Dynamic relationships among anxiety, psychological resilience, and academic engagement in junior secondary school students: a three-wave longitudinal study

This study investigated the dynamic temporal relationships among anxiety, psychological resilience, and academic engagement among junior secondary school students, with particular attention to the longitudinal mediating role of psychological resilience in the relationship between anxiety and academic engagement. Using a three-wave longitudinal design, this study conducted a 6-month questionnaire survey at a general junior secondary school in eastern China. A total of 610 students completed the Screening for Childhood Anxiety and Depressive Disorders (SCARED), the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), and the University of Washington Engagement Scale (UWES-S) at three time points. Cross-lagged panel models and longitudinal mediation models were used for statistical analysis. The results showed that: (1) anxiety and psychological resilience exhibited a bidirectional negative predictive relationship in the early phase, whereas in the later phase, only the protective effect of psychological resilience on anxiety remained significant; (2) anxiety consistently and unidirectionally negatively predicted subsequent academic engagement; (3) psychological resilience consistently and unidirectionally positively predicted subsequent academic engagement; and (4) The longitudinal mediating effect of psychological resilience on the prediction of academic engagement by anxiety exhibits stage-specific differentiation: in the early stage, there is a fully mediating inhibitory effect; in the later stage of school adaptation, the mediating chain disappears, leaving only the direct negative prediction of anxiety on academic engagement, with no longer any indirect effect mediated by psychological resilience. Therefore, mental health education in elementary and secondary schools should not rely on a one-size-fits-all curriculum. Instead, intervention programs should be designed in a tiered manner based on the psychological mechanisms at play during students' initial adaptation phase and their subsequent phase of stable school life, balancing emotional support with the cultivation of psychological resources to simultaneously safeguard students' mental health and foster long-term academic engagement.