Date of Award

Fall 2025

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Eugene S. Huebner

Abstract

Student engagement in school is a key determinant of students’ academic success. Student engagement is commonly conceptualized as a meta construct comprised of three dimensions: emotional, cognitive, and behavioral engagement (Fredricks, 2015). Behavioral engagement, the focus of this study, is defined by positive conduct, involvement in learning and academic tasks, and participation in school-related activities (Fredricks et al., 2004). Some researchers have suggested that psychological strengths, like engagement, can be overused and result in maladaptive consequences (Niemiec, 2019; Oishi et al., 2007). This study addressed this notion using archival data from a sample of 422 students from one Southeastern US high school who completed a variety of psychosocial and mental health measures. Two regression models were conducted to identify whether student behavioral engagement and various psychosocial variables were best characterized linearly or non-linearly (i.e., quadratic). Three major findings emerged. First, a linear model fit the data best for the relation between student engagement and the psychosocial variables of gratitude, hope, life satisfaction, and social support (caregiver, teachers, and peers), such that the more behavioral engagement reported by students, the more gratitude, hope, life, satisfaction, and social support (teacher, peer, and caregiver) they experienced. Second, a quadratic model provided the best fit for students’ behavioral engagement and externalizing behaviors. Although externalizing behaviors decreased overall with increasing behavioral engagement, the relationship was not linear such that students who rated behavioral engagement in the middle range displayed more externalizing behaviors than students with the lowest behavioral engagement, but fewer externalizing behaviors than the most behaviorally engaged students. Third, student engagement was unrelated to internalizing behaviors. The findings overall suggested that, with respect to their psychosocial functioning, adolescent students cannot be too behaviorally engaged in school, however, further investigation into the relation between externalizing behaviors and behavioral engagement is warranted

Rights

© 2025, Rosemary Louise Odem

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