Achievement motivation and regulatory emotional self-efficacy in university students

Several studies examined students’ motivation in school context; however little research has focused on the link between achievement motivation and emotional self-efficacy in university students at risk for dropping out. Some research questions still persist about the differences between regular and non-regular students regarding their achievement motivation and their regulatory emotional self-efficacy. The research we are presenting aims to analyze the differences between regular and non-regular university students regarding their orientation to objective and their regulatory emotional self-efficacy. This study also aims to explore whether self-efficacy in regulating emotions is a significant predictor of achievement motivation. One-hundred university students completed the emotional self-efficacy scales and the achievement motivation scale. We used the analysis of variance to explore the differences between regular and non-regular students. Then we used the linear multiple regression analysis to verify whether self-efficacy competencies in regulating emotions are significant predictors of the achievement motivation. Results show that achievement motivation and self-efficacy in regulating negative emotions are significantly higher in regular students than non-regular. The regression analysis has shown that self-efficacy in negative-emotions regulation and academic self-efficacy can be predictive of achievement motivation. These findings suggest the importance of developing students' awareness of emotional self-efficacy and self-regulation, in order to improve their motivation to successful goals. This is important not only at school, but also at university, to implement interventions more focused on the motivational and emotional dimensions of learning to prevent drop-outs