The Impact of Academic Self-Concept, Academic Resilience, and Academic Engagement on the Academic Performance of Wasit University Students: The Mediating Role of Emotional Self-Regulation and the Moderating Role of Self-Esteem

Abstract

The present study aimed to examine the impact of academic self-concept, academic resilience, and academic engagement on academic performance, considering the mediating role of emotional self-regulation and the moderating role of self-esteem among students. The statistical population included all students of the Faculty of Educational and Human Sciences at Wasit University, Iraq, in 2023, from which a sample of 306 students (115 female and 185 male students) was selected through a multi-stage cluster random sampling method. Data were collected using the Academic Performance Questionnaire (Pham & Taylor, 1999), Academic Self-Concept Scale (Chen & Thompson, 2004), Academic Engagement Scale (Reeve & Tseng, 2011), Academic Resilience Scale (Samuels, 2006), Emotional Self-Regulation Scale (Hoffman & Kashdan, 2010), and Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965). The data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and structural equation modeling with SPSS-21 and AMOS-23 software. The results indicated that emotional self-regulation mediates the relationship between academic self-concept (P < .01), academic resilience (P< .01), and academic engagement (P< .05) with academic performance. Regarding the moderating role of self-esteem, the results showed that self-esteem could not play a moderating role among the studied variables. Based on the findings of the present study, it is recommended that higher education policymakers prioritize improving academic engagement and strengthening psychological variables such as self-regulation and contextual factors like academic self-concept and academic resilience to empower students to achieve educational goals and academic success.