The purpose of the current study was twofold; (a) to investigate the developmental trends of 4 academic emotions (anxiety, boredom, enjoyment, and pride) and (b) to examine whether changes in emotions are linked to the changes in students' self-regulatory strategies (shallow, deep, and meta-cognitive) and achievement in mathematics. Four hundred and ninety-five Grade 7 students completed measures assessing their emotions and self-regulatory strategies in mathematics 3 times across 3 terms in a school year. Students' achievement for each term was collected from school records. Growth curve analyses showed that students' enjoyment and pride in mathematics declined, whereas boredom increased over time. Anxiety remained relatively stable across the study period. The growth curve analyses also showed that changes in positive emotions were systematically associated with changes in self-regulated leaming and achievement. Overall, the results suggest that in addition to the "will" and the "skill," students need the "thrill" to succeed in school.

Although a bulk of literature shows that perceived social support (PSS) influences academic achievement, the mechanisms through which this effect operates received little empirical attention. The present study examined the multiple mediational effects of motivational beliefs (competence beliefs and subjective value) and emotions (anxiety and enjoyment) that may account for the empirical link between PSS (from parents, peers and teachers) and mathematics achievement. The participants of the study were 238 grade 7 students (average age = 13.2 years, girls = 54%, predominantly native Dutch middle class socioeconomic status). A bootstrap analysis (a relatively new technique for testing multiple mediation) revealed that the motivational beliefs and the emotions, jointly, partially mediated the effect of PSS on achievement. The proportion of the effects mediated, however, varied across the support sources from 55% to 75%. The findings lend support to the theoretical assumptions in the literature that supportive social relationships influence achievement through motivational and affective pathways.

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The within-student variability in emotions and appraisals clearly demonstrates the adaptability of students with respect to situational affordances and constraints in their everyday classroom experiences. The significant covariations between the appraisals and emotions suggest that within-student variability in emotions is systematic.

The purpose of this study was to determine if there were distinct developmental trajectories of math anxiety during adolescence and if these trajectories predicted later STEM career choice. The study also evaluated whether the trajectories varied in relation to gender and race/ethnicity. Data were drawn from Longitudinal Study of American Youth-younger cohort that consisted of 3116 nationally representative sample of 7th grade students (48% Female, 70% European American) that were followed for 7 years. The results revealed four heterogeneous math anxiety trajectory groups: consistently low (34.68%), decreasing (23.72%), increasing (21.90%), and consistently high (20.12%). Trajectories varied with regard to race/ethnicity but not gender. Membership in consistently low or decreasing trajectory predicted later STEM career choice. The findings suggest that preventive interventions may benefit from targeting math anxiety during adolescence.Math anxiety is defined as "a feeling of tension and anxiety that interferes with the manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems in a wide variety of ordinary life and academic situations" (Richardson & Suinn, 1972, p. 551). Math anxiety is one of the most prevalent types of academic anxieties in school (see Cassady, 2010). For instance, the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment report (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], 2015) indicated that on average about 30% of 15-year students across 65 nations experience high levels of math anxiety. Math anxiety is negatively associated with math performance (e.g.,