Emotional Regulation and Academic Performance in the Academic Context: The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy in Secondary Education Students

Background: in the school stage, adolescents experience different emotional and motivational states involved in the learning process that play a fundamental role in their personal and academic development. In this way, the study focuses on analyzing the relationships between emotional regulation, self-efficacy and academic performance, as well as the possible mediating role of self-efficacy in both. Methods: the study included 2204 students, both male (N = 1193; 54.12%) and female (N = 1011; 45.87%) with ages ranging from 12 to 18 years (M = 14.69; DT = 1.76). The measures used for the investigation were the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), the Academic Self-Efficacy Scale (ASES) and average marks were used to measure students’ academic performance. Results: The results of the study revealed a self-determined behavioral pattern characterized by high scores in emotional regulation, self-efficacy and academic performance. Likewise, the mediating role of self-efficacy between emotional regulation and student academic performance was significant. Conclusion: the influence of the academic self-efficacy variable as a mediator between the studied constructs is denoted, as well as the importance of promoting adaptive behaviors in the classroom that can lead to adequate personal development of students together with optimal academic performance.