Asymmetric longitudinal links between learning anxiety and engagement in Chinese primary school students: The role of...

This study aimed to examine the longitudinal dynamics between learning anxiety and learning engagement and to investigate the role of peer relationship in these associations.

Data was collected from 510 primary school students aged 9-11 (208 boys, mean age was 10.63 ± .63 years old) in Shandong Province, China.

A longitudinal design was employed to assess learning anxiety, learning engagement, and peer relationship at three waves. Latent growth models were used to examine the developmental trajectories of learning anxiety and learning engagement separately. Cross-lagged analysis was conducted to test their reciprocal longitudinal associations. Finally, a parallel process latent growth model was used to examine the relations between changes in learning anxiety and learning engagement and to investigate the predictive role of peer relationship.

Results indicated that learning engagement increased over time, while learning anxiety remained stable. Cross-lagged analyses showed an asymmetric result that learning anxiety was negatively related to subsequent learning engagement, whereas learning engagement did not significantly relate to later learning anxiety. In addition, initial level of learning anxiety was negatively associated with increase in engagement, but not vice versa. Better peer relationship was significantly related to higher initial engagement. However, it was unexpectedly associated with increased anxiety over time.

These findings emphasize learning anxiety as a persistent barrier to learning engagement and challenge the assumption of uniformly positive peer influences. The study underscores the need for interventions addressing anxiety's long-term impacts and critically evaluating peer dynamics in educational settings.