Investigating the Correlation between Cognitive and Metacognitive Strategies and Students’ Academic Well-being Mediated by Academic Engagement

Puberty is known to be a stressful period for students, and managing its associated crises helps guarantee students’ mental health and sense of well-being in adulthood. This study aimed to investigate the mediating role of academic engagement in the correlation between cognitive and metacognitive strategies and academic well-being in high school students. The method used in this research was descriptive and correlational. The statistical population included all the female high-school students in Kermanshah, Iran, in 2021, out of whom a sample of 350 students was selected. The Standard Schoolrelated Well-being Questionnaire, the Learning Strategies Questionnaire, and the Academic Engagement Scale were utilized herein. The data were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics (structural equation modeling). The results revealed that cognitive (r=0.34, P=0.001) and metacognitive (r=0.36, P=0.001) strategies were significantly and positively correlated with academic well-being. Furthermore, cognitive (r=0.33, P=0.001) and metacognitive (r=0.42, P=0.001) strategies were significantly and positively correlated with academic engagement. These strategies also had an indirect and significant association with academic well-being mediated by academic engagement (P=0.001). The results demonstrated the desirable fit of the model. It could be therefore recommended that cognitive and metacognitive strategies be instructed to students in order to promote their academic well-being by increasing their academic engagement.