Academic engagement is one of the most important factors influencing students’ academic success and achievement and is affected by individual, familial, and psychological factors. Therefore, the present study aimed to explain academic engagement based on family emotional climate and psychological capital among male students in the first cycle of secondary schools in Gorgan City. This study was applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-correlational in terms of methodology. The statistical population consisted of all male students enrolled in the first cycle of secondary schools in Gorgan City during the 2022–2023 academic year. Based on the Krejcie and Morgan table, a sample of 275 students was selected using a multi-stage random sampling method. Data were collected using the Family Emotional Climate Questionnaire developed by Hillburn, the Psychological Capital Questionnaire developed by Luthans et al., and the Academic Engagement Scale developed by Fredricks, Blumenfeld, and Paris. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, including Pearson’s correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis.The findings revealed a significant positive relationship between family emotional climate and academic engagement as well as between psychological capital and academic engagement (p < .05). Furthermore, the results of multiple regression analysis indicated that family emotional climate and psychological capital significantly predicted students’ academic engagement and jointly explained a substantial proportion of its variance.Based on the findings, it can be concluded that improving the family emotional climate and strengthening students’ psychological capital play a significant role in enhancing their academic engagement. Therefore, it is recommended that educational policymakers, school administrators, counselors, and parents implement educational and psychological intervention programs aimed at improving family emotional relationships and enhancing students’ psychological capital to promote their academic engagement and, consequently, their academic achievement.