Subjective well-being and school engagement before versus during the COVID-19 pandemic: What good are positive emotions?

Abstract

The present study overcomes the limited empirical evidence on the association between well-being and school engagement in times of adversity by exploiting available data from two large and comparable samples of eighth graders; one obtained prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and the second obtained during the pandemic. Results suggest that adolescents were less engaged with their learning context during the pandemic, as well as lower in positive and negative affect, but slightly more satisfied with life. Through SEM we found a stronger positive association between positive affect and school engagement in the COVID-19 group compared with the pre-COVID-19 group. This finding highlights the important role of positive affect in supporting better academic functioning in the aftermath of a global crisis.