BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Human Developmental Psychology
This article is part of the Research TopicExploring the determinants of academic underachievement in children and adolescentsView all 5 articles
The influence of childhood SES on academic engagement among adolescents: The mediating role of internalization of learning motivation and learning burnout
Provisionally accepted
- 1Leshan Normal University, Leshan, China
- 2the third middle school of Zizhong Conuty, Neijiang, China
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Abstract A paucity of studies has hitherto been observed in the field of research concerning the relationship between childhood socioeconomic status (SES) and academic engagement, as well as the potential mechanisms involved. The present study therefore sought to explore the effect of childhood SES on adolescents' academic engagement, and the underlying mechanisms that may facilitate or hinder this engagement. The study was anchored in the theoretical frameworks of Self-Determination Theory and Life History Theory. A sample of 611 Chinese adolescents (Mage=16.91, SD=0.37, 41.2% male) were investigated in the study. The findings indicated that childhood SES had a substantial and positive influence on adolescents' academic engagement. Furthermore, childhood SES exerts an indirect influence on adolescent academic engagement, manifesting in the internalization of learning motivation and the development of learning burnout. The hypothesis is put forward that an increase in the academic engagement of adolescents can be achieved through the promotion of learning motivation, as well as the alleviation of learning burnout.
Keywords: Childhood SES, Motivation, learning burnout, Academic engagement, internalization
Received: 05 Jun 2025; Accepted: 27 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhong, Yuan, Gu and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Shuang Zhong, 864845390@qq.com
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