Antecedents of academic engagement and the implications for college grades

• A path model supported hypothesized antecedents and consequences of engagement.
• Engagement reflected prescription clarity, personal control, and personal obligation.
• Engagement was directly related to college grades later in the semester.
• Engagement improved prediction of college grades beyond SAT and high school GPA.

The triangle model provides a theoretical analysis of academic engagement and its impact on academic performance. A path model was tested with 234 American college students and supported the proposition that engagement is a direct function of perceiving a clear, well-defined set of goals and rules for goal accomplishment (prescription clarity), perceiving that one is bound by these prescriptions (personal obligation), and perceiving personal control over one's performance (personal control). Engagement, in turn, was positively related to college grades earned later in the semester. The measure of engagement improved the prediction of grades even after controlling for high school GPA and SAT scores, and accounted for about as much variance as they did.