Achievement emotions predict transfer student academic success

Abstract

Transfer students comprise half of all undergraduate students, yet their educational experiences may differ in meaningful ways from those of traditional students. Importantly, the transfer student population is diverse and not monolithic. Achievement emotions, which occur in an iterative pattern with past experiences informing current and future emotions, are particularly understudied within the transfer population. This survey study (N = 721) examines how diverse transfer students’ enjoyment and anxiety achievement emotions relate to GPA and term-to-term persistence. Results of the study showed that both anxiety and enjoyment emotions predicted term GPA and persistence for transfer students. However, when controlling for anxiety emotions, enjoyment emotions were no longer a significant predictor. These relations differed across demographic groups. Achievement emotions are an integral part of transfer students’ experiences in higher education, creating opportunities for institutions to improve their students’ educational outcomes.