EMOTIONAL REGULATION AS A PREDICTOR OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN COMPUTER STUDIES IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

This study examined emotional regulation as a predictor of academic achievement in Computer 
Studies among secondary school students in Anambra State, Nigeria. Guided by two research 
questions with two testable null hypotheses at 0.05 alpha levels, the study employed a predictive 
correlational research design. The target population consisted of 42,572 Senior Secondary year 
Two (SS2) students offering Computer Studies, from which a sample of 600 students was drawn 
using a multistage sampling procedure involving of random and purposive sampling techniques. 
Data were collected using the Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), which was validated 
by three experts from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. Students’ achievement scores in 
Computer Studies were obtained from teachers’ records. The internal consistency of the 
instrument was confirmed using Cronbach’s Alpha, yielding a reliability coefficient of 0.92. Data 
analysis was conducted using simple and multiple linear regression techniques. Findings 
indicated that emotional regulation accounted for 0.9% of the variance in students’ achievement 
scores in Computer Studies. Moreover, emotional regulation significantly predicted students’ 
achievement, with the suppression dimension emerging as the only statistically significant 
contributor. The study concluded that students who exhibit emotional regulatory capacity 
particularly through suppression tend to achieve slightly better outcomes in Computer Studies. It 
was recommended that educational psychologists and scholars develop and implement 
intervention strategies aimed at enhancing students' application of adaptive emotional regulation 
strategies, such as suppression and reappraisal, to improve learning outcomes.