Using the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England, this study tracked how students’ emotional attitudes toward schoolwork (boredom, enjoyment, interest, dislike) changed between ages 14 and 16. Using growth mixture modelling, the researchers identified eight distinct trajectories rather than a single average trend. Roughly 41% of students were in trajectories of either stable or worsening disengagement, while 59% were stable or improving.
The trajectories mattered for later life. Students on disengaging paths had lower achievement by the end of compulsory school, were less likely to stay in full-time education at 17, and in young adulthood were less likely to attend university and more likely to be unemployed. They also showed higher substance use and poorer wellbeing during secondary school, though these differences mostly faded by young adulthood, except for those who ended up unemployed.
For The Learner pillar, this paper is valuable because it demonstrates that emotional disengagement isn’t a single, uniform decline. It splits into multiple patterns, some of which start engaged and lose interest (consistent with stage-environment fit theory and the “honeymoon period” after transition wearing off), and some of which are stable from the start. This complicates any simple narrative of “engagement declines with age” and points instead to differentiated developmental pathways.