Parental Autonomy Support, Core Self-Evaluation, and Intentional Self-Regulation: Exploring Their Influence on Middle School Students' Academic Engagement

In recent years, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) has gained widespread recognition as a crucial tool for evaluating the quality of teaching, learning, and educational policies. This has led to a growing emphasis on academic engagement as a key indicator of the quality of school education, drawing increased attention from educators and researchers in China and beyond. Furthermore, the burgeoning field of positive psychology has shifted the focus towards positive and constructive aspects of individual growth, encompassing academic engagement and autonomy support.

Parents, as influential figures in an individual's development, have been found to exert a significant impact on their child's commitment to learning. Research has identified parental autonomy support as a crucial family factor influencing junior high school students' motivation, study habits, and academic engagement. Students who perceive sufficient parental autonomy support demonstrate higher motivation and initiative in their learning, develop more effective study habits, and exhibit a direct impact on their academic engagement.

Recognizing the influence of both environmental factors and individual characteristics on the outcome of individual behavior, as posited by ecosystem theory, this study delves into the direct and indirect effects of parenting as a family contextual factor on middle school students' academic behavior. Previous research has established the role of individuals' core self-evaluation as a mediating variable between external contextual factors and their developmental outcomes. Intentional self-regulation, an 'advantageous resource' for individuals to integrate contextual resources with their own strengths, can facilitate a better coordination between external contextual factors and internal characteristics. Consequently, this study explores the potential moderating role of intentional self-regulation in influencing middle school students' academic engagement by regulating the relationship between parental autonomy support and individual core self-evaluation.

This study aimed to explore the internal and external influences on academic engagement and the mechanisms by which parental autonomy support, core self-evaluation, and intentional self-regulation affect academic engagement. The study involved a questionnaire survey of 1090 junior high school students, analyzing the data using SPSS 20.0 for descriptive statistics and Process v3.50 version plug-in for moderated in-mediated analysis. The findings revealed a significant positive correlation between perceived parental autonomy support, core self-evaluation, intentional self-regulation, and academic engagement. Core self-evaluation was found to partially mediate the relationship between parental autonomy support and academic engagement. Intentional self-regulation was identified as a moderating variable that could enhance the positive effects of parental autonomy support on middle school students' formation of positive core self-concept. This study provides a theoretical and empirical basis for promoting individual academic development and improving students' academic engagement.

To foster a supportive environment and cultivate positive psychological traits, parents should encourage and support individual autonomy and decision-making, help individuals construct positive self-perceptions, and provide targeted training in goal consciousness. A supportive environment and good psychological qualities of personality play an important role in the academic performance of individuals.