Academic emotions, college adjustment, and dropout intention in university students

Abstract

Introduction
In recent years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the entrance and development of university life has become a complex process, making it relevant to investigate which variables could facilitate the adaptation of young people to university. This study aimed to analyze academic emotions and their prediction of university adaptation and intention to drop out.

Methods
The study was quantitative, explanatory, and cross-sectional. A total of 295 university students participated. Academic emotions were assessed with the short version of The Achievement Emotions Questionnaire, adaptation to university life with the reduced version of the Student Adjustment to College Questionnaire, and intention to drop out with three items designed to measure this variable.

Results
Differences were identified in the emotions experienced during classes and study by students according to the year of entry. We found that males report experiencing emotions such as enjoyment and hope more during evaluations.

Discussion
Generally, students report positive emotions in their academic experience. Positive emotions predict adaptation to university life and the intention to study.

Full text

feduc-08-1303765 December 14, 2023 Time: 18:25 # 1
TYPE Original Research
PUBLISHED 20 December 2023
DOI 10.3389/feduc.2023.1303765
OPEN ACCESS
EDITED BY
Joana R. Casanova,
University of Minho, Portugal
REVIEWED BY
Abílio Afonso Lourenço,
University of Minho, Portugal
Cláudia Canal,
Federal University of Espirito Santo, Brazil
*CORRESPONDENCE
Rubia Cobo-Rendón
rcobo@udd.cl
RECEIVED 28 September 2023
ACCEPTED 20 November 2023
PUBLISHED 20 December 2023
CITATION
Cobo-Rendón R, Hojman V, García-Álvarez D
and Cobo Rendon R (2023) Academic
emotions, college adjustment, and dropout
intention in university students.
Front. Educ. 8:1303765.
doi: 10.3389/feduc.2023.1303765
COPYRIGHT
© 2023 Cobo-Rendón, Hojman,
García-Álvarez and Cobo Rendon. This is an
open-access article distributed under the terms
of the Creative Commons Attribution License
(CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction
in other forums is permitted, provided the
original author(s) and the copyright owner(s)
are credited and that the original publication in
this journal is cited, in accordance with
accepted academic practice. No use,
distribution or reproduction is permitted which
does not comply with these terms.
Academic emotions, college
adjustment, and dropout
intention in university students
Rubia Cobo-Rendón1*, Viviana Hojman1,
Diego García-Álvarez2,3 and Ramon Cobo Rendon4
1Instituto de Bienestar Socioemocional (IBEM), Facultad de Psicología, Universidad del Desarrollo,
Concepción, Chile, 2Departamento de Ciencias del Comportamiento, Universidad Metropolitana,
Caracas, Venezuela, 3Centro de Estudios de Psicología, Universidad de Montevideo, Montevideo,
Uruguay, 4Unidad de Admisión y Registro Académico Estudiantil, Dirección de Docencia, Universidad
de Concepción, Concepción, Chile
Introduction: In recent years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the entrance and
development of university life has become a complex process, making it relevant
to investigate which variables could facilitate the adaptation of young people to
university. This study aimed to analyze academic emotions and their prediction of
university adaptation and intention to drop out.
Methods: The study was quantitative, explanatory, and cross-sectional. A total
of 295 university students participated. Academic emotions were assessed with
the short version of The Achievement Emotions Questionnaire, adaptation to
university life with the reduced version of the Student Adjustment to College
Questionnaire, and intention to drop out with three items designed to measure
this variable.
Results: Differences were identified in the emotions experienced during classes
and study by students according to the year of entry. We found that males report
experiencing emotions such as enjoyment and hope more during evaluations.
Discussion: Generally, students report positive emotions in their academic
experience. Positive emotions predict adaptation to university life and the
intention to study.
KEYWORDS
academic emotions, adjustment to university life, university dropout, university students,
higher education
1 Introduction
Due to the consequences generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, students entering
universities during the last years presented essential changes in how they experienced their
university entrance. In this context, academic adaptation has been considered a fundamental
problem for today’s educational system Shamionov et al. (2023). This set of changes in young
people has been overwhelming and has had significant effects on various aspects of their
training, especially on how they adapted to university life and the effects of this on university
dropout.
Adapting to university life has been defined as the student’s ability to adjust effectively to
the challenges encountered in the new university environment (Crede and Niehorster, 2012).
This variable is considered an important indicator of academic success and permanence
of students (Pérez et al., 2020). For the achievement of an adequate integration into
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university life, empirical evidence has shown that contributing
to the adaptation of young student’s elements such as emotions,
wellbeing, and perception of support is essential for their
development, and this is because during the transition processes
students experience emotions such as anxiety, hopelessness, worry,
and stress (Chan and Rose, 2023;Hako et al., 2023). Adaptation
to university life is critical to permanence and depends, from the
student’s point of view, on the social experiences and resources that
the student uses at the university (Van Rooij et al., 2018).
When students have difficulties adapting to university, they
may present thoughts associated with dropping out of their studies
(Galve-González et al., 2022). Dropping out of university studies
is one of the current problems of higher education (López-Angulo
et al., 2023). Figures in Chile, where this study was conducted,
show that the student dropout rate increased by two percentage
points in 2020, exceeding 25% (SIES, 2021). The COVID-19
pandemic had a significant impact on the educational system. In
this case, it generated a negative impact in terms of the social
and academic experiences of young people when entering their
university careers, affecting the academic performance of students,
their achievements, and their emotional wellbeing (Casanova et al.,
2022;Galve-González et al., 2022).
The intention to abandon studies is considered an early
warning sign of university dropout, and it is possible to characterize
it by feelings of apathy toward studies manifested by non-
attendance to classes, procrastination in the delivery of work or not
taking exams (Jacobo-Galicia et al., 2021). It can also be defined as
those ideas, desires, and intentions associated with the possibility of
withdrawing from one’s career before graduating or leaving a higher
education institution (Díaz-mujica et al., 2018).
In recent years, research has sought to contribute to identifying
issues related to students’ educational experiences in the aftermath
of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this regard, a recent bibliometric
review indicated that mental health and wellbeing were among
the most researched topics in the university context during the
pandemic (Aristovnik et al., 2023). In that line, research has shown
how academic emotions contribute significantly to the adaptation
and success of university students (Zhang et al., 2021). Additionally,
it has been found that students who experienced the remote
teaching emergency produced by the pandemic have reported a
more significant presence of negative emotions such as anxiety,
stress, and boredom, which may impact their adaptation process
(Wu et al., 2022).
1.1 Academic emotions in university
students
Emotions are an intrinsic part of everyday life for all human
beings and are ubiquitous in academic settings (Pekrun, 2016), yet
over the years, educational researchers have tended to neglect the
role they play in students’ lives, focusing exclusively on cognitive,
motivational, and behavioral constructs (Ganotice et al., 2016).
The emotions correspond to a multidimensional process of short
duration that generates diverse responses in the organism as a
reaction to internal or external stimuli with biological, behavioral,
and cognitive implications (García-Álvarez et al., 2019).
To understand the importance of emotions in academia, it
is essential to recognize that they involve sets of coordinated
psychological processes that include affective, cognitive,
physiological, motivational and expressive components (Pekrun,
2016), having particular relevance the cognitive component of
every emotional process, which consists of the interpretation
and evaluation of objects, situations or people, to which
neurophysiological reactions are associated (Bzuneck, 2018).
The connection between teaching-learning processes and
emotions has given rise to the concept of "academic emotions,"
which is understood as those emotional experiences (e.g.,
enjoyment, pride, anxiety) that are directly related to academic
learning, classroom instruction, and performance (Pekrun and
Perry, 2014). These emotions can be grouped according to
their valence of activation. Valence refers to the extent to
which an emotion is experienced as pleasant or unpleasant. At
the same time, the activation dimension determines the state
of physiological arousal, distinguishing between activating and
deactivating emotions (Martínez-López et al., 2021b).
According to Lei and Cui (2016), it is possible to group
emotions considering their valence arousal, managing to
distinguish four groups: (a) high arousal positive emotions,
including enjoyment, hope, and pride; (b) low arousal
positive emotions including satisfaction, calm and relief; (c)
high arousal negative emotions including anger, anxiety and
embarrassment; and (d) low arousal negative emotions including
hopelessness, boredom, depression, exhaustion and discomfort
(Lei and Cui, 2016).
The following groups of academic emotions based on the object
approach have been established, which can be identified as (a)
achievement emotions, both to the activity and to the outcome,
being possible to identify that the results can be past or future-
oriented, in the dimensions of success (hope and pride) or failure
(anxiety and shame); (b) epistemic emotions, which arise as a result
of the cognitive qualities of the task information and the processing
of such information; (c) subject emotions, triggered by the contents
of the learning material; and (e) social emotions, derived from the
interactive nature of most academic environments (Pekrun, 2016).
The impact of academic emotions on students’ performance
and wellbeing is undeniable. According to the results of research
conducted by Pelch (2018), students reporting high levels of anxiety
coincided with statements of lack of confidence, academic excuses,
and fear; furthermore, poor performance would be linked to a
spectrum of negative academic emotions, including negative self-
image, lack of confidence, and defeat mentality. Pelch establishes
that students’ challenge mentality was associated more with good
study habits than with and, as well as with students’ security,
associated with confidence. The influence of academic emotions
on the teaching-learning process is so significant that it can affect
students’ attitudes toward learning, motivation, involvement with
academic tasks, and general wellbeing (Barrios Tao and Gutiérrez
De Piñeres Botero, 2020).
A study by Lei and Cui (2016) suggests that academic emotions
can directly impact learning-related decision-making and the
strategies students adopt to cope with academic situations. For
example, those students who experience negative high-arousal
emotions, such as anxiety, tend to avoid learning situations that
they perceive as threatening. In contrast, those who experience
positive, high-arousal emotions, such as pride, may be more willing
to take on academic challenges.
Regarding adaptation to university life, another study indicated
that students at their university entrance experience both positive
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and negative emotions during the beginning of their university
careers. Although positive emotions usually predominate, negative
emotions may increase during the university experience (Cobo-
Rendón et al., 2020). Today’s college students possess characteristics
due to their experience living during the pandemic. They are
young people who often completed their high school education
or began their college education through emergency remote
education. Traditionally, first-year students struggle with the
academic, learning, emotional, cognitive, and social demands of
beginning a college career (Lobos et al., 2022).
A successful transition of students to college life is an essential
element to consider when discussing educational quality, as this
transition is associated with academic success, retention, social
development, and personal growth that can shape students’ future
success and wellbeing (Chan and Rose, 2023).
The importance of this research arises in theoretical and applied
terms, especially in how the investigation of psychosocial variables
such as emotions could intervene in processes related to the quality
of education (Dimililer, 2018). This study attempts to know the
importance of academic emotions in the university students. The
teachers and researchers to need promote this variables, as well as to
encourage universities to consider this during the early experiences
of young people in their profesional training.
Taking into account the changes experienced by students due
to the pandemic and considering that entering university life is a
stage in the life of young people that is characterized by a process
of personal, social, academic, and behavioral transformation, it is
necessary to know how psychological factors such as academic
emotions predict adaptation and intention to drop out of university
in young people, for this reason, the present study proposes to
evaluate the predictive capacity of academic emotions on university
adaptation and intention to drop out. To respond to this objective,
the following hypotheses have been proposed:
H1. There are differences in academic emotions reported
by students according to the emergency remote education
experiences generated by COVID-19.
H2. There are differences in the academic emotions present
in the different academic activities according to the sex of the
participating students.
H3. Both positive (enjoyment, hope, pride, and relief) and
negative (anger, anxiety, embarrassment, shame, hopelessness,
and boredom) emotions predominate during the performance
of academic activities by university students.
H4. Academic emotions can predict adaptation to university
life and intention to drop out, according to the type of
activity performed.
2 Materials and methods
A predictive associative methodology was selected. This type
of research design analyzes the relationship between variables
and examines the possibility of differences between two or more
groups of individuals, taking advantage of differential situations
created by nature or society (Ato et al., 2013), to evaluate how
academic emotions reported by students during classes, studying,
and exams predicted adaptation and intention to drop out of
the university career. Likewise, this study corresponds to cross-
sectional research since the information was obtained in a single
time frame (Hernández Sampieri and Pilar, 2014).
2.1 Participants
Two hundred and ninety-five undergraduate psychology
students (71 = men, 219 = women, 5 preferred not to say) from
a Chilean university participated in the study. The mean age was
21.35 years (SD = 2.93). Table 1 shows the distribution of the
participants according to the year of entry into university life.
A total of 71.89% indicated that this was their first experience
in higher education. An accidental non-probabilistic sampling
was used based on the availability of the students present in the
classrooms at the time of the application of the questionnaires.
2.2 Instruments
2.2.1 Academic emotions
The Achievement Emotions Questionnaire Short Version
(AEQ-S). It is a measurement instrument designed to assess
a wide range of emotions students experience in educational
contexts, such as joy, boredom, anxiety, confidence, and frustration.
These emotions are relevant to understanding how students
react emotionally to academic challenges, success, and failure in
educational settings. This more practical and easier-to-administer
abbreviated version contains vital questions that capture the most
representative or significant emotions in the academic context.
The AEQ-S is helpful for ease of implementation in research
studies and educational contexts, as it reduces the time required
for participants to respond to the questions. In addition, the AEQ-
S provides comparable results with the original version of the
questionnaire, making it a valuable tool for studies that require a
quick and efficient assessment of academic emotions (Bieleke et al.,
2021).
TABLE 1 Description of participants according to year of
university entrance.
Year of university entrance Frequency Percentage
2019 33 11.2
2020 78 26.4
2021 102 34.6
2022 82 27.8
Total 295 100.0
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The AEQ-S comprises 24 scales assessing the nine trait
emotions of achievement-related enjoyment, hope, pride, relief,
anger, anxiety, shame, hopelessness, and boredom. The items cover
emotional experiences before, during, or after the corresponding
environment and measure each emotion’s affective, cognitive,
motivational, and physiological components. It consists of 96 items
that measure emotions in three contexts: in classes (example:
“During my classes, I enjoy being in it”), during learning or
studying (example: “During my study hours, I feel confident when
I study”), and in evaluations (example: “During exams, I get
angry”). It presents a Likert-type response scale with five options
(1 = strongly disagree to 5 = agree strongly). We averaged the items
to obtain composite scores for each dimension of the questionnaire.
The AEQ-S includes items to cover the four components of
each emotion considered in the AEQ (i.e., affective, cognitive,
motivational and physiological), the fit of the 9-factor model
representing correlated emotions within learning environments
was corroborated χ2(133) = 340.82, CFI = 0.96, TLI = 0.92,
SRMR = 0.05, RMSEA = 0.063. The reliability of the AEQ-S was
identified as ranging from α= 0.75 to α= 0.93 (Bieleke et al.,
2021).
2.2.2 Adaptation to college life
For the assessment of adaptation to college life, four items were
selected from the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire
Short Version (López-Angulo et al., 2021b). These items refer to
the student’s academic adaptation to college life. The items are I1,
"I am satisfied with the number and variety of subjects I have;"
I2, "I am satisfied with the quality of the subjects I have;" I3,
"I am satisfied with the subjects of this semester," and I4 "I am
delighted with the professors I have this semester." The responses
were obtained using a 7-alternative scale (1 = totally disagree to
agree 7 = totally). We averaged the items to obtain composite
scores for the variable. The reliability obtained in this study was
α= 0.89.
2.2.3 Intention to drop-out
Participants were presented with three items related to their
thoughts or intentions to continue or not to continue their
university studies (López-Angulo et al., 2021a). The items aim
to evaluate the intention to drop out and focus on the desire
to abandon the semester, the career, and the institution (I1: “I
am thinking of not continuing to study this semester,” I2: “I am
thinking of changing to another career,” and I3: “I am thinking of
dropping out of college for good”). The questions were answered
utilizing a 7-alternative response scale (1 = totally disagree to
agree 7 = totally). We averaged the items to obtain composite
scores for the variable. The reliability obtained in this study was
α= 0.86.
2.3 Procedure
This research is part of a broader project entitled "Academic
Emotions, wellbeing, and Autonomy Support as Predictors of
Adaptation and Intention to Drop out of University Life," which
was evaluated by the Ethics Committee of the Universidad
del Desarrollo, Chile. For its development, contact was made
with the psychology faculty authorities to explain the study’s
characteristics and to obtain their authorization for the application
of the questionnaires in their courses to guarantee the highest
response rate. Some of the researchers went to the classrooms
to explain to the students the characteristics of the study
and to propose their participation. Subsequently, students were
invited to answer the questionnaires using QR codes after
reading and signing the informed consent form. The response
time was an average of 15 min; the students did not receive
any incentive for participation. The Ethics Committee of the
Universidad del Desarrollo evaluated and approved this research
on October 4, 2022.
2.4 Data analysis plan
The information obtained was stored in a Google form with
the data. Initially, the reliability of the responses was analyzed
using the internal consistency index of the dimensions and the
total of the measurement instruments using Cronbach’s Alpha
and McDonald’s Omega. Descriptive and central tendency analyses
were performed for academic emotions and their dimensions,
adaptation to university, and intention to drop out. Inferential
analyses (Student’s t-tests and ANOVA) were performed to evaluate
the differences in the scores of the variables of interest according
to gender and academic year. Linear regressions were performed
to corroborate the statistical prediction of academic emotions on
adaptation to university life and on the intention to drop out. For
this purpose, compliance with the statistical assumptions according
to each procedure was previously evaluated. JASP 0.16 and Power
BI software were used for data analysis.
3 Results
In response to the general objective of evaluating the predictive
capacity of academic emotions on university adaptation and
intention to drop out, the results obtained according to the
responses of the 295 participants of the study are presented.
Initially, descriptive, and inferential analyses are presented that
seek to respond to the hypotheses posed at the beginning
of this research.
Table 2 presents the descriptive and reliability statistics for each
of the dimensions of emotions and the variable’s adaptation to
university life and intention to drop out. In this case, according
to the averages of the scores, we find that during the classes,
the students report a predominance of emotions such as Pride,
Enjoyment, and Hope; in this case, these types of emotions are
considered positive emotions oriented to success.
Regarding the predominant emotions during learning,
enjoyment, optimism, and pride were identified, constituting
positive emotions of high activation. Regarding the emotions
during the evaluations, Relief was identified as predominant,
followed by anxiety and pride. In this case, it was possible to
identify positive emotions of low arousal, such as Relief, and
negative emotions of high arousal, such as anxiety. Finally, high
adaptation to university life and low intention to drop out were
identified on the part of the participating students (see Table 2).
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TABLE 2 Descriptive statistics of academic emotions, adaptation, and
intention to drop out.
Variable M SD Cronbach’s
α
McDonald’s
ω
Class-related emotions
Enjoyment 3.759 0.761 0.844 0.853
Hope 3.693 0.823 0.842 0.842
Pride 3.845 0.882 0.874 0.882
Anger 1.871 0.901 0.840 0.842
Anxiety 2.126 0.994 0.867 0.867
Shame 2.290 1.202 0.925 0.928
Hopelessness 1.669 0.900 0.922 0.924
Boredom 2.586 1.001 0.888 0.875
Learning-related emotions
Enjoyment 4.009 0.791 0.870 0.883
Hope 3.869 0.913 0.912 0.914
Pride 3.964 0.888 0.882 0.891
Anger 2.245 0.999 0.835 0.832
Anxiety 2.925 1.085 0.813 0.815
Shame 2.179 1.114 0.871 0.869
Hopelessness 1.876 1.041 0.897 0.889
Boredom 2.247 1.095 0.899 0.890
Test-related emotions
Enjoyment 2.431 1.120 0.931 0.932
Hope 3.036 1.145 0.925 0.926
Pride 3.214 1.090 0.896 0.897
Anger 2.014 0.974 0.823 0.830
Anxiety 3.281 1.204 0.864 0.865
Shame 2.068 1.205 0.833 0.834
Hopelessness 1.985 1.175 0.938 0.939
Relief 4.108 0.855 0.865 0.857
Adjustment to
university life
4.819 1.521 0.891 0.894
Intention to drop
out
1.584 0.991 0.869 0.867
M, arithmetic mean; SD, standard deviation.
On the reliability analysis of the analyzed dimensions, adequate
levels of reliability were identified, presenting a range of scores
from α= 0.86 to α= 0.93 and ω= 0.86 to ω= 0.93.
3.1 Academic emotions reported by
students according to the emergency
remote education experiences generated
by COVID-19
To answer, H1 referred to check if there are differences
in academic emotions reported by students according to the
emergency remote education experiences generated by COVID-
19. ANOVA test was performed to evaluate the presence of
statistically significant differences between group scores for each
emotion studied according to class activities during the study.
During the evaluations, the statistically significant results are
presented in each case.
When evaluating academic emotions during classes,
statistically significant differences were found in the emotion
of embarrassment [F(3,291)= 3.335; p= 0.020; η2.033]. In this case,
the students who entered in 2020 presented less presence of this
emotion during classes than those who entered in previous years.
In the case of the emotions experienced during the study,
statistically significant differences were found in the student’s
anxiety levels according to the year of entry [F(3,291)= 3.559;
p= 0.015]; η2.035. Higher anxiety levels were identified in the
students who entered in recent years (2022 and 2021), ending
the period of pandemic, social restrictions, and emergency remote
education. Concerning the emotions experienced while taking the
exams, no statistically significant differences were identified in the
groups. Table 3 presents the averages of the emotion scores where
such differences were identified.
3.2 Differences by sex in academic
emotions
To answer H2, referring to the differences in the academic
emotions of the students concerning sex, we found that in the
case of emotions during classes and study, it was not possible to
identify statistically significant differences (see Figures 1,2). In
the case of emotions during evaluations or exams, differences were
identified in the emotions of enjoyment [t(288)= 3.459; p=<0.001;
r= 0.199]. In this case, males presented higher scores (M= 2.827;
SD = 1.178) than females (M= 2.306; SD = 1.079). Statistically
significant differences were also identified for the emotion of hope
[t(288)= 3.036; p= 0.003; r= 0.176]; men presented higher scores
(M= 3.398; SD = 1.112) than women (M= 2.929; SD = 1.136).
Finally, statistically significant differences were identified in the
reported levels of anxiety during the performance of the evaluations
or exams [t(288)= 3.089; P= 0.002; r= 0.179], unlike the
previous cases, men presented lower scores of this emotion
TABLE 3 Descriptive statistics on academic emotions according to year of university entrance.
Year of university entrance 2022 (n= 82) 2021 (n= 102) 2020 (n= 78) 2019 (n= 33)
M SD M SD M SD M SD
Class-related emotions
Shame 2.558 1.202 2.350 1.224 1.984 1.106 2.159 1.229
Anxiety 3.140 1.013 3.022 1.078 2.628 1.124 2.788 1.061
n, number of participants; M, arithmetic mean; SD, standard deviation.
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FIGURE 1
Descriptions of academic emotions in classes according to gender and year of entry of the students.
FIGURE 2
Descriptions of academic emotions in the study according to sex and year of entry of the students.
(M= 2.901; SD = 1.127) than women (M= 3.404; SD = 1.212) (see
Figure 3).
3.3 Predominance of emotions during
academic activities
To answer H3, referring to the predominance of positive as well
as negative emotions during the performance of academic activities
by university students, the emotions were organized into two large
groups. For this purpose, the average of emotions was obtained
as follows: for the positive emotions, the scores of enjoyments,
hope, pride, and Relief were included, and for the negative
emotions, the scores of angers, anxiety, shame, hopelessness, and
boredom were used.
A more significant predominance of positive emotions was
identified in all cases; positive emotions were highlighted during
study times over lectures and evaluations. In the case of negative
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FIGURE 3
Descriptions of academic emotions in the test-related according to gender and year of entry of the students.
TABLE 4 Descriptive statistics of the predominance of emotions
according to academic activity.
Type of emotion Academic activity Min Max M SD
Positive Class-related emotions 1.50 5.00 3.765 0.729
Learning-related emotions 1.17 5.00 3.947 0.778
Test-related emotions 1.19 5.00 3.197 0.805
Negative Class-related emotions 1.00 5.00 2.108 0.779
Learning-related emotions 1.00 5.00 2.294 0.869
Test-related emotions 1.00 5.00 2.337 0.928
Min, minimum score; max, maximum score; M, arithmetic mean; SD, standard deviation.
emotions, they are presented to a lesser extent, being their highest
score in the case of academic evaluations (see Table 4).
Additionally, the scores of positive and negative emotions
experienced by the students were analyzed according to academic
year and gender. For sex, only statistically significant differences
were identified concerning the presence of positive emotions while
taking the exams [t(288)= 2.606; p= 0.010; r= 0.151], with higher
scores in males (M= 3.416; SD = 0.832) than females (M= 3.132;
SD = 0.786). No statistically significant differences were identified
for different academic years.
3.4 Prediction of academic emotions in
the adaptation to university life and the
intention to drop out
Now, to respond to hypothesis H4, which referred to the
prediction of academic emotions with adaptation to university
life and intention to drop out, according to the type of
activity performed, linear regression analyses were performed for
positive and negative emotions in each of the academic activities
analyzed. The results indicate that positive emotions predict
adaptation to university life during classes [F(1,294)= 97.128;
p<0.001; r2= 0.249], during study hours [F(1,294)= 48.616;
p<0.001; r2= 0.141], and during the performance of evaluations
[F(1,294)= 31.329; p<0.001; r2= 0.097]. In the case of negative
emotions, we also found that they can inversely predict adaptation
to university life during classes [F(1,294)= 48.654; p<0.001;
r2= 0.142], during study [F(1,294)= 31.986; p<0.001; r2= 0.098],
and during exams [F(1,294)= 23.261; p<0.001; r2= 0.074],
the coefficients are described in Table 5. A medium effect size
is presented only in the positive emotions during classes; the
identified effect size is small in the rest of the variables.
In the case of the intention to drop out, the same process
was carried out linear regressions were analyzed for positive and
negative academic emotions according to the academic activities
reported; in the results, it was possible to identify that positive
academic emotions during class [F(1,294)= 26.523; p<0.001;
r2= 0.083], during the study [F(1,294)= 27.141; p<0.001;
r2= 0.085], and during the exams [F(1,294)= 18.282; p<0.001;
r2= 0.059] inversely predict the intention to drop out of university
life. Similarly, the results indicate that negative emotions during
classes [F(1,294)= 27.468; p<0.001; r2= 0.086], during study
[F(1,294)= 15.639; p<0.001; r2= 0.051], and during taking exams
[F(1,294)= 11.873; p<0.001; r2= 0.039] predict intention to drop
out of university life. Table 6 presents the coefficients for each case;
small effect sizes were identified in all the variables studied.
4 Discussion
The main objective of this research was to evaluate the
predictive capacity of academic emotions on college adjustment
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TABLE 5 Linear Regression on academic emotions on adaptation to university life.
Model Scale B UDE βt p r2
1 (Constant) 0.900 0.405 2.221 0.027 0.249
Positive emotions in the classroom 1.041 0.106 0.499 9.855 <0.001
2 (Constant) 1.909 0.425 4.488 <0.001 0.141
Positive emotions in the study 0.737 0.106 0.377 6.973 <0.001
3 (Constant) 2.943 0.346 8.513 <0.001 0.097
Positive emotions in evaluations 0.587 0.105 0.311 5.597 <0.001
4 (Constant) 6.372 0.237 26.859 <0.001 0.142
Negative emotions in the classroom −0.736 0.106 −0.377 −6.975 <0.001
5 (Constant) 6.079 0.238 25.535 <0.001 0.098
Negative emotions in the study −0.549 0.097 −0.314 −5.656 <0.001
6 (Constant) 5.858 0.232 25.290 <0.001 0.074
Negative emotions in evaluations −0.444 0.092 −0.271 −4.823 <0.001
B, unstandardized coefficient; UDE, unstandardized deviation error; β, standardized regression coefficient; Dependent variable: adaptation to university life.
TABLE 6 Linear Regression on academic emotions on intention to drop out.
Model Scale B UDE βt p r2
1 (Constant) 3.059 0.292 10.487 <0.001 0.083
Positive emotions in the classroom −0.392 0.076 −0.288 −5.150 <0.001
2 (Constant) 3.048 0.286 10.643 <0.001 0.085
Positive emotions in the study −0.371 0.071 −0.291 −5.210 <0.001
3 (Constant) 2.538 0.230 11.036 <0.001 0.059
Positive emotions in evaluations −0.298 0.070 −0.242 −4.276 <0.001
4 (Constant) 0.799 0.160 5.007 <0.001 0.086
Negative emotions in the classroom 0.372 0.071 0.293 5.241 <0.001
5 (Constant) 0.995 0.159 6.252 <0.001 0.051
Negative emotions in the study 0.257 0.065 0.225 3.955 <0.001
6 (Constant) 1.092 0.154 7.101 <0.001 0.039
Negative emotions in evaluations 0.211 0.061 0.197 3.446 <0.001
B, unstandardized coefficient; UDE, unstandardized deviation error; β, standardized regression coefficient; Dependent variable: intention to drop out.
and intention to drop out. Before moving forward with the results
that allowed us to respond to the intention of the study, we
explored the reliability of the scores obtained in the instruments,
finding that the measures of internal consistency of the scales used
were adequate to interpret the results, being also congruent with
previous studies that have analyzed these scales, (Bieleke et al., 2021;
López-Angulo et al., 2021a,b).
The results indicate that the emotions reported by students
during class are pride, enjoyment, and hope. Students feel proud
of themselves in class; they feel proud of what they learn about
their subject area, which motivates them to continue attending.
Also, when attending classes, students typically enjoy being in the
class; they are excited about learning in the class, motivated by
the class, and love participating. They feel the excitement of hope
in the confidence and optimism that comes from learning new
material in class.
Moving forward with the emotions during learning or referring
to the moment of studying, the trend described when they are in
class is repeated, i.e., they report enjoying the challenge of learning
the new course material, as well as feeling happy when they are
aware that they are advancing in their learning sessions, they also
report hope and optimism by developing confidence due to the
progress they are making, and of course they feel proud of their
progress and achievements which generates motivation to continue
learning, it is essential to mention that all the emotions described
are considered positive emotions of high activation.
The students reported two types of emotions during the
evaluations, on the one hand, emotions of relief and pride, which
can be interpreted as the pride they feel when they perceive that
they have performed well on the test, feel that the effort they have
made during the study has been worthwhile, and feel that they have
grown in their mastery of the evaluated content. In contrast, relief is
associated with the post-test experience. This is consistent because
anxiety was reported as one of the most experienced emotions at the
time of the evaluation, feeling nervous, worrying about not being
able to finish on time due to the difficulty, and even wishing not to
take the exam; anxiety is considered an academic emotion of high
arousal (Bieleke et al., 2021).
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4.1 Academic emotions reported by
students according to the emergency
remote education experiences generated
by COVID-19
Regarding H1, referred to check if there are differences
in academic emotions reported by students according to the
emergency remote education experiences generated by COVID-
19, the results showed that students who entered the university in
2020 reported less embarrassment than those of other years. It can
be interpreted that students who entered that year are currently
more advanced in their university career; this has exposed them
to multiple academic situations linked to academic achievement
or failure, the latter linked to negative emotions such as anxiety,
shame, or fear of failure that students have probably learned to
manage during their university career and also because of their
age (Respondek et al., 2017;Ekornes, 2022) in addition they
entered in full COVID-19 contingency to college which according
to studies was a period in which academic embarrassment was
reported (Vo et al., 2021;Ghaderi et al., 2022). Similarly, statistically
significant differences were found in anxiety levels, which were
higher for first-year students and decreased as they progressed;
note that the lowest anxiety levels were reported by upperclassmen
(Respondek et al., 2017).
4.2 Differences by sex in academic
emotions
Regarding H2, referring to differences in students’ academic
emotions concerning sex, we found that in the case of emotions
during classes and study, no statistically significant differences were
identified. However, we found statistically significant emotional
differences during evaluations or tests. In that case, the findings can
be summarized as follows: emotional valence in males during tests
tends to be of more pleasant valence than for females, e.g., greater
enjoyment and hope, while for females, the valence of emotions
tends to be more displeasing, e.g., anxiety, being consistent with the
findings of Ekornes (2022). These results are in the general line of
affirming that gender could have implications in psychoeducational
variables such as academic emotions (Pekrun and Stephens, 2012)
and achievement (Lei and Cui, 2016), as well as in the retention
of students in some regions of knowledge such as STEM in which
women show greater probability of engaging in a self-deprecating
cycle driven by negative academic emotions (Pelch, 2018).
4.3 Predominance of emotions during
academic activities
To answer H3, referring to the predominance of positive and
negative emotions during the performance of academic activities
by university students, a more significant predominance of positive
emotions was identified in all moments: during class, during study,
and tests, positive emotions are highlighted during the moments
of study on classes and evaluations, while negative emotions are
presented to a lesser extent, being their highest score in the
case of academic evaluations, evidence in line with the theory of
the control-value theory of achievement emotions (Pekrun et al.,
2007;Pekrun and Stephens, 2012), having implications in how the
emotional experience is varied, subjective, activation and not only
emphasizing the anxiety that the academic and evaluation context
can cause in students.
Similarly, when analyzing the average of positive and negative
emotions in the sample, the finding of statistically significant
reporting of positive emotions by males during the tests than
females is repeated. As exposed by Lei and Cui (2016), there is some
vulnerability in female students in reporting a lower frequency
of positive academic emotions compared to male students, and
even the literature has shown that women tend to present more
negative affectivity in everyday life and academic situations (Prowse
et al., 2021;Bermejo-Franco et al., 2022;Díaz-Mosquera et al.,
2022;Kaleta and Mróz, 2022), this possible vulnerability should
be addressed in university spaces through counseling and advice
spaces that perform psychoeducational interventions that provide
tools to women at the level of emotional regulation, coping and
even emotional intelligence (Goetz and Bieg, 2016).
4.4 Prediction of academic emotions in
the adaptation to university life and the
intention to drop out
The results indicated that the sample presented adequate
adaptation to university life and low intention to drop out on
the part of the participating students. Positive emotions during
classes, learning, and tests predict students’ adaptation to college,
while they inversely predict the intention to drop out. This
finding is also congruent in the opposite direction, as negative
emotions predict dropout intention and inversely predict college
adjustment. Furthermore, it is consistent with a study at a German
university that found negative emotions to predict college dropout,
specifically anxiety (Respondek et al., 2017).
Our findings are also consistent with research conducted at
a university in Norway, in which it was explained that academic
emotions contribute significantly to the variance of explanation
of the intention to drop out of university studies, with emphasis
on emotions related to learning (Ekornes, 2022). Similarly, it adds
to the evidence reported by Ganotice et al. (2016) about the
emotional profiles that explain adequate or maladaptive outcomes
in university education; specifically, those students who experience
higher positive and lower negative academic emotions are those
with better adaptive educational outcomes and then those students
with moderate levels of shame and high positive emotions, while
the worst maladaptive university profile is those students with
high negative and few positive academic emotions; in our research
positive emotions during classes have greater weight and even
more significant effect size in explaining university adaptation,
previously Yu et al. (2020) explained that academic emotions are
directly implicated in college academic persistence, and Wang et al.
(2022) explained that one of the internal mechanisms that mediate
students’ interactions with professors, content, and other peers are
academic emotions.
Therefore, evidence suggests that positive academic emotions
may be more suitable than those considered in promoting better
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college outcomes and learning performance in students, as well as
the importance of both positive and negative academic emotions
in the activation spectrum of either high or low activation in the
college student experience such as pride, enjoyment, hope, relief,
anxiety and others in college retention (Lei and Cui, 2016;Tan
et al., 2021); previous evidence suggests that academic emotions
have long-term implications on psychological wellbeing, self-
regulated learning, and harmonious passion displayed in studies,
(Sverdlik et al., 2022).
The results have some practical theoretical implications, among
them: (a) the importance of positive emotions as mechanisms that
regulate cognitions and other resources as explored in the broaden-
and-build theory (Fredrickson, 2002); (b) the theory of emotions
that groups them according to object focus: achievement emotions,
epistemic emotions, topic emotions (Pekrun, 2016;Pekrun and
Linnenbrink-Garcia, 2022); (c) the balance between boredom and
anxiety explained by Flow theory to motivate behaviors from a
perception of challenge and overcoming (Csikszentmihalyi, 2013);
(d) sources of self-efficacy precisely: the one referred to previous
achievements and emotional and physiological responses (1997);
(e) self-regulated learning as it is understood that some emotions
such as those referred to achievement would enable conditions to
commit to one’s own learning (Pekrun and Perry, 2014;Asikainen
et al., 2018;Martínez-López et al., 2021a); and (f) the possible
relationship of academic emotions with self-determination theory
specifically the need for competence (Ryan and Deci, 2022).
The practical implications of this research can be enlisted in two
directions. On the one hand, academic guidance, and counseling
services to carry out psychological interventions aimed at students
that allow them to adapt adequately to university life, possibly
with interventions to promote personal resources such as emotional
regulation, coping, psychological flexibility, emotional intelligence,
and other emotional competencies that can be activated for the
benefit of students, it is crucial that these spaces for growth have
a gender vision.
On the other hand, there are implications for teachers when
planning and executing their classes, among them planning safe
and positive learning environments, providing support for student
autonomy, providing contextualized examples, generating a warm
classroom environment to answer students’ comments and doubts,
reinforcing their curiosity, giving effective feedback based on
content mastery, and making use of verbal persuasion as a source
of self-efficacy. Teachers should also guide how to study the
contents when students must perform their individual or group
learning sessions. Teachers should also be transparent, predictable,
and concrete about the test’s learning outcomes (Pekrun and
Stephens, 2012;Pekrun and Linnenbrink-Garcia, 2022). Similarly,
another implication could be strengthening self-regulated learning
strategies from the sources of academic self-efficacy (Bzuneck,
2018).
As a final reflection, it is essential to mention that in this
study, positive academic emotions prevail over negative ones.
However, it is essential to remember that although the latter
are unpleasant, they also have adaptive functions within the
psychological, motivational, and behavioral components in the
academic context (Pekrun and Stephens, 2012). This research is
intended to study how emotions affect university permanence.
However, it is not intended to establish a utopian or simplistic look
at the situation of positive emotions vs. negative emotions in the
university experience.
The study’s main strength is to contribute to a field of
knowledge about how academic emotions are related to educational
outcomes, in this case, university adaptation and intention to
drop out (Camacho-Morles et al., 2021). However, this study has
some limitations that can be considered in future research. Among
them are non-probabilistic sampling, not including students from
several careers and different locations or type of institutions
(public and private), inclusion of objective indicators of the
university experience such as academic performance, and not
only having self-report evaluations, but future research should
also explore the academic emotions generated in specific areas
of knowledge such as mathematics and statistics. Longitudinal
studies could also investigate how the relationships between
the analyzed constructs change across semesters. In promoting
adaptation to higher education, psychological practices may
include fostering students’ development of emotional skills
and resilience.
5 Conclusion
The academic emotions that characterize the college experience
are varied. They can be classified into three moments: during class,
pride, enjoyment, and hope are experienced; during learning
or study, those above were reported; and during evaluations
or tests, relief, anxiety, and pride are experienced. Therefore,
positive emotions are predominant over negative ones. The
report of academic emotions varies according to the year of
entry to the university; For example, less embarrassment and
anxiety are reported in senior students. It was also found
that there are differences in the academic emotions present
in the different academic activities according to the gender
of the students, with male students reporting higher positive
emotions. Finally, it is concluded that academic emotions
have implications for college adjustment and intention
to drop out; precisely, positive emotions during classes,
learning, and testing predict students’ college adjustment
while inversely predicting intention to drop out. This finding
is also congruent in the opposite direction, with negative
emotions predicting dropout intention and inversely predicting
college adjustment.
Data availability statement
The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be
made available by the authors, without undue reservation.
Ethics statement
The studies involving humans were approved by Comité de
Ética, Universidad del Desarrollo. The studies were conducted
in accordance with the local legislation and institutional
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Cobo-Rendón et al. 10.3389/feduc.2023.1303765
requirements. The participants provided their written informed
consent to participate in this study.
Author contributions
RC-R: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation,
Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision,
Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing. VH:
Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Project
administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing – original draft,
Writing – review and editing. DG-Á: Investigation, Methodology,
Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing.
RC: Data curation, Formal analysis, Software, Visualization,
Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing.
Funding
The author(s) declare financial support was received for
the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This
research is part of the "Academic Emotions, well-being, and
Autonomy Support as Predictors of Adaptation and Intention
to drop out of university life" project, funded by the Centro de
Innovación Docente (CID), Universidad del Desarrollo, Chile.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the
absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be
construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Publisher’s note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the
authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated
organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the
reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or
claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or
endorsed by the publisher.
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