Effects of Levels of Self-Regulation and Regulatory Teaching on Strategies for Coping With Academic Stress in Undergraduate Students.

The SRL vs. ERL TheoryTM predicts that regulation-related factors in the student and in the context combine to determine the student's levels in emotional variables, stress, and coping strategies. The objective of the present research was to test this prediction in the aspect of coping strategies. Our hypothesis posed that students' level of self-regulation (low-medium-high), in combination with the level of regulation promoted in teaching (low-medium-high), would determine the type of strategies students used to cope with academic stress; the interaction of these levels would focus coping strategies either toward emotions or toward the problem. A total of 944 university students completed validated questionnaires on self-regulation, regulatory teaching, and coping strategies, using an online tool. ANOVAs and MANOVAs (3 × 1; 3 × 3; 5 × 1) were carried out, in a quasi-experimental design by selection. Level of self-regulation and level of regulatory teaching both had a significant effect on the type of coping strategies used. The most important finding was that the combined level of self-regulation and external regulation, on a five-level scale or heuristic, predicted the type of coping strategies that were used. In conclusion, the fact that this combination can predict type of coping strategies used by the student lends empirical support to the initial theory. Implications for the teaching-learning process at university and for students' emotional health are discussed.

Unpleasant past experience as a determinant of cognitive, behavioral and physiological responses to academic stress in professional examination candidates / La experiencia desagradable como determinante de las respuestas cognitivas, conductuales y fisiológicas de estrés académico en universitarios opositores

This investigation established unpleasant past experience in interdependent and predictive relations with irrational beliefs, test anxiety, self-regulated study and academic stress, variables belonging to the competency for performing in highly demanding contexts. Participants were 221 candidates from preparatory academies who were competing for posts as public elementary school teachers. The variables were measured using validated self-reports. A linear, ex post-facto design was used, with inferential and structural analyses. Unpleasant experience was shown to have significant, positive, interdependent relations with irrational beliefs and physiological stress responses, as well as negative relations with self-regulated study. Significant, predictive, structural relations were found between unpleasant experience and cognitive, behavioral, and physiological stress responses. These results partially validate the relationships of the SLPS Competency model, explaining learning in stressful contexts, and offer evidence of the need to train students in these situations

Esta investigación estableció las relaciones de interdependencia y predicción entre experiencia desagradable previa y creencias irracionales, ansiedad evaluativa, autorregulación en el estudio y estrés académico, variables de la competencia para rendir en contextos de alta exigencia. Participaron 221 aspirantes de academias preparatorias a la función pública del cuerpo de Maestros. Las variables fueron medidas mediante autoinformes validados. El diseño fue ex post-facto lineal, con análisis inferenciales y estructurales. Los resultados mostraron relaciones significativas positivas de interdependencia de la experiencia desagradable con las creencias irracionales y respuestas fisiológicas de estrés, así como negativas con la autorregulación en el estudio. Además, apareció una relación estructural predictiva significativa entre experiencia desagradable y respuestas cognitivas, conductuales y fisiológicas de estrés. Estos resultados validan parcialmente las relaciones del modelo CAERE, explicando el aprendizaje en contextos estresantes, y evidencian la necesidad de entrenar a los estudiantes ante estas situaciones

A Linear Empirical Model of Self-Regulation on Flourishing, Health, Procrastination, and Achievement, Among University Students.

This research aimed to analyze the linear bivariate correlation and structural relations between self-regulation -as a central construct-, with flow, health, procrastination and academic performance, in an academic context. A total of 363 college students took part, 101 men (27.8%) and 262 women (72.2%). Participants had an average age of 22 years and were between the first and fifth year of studies. They were from five different programs and two universities in Bogotá city (Colombia). A validated ad hoc questionnaire of physical and psychological health was applied along with a battery of tests to measure self-regulation, procrastination, and flourishing. To establish an association relationship, Pearson bivariate correlations were performed using SPSS software (v. 22.0), and structural relationship predictive analysis was performed using an SEM on AMOS software (v. 22.0). Regarding this linear association, it was established that (1) self-regulation has a significant positive association on flourishing and overall health, and a negative effect on procrastination. Regarding the structural relation, it confirmed that (2) self-regulation is a direct and positive predictor of flourishing and health; (3) self-regulation predicts procrastination directly and negatively, and academic performance indirectly and positively; and (4) age and gender have a prediction effect on the analyzed variables. Implications, limitations and future research scope are discussed.