Interrelations among Achievement Goals and Achievement Emotions: A Meta-Analytic Examination

Both achievement goals and achievement emotions have empirically been found to be important within educational contexts. This meta-analysis examined the interrelations among six achievement goals and fifteen achievement emotions and various moderators by analyzing 2,644 effect sizes from 355 studies with 155,208 participants. The findings revealed interrelations among achievement goals and achievement emotions that mainly corroborate theoretical assumptions. Mastery and performance goals showed associations with activity and outcome emotions. The results for work-avoidance goals confirmed the assumption that engaging in work avoidance is particularly related to negative activity emotions. Relational goals are positively linked to positive affect and enjoyment. Facets of mastery goals were identified as relevant moderators of the interrelations among achievement goals and emotions, in contrast to population. The results highlight the relevance of considering the interplay among achievement goals and achievement emotions at a specific level, as opposed to considering only the affective level, as well as differentiating between activity and outcome emotions to better understand their relationships with achievement goals.