Emotional self - regulation and Academic Achievement among Form Two Students in public Secondary Schools Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

Low academic achievement has been of great concern worldwide for a long time. Research studies that have been done, attribute this to various causes including environmental and psychological factors. More specifically, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between students’ emotional self-regulation and academic achievement in Nairobi County, Kenya. Golman’s Mixed Model of Emotional Intelligence theory guided the study. The study adopted a correlational research design in order to establish the relationship between the variables. The target population was all year 2019 form two students in public secondary schools in Nairobi County. Purposive, stratified and simple random sampling procedures were used to select location, level and participants respectively. A total of 738 questionnaires for students selected from eight public secondary schools in Nairobi County were analyzed. Emotional self-regulation scale for Adolescents and Children was adopted and used to measure students’emotional self-regulation. Students’ academic achievement was inferred from their examination grades obtained from school records. A pilot study was conducted involving 34 students in one co-educational day school within the county to establish and enhance validity and reliability of the study instruments. Data collected was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Hypotheses were tested at a = .05 level of significance. The results revealed that emotional self-regulation was positively and significantly correlated to academic achievement (r (738 = .0.074, P < .0.05. Among the two levels of emotional self-regulation, only cognitive reappraisal reported a statistically significant correlation with academic achievement. Expressive suppression and academic achievement revealed a weak negative statistically non-significant relationship. Therefore, the study recommended that educators consider teaching students emotional intelligence skills to foster use of proper emotional control strategies in order to enhance academic achievement.