Medical student?s academic performance: The role of academic emotions and motivation

Identification of the factors that promote academic
performance is of importance in the success rate of medical students.
This study aimed to find the relationship between emotions,
motivation and academic performance of medical students. This descriptive-correlative study was conducted
among 370 medical students in Shiraz University of Medical
Sciences using convenience sampling. Academic emotions
questionnaire (AEQ) including 75 items and college student
version of work preference inventory including 30 items were used
to collect the data. The Cronbach’s alpha for the eight types of
academic emotions ranged from 0.73 to 0.86, and for the intrinsic
and extrinsic motivation it was 0.81 and 0.87, respectively. The
data were analyzed using Pearson correlation, multiple regression,
independent t-test and one-way ANOVA through SPSS, 14. Results indicated a positive and significant correlation
between positive emotions (enjoyment, hope, pride) and students’
academic performance (r=0.37, r=0.27 and r=0.39, respectively,
with p<0.01). A negative and significant correlation was found
between negative emotions (anger, anxiety, hopelessness, shame
and boredom) with students’ academic performance (r=-0.15, r=-
0.24, r=-0.23, r=-0.215 and r=-0.21, respectively, with p<0.01).
There was a positive and significant correlation between intrinsic
and extrinsic motivation and academic performance (r=0.63, r=0.14,
with p<0.01, p<0.05, respectively). Emotions related to enjoyment,
hope, pride, hopelessness, boredom and intrinsic motivation were
shown as the key predictors of students’ academic performance. The results of this study showed the key role of
motivation and positive emotions in increasing medical students’
academic performance