Schools, Academic Motivation, and Stage‐Environment Fit

Developmental dynamics between young adults’ life satisfaction and engagement with studies and work

“…Moreover, during the third decade spillover occurs between general and domain-specific characteristics of wellbeing in both directions, whereas earlier during the second decade spillover only occurs from life satisfaction to study/work engagement.. These developmental changes may be due to the changes in stage-environment-fit (Eccles & Roeser, 2009) and reflect young adults' phase-adequate engagement (Dietrich et al, 2012). In addition, these findings supported the ideas of the broaden-and-build theory according to which students who are satisfied with their studies and life, and experience frequent positive emotions, also exhibit adaptive coping behaviours, feel more engaged, and gain more resources, which, in turn, promote positive upward spirals of success in studies/work (see also Fredrickson, 2001).…”

“…Thus, in future research and education it would be important to take into the account the role of life satisfaction, as it is important in maintaining one's psychological wellbeing and in shaping one's engagement and other experiences in studies/work, and in supporting one's further Upadyaya, Salmela-Aro Developmental dynamics between young adults' life satisfaction and engagement with studies and work 29 development across the life course. The indicators of general wellbeing (e.g., life satisfaction, happiness) may also spill over to academic/work-related engagement, help in adapting to new study/work environments (see also Masten et al, 2010), increase stage-environment fit (Eccles & Roeser, 2009), and support the young person's life course development (Haase et al, 2008). …”

“…Variation in the associations between engagement and life satisfaction across the transition from postcomprehensive studies to higher education/work could reflect the changing fit between person and environment (Eccles & Roeser, 2009) across grade levels and age (Fredricks et al, 2004). During their second decade and before the transition to higher education/work, young adults typically have various sources of support (e.g., parents, teachers, peers) that may promote their life satisfaction (Suldo & Huebner, 2006), which spills over to domain-specific engagements.…”

“…In our investigation, study or work engagement predicted life satisfaction during the two last measurement points at the beginning of the third decade of life. By this time the young adults had already transitioned to higher education or work, and had probably better adapted to their new educational/occupational environments and experienced stronger stageenvironment fit (Eccles & Roeser, 2009) than earlier during the transition. Moreover, our results showed that changes occur in these associations over time.…”

School Alienation: A Construct Validation Study

“…Such shifts can be accompanied by school alienation, delinquency, and dropping out of high school (Eccles & Gootman, 2002), pointing to a mismatch between adolescents' needs and their environments (Archambault, Janosz, Morizot, & Pagani, 2009b;Eccles & Midgley, 1989). In other words, adolescents whose environments do not fulfill their needs are more likely to become psychologically and physically disengaged, and eventually alienated from school (Eccles & Roeser, 2009;Gutman & Eccles, 2007).…”