Academic engagement mediates the association between curiosity and mathematics achievement among Chinese eighth grade students

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Introduction This study examined how interest-type and deprivation-type curiosity were associated with mathematics achievement through cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and social engagement. Methods Drawing on self-determination theory and a multidimensional perspective on academic engagement, we analyzed cross-sectional data from 677 eighth-grade students across six junior secondary schools in Qinghai Province, China. Curiosity and academic engagement were assessed using mathematics-specific self-report measures, whereas achievement was obtained from a unified end-of-term mathematics examination. Structural equation modeling with robust maximum likelihood estimation was conducted while controlling for age, gender, home book resources, and maximum parental educational attainment. Results The model showed an acceptable fit (CFI = 0.928, TLI = 0.922, RMSEA = 0.047, SRMR = 0.040). Both curiosity types were positively associated with all four engagement dimensions. Behavioral engagement showed the strongest association with mathematics achievement (β = 0.326), followed by emotional engagement (β = 0.147), and both dimensions accounted for significant indirect associations between curiosity and achievement. Interest-type curiosity also retained a significant direct association with achievement (β = 0.113), whereas deprivation-type curiosity was associated with achievement primarily through engagement-related pathways. Cognitive engagement did not show a significant unique association with achievement. Discussion These findings indicate that the two curiosity types are not functionally equivalent and that academic engagement does not operate as a uniform pathway. By identifying behavioral persistence and emotional involvement as the most salient pathways, this study refines the motivation-engagement-achievement framework in mathematics learning.