Family environment and school engagement:An investigation of cross-lagged effects

Introduction: Although an extensive body of work has shown that family functioning is linked to adolescent outcomes, less is known about how the family affects school outcomes and vice versa. The present longitudinal study tested reciprocal relationships between the family environment and school engagement during the middle school years. Methods: A cross-lagged latent model tested these effects in 378 Turkish youth (53.7% males; M = 11.73, SD = 0.53) evaluated annually (Waves 1, 2, and 3) in grades 6 through 8. Results: Findings showed the family environment positively predicted developmental changes in school engagement at each time point (beta range = 0.18 to 0.24); school engagement also positively predicted developmental changes in the family environment (beta range = 0.12 to 0.28). Follow-up multigroup tests by age, sex, and family structure showed that the reciprocal links between the family environment and school engagement were invariant. Conclusions: Study findings supported reciprocal longitudinal links between developmental changes of the family environment and school engagement. They extend previous research by highlighting the continued importance of the home environment on developmental changes in academic performance in adolescents, and thus, inform parents, educators, and policymakers on the relevance of the family in promoting academic engagement and achievement in adolescence.