Optimizing Boys' Motivation Over the Transition to Middle School: A Pattern-Centered Approach to Identifying Boys' Profiles of Engagement and the Interpersonal Resources Important in Supporting Optimal Engagement of Boys Across Sixth Grade

There are normative declines in student engagement during the transition to middle school, and studies indicate that these challenges may be especially problematic for boys. Given the limited empirical evidence offering ways to support boys' motivation, the main goal of this study was to understand ways we can help boys reach their full potential over the transition to middle school by examining the interpersonal resources from parents, teachers, and peers that sustain boys' optimal engagement across the first year of middle school. Using data from an existing longitudinal dataset of 191 sixth-grade boys (N = 366; 52% male) in America, this study aimed to answer three main questions: (1) Which interpersonal resources in fall are connected to boys' engagement concurrently, and predict changes in their engagement across the sixth-grade year? Results showed that although many teacher, parent, and peer resources were correlated with boys' engagement, fewer were significant predictors of changes in boys' overall engagement, or its behavioral and emotional dimensions separately. Most important were parent resources (involvement, structure (marginal), autonomy support, and their aggregate; and relatedness to father) and peer resources (group engagement and an aggregate of all peer resources). Teacher resources as an aggregate were predictors only of changes in behavior engagement (and only at a marginal level). (2) Can distinct subgroups of boys with similar levels of and changes in engagement be created, and can a subgroup of boys be identified who were motivationally strong across sixth grade? Seven profiles of engagement were created using tertile splits of mean levels of engagement (i.e., low, medium, high) in fall and in spring using cut-offs from the whole sample (including girls and boys), and combining the two smallest groups similar in initial levels of engagement and in direction of engagement changes. One group, with a High-High profile, included boys who were motivationally strong; they showed levels of engagement that were just as high as girls in the top tertile in both fall and spring, and maintained these high levels across the school year. (3) Do boys with optimal profiles of engagement differ from boys with other profiles in average levels of the interpersonal resources they experience in fall and in spring of sixth grade and do they differ from all boys in changes in interpersonal resources across the school year? Results showed that boys in the optimal group were higher in most interpersonal resources than many of the other groups in fall, especially in teacher and peer resources (reciprocated friendships and peer engagement). And although the optimal group experienced many of the same losses in resources as all boys, they maintained high levels for some, especially parent resources. Findings from this research informs home and school practices in promoting optimal engagement of boys, especially during the first year of middle school, and pinpoints levers of intervention aimed at improving the engagement of boys who struggle in school.