, 5 months apart. A statistically significant bidirectional relationship between life satisfaction and cognitive engagement was found; however, non-significant relationships were found between life satisfaction and emotional and behavioral student engagement. The findings provide important evidence of the role of early adolescents' life satisfaction in their engagement in schooling during the important transition grades between elementary and high school. The findings also help extend the positive psychology perspective to the relatively neglected context of education.
Keywords Life satisfaction * Student engagement * Adolescence
Introduction
In a provocative book entitled ''Happiness and Education'', Noddings (2003) argues that children's happiness should be a major aim of their schooling. Although her arguments appear reasonable, there is a paucity of relevant empirical research. Research on the happiness of children and adolescents has lagged significantly behind that of adults, particularly with respect to the context of schools (Huebner et al. 2006). The importance of students' psychological illbeing relative to their educational performance and behavior has been well-documented (Roeser and Eccles 2000); however, the importance of psychological wellbeing (e.g., happiness) has received little scholarly attention. Although related to academic performance outcomes (e.g., GPA), the facilitation of high levels of student engagement in their schooling has been suggested to be an important outcome in and of itself (Furlong et al. 2003). This study thus sought to add to the existing literature by (1) examining whether one aspect of happiness, life satisfaction, was related to an important school outcome, student engagement, and (2) if so, determining the directionality of the relationship. In doing so, we hoped...