The individual developmental trajectories of participation in school activities in adolescence

The main purpose of this study was to ascertain if there existed different trajectories of participation in school activities during the period of four years in adolescence using Person-oriented approach. The inspection of the trajectories profiles provided a meaningful and distinct classification for the six-cluster solution, because all patterns differed from each other in shape, magnitude, or both. This solution is defined by two constant developmental trajectories at different levels of participation, one trajectory following a decreasing linear function all the time, one increasing from T2, and two unstable trajectories reflecting a slight cubic trend. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.