From disengagement coping to academic self-efficacy: the conditional role of emotional competence in STEM students
Aurelia Bulgac1, Iulia Gonța2, Ionuț-Răzvan Bratu1
1Department of Psychology, The Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania.
Introduction:
STEM undergraduates often encounter high academic demands in contexts where stress may be normalized, potentially shaping coping strategies and academic self-efficacy. This study examined whether behavioral disengagement was associated with self-efficacy directly and indirectly via emotional competence, and whether psychological resources (hope, resilience, and optimism) moderated the association between disengagement and emotional competence.
Methods:
A sample of 131 first-year STEM students (M_age = 19.2, SD = 0.75) from a competitive academic context completed validated measures of coping, emotional competence, psychological capital, and self-efficacy. A moderated mediation model (Hayes Model 7) was tested using bootstrapping with 5,000 resamples.
Results:
The indirect association between behavioral disengagement and self-efficacy via emotional competence was significant. This indirect association was conditional: the negative association between disengagement and emotional competence, and the corresponding indirect association with self-efficacy, were stronger at average to high levels of hope, resilience, and optimism.
Discussion:
These findings suggest that emotional competence is meaningfully associated with the link between avoidant coping and lower self-efficacy. They also indicate that high psychological resources do not necessarily buffer the associations linked to disengagement in demanding STEM contexts.
Related Concept Videos
Sources of Self-Esteem II: Performance Feedback
Self-Efficacy
Coping Strategies: Emotion Focused
Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model
Sources of Self-Esteem III: Social Comparison
Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification

