Adolescents' Life Satisfaction Trajectories Leading up to the Transition to Vocational Education: Associations with Academic Performance, Motivation, and School Satisfaction

Life satisfaction, an indicator of health, occupational success, and overall well-being, fluctuates throughout adolescence. Despite its importance, previous research has primarily focused on general trends, neglecting the nuances of individual differences and key transitional periods, such as school transitions. This is especially true for understudied populations, such as adolescents transitioning from pre-vocational to vocational education. Therefore, this study examined trajectories of life satisfaction levels in adolescents covering seven years surrounding the transition to vocational education. Moreover, we examined academic motivation, academic performance, school satisfaction, age, and gender as predictors of these trajectories. Adolescents (N = 1,747, 57% boys, 96% born in Germany, M age t1 = 12.81) provided on average 5.97 annual assessments (SD = 1.38). Three trajectories were identified in which most adolescents showed relatively stable and high life satisfaction levels (91.24%), 5.55% showed initial growth and a post-transition decline, and 3.21% showed temporary pre-transition decreases. Results suggest overall stability in life satisfaction levels which were linked to high levels of school satisfaction. Academic motivation and academic performance during the middle years of pre-vocational education were lower in the pre-transition growth and post-transition decline trajectory compared to the stable high group. No associations were found between trajectory membership and gender, age, and educational program. While most adolescents generally experienced stable life satisfaction levels throughout the seven years, temporary fluctuations were most prominent during the middle years of secondary school before the transition. Follow-up research should investigate an extended post-transition period to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of post-transition development.