What Changes During Adolescence?

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Academic engagement tends to decline during late adolescence and major educational transitions.

Research on Expectancy-Value Theory helps explain the motivation drop often labeled “senioritis.”

Senioritis may contain elements of both normal adolescent development and abnormal burnout.

Each spring, a predictable pandemic sweeps through high schools. Students suddenly start forgetting homework assignments and skipping class. Teachers report more blank stares, phones under desks, and declining grades.

The name for this shift: “senioritis.” The term is often used jokingly, but the underlying pattern is real. One survey found that 68% of high school seniors report decreased motivation in their final semester due to senioritis, and 82% of graduating seniors admit to skipping classes more frequently. The Oxford English Dictionary officially recognized the term in 2012.

Senioritis isn’t just laziness. It’s the predictable result of several well-studied psychological processes that collide during the final year of high school.

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