Conscious Self-Regulation as a Meta-Resource of Academic Achievement and Psychological Well-Being of Young Adolescents

Abstract

Background. The role of conscious self-regulation in determining students’ psychological well-being and academic performance is considered in the context of the fundamental problem of the regularities of young adolescents’ development. Objective. To reveal the role of meta-resources of conscious self-regulation in determining young adolescents’ psychological well-being and academic performance. Design. Sample: 500 students in 4th- to 6th grade (10–12) in general schools, 149 of whom participated in a three-year longitudinal study. The Self-Regulation Profile of Learning Activity and the Well-Being Manifestation scales were used. Results. Conscious self-regulation and academic performance increase significantly in fifth grade and decrease in sixth grade. On the contrary, psychological well-being is characterized by a systemic positive dynamic. A typological analysis identified the levels of psychological well-being of students growing, stable, and declining during the transition period. It was found that the general level of conscious self-regulation made a significant positive contribution and is a universal resource for students’ psychological well-being and academic performance. Special regulatory resources for academic performance are described, depending on the trajectory of changes in psychological wellbeing. Increased well-being is determined by the regulatory competencies of Planning and Evaluation of results and its stability by Planning, Modelling, Flexibility, and Responsibility. The general level of self-regulation, regulatory competencies, Planning, Programming and Responsibility mediate in the relationship between student psychological well-being and academic performance. A longitudinal study found that self-regulation has a long-term positive effect on student psychological well-being and academic performance.