Emotion Regulation Strategies and Academic Achievement among Secondary and University Students: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Emotion regulation is a crucial aspect of individual development across the lifespan, influencing personal and social well-being. The academic environment is a key context for emotion regulation, yet its relationship with academic achievement remains unclear. This study aimed to clarify the association between specific emotion regulation strategies—cognitive-reappraisal, expressive-suppression, social-support, problem-solving, avoidance, and self-blame—and academic achievement through a systematic review, quality assessment, and meta-correlation analysis of students in secondary and higher education. Sixteen articles comprising twenty studies were included from 1,390 records published between 2010 and 2023, with 85% rated as moderate to high quality. Most studies were conducted in university populations (70%), used GPA to assess academic achievement, and primarily employed the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ). Meta-correlation analyses revealed significant positive associations between academic achievement and problem-solving (r =.20, p <.001), and significant negative associations with avoidance (r = –.22, p <.001) and self-blame (r = –.15, p <.01). No significant associations were found for cognitive-reappraisal, expressive-suppression, or social support. The associations between academic achievement and the strategies of expressive suppression and problem-solving varied by educational level (i.e., secondary school vs. university).These findings highlight the importance of addressing specific regulation strategies in education, as their impact on academic achievement varies by strategy and student population. The study provides a foundation to inform future research, guide educational practice, and support the integration of emotion regulation into educational policy.