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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 8, No. 10
Publication Date: October 25, 2021
DOI:10.14738/assrj.810.11076. Yongmei, H., & Yingxin, C. (2021). Learning Engagement and Its Influencing Factors Among High School Students in Economically
Developed Areas in China. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 8(10). 332-344.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Learning Engagement and Its Influencing Factors Among High
School Students in Economically Developed Areas in China
Hou Yongmei
Department of Psychology
School of Humanities and Management
Guangdong Medical University, Dongguan, Guangdong Province, China
Cen Yingxin
Department of Psychology
School of Humanities and Management
Guangdong Medical University, Dongguan, Guangdong Province, China
ABSTRACT
Objective: To explore the characteristics and its relevant factors of learning
engagement among high school students in economically developed areas in China.
Methods: 808 high school students in Guangdong Province were selected by
stratified cluster sampling. They were investigated with Utrecht Work Engagement
Scale-Student-Chinese Version (UWES-S-CV), Academic Self-Efficacy Scale (ASES),
Interpersonal Comprehensive Diagnostic Scale (ICDS), Short-Form Egna Minnen AV
Barndoms Uppprostran (s-EMBU), Emotional Support Questionnaire for Middle
School Students to Understand Teachers (ESQUT) and a self-compiled general
personal information questionnaire. Results: (1) The total score of UWES-S-CV, ASES,
ICDS and the scores of three dimensions in UWES-S-CV, two subscales of ASES and
four dimensions of ICDS, as well as the mother overprotection of s-EMBU were at
the medium level. The total score of ESQUT and its four dimensions were at the
medium high level. The scores of father’s and mother’s warmth of s-EMBU were at
the high level, while the score of father’ negation, mother's negation and father's
overprotection were at the low level. (2) Multivariate stepwise linear regression
analysis showed that 12 factors such as student origin, school category, class
category, learning interest, the teaching method used most commonly, mother's
education level, learning behavior self-efficacy, learning ability self-efficacy,
father's warmth, mother's warmth, care and encouragement were positively
correlated with the total score of UWES-S-CV (β=.120~.433, all P<.01), while grade,
family economic status, self-rated learning burden, communication and making
friends, father’s negation and mother’s negation were negatively correlated with
the total score of UWES-S-CV (β=-. 073~ -. 407, all P <. 05). Conclusion The learning
engagement among high school students needs to be improved. Social environment,
family rearing style, school education and teaching style, as well as individual
factors may be the main influencing factors of high school students' learning
engagement.
Key Words: Learning Engagement, Relevant Factors, High School Students, Multivariable
Linear Stepwise Regression Analysis
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Yongmei, H., & Yingxin, C. (2021). Learning Engagement and Its Influencing Factors Among High School Students in Economically Developed Areas
in China. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 8(10). 332-344.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.810.11076
Learning engagement is the embodiment of work engagement in the field of learning, which
refers to a positive and fulfilling mental state related to learning, including three dimensions:
vitality, dedication and focus. Among them, vitality refers to having outstanding energy and
toughness in learning, being willing to work hard at learning without getting tired, and being
persistent in the face of difficulties; Dedication means that individuals have a strong sense of
meaning, pride and enthusiasm for learning, can devote themselves to learning and have the
courage to accept challenges; Concentration is a pleasant state of whole-heartedly engaging in
learning [1-2].
Learning engagement plays an important role in students' academic and social development.
Learning engagement can improve high school students' learning interest [3], make them have
stronger self-confidence, pride and satisfaction [4], more inclined to use deep cognitive
strategies [5], and get higher academic performance [6-7]. So they have lower possibility of
dropping out of school [8-9], higher mental health level [7] and academic subjective well-being
[10].
At present, the learning engagement of high school students is generally at the medium level
and needs to be improved [11-17], which affecting factors can be divided into environmental
factors and individual factors.
Environmental factors include social, family and school environment factors. Social
environmental factors are mainly various stress events [18], especially serious and persistent
social events like COVID-19 [19]; Family environment includes parental rearing style [9,17],
family atmosphere [11], parent-child relationship [20], family economic status [21], family
support [21], parents' expectations [22], etc. School factors mainly include the sense of
teachers' independent support [4], teachers' emotional support [12], independent supporting
teaching [4], schoolmate relationship [20], student-teacher relationship [20], class atmosphere
[23], learning pressure [24], teachers' transformative leadership [25], etc.
Individual factors include demographics, such as gender [11, 18, 26, 27], grade [26, 27] and
place of origin [26, 27], as well as psychological factors such as academic self-efficacy [20, 22,
12], academic self-concept [21], locus of control [17], resilience [17], psychological capital [11],
learning motivation [25], achievement goal orientation [27], psychological distance to goal [28],
self-control [28], basic psychological needs [4], academic emotion regulation ability [29],
academic self handicapping [27], perfectionist personality [30], social support [26].
To sum up, there are many domestic related studies on the influencing factors of high school
students' learning engagement, involving a wide range of contents. However, most studies
adopt the convenient sampling method and the sample can not represent the whole group of
college students; At the same time, the above studies focus on two or three limited factors, and
the factors involved and the conclusions are different [2-3]. So they fail to systematically reveal
the influencing factors and mechanism of high school students' learning engagement.
Based on the above analysis, this study intends to adopt a large sample and multi center
empirical research to systematically explain the current situation and influencing factors of
high school students' learning engagement from three aspects: demographic factors, teaching
related factors and personal factors.