Adding previous experiences to the person-situation debate of achievement emotions

When preparing for exams, students experience various achievement emotions, which are related to their perceived academic control and achievement regarding their exams. These emotions are shaped by a trait-like stable person-specific component and a state-like variable situation-specific component. Furthermore, it is plausible that students' previous emotional experiences might influence their current emotional experiences. Therefore, the present study aimed to disentangle those three components of achievement emotions (namely person, previous-experience, and situation specific components), and to analyze the extent to which these three components relate to perceived academic control and achievement. Using experience sampling, ninety-eight undergraduate students reported their emotions during the final week of exam preparation. Via latent state-trait theory models, including an autoregressive coefficient, our results showed the three expected variance components for enjoyment, anxiety, and anger, with no person-specific variance component for pride. The more stable components (namely person and previous-experience specific components) were significantly associated with perceived academic control and achievement, particularly for negative emotions. Moreover, results suggest a reciprocal relation between anxiety and perceived academic control. Implications for educators seeking to strengthen students' success are discussed.