A Study On The Relationship Between Junior High School Students' Intrinsic Leisure Feelings And Academic Engagement: The Mediation Of Peer Relationships And The Moderation Of Time Managemen

Objective: Academic engagement is key to middle school students’ academic behavior and is influenced by other aspects such as emotions and habits.Leisure researchers generally agree that internal feelings of leisure can lead to positive emotions and that middle school students are more likely to choose "play" to relieve the intense stress generated by academics.According to self-determination theory(SDT),leisure activities can satisfy three basic human psychological needs and help individuals gain a greater sense of competence and intrinsic motivation,which leads to more positive emotions,and these positive emotions can lead to more academic engagement.Therefore,it is particularly important to investigate the mechanisms underlying the influence of middle school students’ intrinsic leisure emotions on academic engagement.Peer relationships are an important factor influencing middle school students’ academic behaviors and may also be conditioned by inner leisure emotions.In addition,students’ self-time management and planning are also crucial for students to rationalize their leisure and academic activities,so this study also examined self-monitoring of time management.Based on the above discussion,this study aims to investigate the relationship between junior high school students’ inner leisure feelings and academic engagement,the mediating mechanism of peer relationships,and the regulating mechanism of self-monitoring of time management.Methods: In this study,a total of 1007 students in three grades of a middle school in Weifang were surveyed using the Leisure Experience Scale,the Peer Relationship Scale,the Academic Engagement Scale,and the Time Management Self-Monitoring Scale.The valid questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS.25.0 and the PROCESS plug-in.Results:(1)Middle school students’ inner leisure feelings and academic engagement were significantly different in terms of grade level and family economic conditions;gender differences were not reflected in inner leisure experiences,but were significant in academic engagement.(2)Middle school students’ inner leisure feelings,peer relationships,academic engagement,and time management self-monitoring were significantly correlated;middle school students’ inner leisure experiences were significantly and positively correlated with academic engagement;middle school students’ inner leisure experiences were positively correlated with peer relationships.Peer relationships were significantly and positively correlated with academic engagement.(3)Middle school students’ inner leisure experiences were a significant positive predictor of academic engagement,and peer relationships played a partial mediating role between middle school students’ inner leisure experiences and academic engagement.(4)Self-monitoring of time management played a moderating role on junior high school students’ inner leisure feelings and academic engagement.Conclusion: Positive leisure("play")experiences may contribute to middle school students’ levels of academic engagement.Middle school students’ internal feelings of leisure may contribute to the satisfaction of internal autonomy needs,which in turn promotes more intrinsic motivation and positive emotions for individuals,and thus academic engagement.Suggestion: Focusing on guiding children’s leisure education,improving the experience of "play" and promoting peer relationships to foster positive emotions can play an important role in learning.