Positive academic emotions moderate the relationship between self-regulation and academic achievement

College

College of Liberal Arts

Department/Unit

Psychology

Document Type

Article

Source Title

British Journal of Educational Psychology

Volume

83

Issue

2

First Page

329

Last Page

340

Publication Date

6-1-2013

Abstract

Background.Research has shown how academic emotions are related to achievement and to cognitive/motivational variables that promote achievement. Mediated models have been proposed to account for the relationships among academic emotions, cognitive/motivational variables, and achievement, and research has supported such mediated models, particularly with negative emotions. Aims.The study tested the hypotheses: (1) self-regulation and the positive academic emotions of enjoyment and pride are positive predictors of achievement; and (2) enjoyment and pride both moderate the relationship between self-regulation and achievement. Sample.Participants were 1,345 students enrolled in various trigonometry classes in one university. Methods.Participants answered the Academic Emotions Questionnaire-Math (Pekrun, Goetz, & Frenzel, 2005) and a self-regulation scale (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, & McKeachie, 1991) halfway through their trigonometry class. The students' final grades in the course were regressed to self-regulation, positive emotions, and the interaction terms to test the moderation effects. Results and Conclusions.Enjoyment and pride were both positive predictors of grades; more importantly, both moderated the relationship between self-regulation and grades. For students who report higher levels of both positive emotions, self-regulation was positively associated with grades. However, for those who report lower levels of pride, self-regulation was not related to grades; and, for those who reported lower levels of enjoyment, self-regulation was negatively related to grades. The results are discussed in terms of how positive emotions indicate positive appraisals of task/outcome value, and thus enhance the positive links between cognitive/motivational variables and learning. ©2012 The British Psychological Society.

html

Digitial Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1111/j.2044-8279.2012.02064.x

Disciplines

Psychology

Keywords

Emotions and cognition; Academic achievement

Upload File

wf_no

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS