The Relations of Academic Resiliency and Cognitive Appraisal to Academic Self-Handicapping: The Mediating Role of Achievement Emotions

his study aimed to examine the mediating role of the achievement emotions in the relationship between academic resiliency and cognitive appraisal, and academic self-handicapping among university students. Three hundred students (128 males, 172 females) were selected using convenience sampling. The participants completed the Academic Resilience Scale (ARS; Martin, & Marsh,2006), the Stress Appraisal Measure-Revised (SAM-R; Rowley, Roesch, Jurica, & Vaughn, 2005), the Academic Achievement Questionnaire-Revised (AAQ-R; Pekrun, Goetz, & Perry, 2005). and the Academic Self-Handicapping Scale (ASS; Midgley, Arunkumar, & Urdan, 1996). The structural equation modeling was used to examine mediating role of achievement emotions in the relationship between academic resiliency and cognitive appraisal processes and academic self-handicapping. The results indicated that the partially mediated model of achievement emotions in the relationship between academic resiliency and cognitive appraisals and academic self-handicapping had good fit to the data. In the hypothesized model, all of the regression weights were statistically significant. Academic resiliency, cognitive appraisals, and positive and negative emotions accounted for 59% of the variance in academic self-handicapping.