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

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, 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.