Salience of primary and secondary school students’ achievement emotions and perceived antecedents: Interviews on literacy and mathematics domains

Within the theoretical framework provided by Pekrun’s (2006) control-value theory, we investigated individual differences in students’ achievement emotions and antecedents. The subjects were 149 fourth, seventh, and eleventh-graders, who participated in semi-structured interviews focused on how they usually felt when facing literacy or mathematics, and on their perception of the underlying antecedents that triggered the emotions. Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMM) indicated higher salience of enjoyment and relaxation compared to a range of other positive and negative emotions. There were class level differences in terms of a higher number of spontaneously reported emotions for eleventh-graders compared to younger students. Through the model-based cluster analysis we identified three groups of students, each characterized by a different pattern of emotions, not differing by class level, domain, or gender. Applying GLMM revealed some differences between groups in the pattern of perceived antecedents. Results are discussed considering their theoretical and applied relevance.