Motivational Self-Regulation Strategies and Their Relationship with Academic Adjustment Across Adolescent...

Motivational self-regulation strategies (MRSs) play a key role in how students initiate, sustain, and direct effort during learning. However, little is known about their use among adolescents with different educational profiles. This study aimed to explore possible differences in the use of MRSs among adolescent students with varying learning potential (high-ability, learning-disability and regular students) and to examine whether the relationship between MRSs and academic adjustment differed across these educational profiles. We recruited a sample of 2191 students enrolled in compulsory secondary education, comprising regular students (81.8%, N = 1792), students with learning disabilities (15.8%, N = 347), and high-ability students (2.4%, N = 52). The participants completed self-report measures of MRSs and academic adjustment. Path models were used to examine cross-sectional direct and indirect associations among the study variables, and they revealed different patterns across the three groups. High-ability status was directly and positively associated with academic adjustment, while learning-difficulty status showed a direct negative relationship with adjustment. The three groups of students showed indirect associations with adjustment via various types of MRSs.