| dc.description.abstract | The current study tested the effect of ego resilience on engagement and
achievement as mediated by social relatedness, using three waves of data and controlling
for the stability of each construct as well as within wave correlations among study
variables. Using structural equation modeling, we were able to control for the stability
of each construct as well as the within wave correlations of residual error variances
between constructs. The model also took into account the transactional properties of
academic engagement and academic achievement. Furthermore, the study tested the
moderation effects of gender on each theoretically-significant path.
Despite the models having adequate fit indices, in the larger context of the model
the hypothesis that ego resiliency predicts subsequent social relatedness was not
supported in either reading or math revised models. Because of this, the overall study
hypothesis that social relatedness would mediate the relationship between ego resiliency
and subsequent academic engagement and achievement was not supported. However,
there were several findings of interest. The results of this study were consistent with the reasoning that social relatedness helps children feel more accepted and supported by
peers and teachers, therefore promoting more classroom engagement. Findings
suggested that, while social interactions seem to impact students? academic engagement
across in the subsequent year, their level of ego resilience at school entry appears to be
an important long-term contributor to math achievement two years later. The
moderation analyses indicated that ego resilience had more effect on boys? reading
achievement and academic engagement two years later. Study limitations and
implications were also discussed. | en |
