Coping, school adjustment and academic achievement in early adolescence

ABSTRACT Objective School activities are demanding for adolescents and activate strategies to manage them, promoting specific behaviours and outcomes in the academic environment. Drawing from the motivational theory of coping, coping included multiple adaptive strategies that are relevant to understand educational outcomes. This study is focused to examine the relation between adaptive coping, school adjustment and academic achievement in the adolescent. Method Participants were 1376 adolescents (mean age = 12.89; SD = 1.00; 51.38% girls) from Colombia, South America. They were surveyed using questionnaires and school grades were collected, in a cross-sectional design. The mediational model was tested using latent-variable structural equation modelling. Results Coping was significantly related to school adjustment, school adjustment was related to academic achievement, and the indirect effect of coping on academic achievement through school adjustment was significant. The direct effect of coping on academic achievement was not significant. Coping-adjustment-achievement path model is verified, without obtaining support for adjustment as an independent variable. Conclusions The findings suggest that students’ academic coping plays a role in better academic achievement by enhancing positive school adjustment. KEY POINTS What is already known about this topic: Coping strategies can affect outcomes in adolescence. School adjustment of early adolescents is relevant to academic life. Academic achievement is affected by psychosocial factors in Latino adolescents. What this topic adds: Adaptive ways of coping may not be directly related to academic achievement. School adjustment is related to academic achievement of Latino early adolescents. The relation between coping and academic achievement is mediated by school adjustment.