Parental autonomy support and academic grit as predictors of school engagement in high school students

The main purpose of this study is to examine the predictor role of perceived parental autonomy support and academic grit on high school students' school engagement. The sub-objectives of the study are to examine whether high school students' school engagement differs significantly according to gender, grade level, grade average at school, satisfaction with the physical conditions of the school, satisfaction with teacher relationships at school, satisfaction with friend relationships at school, participation in extracurricular social activities at school, benefiting the Support and Training Course (STC) of the school and the status of receiving additional educational support out of school. The study group of the study consists of 1030 high school students studying in public schools affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in the central districts of Bursa province during the fall semester of the 2022-2023 academic year. The research data were collected through the Personal Information Form, the School Engagement Scale, the Perceived Parental Autonomy Support Scale, and the Academic Grit Scale. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine whether high school students' school engagement was predicted by the perceived parental autonomy support dimensions and academic grit. Whether the school engagement of high school students differs significantly according to gender, the state of participation in extracurricular social activities at school, benefiting the STC of the school and the status of receiving additional educational support out of school was analyzed with the Independent Samples t-Test. To determine whether the school engagement of high school students differs significantly according to grade level, final semester achievement grade point average at school,satisfaction with the physical conditions of the school, satisfaction with teacher relationships at school, and satisfaction with friend relationships at school; One-Way Analysis of Variance was utilized. Results suggested that the school engagement of high school students was significantly predicted by academic grit, perceived autonomy support from the mother, perceived autonomy support from the father. Additionally, it was found that high school students' school engagement significantly differs according to gender, grade level, final semester school achievement grade point average, satisfaction with school physical conditions, satisfaction with teacher relationships at school, satisfaction with friend relationships at school, participation in extracurricular social activities at school and benefiting the STC of the school.