Adverse childhood experiences predict daily academic engagement via positive but not negative affect: A daily diary study

BACKGROUND: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are linked to poorer academic outcomes, but less is known about how they shape students' everyday learning processes and the affective mechanisms involved. OBJECTIVE: To test whether ACEs predict daily academic engagement and whether daily positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) mediate this association. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: 224 vocational college students completed a 14-day daily diary. All participants were based in mainland China. METHODS: We used multilevel models controlling for gender, age and household income. Indirect effects were tested in separate and parallel multilevel mediation models with 95% CIs. RESULTS: Results showed that ACEs were negatively associated with average daily academic engagement, B = -.104, β = -.287, p = .001. In the separate models, the indirect association through PA was significant, B = -.070, Monte Carlo 95% CI [-.116, -.025], β = -.194, whereas the indirect association through NA was non-significant, B = -.019, Monte Carlo 95% CI [-.043, .003], β = -.053. In the parallel model, the indirect association through PA remained significant, B = -.067, Monte Carlo 95% CI [-.111, -.024], β = -.187, whereas the indirect association through NA remained non-significant, B = -.004, Monte Carlo 95% CI [-.014, .002], β = -.012. CONCLUSIONS: Childhood adversity may erode daily learning primarily through reduced positive affect, highlighting emotional skills-especially sustaining PA-as potential intervention targets.