Achievement goals and achievement emotions: Testing a model of their joint relations with academic performance.

TLDR

The study addresses a gap in the literature on discrete achievement emotions and the integration of achievement goals and emotions. The study proposes a theoretical model linking achievement goals and achievement emotions to academic performance. The model was tested in a prospective study of 213 undergraduates, measuring exam‑specific goals and emotions to predict performance in an introductory psychology course. The analysis confirmed the model: achievement goals predicted specific emotions, which in turn predicted exam performance, with seven of eight emotions mediating the goal‑performance link, and results remained robust after controlling for gender, social desirability, affectivity, and ability.

Abstract

The authors propose a theoretical model linking achievement goals and achievement emotions to academic performance. This model was tested in a prospective study with undergraduates (N = 213), using exam-specific assessments of both goals and emotions as predictors of exam performance in an introductory-level psychology course. The findings were consistent with the authors' hypotheses and supported all aspects of the proposed model. In multiple regression analysis, achievement goals (mastery, performance approach, and performance avoidance) were shown to predict discrete achievement emotions (enjoyment, boredom, anger, hope, pride, anxiety, hopelessness, and shame), achievement emotions were shown to predict performance attainment, and 7 of the 8 focal emotions were documented as mediators of the relations between achievement goals and performance attainment. All of these findings were shown to be robust when controlling for gender, social desirability, positive and negative trait affectivity, and scholastic ability. The results are discussed with regard to the underdeveloped literature on discrete achievement emotions and the need to integrate conceptual and applied work on achievement goals and achievement emotions.