The long-term benefits of adolescent school engagement for adult educational and employment outcomes

Public Significance Statement Being more engaged in school in adolescence has long-term benefits for obtaining educational and occupational success in adulthood. The competencies that people use for engaging in school may be transferrable to academic achievement and doing well in employment. Engagement also works to channel resources from the environment to individuals-creating greater career opportunities in adulthood.School engagement in adolescence is often associated with better academic performance at school, but what are the longitudinal associations between school engagement and adult educational and employment status? The current study explored these longitudinal associations using data spanning 40-years of life, from the 1970 British Cohort Study. School engagement at age 16-years was used to predict highest educational level at age 34-years, and socioeconomic status and income at ages 34- and 46-years, controlling for childhood socioeconomic status, cognitive ability, gender, and ethnic minority status, collected at ages 5- or 10-years. The 13,135 individuals in the sample were born in 1970, were mainly White (96%), and were identified at age 5-years as being 48% female. Longitudinal structural equation models revealed that adolescent school engagement had a persistent, positive impact on adult educational and employment outcomes after individual differences were controlled for. The results are interpreted using the perspective that school engagement can channel resources which are important for later educational and occupational success.