Student perceptions of self-efficacy and teacher support for learning in fostering youth competencies: Roles of affective and cognitive engagement

Introduction: This exploratory study extends research on student engagement by examining the relationships between its different facets, students’ perception of teacher support for learning and self-efficacy, and adaptive youth competencies. Guided by Reschly and Christenson's (2012) student engagement framework, affective and cognitive engagement were posited to mediate the relationships between students’ perceived beliefs, adaptive competencies and behavior engagement. Method: 3776 Singapore Grade 7 and 8 students completed a self report survey questionnaire. Results: Self-efficacy and teacher support demonstrated different indirect relationships with student competencies and via different engagement pathways. Cognitive engagement mediated the effects of teacher support and self-efficacy on the four student competencies, while affective engagement's mediated effects was only evident on academic buoyancy. Conclusion: This study holds important implications for educational and psychological research on student engagement, demonstrating that the construct, though theorized in a western context, has empirical utility and relevance in an East Asian context.