Academic Resilience in Contexts of Inequality: Motivational and Self‐Efficacy Profiles of Disadvantaged High Achievers

INTRODUCTION: Socioeconomic disparities in academic achievement are well-documented in France and emerge early in schooling. Yet, a subset of students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds attains high academic performance, challenging deterministic accounts of educational inequality. Academic resilience offers a useful framework to identify these students, but little is known about the socio-emotional characteristics that distinguish resilient learners during early adolescence, a critical developmental period. METHODS: Using data from a nationally large cohort of 8934 French students (mean age = 11.50 years; 51% girls), we adopted a definition-based approach to academic resilience. Learner profiles were constructed by cross-classifying tertiles of family socioeconomic status (SES) and academic achievement assessed in Grade 7, yielding nine SES × achievement profiles. Intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and academic self-efficacy were measured via student self-report in Grade 6. Bayesian analyses of covariance were conducted to compare socio-emotional profiles across groups, controlling for age and sex. RESULTS: Decisive evidence emerged for differences in intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy across learner profiles. Academically resilient students (low SES, high achievement) reported substantially higher intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy than disadvantaged low achievers, and levels statistically indistinguishable from socioeconomically advantaged high achievers. Self-efficacy showed the strongest differentiation across profiles and the steepest gradient across achievement levels. In contrast, extrinsic motivation exhibited weaker and less consistent differences between groups. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that academic resilience in early adolescence is characterized by socio-emotional profiles marked by strong self-efficacy and elevated intrinsic motivation, comparable to those of advantaged high achievers. By highlighting psychological resources that differentiate resilient from non-resilient students under conditions of socioeconomic disadvantage, this study identifies promising targets for interventions aimed at reducing educational inequalities.