The main aim of the present research is to analyze the predictive value of individual characteristics such as online self-efficacy, adaptability to uncertainty, and sources of stress during online learning on learning engagement. We also aimed to highlight if these relationships could be mediated by the online self-regulated learning strategies, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants were 529 university students and the design was cross-sectional. The results showed significant associations of the sources of stress in online learning with self-efficacy, leaning engagement and self-regulated learning strategies. Self-regulated strategies—task strategies and goal setting represent mediators of stressors perceived by the students under the conditions of the sudden shift to online activity and online learning engagement. The most relevant self-regulation strategies seemed to be goal setting and task strategies, which confirm the need for a clear structure of learning in the context of online activities. The implications of this study reside in the increased awareness regarding how learning engagement in online learning can be predicted by individual characteristics.

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The adaptation pressure of youths to a labor market with a low predictability degree determines the necessity of developing certain competences which can be easily transferrable and which can ensure the personal and professional success. We have considered non cognitive abilities (attitudes, emotions, behaviours) which proved to be significant predictors of success and mental health (Heckman, 2008) and which contribute significantly to a rise in emotional strength and to a wide range of adaptative strategies imposed by contemporary society (Opre et al., 2018). The speciality literature confirms the importance of non-cognitive abilities in the students’ / pupils’ academic success (Heckman et al., 2006; Heckman, 2008; Deming, 2015; Balica et al., 2016). The predictability degree of diverse non cognitive abilities over academic success is different as most studies do not supply relevant data about abilities such as self-efficacy, growth mindset or social awareness (Claro & Loeb, 2019), while abilities like self-management defined as the ability to regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in different situations (Duckworth & Carlson, 2013) represents a good predictor of academic achievement (Blair & Raver, 2015; Riggs et al., 2016). We consider self-management as being that umbrella construct which refers to abilities such as self-control, self-regulation, self-discipline, will power and self-power (Duckworth & Kern, 2011). Under the circumstances in which students with major risk abandonment participate in specific activities to develop personal, socio-emotional and learning management abilities, our study proposes to examine the variation of self-management abilities of students who participated in these activities and of students who did not participate in the activities and who are not prone to risk abandonment. Also, we wish to investigate if there is a relation between students’ self-management abilities and student achievement.

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