Achievement goals shape emotion regulation during goal pursuit

Background: Achievement goals are relatively high-order goals that shape how students pursue daily academic goals. When facing setbacks, students use emotion regulation strategies to cope. We extended achievement goal theory to examine whether distinct emotion regulation strategies underlie the links between mastery-approach and performance-approach goals and daily goal pursuit outcomes. Aims: We hypothesized mastery-approach goals would predict volitional emotional exploration (emotional integration), whereas performance-approach goals would predict rumination. Emotional integration and rumination, in turn, were expected to differentially predict daily goal outcomes. Sample: Sample 1 comprised 366 U.S. undergraduates. Sample 2 comprised 187 Israeli undergraduates. Sample 3 comprised 102 Israeli high school students. Methods: We conducted three correlational intensive longitudinal studies: a 10-day diary study (Sample 1), an experience sampling study (Sample 2), and a 7-day diary study (Sample 3). These designs and samples allowed examination of both day-level and real-time momentary reports of emotion regulation processes within different educational and developmental contexts. Students reported achievement goals, emotion regulation strategies, and goal outcomes (progress, effort, depressed mood). Mediation hypotheses were tested using multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM). Results: Across studies, mastery-approach goals predicted emotional integration, whereas performance-approach goals were associated with rumination (with one study also showing links to integration). In turn, emotion regulation strategies differentially predicted goal outcomes. Conclusions: Motivational and emotion regulation processes are tightly interconnected. These findings suggest that interventions aimed at promoting mastery-approach goals should also incorporate emotional integration as a strategy for coping with academic setbacks.