Medical student’s academic performance: The role of academic emotions and motivation

INTRODUCTION: Identification of the factors that promote academic performance is of importance in the success rate of medical students. This study aimed to find the relationship between emotions, motivation and academic performance of medical students. METHODS: This descriptive-correlative study was conducted among 370 medical students in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences using convenience sampling. Academic emotions questionnaire (AEQ) including 75 items and college student version of work preference inventory including 30 items were used to collect the data. The Cronbach’s alpha for the eight types of academic emotions ranged from 0.73 to 0.86, and for the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation it was 0.81 and 0.87, respectively. The data were analyzed using Pearson correlation, multiple regression, independent t-test and one-way ANOVA through SPSS, 14. RESULTS: Results indicated a positive and significant correlation between positive emotions (enjoyment, hope, pride) and students' academic performance (r=0.37, r=0.27 and r=0.39, respectively, with p<0.01). A negative and significant correlation was found between negative emotions (anger, anxiety, hopelessness, shame and boredom) with students' academic performance (r=-0.15, r=-0.24, r=-0.23, r=-0.215 and r=-0.21, respectively, with p<0.01). There was a positive and significant correlation between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and academic performance (r=0.63, r=0.14, with p<0.01, p<0.05, respectively). Emotions related to enjoyment, hope, pride, hopelessness, boredom and intrinsic motivation were shown as the key predictors of students’ academic performance. CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed the key role of motivation and positive emotions in increasing medical students’ academic performance.