Citation

Datu JA, King RB, Valdez JP. J. Sch. Psychol. 2017; 61: 19-31.

Affiliation

Division of Information Technology Studies, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Society for the Study of School Psychology, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jsp.2016.12.004

PMID

28259242

Abstract

Interdependent happiness has been found to be positively associated with optimal psychological outcomes in collectivist cultures. However, the association between interdependent happiness and key academic outcomes has remained unexplored. The current study examined the association of interdependent happiness with key academic outcomes such as autonomous motivation, engagement, and achievement using both cross-sectional (Study 1) and longitudinal (Study 2) approaches. Study 1 revealed that interdependent happiness positively predicted academic engagement (partly) via autonomous motivation. Study 2 showed that prior interdependent happiness positively predicted subsequent academic engagement even after controlling for autoregressor effects. In addition, reciprocal associations among the key variables were found. Taken together, results of the two studies suggest that interdependent happiness plays an adaptive role in the academic context especially in a collectivist cultural setting. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Copyright © 2016 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Academic achievement; Academic engagement; Autonomous motivation; Interdependent happiness