The importance of autonomy-supportive learning environments in college: exploring the role of emotion regulation strategies for academic goal progress

Low retention and graduation rates persist in U.S. higher education. Contextual factors, perceptions of learning climate, and emotion-regulation strategies can influence students’ academic goal progress. This study explored (a) whether the learning context (online or face-to-face classroom) affected students’ perception of the learning climate, emotion regulation strategies, and academic goal progress and (b) whether emotion-regulation strategies (i.e. reappraisal, self-blame, planning) mediated the learning climate-academic goal progress relationship. Using survey data collected from undergraduate students (n = 383), MANOVA revealed no significant differences for these variables across classroom contexts; whereas using serial mediation, the final models revealed a complex and nuanced path through which these three emotion regulation strategies partially mediated the learning climate-goal progress relationship. Results indicate the importance of creating an autonomy supportive environment and that students’ emotion regulation strategies play a mediating role linking perceptions of the learning climate with progress towards academic goals.