The Influence Of School Interpersonal And Intergroup Emotions On Academic Sentiment Of High School Students And Its Mechanism

Academic emotions(AE)are defined as those emotions directly linked to academic learning,classroom instruction and achievement(e.g.,enjoryment of learning,pride of success,or test-related anxiety)(Pekrun,Goetz,Titz,Perry,2002;Pekrun,2000;Pekrun,Goetz,Frenzel,Barchfeld,&Perry,2011).The social congitive Control-Value Theory proposed by Pekrun et al.(2002)provide an overarching framework to investigate possible individual and situational antecedents of AEs.This theory posits that students’appraisals of their controllability and values of achievement activities and their outcomes are the primary sources of AEs.In this regard,control and value appraisals can be assumed to be able to mediate the impacts of situational factors,such as instruction quality and achievement-related expectancies of significant others,on AEs.Although AE has become a matter of increasing public concern,we are not aware of empirical studies that investigate the interpersonal consequences of AE.In this study,we proposed a model to investigate the effects of teachers’ teaching emotions,classroom emotional climate,and intimate classmates on individual students’ AE.In line with the Control-Value theory,we hypothesized that students’ control and value appraisals served as potential mediators.In addition,interpersonal behviors of the actors,such as teachers’ teaching behaviors and classmates’ prosocial behaviors,as well as the interpersonal relationship betweem actors and partners,such as the teacher-student relationship and peer relationship,may also play a mediating role.Study 1 aimed at developing a short version of Academic Emotion Questionnaire(AEQ)developed by Yu et al.(2007).In a sample of 230 secondary school students recruited from two schools in Shaanxi and Hunan,the Confirmatory Factor Analysis(CFA)suggested that a four-factor model fitted the data very well,including positive-high arousal AEs(pride,enjoyment,and hope),positive-low arousal AEs(content,calmness,and relief),negative-high arousal AEs(anxiety,shame,and anger),and negative-low arousal AEs(boredom,hopelessness,depression,and fatigue).The coefficient alpha of the four sub-scales was.76,.77,.77,.82,respectively.AEQ-short consisted of a total of 39 items,with only 3 items for each discrete emotion.Thus,AEQ-short is a psychometrically acceptable measure of AEs.The primary purpose of Study 2 was to investigate whether student AE could be affected by their teachers’ emotions,and if so,whether this process could be mediated by teachers’ effective teaching behaviors,as well as by students’ appraisals of control and values and interpersonal relationship with their teachers.The final sample consisted of 93 teachers and 3883 students recruited from 9 high schools across China.Cross-level mediation analyses showed that teachers’ positive and negative emotions were significantly related with students’ positive-high arousal AEs and negative-high arousal AEs,respectively;students’ control and value appraisals and teachers’ effective teaching behaviors together fully mediated the effects of teachers’ positive emotions on students’ positive-high arousal AEs,and students’ control appraisals and teachers’effective teaching behaviors together fully mediated the effects of teachers’ negative emotions on students’ negative-high arousal AEs.However,interpersional relationship with teachers showed no significant mediating effect.In Study 3,we investigated whether students’ control and value appraisals and peer relationship mediated the impacts of classroom emotional climate on individual student AEs.The final sample consisted of 108 classes and 4908 students recruited from 9 high schools across China.Cross-level mediation analyses showed that classroom emotional climate had a positive effect on students’ AEs,and students’ control and value appraisals and peer relationship partially mediated the effects of classroom emotional climate on students’ AEs.However,it was important to note the overall effect sizes of these three mediators were relatively small for all models examined.The primary purpose of Study 4 was to investigate whether AEs could be affected by close friends in the same class,and if so,whether this process could be mediated by control and value appraisals,peer relationship,and friends’ prosocial behaviors.The final sample consisted of 1217 dyads of intimate classmates(n = 2314).The structural equation modelling showed that students’ AEs could be affected by intimate classmates,and students’ control and value appraisals and peer relationship partially mediated the effects of the AEs of intimate classmates in most models examined.However,friends’prosocial behaviors were not a valid mediator.It was also noted that peer acceptance may serve as a moderator.In the above three studies,AEs are assessed in a traitlike manner,which capture the stable and consistent emotional reactions to various situational factors.Nevertheless,it cannot embrace microprocesses that likely are at work in interpersonal transmission of AEs.In Study 5,a more fine-grained approach was designed to assess students’ dayily AEs.The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of state-like AEs by intimate classmates.A total of 107 dyads of intimate classmates were assessed daily for a whole week(five days).The cross-lagged model showed that the state-like AEs could be affected by intimate classmates.AEs are being recognized as critical variables affecting various aspects of students’academic functionings.To date,however,there is a lack of robust quantitative evidence for the effects of teachers’ teaching emotions,classroom emotional climate,and intimate classmates on individual students’ AE.Our study extends existing AE literature by showing that teachers’ emotions,classroom emotional climate,and intimate classmates’academic emotions could be important sources of students’ AEs.This issue has received surprisingly little empirical attention but would advance our understanding of the transmission of AEs in the academic settings.More importantly,our study moves AE research forward by proposing a possible mechanism for the sources of AEs.Our study demonstrates that teachers’ effective teaching behaviors,students’ value and control appraisals,and peer relationship act as important mediators.By explicitly examining the mediating roles of these individual and interpersonal variables,this study provides new theoretical insights into how AE is affected by the emotions of significant others in the academic settings.In addition,the theoretical model proposed in this study may provide an important framework for future studies.A better understanding of effects of the emotions of significant others on students’AE in academic settings is of practical importance,and contributes to the development of more effective interventions to prevent negative emotions from spreading around in the classroom.This study has provided important managerial implications for dealing with AE.It becomes clear from our study that one’s AEs are important not only for themselves,but also have important consequences for those students with whom they interact frequently.This emphasizes the importance for school administrators to take proactive steps to foaster positive AEs on the one hand,and prevent negative AEs on the other hand.