Envolvimento académico na adolescência: o papel das estratégias de regulação emocional = Student engagement in youth: the role of emotional regulation strategies

A adolescencia e um periodo do desenvolvimento humano em que o estado emocional sofre mais flutuacoes, ocorrendo reacoes mais intensas face ao stress, bem como a experiencia de emocoes de valencia negativa com maior frequencia (Riediger & Klipker, 2014). Estas caracteristicas da resposta emocional durante a adolescencia sao mediadas pela capacidade de regulacao emocional (Opitz, Gross, & Urry, 2012). A regulacao emocional (RE) apresenta-se como o processo dinamico que permite ao individuo responder ao stress de forma adaptativa. Apesar da controversia relativamente a adequacao das estrategias de RE, e possivel destacar a reestruturacao cognitiva, a resolucao de problemas e a aceitacao como estrategias de RE que tem mostrado melhores resultados em termos de recuperacao face ao stress, diminuicao do risco para o desenvolvimento de perturbacoes do humor e promocao do bem-estar e qualidade de vida (Troy & Mauss, 2011). O envolvimento academico e descrito enquanto um construto multidimensional que contribui para a performance academica e para a conclusao dos estudos. O presente estudo analisa a associacao entre estrategias de regulacao emocional cognitiva e o envolvimento academico. Neste estudo transversal participaram 1434 estudantes entre os 12 e os 25 anos de idade (Midade= 16.06, 59% genero feminino, 93.8% portugueses) que responderam as versoes de autorrelato do Questionario de regulacao emocional cognitiva – versao reduzida (Garnefski & Kraaij, 2006, versao portuguesa de Castro et al., 2013) e do Questionario de Envolvimento dos alunos (Lam, et al., 2004). Os resultados mostraram associacoes positivas moderadas entre o envolvimento dos alunos e a reavaliacao positiva (r = .32) e o planeamento (r = .40), e associacoes positivas fracas entre o envolvimento e a aceitacao (r = .23) e colocar em perspetiva (r = .22). Os resultados mostraram tambem que os participantes do genero feminino reportaram valores superiores de envolvimento academico, comparativamente com os participantes do genero masculino (t(1401) = -3.697, p < .001). Nao se encontraram diferencas de idade. A regressao hierarquica multipla foi utilizada para analisar o valor preditivo das estrategias de regulacao emocional referidas no envolvimento academico, apos controlar para o genero. A covariavel foi adicionada na primeira etapa, explicando apenas 3% da variancia no envolvimento academico. Apos a insercao das estrategias de regulacao emocional a variancia total explicativa do modelo foi de 19%, F(5, 1414) = 66.04, p < .001. No modelo final, a estrategia de regulacao emocional cognitiva com maior poder explicativo foi o Planeamento (β = .30, p<.001), comparativamente com as restantes. Adolescence is a period in the human development during which the emotional state suffers more fluctuations, with more intense reactions to stress and more frequently experiences of negative emotions (Riediger & Klipker, 2014). These characteristics of emotional response during adolescence are mediated by the emotion regulation (ER) competencies (Opitz, Gross, & Urry, 2012). ER is a dynamic process that allows the individual to respond to stress in an adaptive way. Despite the controversy regarding the adequacy of ER strategies, it is possible to highlight cognitive reappraisal, problem solving and acceptance, as ER strategies that have shown better results in terms of recovery from stress, decreased risk for development of mood disorders and promotion of well-being and quality of life (Troy & Mauss, 2011). Student engagement can be described as a multidimensional construct that contributes to academic performance and studies completion. The present study analyses the association between cognitive emotional regulation strategies and student engagement. This cross-sectional study involved 1434 students between 12 and 25 years old (Mage= 16.06, 59% female, 93.8% Portuguese) whom respond to the self-reported versions of the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire-Short version (Garnefski & Kraaij, 2006, Portuguese version by Castro et al., 2013) and Student Engagement Questionnaire (Lam, et al., 2004). The results showed moderate positive associations between student engagement and positive reappraisal (r = .32) and refocusing on planning (r = .40) and positive weak associations between student engagement and acceptance (r = .23) and putting into perspective (r = .22). The results also shown that female participants reported higher scores on student engagement in comparison with male participants (t(1401) = -3.697, p < .001). No age differences were found. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to assess the ability of ER strategies to predict levels of student engagement, after controlling for gender. The confounding variable was entered at Step 1, explaining only 3% of the variance in student’s engagement. After entry of ER strategies at Step 2 the total variance explained by the model was 19%, F(5, 1414) = 66.04, p < .001. In the final model, the cognitive ER strategy with greater explanatory power was refocusing on planning (β = .30, p<.001) in comparison with the others. Palavras-chave / Keywords: Adolescencia, Envolvimento academico, Regulacao emocional, Planeamento. Adolescence, Emotion regulation, Planning, Reappraisal, Student engagement.