Psychological suzhi and academic achievement in Chinese adolescents: A 2‐year longitudinal study

Background In the Chinese educational system, there has been an ongoing debate between using examination‐ or quality‐oriented education. The Chinese concept of psychological suzhi was proposed based on quality‐oriented education, and a positive link between psychological suzhi and academic achievement was found by cross‐sectional studies; however, studies examining their longitudinal relationship are still lacking. Aims To examine the longitudinal trajectories of Chinese adolescents’ academic achievement and the longitudinal effects of psychological suzhi on academic achievement trajectories. Sample Participants were 3,587 adolescents ( M age = 14.85 years, 51.1% male) in grades 7 and 10, from 10 secondary schools in southwest China. Method A 2‐year (four‐wave) longitudinal study was conducted, and growth mixture models were used to analyse the data. Results and conclusions Four distinct developmental trajectories of academic achievement were identified (i.e., high‐positive growth, middle‐negative growth, low‐stable, and lowest‐stable) that were significantly predicted by different levels of psychological suzhi, particularly the dimension of cognitive quality . Cognitive quality was strongly associated with the initial academic achievement values in the high‐positive growth group and linked to achievement rate (decreasing) in the middle‐negative growth group. However, individuality quality and adaptability quality had a buffering effect on the rate of achievement decreasing in the middle‐negative growth group. This study not only highlighted the promotive role of high cognitive quality on high levels of achievement (static) but also indicated the protective role of non‐cognitive factors (i.e., individuality and adaptability ) against a decreasing rate of academic achievement (dynamic).