Parental Support, Peer Support and School Connectedness as Foundations for Student Engagement and Academic Achievement in Australian Youth

Positive youth development perspectives emphasize the importance of adolescents’ relationships with others. Consistent with this, we argue that support from parents and peers promotes psychological connections to school, which is indirectly related to academic achievement via elevated levels of student engagement in learning. We tested these linkages in a sample of 754 Australian secondary school students (55% males, Mage = 13.5 years) who reported on the support they gain from parents and peers, and their psychological connection to school. Extending past research, both adolescents and teachers provided student engagement data, while academic achievement was measured using student grades obtained from school records. Structural equation modeling confirmed the hypothesized model, although, contrary to expectations, peer support had additional direct effects, being associated negatively with student engagement and positively with academic achievement. The findings provide evidence of the positive impact, across developmental domains, of social connectedness, and confirm the importance of relationships with others, especially with peers, during adolescence.