"Have to do" or "willing to do": Examining the relationship between self-control and academic emotions using...

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Academic emotions significantly influence student learning and performance.
• Understanding the factors affecting academic emotions is crucial for developing effective interventions.
• Self-control and self-determination are key psychological constructs potentially influencing academic emotions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the antecedents of academic emotions in university students.
• To examine the relationship between state self-control and academic emotions.
• To explore the moderating roles of self-determination and trait self-control in this relationship.

Main Methods:

• Real-time data collection over seven days using smartphone questionnaires.
• Multilevel analyses with situations nested within individuals (N=155 university students).
• Examination of state self-control, trait self-control, self-determination, and academic emotions.

Main Results:

• State self-control negatively predicted positive academic emotions and positively predicted negative academic emotions.
• State self-control significantly predicted lower positive emotions under conditions of low self-determination.
• Trait self-control moderated the relationship between self-determination and negative academic emotions.

Conclusions:

• State self-control is a significant predictor of academic emotions, with its impact varying based on self-determination levels.
• Trait self-control plays a moderating role in the influence of self-determination on negative academic emotions.
• Findings highlight the complex interplay of self-control and self-determination in shaping university students' academic emotional experiences.