Mentorship and undergraduate positive academic emotions: A moderated mediation model

This study investigates how mentorship influences undergraduate positive academic emotions (PAE), clarifying the hierarchical relationships among mentorship, teacher-student interaction (TSI), self-control (SC), and academic self-concept (ASC) in Chinese higher education context. Positive academic emotions are central to student retention, mental health, learning engagement, and long-term academic success. Mentorship represents one of the most influential structured support systems available to undergraduates; yet why and how mentorship shapes emotions remains poorly understood. Based on control-value theory and the broaden-and-build theory, we test a moderated mediation model. Data from 628 undergraduates in South China were analysed via structural equation modelling and bootstrapping. Results show that: (1) mentorship positively predicts positive academic emotions; (2) academic self-concept partially mediates the mentorship-positive-academic emotions link; (3) Teacher-student interaction moderates the first stage of the mediation, and self-control moderates the second stage. These findings highlight how mentorship, quality interaction, and students’ cognitive resources jointly foster positive academic emotions.