Extending self-regulated learning to include self-regulated emotion strategies

Emotions and their regulation were examined in favorite and least favorite academic courses. Building on prior research, three forms of regulation (suppression, reappraisal, and rumination) were examined. Reappraisal was positively related to positive emotions across contexts and negatively related to negative emotions in favorite courses. Rumination was positively related with negative emotions in both contexts and negatively related to positive emotions in least favorite courses. Surprisingly, suppression was negatively related to activated positive emotions (excitement) in favorite courses, but positively related to positive deactivated emotions (relaxation) in least favorite courses. Person-centered analyses using latent classes revealed that in favorite courses, the use of rumination was critical in differentiating regulatory profiles. In contrast, reappraisal distinguished among the regulatory profiles in least favorite courses. Results suggest that self-regulated emotion strategies are differentially employed based on course preference and highlight the potential utility in considering self-regulated emotion strategies as part of self-regulated learning.