Dual Mediating Effects of Ego-Resiliency and Academic Motivation in the Relationship Between Childhood Self-Esteem and Self-Regulated Learning in Early Adolescence

Objectives: This study aimed to confirm how self-esteem in childhood affects self-regulated learning in early adolescence. Additionally, we aimed to confirm the mediating effect of ego-resiliency in childhood and the dual mediating effect of academic motivation.Methods: Data from the Panel Study on Korean Children were used: self-esteem in the 4th grade of elementary school students in the 11th wave (2018), ego-resiliency and academic motivation in the 5th grade of elementary school students in the 12th wave (2019), and 1st grade of secondary school students in the 14th wave (2021). To explore the structural relationship between these variables, the measurement and structural model verifications were conducted using SPSS 26 and AMOS 26.Results: First, childhood self-esteem had a direct positive effect on self-regulated learning in early adolescence. Second, in the process of childhood self-esteem affecting self-regulated learning, a mediating effect of ego-resiliency appeared. Third, in the process of self-esteem in childhood affecting self-regulated learning afterwards, ego resiliency influenced academic motivation, resulting in a double mediating effect. Self-esteem did not directly affect academic motivation but through the complete mediation of ego-resiliency.Conclusion: This study revealed the importance of increasing self-esteem, ego-resiliency, and academic motivation during childhood to improve the level of self-regulated learning in early adolescents. In particular, the importance of strengthening ego-resiliency was discussed in terms of its effect on self-regulated learning through the complete mediation of ego-resiliency in childhood.