“I Know What You Think About Math, Now Tell Me What You Feel”: The Mediating Role of Emotions in the Relation Between Motivational Beliefs and Students’ Achievement

Abstract

To better understand the motivational mechanisms underlying students’ academic success, this study examined the mediating role of emotions in the relationship between academic motivation and mathematics achievement, while controlling for prior achievement. Academic motivation was conceptualized within Expectancy–Value Theory and operationalized through motivational beliefs in mathematics, including expectancies for success, three value dimensions (interest, utility, and attainment value), and four cost dimensions (effort, opportunity, emotional, and ego cost). As value reflects positively and cost reflects negatively valenced appraisals of learning situations, we focused on the mediating role of positive and negative classroom-related emotions. The study used data from the longitudinal research project “Towards Effective Learning: Analysis of the Psychological Mechanisms of Obstacles to Learning Mathematics”. The sample comprised 1,430 ninth-grade students (Mage = 15.26) from across Lithuania, who completed questionnaires assessing motivational beliefs and classroom-related emotions, while mathematics achievement was obtained from school records. SEM-based mediation analysis revealed that positive emotions consistently served as mediators in the relationships between value and cost dimensions and mathematics achievement, whereas negative emotions played a more limited mediating role, as mediation through negative emotions was observed only for utility value and ego cost. Notably, ego cost exhibited a pattern distinctive from other costs: a higher ego cost was associated with stronger positive emotions, which in turn predicted higher mathematics achievement, while also being associated with stronger negative emotions, which predicted lower achievement. These findings highlight the importance of considering emotions as mediators in the relationships between motivational beliefs and achievement within the Expectancy–Value framework.