Self-regulated writing and academic well-being in middle school: sequential Bayesian structural equation modelling of writing motivation and cognitive flexibility across gender

Writing places substantial self-regulatory, motivational, and cognitive demands on adolescents, yet less is known about how self-regulation-based writing strategies (SRWS) are associated with academic well-being (AWB) and through which proximal resources this association may operate. This cross-sectional study tested a gender-moderated serial mediation model in 658 Grade 7–8 students (334 girls) from socio-economically diverse schools. Bayesian structural equation modelling with Markov chain Monte Carlo estimation was used, and parameters were interpreted using 95% credibility intervals. SRWS was positively associated with writing motivation (SRWS → WM, β = 0.57) and cognitive flexibility (SRWS → CF, β = 0.49), and writing motivation was positively associated with cognitive flexibility (WM → CF, β = 0.21). Academic well-being was positively associated with cognitive flexibility (CF → AWB, β = 0.34) and SRWS (SRWS → AWB, β = 0.34), whereas the unique WM → AWB path was not credibly different from zero. The indirect effects SRWS → CF → AWB and SRWS → WM → CF → AWB were credible in both gender groups. A small negative SRWS × gender interaction in the AWB equation indicated that the SRWS–AWB association was weaker for boys than for girls. The model explained 36% of the variance in writing motivation, 37% in cognitive flexibility, and 31% in academic well-being. Overall, the findings are consistent with the view that SRWS is linked to academic well-being primarily through cognitive flexibility, with writing motivation contributing indirectly through its positive association with cognitive flexibility.