Analyzing Profiles and Predictors of Students’ Social-Ecological Engagement

• Main Authors: Michael A. Lawson, Katherine E. Masyn
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publishing 2015-11-01
• Series: AERA Open
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858415615856

Using data from the Educational Longitudinal Study (2002), this study employed latent class analysis (LCA) to explore the relationship between students’ engagement-related dispositions and their behavioral engagement in home, school, and community activities. The primary aim was to identify and describe the engagement characteristics of distinct subpopulations of students. Our higher-order LCA models yielded five subpopulation profiles of students’ social-ecological engagement. In contrast to extant participation-identification models, these new profiles suggested that the relationship between students’ behavioral engagement and their school-related identities and dispositions is nonlinear and nonhomogeneous. This major finding recommends comprehensive school–community improvement models as well as nuanced interventions that are tailor-made to fit the engagement needs and identity-related characteristics of each student subpopulation.