Perceived social support and its relationship with self-regulated learning, goal orientation self-management, and academic achievement

Abstract

Self-regulated learning is recognized as a core competence for academic success and life-long formation. The social context in which self-regulated learning develops and takes place is attracting growing interest. Using cross-sectional data from secondary education students (n = 561), we aimed to formulate explanatory arguments regarding the effect of social support on metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive and cognitive learning strategies, and academic achievement, considering the potential mediating role of goal orientation self-management. Structural Equation Modelling yielded a conceptually consistent and statistically satisfactory empirical model, explaining a moderate-high percentage of the variance in self-regulated learning and academic achievement. The results showed that perceived support from teachers and family positively predicted metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive and cognitive learning strategies, and mastery self-talk and negatively predicted work-avoidance self-talk. Moreover, mastery self-talk and work-avoidance self-talk directly and indirectly (through metacognitive knowledge) predicted academic achievement. Perceived social support is proposed as a marker of vulnerability/protection and as a resource for facing challenges in the academic context.