Differential Effects of Self- vs. External-Regulation on Learning Approaches, Academic Achievement, and Satisfaction in Undergraduate Students

First-year students' achievement emotions at university: A cluster analytic approach to understand variability in attendance and attainment

BACKGROUND

Students' initial experiences at university often shape their attendance and attainment. For some students, university is a positive experience, whereas others seemingly struggle and have more negative emotions. Unearthing distinctions in first-year students' emotionality may be valuable in understanding their academic engagement and performance.

AIMS

The study's aim was to identify distinct profiles of students based on their achievement emotions and explore whether these profiles differed in university attendance and attainment. At least three emotional profiles were hypothesized (positive; moderate; negative) with a positive profile expected to display the highest attendance and attainment.

SAMPLE

Participants were 294 first-year undergraduate students from a university in the United Kingdom (Mage = 19.33 years; 127 men; 162 women).

METHODS

Students completed self-report measures of eight achievement emotions for general learning. Attendance and attainment data were collected from official records. Hierarchical cluster analysis was performed to profile students on their achievement emotions. Analysis of covariance explored profile differences in attendance and attainment.

RESULTS

Four emotional profiles emerged: positive; moderate; negative; mixed-valence (both positive and negative activating emotions). The positive and mixed-valence groups displayed equally high attendance compared to the moderate and negative groups. The positive group obtained higher academic attainment than the mixed-valence and negative emotion groups, but not the moderate group.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings highlight the diverse emotional experiences of first-year university students and the existence of co-occurring positive and negative activation emotions. This evidence may be of practical worth to educators in understanding variability in students' emotions, attendance and attainment.

The impact of self-directed learning experience and course experience on learning satisfaction of university students in blended learning environments: the mediating role of deep and surface learning approach

Introduction

With the rapid development of technology and the evolution of educational ideas, the blended learning model has become the new norm in higher education. Therefore, based on Biggs' learning process theory, this study aims to investigate the relationships between learning experience, learning approaches, and learning satisfaction of university students within the Chinese blended learning context to explore the dynamic process and mechanism of blended learning.

Methods

The Chinese modified versions of the Self-Rating Scale of Self-Directed Learning, the Course Experience Questionnaire, and the Revised Study Process Questionnaire were administered to 939 Chinese university first-grade students (444 men, 495 women). The data were analyzed by using the covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) technique.

Results

The results demonstrated that, among Chinese university students, there were significant correlations between the self-directed learning experience, the course experience, the deep learning approach, the surface learning approach, and learning satisfaction. Additionally, the learning approaches mediated the association between the self-directed learning experience and learning satisfaction and between the course experience and learning satisfaction.

Conclusion

This study provides insight into the facilitative effect of university students' self-directed learning experience and course experience on their learning satisfaction and how this effect is triggered through the mediating role of different learning approaches with the blended learning context. This study shows the learning behaviors and psychology in a blended learning environment, thus revealing the new learning characteristics of university students by integrating the self-learning characteristics of blended learning into the framework of learning process theory. The findings contribute to assisting blended learning providers in delivering targeted interventions to enhance students' learning satisfaction.

Modelling the associations between academic engagement, study process and grit on academic achievement of physical education and sport university students

OBJECTIVE

The present study examined the impact of academic engagement, study processes, and grit on the academic achievement of physical education and sport university students.

METHODS

An internet-based survey recruited 459 university students aged 19-25 years (M = 21 ± 1.3) in physical education and sports (PES) to fill out questionnaires on Physical Education-Study Process Questionnaire (PE-SPQ), Physical Education-Grit (PE-Grit), academic engagement (A-USEI), and Grade Point Average (GPA). A path analysis was carried out to understand variable relationships.

RESULTS

Data from each variable exhibited symmetrical and normal distribution, as indicated by the skewness and kurtosis values. The model's fit indices showed sufficient Comparative Fit Index (CFI = 0.92), Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI = 0.90), Goodness of Fit Index (GFI = 0.99) and Normed Fit Index (NFI = 0.90) and showed acceptable levels. The results indicated a statistically significant positive impact of engagement (β = 0.299, p < 0.001) and study processes (β = 0.397, p < 0.001) on academic achievement. However, the effect of grit on achievement was non-significant.

CONCLUSIONS

Academic engagement as well as study processes are two important factors predicting academic achievement while grit seems to be not a major predictor. Hence, physical education and sport faculty and university administrators should prioritize student engagement as a determinant of academic outcomes by reforming or redesigning physical education and sport curriculum modules that can facilitate engagement.

Self- vs. External-Regulation Behavior ScaleTM in different psychological contexts: A validation study

The self- vs. external-regulation behavior theory, SR-ER Theory (2021) model has postulated the Self-Regulation /Non or De-Regulation/Dys-regulation (SR-NR-DR) continuum in the person and in their context. The model also generates a behavioral heuristic that allows us to predict and explain the variability of other dependent behavioral variables in a range of scenarios (clinical, educational, health and technology contexts). Consequently, the objective of this study was to validate the different scales prepared on the basis of the theory presented. A total of 469 students voluntarily completed at different times the five questionnaires presented, to give a total of 1,385 completed questionnaires. Using an ex post facto design, descriptive, correlational, confirmatory factorial analysis (CFA), reliability, and concurrent validity analyses were carried out. The scales were analyzed individually and as a whole. The results showed the acceptable structure of scale and consistent levels of reliability. The five levels generated by the SR-NR-DR (personal and contextual) combinatory heuristic that arises from the theoretical model determined significant differences in the levels of the variables analyzed for each psychological context. We discuss the theoretical implications and the implications for the assessment and improvement of the behaviors analyzed in function of the personal and contextual regulation levels evaluated.

Effects of factors of self-regulation vs. factors of external regulation of learning in self-regulated study

Since the mid-20th century, the study of Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) has aimed to identify the distinctive characteristics that enable individuals to acquire new knowledge and skills under their control. The theory of Internal Self-Regulation vs. External-Regulation in Learning (SRL vs. ERL; 2017) has postulated that a large number of self-regulatory variables are mediated by regulated/non-regulated or dysregulated features of the context. After signing their informed consent, a total of 616 university students completed validated instruments of SRL vs. ERL, behavioral regulation (SRB), regulatory teaching (RT), and metacognitive study control strategies (SRS). Using an ex-post facto design and correlation, regression, structural equation model and mediation analyses, the present research aimed to establish multicausal predictive relationships among the analyzed variables. Results indicated positive predictive effects between the external regulation variables on the self-regulation variables in learning [regulation (SRL)/non-regulation (NRL)/dysregulation (DRL)]; as well as positive predictive effects between SRL on SRB, RT and metacognitive SRS. Additionally, external regulation (ERL) not only predicted but mediated numerous relations among the variables studied. Other findings and important considerations for future research in the field of self-regulation are discussed.

Advances on Self-Regulation Models: A New Research Agenda Through the SR vs ER Behavior Theory in Different Psychology Contexts

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory (1986) influenced the development of several complementary models of the construct of Self-Regulation. Building on the foundation of Self-Determination Theory, SDT (2000), and Zimmerman's Self-Regulation Theory, SR (2001), with their assumptions, contributions, goddesses, and limitations, we come to the Self- vs. External Regulatory Theory, SR-ER (2021). Finally, we integrate recent evidence demonstrating the explanatory adequacy of the SR vs. ER model for different psychological constructions in different settings related to education, health, clinical practice and social work. Complementary, a new theoretical and empirical research agenda is presented, to continue testing the adequacy of SR vs. ER assumptions, and to better understand the behavioral variability of the different constructs studied.

Effect of Personal and Contextual Factors of Regulation on Academic Achievement during Adolescence: The Role of Gender and Age

This investigation aimed to analyze the predictive differential value of personal (self-regulation, self-efficacy, procrastination) and contextual characteristics (parents’ socio-educational level), regarding academic achievement, among Colombian adolescents. A total of 430 students (from 11 to 18 years old) from both genders filled out validated self-reports and informed their academic achievement. We performed an ex-post-facto design, simple regression analyses, structural equations predictions analyses (SEM), and variance analyses (ANOVAs). The results showed that self-regulation is the most potent personal variable predictive of procrastination and achievement, positively associated with self-efficacy; additionally, the parents’ educational level was also a predictor, although to a lesser level. The female group and the elderly group negatively predicted academic achievement, behaving as modulatory variables of the above results.

A Path Analysis Model of Protection and Risk Factors for University Academic Stress: Analysis and Psychoeducational Implications for the COVID-19 Emergency

The aim of this research was to empirically validate hypothesized predictive relationships of protection and risk factors for experiencing academic stress. A synthesis of models-the presage-process-product model; the studying, learning and performing under stress competency model; and self- vs. external-regulatory theory-underlies the investigation and is important for assessment and guidance in stress situations within the university context. Over the course of an academic year, a sample of 564 Spanish university students voluntarily completed validated questionnaires, in an online format, on several psychological variables connected to academic stress. Correlational analysis and the path analysis model, within an ex post facto design, were used to build empirical models of the presage-process-product factors that constitute protection or risk factors in academic stress. Two statistically acceptable models appeared: one with protection factors and another with risk factors in predicting and preventing academic stress at a university. These results support the need for psychology units at university that have a preventive, health and education focus, going beyond the merely clinical. Focus on an individual is insufficient, given that there are also contextual factors that predispose academic stress. Discussion, conclusions, and implications for assessment and intervention in academic stress in university students and teachers, within the present COVID-19 crisis, are offered.

How Has the COVID-19 Crisis Affected the Academic Stress of University Students? The Role of Teachers and Students

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have required substantial adjustments in terms of university teaching-learning processes. The aim of this study was to verify whether there were significant differences between the academic year of 2020 and the two preceding years in factors and symptoms and stress. A total of 642 university students (ages 18-25 years) participated by filling out validated self-reports during the months from March to August 2020. Using an ex post facto design, SEM analyses and simple and multiple ANOVAs were performed. Structural results showed that stress factors from the teaching process had a predictive value for the learning process, emotions, and academic burnout, and being a man was a factor predicting negative emotion. In a similar way, inferential results revealed no significant effect of academic year but did show an effect of gender on stress experiences during the pandemic. Aside from certain specific aspects, there was no significant global effect of the year 2020 on factors and symptoms of stress. The results showed that studying in the year of the COVID-19 outbreak did not have a significant effect on stress triggered by the teaching process. From these results, we draw implications for specific guidance interventions with university teachers and students.

Satisfaction with Self and External Regulation of Learning in Higher Education Students in Brazil

The satisfaction of university students with the variables that regulate their learning provides very valuable information to improve the quality of teaching processes. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the learning of Brazilian university students, exploring both self-regulation variables, such as study techniques; and more external regulation variables, namely, satisfaction with the teaching–learning process and with the infrastructure, based on three variables: gender, the institution of higher education and the academic year of the students. To achieve this, 560 students of the Pedagogy degree were evaluated with two questionnaires: a questionnaire of satisfaction with the educational infrastructure and the teaching–learning process and a questionnaire on study techniques. Statistically significant differences were obtained, especially depending on the type of institution and the academic year. The students of private schools and earlier academic years were the ones who obtained the most satisfaction with the study techniques and with the infrastructure. Those from private centers also expressed more satisfaction with the teaching–learning processes. These results provide greater knowledge about the processes of self-regulation and external regulation of university learning and of their satisfaction with them, which can contribute to improving educational policies in Brazil.

Regulation/Non-Regulation/Dys-Regulation of Health Behavior, Psychological Reactance, and Health of University Undergraduate Students

The Self-Regulation vs. External-Regulation Theory (2017) has postulated a continuum of regulation/non-regulation/dys-regulation that is present both in the individual and in the individual’s context. This gives rise to a behavioral heuristic that can predict and explain other health-related variables, such as psychological reactance and student health. On a voluntary basis, 269 university students completed validated questionnaires on variables of regulation, reactance and health. Using an ex post facto design, we performed correlational analysis and structural linear regression to build a structural equations model (SEM) with acceptable statistical values. The results showed various predicted relationships: self-regulation was associated with and positively predicted self-regulated health behavior; external health-regulating contexts were associated with and positively predicted self-regulated health behavior; non-regulatory and dysregulatory contexts negatively predicted self-regulated health behavior and students’ health itself, as well as positively predicting psychological reactance behavior. Implications are established for explaining variability in general and health-related self-regulation, as well as for intervening in these variables in health programs.

Self-Regulation and Regulatory Teaching as Determinants of Academic Behavioral Confidence and Procrastination in Undergraduate Students

The combination of student Self-Regulation (SR) and the context of Regulatory Teaching (RT), each in varying degree, has recently been demonstrated to have effects on achievement emotions, factors and symptoms of stress, and coping strategies. The aim of the present research study is to verify its possible further effects, on academic behavioral confidence and procrastination. A total of 1193 university students completed validated online questionnaires with regard to specific subjects in their degree program. Using an ex post facto design, multivariate analyses and structural equation modeling (SEM) were carried out in order to test the relationships predicted by the model. SR and RT had a significant joint effect in determining the degree of academic behavioral confidence and of procrastination. Academic behavioral confidence also significantly predicted reasons for procrastinating, and these in turn predicted activities of procrastination. Conclusions are discussed, insisting on the combined weight of the two variables in determining academic behavioral confidence, reasons for procrastinating and activities subject to procrastination, in university students. Implications for guidance and educational support of university students and teachers are analyzed.