Students' cognitive performance and learning process can be influenced by emotional reactions to learning, such as boredom, enjoyment or anxiety. While most of the studies on this topic have been done in laboratories, new longitudinal research from Germany suggests that students' achievements can be influenced by school contexts.
The study was focused on math achievement, which is both known to create powerful emotional reactions among students and relevant for economic productivity and education.
Emotions Impact Academic Achievement
The research, published in the journal Child Development, found that emotions impacted students' performance in math over the years.
"Students with higher intelligence had better grades and test scores, but those who also enjoyed and took pride in math had even better achievement. Students who experienced anger, anxiety, shame, boredom, or hopelessness had lower achievement," noted Reinhard Pekrun, lead author of the study and professor of psychology at LMU Munich and Australian Catholic University.
The study was conducted on 3,425 German students, from grades five through nine, and it involved annual assessments of achievement and emotions in math. The students' emotions were self-reported and evaluated through questionnaires, while the students' achievements were measured by the grades at the end of the school year and scores on a math achievement test.
Additionally, the students were representative of Bavaria, and the research focused on non-immigrant, white families. However, among these, a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds from rural and urban places was assessed.
According to one of the researchers, good performance in math increased the positive emotions among the students and decreased the negative ones throughout the years, which means that the achievements also shaped emotions and not just vice-versa. Additionally, students who had lower test scores and grades had a lower level of positive emotions and a higher level of negative ones, such as boredom and anxiety toward math. The researchers believe that this type of association can lead to a vicious cycle when it comes to negative emotional associations and poor performance.
"Negative emotions (anger, anxiety, shame, boredom, hopelessness) negatively predicted achievement, and achievement negatively predicted these emotions. The findings were robust across waves, achievement indicators, and school tracks, highlighting the importance of emotions for students' achievement and of achievement for the development of emotions," noted the research.
Additionally, the research is consistent with previous studies on the matter, which showed that academic performance is correlated with emotional positioning. However, what this research brings to the table is the directional effect of negative emotions when it comes to poor grades and the duality of this correlation. Specifically, the authors of the research underlined the massive impact of adolescents' emotions on their academic performance, which is evaluated to weigh more than their grades and accomplishments.
Intrusive Parenting Bad For Academic Performance
While the current research stresses the fact that school administrators and educators should work on creating positive emotional responses among students, another research suggests that parents have a lot to do with their children's performance, as well. Intrusive parenting is harmful to children and their overall performance, as another research pointed out.
Children who have intrusive parents are more susceptible to anxiety and depression, and their overall school performance may have to suffer because of this form of abusive parenthood.
