The importance of pride when learning math: The influence of academic emotions and motivation on mathematics achievement.

Abstract

The academic emotions (AE), grounded in control-value theory (Pekrun, 2006), is a wellknown construct whose importance for students’ motivation, learning strategies, and performance has been confirmed in numerous studies. Not all AE received equal attention, with negative emotions, especially anxiety, being the main focus of the mathematics achievement research. Findings about the intertwined influence of AE and related constructs such as motivation on academic outcomes have yet to be fully elucidated. The aims of the study were to examine the impact of academic emotions on mathematics academic achievement, after taking into account demographic variables (age, gender, type of school); determine whether the predictive power of academic emotions changes when the motivation for learning mathematics (intrinsic motivation, perceived utility, and perceived competence) is included; examine which tested emotions (enjoyment, pride, anger, anxiety, shame, hopelessness, boredom) will have the greatest significance for math achievement. The convenience sample of 457 students (70% female; Mage = 16.35), from grammar and vocational schools, completed the AEQ-M (Pekrun et al., 2011) and EVS (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000) instrument in the school or online format. Hierarchical regression analysis was conducted, with demographic variables entered in the first step of the model, positive emotions (enjoyment and pride) entered in the second step, negative emotions (shame, anger, anxiety, boredom, helplessness) entered in the third step, and motivation (utility, intrinsic and perceived competence) entered in the fourth step of the model. Results revealed that positive emotions significantly predicted achievement, even after accounting for demographic variables, and remained significant across all models (Model 2: R² = .377, p < .001). Their influence slightly diminished as additional variables were introduced. Negative emotions contributed minimally in Model 3 (ΔR² = .023, p < .001) but became nonsignificant in later models. Motivation, driven primarily by perceived competence, added to the predictive power in Model 4 (ΔR² = .027, p < .001). The final model explained 42.7% of the variance in math grades (F (2, 626) = 61.723, p < .001), with pride emerging as the most influential positive emotion. These findings indicate the importance of nurturing positive activating emotions in the classroom but also call for more research studies on positive emotions in everyday school context