Emotional engagement in the association between motivational beliefs and achievement in secondary school physics

Antonio Javier Casas; Meimei Liu; Gabriela Fernández-Theoduloz; Victor Ortuño; Antonio Javier Casas; Meimei Liu; Gabriela Fernández-Theoduloz; Victor Ortuño

doi:10.3934/steme.2026032

STEM Education

2026, Volume 6, Issue 5: 802-825. doi: 10.3934/steme.2026032

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Research article

Emotional engagement in the association between motivational beliefs and achievement in secondary school physics

1.
Maldonado Teacher Training Institute, Council for Teacher Education, Pérez del Puerto 651, Maldonado, 20000, Uruguay; antonio.casas@docente.ceibal.edu.uy
2.
School of Psychology, University of the Republic, Montevideo, Uruguay; jcasas@psico.edu.uy, gfernandez@psico.edu.uy, vortuno@psico.edu.uy
3.
Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands; m.m.liu@vu.nl

Academic Editor: William Guo

Received: 12 April 2026 Revised: 14 June 2026 Accepted: 22 June 2026 Published: 05 August 2026

Motivational beliefs are closely related to academic achievement, yet the affective processes through which they are associated with performance remain insufficiently specified in science education, particularly in subject-specific learning contexts such as Physics. General Emotional Engagement (GEE) may represent a relevant affective pathway in this association; however, it has rarely been examined as an intervening variable in structural models. In this study, we examined whether GEE is statistically associated with the link between motivational beliefs and Physics achievement in upper-secondary education. An initial sample of 340 secondary-school students completed measures of self-efficacy, expectancy of success, task value, and class-related achievement emotions. Two structural equation models were estimated, with socioeconomic status, gender, academic year, and academic track included as covariates. In both models, motivational beliefs were positively associated with GEE, which was positively associated with course grades; the indirect associations through GEE and the direct associations with grades were statistically significant. Overall, the findings support the view that emotional engagement may help explain how motivational beliefs are associated with achievement in Physics classrooms. Moreover, the self-efficacy model showed better fit and greater parsimony than the expectancy–value model, suggesting that competence-related beliefs may be more closely aligned with Physics achievement during adolescence.
- emotional engagement,
- achievement emotions,
- self-efficacy,
- expectancy-value,
- physics education,
- secondary school
Citation: Antonio Javier Casas, Meimei Liu, Gabriela Fernández-Theoduloz, Victor Ortuño. Emotional engagement in the association between motivational beliefs and achievement in secondary school physics[J]. STEM Education, 2026, 6(5): 802-825. doi: 10.3934/steme.2026032

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Abstract

Motivational beliefs are closely related to academic achievement, yet the affective processes through which they are associated with performance remain insufficiently specified in science education, particularly in subject-specific learning contexts such as Physics. General Emotional Engagement (GEE) may represent a relevant affective pathway in this association; however, it has rarely been examined as an intervening variable in structural models. In this study, we examined whether GEE is statistically associated with the link between motivational beliefs and Physics achievement in upper-secondary education. An initial sample of 340 secondary-school students completed measures of self-efficacy, expectancy of success, task value, and class-related achievement emotions. Two structural equation models were estimated, with socioeconomic status, gender, academic year, and academic track included as covariates. In both models, motivational beliefs were positively associated with GEE, which was positively associated with course grades; the indirect associations through GEE and the direct associations with grades were statistically significant. Overall, the findings support the view that emotional engagement may help explain how motivational beliefs are associated with achievement in Physics classrooms. Moreover, the self-efficacy model showed better fit and greater parsimony than the expectancy–value model, suggesting that competence-related beliefs may be more closely aligned with Physics achievement during adolescence.

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Authors' biographies Antonio Javier Casas is a lecturer at the Council for Teacher Education (CFE), Uruguay, holds a Master’s in Psychology and Education from the University of the Republic (UdelaR), where he is also a Master’s candidate in Cognitive Sciences. His postgraduate training and interests focus on the adaptation and validation of psychometric instruments and the design and evaluation of psychoeducational models for studying motivational and emotional processes linked to learning. He is part of Psychological Modeling and Measurement at the Center for Basic Research in Psychology (CIBPsi) and a member of the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development (ISSBD); Meimei Liu is a PhD candidate at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her research focuses on motivation, effort, and academic achievement. She combines longitudinal survey data, digital trace data, and advanced statistical modelling to investigate how students learn and persist over time. Her work aims to bridge psychological theory and educational practice by identifying factors that promote academic achievement and well-being; Gabriela Fernández-Theoduloz, PhD, is Associate Professor at the School of Psychology, University of the Republic, Uruguay, and coordinator of the Transdiagnostic Research in Psychopathology (ITraPsi) group. Her research focuses on transdiagnostic mechanisms underlying internalizing psychopathology across adolescence and emerging adulthood, including emotion regulation, affective dynamics, psychophysiological processes, and digital experiences. She has published in international journals such as Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Current Psychology, and Psychophysiology. She is also a researcher in the Basic Sciences Development Program (PEDECIBA) and Uruguay’s National System of Researchers (SNI-ANII); Victor Ortuño holds a PhD in Motivation and Personality Psychology from the University of Coimbra, Portugal, and is an Assistant Professor at the School of Psychology, University of the Republic, Uruguay. He coordinates the research line in Psychological Modeling and Measurement at the Center for Basic Research in Psychology (CIBPsi). His academic work focuses on the development, adaptation, and validation of psychological instruments, with a particular interest in vocational psychology, personality, and subjective temporality. He has participated in research projects and publications related to psychological assessment and psychometrics in Ibero-American contexts

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