Abstract

The purpose of this longitudinal study is to explore how psychological factors in early adolescence predict subsequent academic achievement. Through secondary analyses, we analyzed the Korean Longitudinal Educational Study (KELS) national data collected from a cohort of 7234 students over a three-year period (i.e., 5th through 7th grades) on three psychological variables (i.e., self-management, social awareness, and academic stress) and academic achievement (i.e., standardized literacy and math tests). We analyzed longitudinal data focusing on between- and within-individual variation using the random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) methods. The findings support that early adolescent learners’ psychological factors and academic development are deeply interconnected, and results suggest that explicit social-emotional developmental support could positively contribute to student academic success in early adolescence from a developmental perspective.