The Emotional and Academic Consequences of Emotion Regulation During Studying and Exams

• In Event: Turning That Frown Upside Down: Emotion Regulation in Achievement Settings

Abstract

Student’s emotions during studying and exams can shape how students choose to study and how well they perform on exams (Pekrun, Goetz, Titz, & Perry, 2002; Pekrun, Lichtenfeld, Marsh, Murayama, & Goetz, 2017; Ranellucci, Hall, & Goetz, 2015). However, how students attempt to regulate their emotions and how this relates to their emotional experiences, study strategies and exam performance is not well understood. Using the extended process model of emotion regulation (Gross, 2015) and the control value theory of achievement emotions (CVT; Pekrun & Perry, 2014), we sought to explain the potential emotional and academic consequences of student’s emotion regulation strategy use (i.e., reappraisal and suppression) during studying and exams using a longitudinal design.
During the winter semester, undergraduate students (n = 174, 71% female) completed questionnaires over four-time points. Participants were asked to report their emotions, emotion regulation strategy use, study strategies, and exam performance. Students responded in relation to one of their required courses throughout the study. See Figure 1 for complete overview of study design and measures.
During studying and exams, reappraisal was related to student emotions whereas suppression was not. Reappraisal was positively related to positive emotions (e.g., exam hope: r = .45, p < .001) and was negatively related to negative emotions (e.g., exam anger: r = - .36, p < 001). Reappraisal was also positively related to study strategies (elaboration: r = .29, p < .01; critical thinking: r = .18, p < .05) and midterm grade (r = .20, p < .05). Suppression was negatively related to midterm grade (r = -.23, p < .05). See Tables 1-3 for descriptive statistics and correlations. To test how emotion regulation strategy use related to elaboration, critical thinking, and midterm grade, mediation analyses were conducted using composite emotion scores as mediators (i.e., positive activating, negative activating, and negative deactivating) and gender and academic background as co-variates. The indirect effects were tested using a bootstrap estimation approach with 10000 samples and 95% bias corrected confidence intervals (Preacher & Hayes, 2003). The results indicate that there were significant and positive indirect effects between reappraisal and elaboration (b = .14, SE = .057, 95% CI = .0485, .2759), critical thinking (b = .23, SE = .09, 95% CI = .0781, .4244), and midterm grade (b = 1.74, SE = .96, 95% CI = .1199, 3.7903), as fully mediated by positive activating emotions. The results also indicate a direct effect of suppression on midterm grade (b = -3.5, SE = 1.38, p < .05). See Figures 2 and 3 for statistical models.
The results suggest that students’ regulatory decisions during studying and exams have different emotional and academic consequences. Specifically, reappraisal during studying and exams has indirect beneficial impacts on study strategies and exam performance, whereas suppression during exams has a direct detrimental effect on exam performance. This research provides a greater understanding of the nuanced consequences of emotion regulation in achievement settings. Future research could develop emotion regulation training to assist undergraduate students to adaptively manage their emotions.

Authors

• Amanda Jarrell, McGill University

• Tara Tressel, McGill University

• Susanne P. Lajoie, McGill University