Contemporary educational literature suggests that academic emotions and emotion regulation should be explored in tandem, while academic motivation has been discussed both as a self-regulation metacognitive construct and as a construct inherently tied to motivation. The present study uses a person-centered approach to explore profiles of university students based on academic emotions, emotion regulation, academic self-regulation, and approaches to learning. In addition, the impact of students’ profiles on academic performance (GPA) is investigated. The sample consists of 509 university students studying at a Greek university social science department. Cluster techniques and multivariate analysis of variance are used to identify the profiles and test for differences among them. Students were grouped in clusters that revealed both consistent and dissonant patterns of scores on the relevant variables. Analysis reveals three distinct profiles: (a) the “Anxious, effectively-engaged, and organized learners”, (b) the “Deep, Happy, and intrinsically motivated learners” and (c) the “Disengaged, Bored, and Suppressing Learners”. These profiles open new insights into educational literature, revealing links among learning, emotional, and motivational factors. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

The present study is exploring a pathway connecting emotion regulation with academic progress. Specifically, the pattern through which emotion regulation is implicated in learning and academic progress through academic emotions and sense of coherence. This cross-sectional study involves of 406 undergraduate social science students recruited from a university in western Greece. Participants anonymously and voluntarily completed a number of self-report measures. The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, the Sense of Coherence Scale, the Student Experience of Emotions Inventory and the Approaches to Learning and Studying Inventory, were used to measure emotion regulation, sense of coherence, academic emotional experiences and approaches to learning, respectively. Α four-stage model was tested with structural equation modelling techniques. In particular, the model examined associations between emotion regulation, sense of coherence, academic emotions, approaches to learning and academic progress. The analysis revealed pathways through which these associations appear to be maintained and driven by emotion regulation. Emotion regulation is associated with students’ academic emotions that in turn are linked with approaches to learning and academic progress. Both positive and negative emotions appear to play a role in enabling an adaptive approach to learning. Moreover, sense of coherence may serve as an important meta-cognitive factor enabling students to approach the learning process more effectively. The findings are discussed in the light of the recent literature.

The present study investigates students’ profiles taking into account of learning approaches and emotional variables along with the pace of study. The sample consists of 406 social science students (34.1% first-year, 27.6% second-year, 16.7% third-year and 21.6% are fourth-year students). They completed: (a) the Approaches to Learning and Studying Inventory (ALSI) (b) the Student Experience of Emotions Inventory (c) the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (d) the Need for Cognition-short form and (e) the Sense of Coherence Scale. The pace of study was assessed by the courses they failed. The statistical analysis used CFA, Cluster Analysis, MANOVA, Discriminant analysis and the Decision tree model. The study suggests the contribution of Sense of Coherence and Need for Cognition to students learning and supports recent suggestions about the crucial role of trait characteristics and mental health in learning. The findings reveal four students’ profiles: (a) surface-unorganized students (b) deep organized students (c) high dissonant students with a low sense of coherence and (d) moderate dissonant students with low need for cognition. In addition, first-year students are most likely to report increased level of failures. The findings are discussed in relation to recent literature.

This study aims to validate the Greek version of the 54-item Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (RFQ), a measure designed to assess an individual’s capacity for understanding themselves and others based on internal mental states. This capacity, also known as Reflective Functioning (RF) or mentalizing, is believed to play a significant role in both typical and atypical development. The validation process examined the factor structure of the RFQ and its relationship with a variety of psychosocial and clinical constructs that have theoretical and empirical links to RF. Additionally, this research investigated the factor structure’s invariance across gender and age groups to determine the robustness of the instrument. A unique contribution of this work lies in examining the application of the RFQ to attachment classifications through the use of cluster analysis. The sample consisted of 875 Greek adults from the general community with a mean age of 28.5 and a median age of 22. Participants completed the Greek RFQ along with a series of self-report questionnaires assessing psychosocial constructs, including attachment, epistemic trust, emotion regulation, and psychological mindedness, as well as clinical variables such as anxiety, depression, and borderline personality traits. Our findings suggest that a shorter, 31-item version of the questionnaire provides a robust three-factor structure across a non-clinical Greek adult population. The three identified subscales are (a) excessive certainty, (b) interest/curiosity, and (c) uncertainty/confusion, all demonstrating satisfactory reliability and construct validity. The uncertainty subscale was found to be associated with insecure attachment styles, epistemic mistrust and credulity, emotional suppression, and low psychological mindedness. In contrast, the certainty and curiosity subscales were linked to secure attachment, epistemic trust, emotion reappraisal, and psychological mindedness. Uncertainty was further shown to differ significantly across probable clinical and non-clinical groups, as distinguished by cut-off scores for anxiety, depression, and borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, the certainty and interest/curiosity subscales only varied between the two BPD groups. Our results provide the first evidence supporting the use of a 31-item version of the RFQ with three validated subscales to reliably assess reflective functioning in the Greek population, demonstrating stronger psychometric properties compared to other RFQ versions reported in previous studies. Findings suggest that impaired mentalizing capacity, as measured by the RFQ, is linked to insecure attachment, epistemic mistrust and credulity, poor emotion regulation, and low psychological mindedness, and potentially plays a role in adult mental health symptoms.

Research on emotional factors and mental health in higher education has gained traction. Much attention has focused on first-year students as a potentially at-risk group, though some studies suggest that all students might face similar risks. This study examines differences between junior and senior undergraduates in terms of mentalizing, emotion regulation (ER), and psychological mindedness, involving cognitive capacities significantly developed by late adolescence. These constructs relate to understanding one’s own and others’ mental states, potentially mediating the relationship between attachment and epistemic trust (ET). The current study includes 460 undergraduate students, most of whom are female (96%). Results show that senior students score higher on reappraisal, certainty, and interest/curiosity compared to junior students. However, these factors did not mediate the relationship between anxious attachment orientation and ET. Certainty and interest/curiosity mediated the relationship between avoidant attachment orientation and ET, suggesting similar mediation patterns for junior and senior students. On the other hand, suppression and uncertainty/confusion were critical mediators in the relationship between insecure (anxious and avoidant) attachment orientations and epistemic trust. Findings suggest that universities should (a) foster environments that support psychological capacity and facilitate positive learning experiences, and (b) enhance epistemic trust through safe curiosity and develop protective and preventive interventions.

Contemporary educational literature suggests that academic emotions and emotion regulation should be explored in tandem, while academic motivation has been discussed both as a self-regulation metacognitive construct and as a construct inherently tied to motivation. The present study uses a person-centered approach to explore profiles of university students based on academic emotions, emotion regulation, academic self-regulation, and approaches to learning. In addition, the impact of students' profiles on GPA and academic progress is investigated. The sample consists of 509 university students studying at a Greek university department from social science department. Cluster techniques and multivariate analysis of variance are used to identify the profiles and test for differences among them. Students were grouped in clusters that revealed both consistent and dissonant patterns of scores on the relevant variables. Analysis reveals three distinct profiles: (a) the "Anxious, effectively-engaged, and organized learners", (b) the "Deep, Happy and intrinsic motivated learners" and (c) the “Disengaged, Bored, and Suppressing Learners”. These profiles open new insights into educational literature revealing links among learning, emotional and motivational factors. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.