Effects Of Childhood Maltreatment On Learning Engagement:The Mediating Role Of Ruminative Thinking And The Moderating Role Of Gender

Academic engagement is a state in which individuals are immersed in learning activities,sustained and positive emotions,and is the main observable indicator of students’ learning process,as well as a predictor variable of academic achievement and dropout rates.With the development of positive psychology,academic engagement has gradually become an important research topic in the academic development of middle school students due to its importance and positive role.A large number of cross-sectional studies have been conducted to describe the relationship between environmental factors and learning engagement;however,there are still some limitations in the current research.First,most studies have separately identified the effects of recent environmental factors（family economic status and parenting style）on learning engagement,but are missing research on the effects of early factors（childhood maltreatment）on learning engagement when,in fact,childhood maltreatment has important effects on an individual’s physical and mental health and determines the ability to successfully engage in learning activities in adulthood.Second,the internal mechanisms of how early maltreatment experiences have long-lasting effects on learning in the present are unclear.Finally,the comprehensive developmental model of children’s academic engagement regarding academic engagement has been used only for the study of recent factors and internal mechanisms,thus largely limiting researchers’ exploration of the early environment of academic engagement.In view of the above analysis,this study used the Childhood Abuse Scale,Rumination Scale,and Learning Engagement Scale to conduct a questionnaire survey on815 junior school students（mean age 13 years old）,and used SPSS21.0 to conduct descriptive statistics,correlation analysis,and regression analysis on the collected data.relationships,and mechanisms of action.The results of the study are as follows:（1）There were significant differences in two dimensions of childhood maltreatment among junior school students: physical abuse and sexual abuse by gender,with males having higher levels of sexual abuse and physical abuse than females;differences in two dimensions of physical neglect and sexual abuse by student origin,with rural areas having the highest level of physical neglect,towns and cities having similar levels of physical neglect,urban areas having the highest level of sexual abuse,and rural areas and towns having the same level of sexual abuse.There were significant differences in the level of academic engagement in terms of student origin and grade,with the highest level of academic engagement in urban areas,the lowest level of commitment in rural areas,the highest level of academic engagement in junior high school and the lowest level of academic engagement in junior high school;there were no significant differences in rumination in terms of gender,only child,student origin and grade.（2）There were significant correlations among childhood abuse,rumination and academic engagement among junior school students.There is a significant correlation between childhood maltreatment,rumination and academic engagement among junior high school students,which shows that childhood maltreatment has a negative correlation with academic engagement and a positive correlation with rumination.（3）Childhood maltreatment mediated the effect of rumination on academic engagement of junior high school students;gender played a moderating role between childhood maltreatment and rumination.Specifically,childhood maltreatment was a greater predictor of rumination for females than for males.In summary,this study examines the relationship between childhood maltreatment and learning engagement in middle school students to complement and refine the influence of early environmental factors on academic engagement and their internal mechanisms of action,showing that childhood maltreatment has a negative predictive effect on academic engagement and indirectly acts on academic engagement through rumination.The study expands the scope of the integrated developmental model of child academic engagement and raises researchers’ attention to the importance of early environmental factors.On the other hand,females are more likely to develop rumination after experiences of childhood maltreatment;therefore,families and schools should pay particular attention to the mental health status of females.