Predictive Effect of Social Achievement Goals and Classroom Incivility on Difficulties during Emotion Regulation

The aim of this study is to examine the predictive role of students’ social achievement goals and classroom incivility levels in their emotion regulation skills. The study was conducted with 309 university students and used “Social Achievement Goal Scale”, “The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale” and “Classroom Incivility Scale” as data collection tools. The study was carried out with 309 university students in Turkey during 2016-2017 academic year (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year students). The findings obtained from regression analysis revealed that social achievement goals and classroom incivility account 15% of total changes in the difficulties faced during emotion regulation. As for the sub goals of the study, it was found that “social achievement goals” mean score of females was higher than that of males; males had higher “classroom incivility” levels than females; and the mean score of females for “difficulties in emotional regulation” was higher than that of males. While no difference was found in “incivility” factor in terms of “age” variable, there were significant differences in “social achievement goals” and “the difficulties in emotional regulation” factors. Similarly, there was no significant difference in “social achievement goals” and “classroom incivility factors” in terms of “class year” variable, but a significant difference was found for “difficulties in emotion regulation” factor. In addition, the results did not reveal any significant differences in “social achievement goals” and “classroom incivility” factors according to “perceived parental attitude”; however, a significant difference was found in “the difficulties in emotional regulation” factor. The research findings were discussed within the framework of the related literature.