The mediating role of academic optimism in the relationship between academic self-regulation, academic self-efficacy, and academic passion in medical students exhibiting self-handicapping behaviors

Background: Academic self-regulation, academic self-efficacy, and academic passion are crucial factors in medical students’ academic success. However, self-handicapping behaviors, such as procrastinating, making excuses, or setting unrealistic goals, can hinder these positive aspects of learning. This study explores how academic optimism mediates the relationships between self-regulation, self-efficacy, and passion in medical students prone to self-handicapping behaviors. Methods: This research adopted a descriptive, correlational design to investigate the interrelationships between the variables in a structural equation modeling (SEM) framework. The target population encompassed all undergraduate medical students with self-handicapping behaviors enrolled at Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences in 2022. A purposive sampling strategy yielded a sample of 204 medical students who completed self-report questionnaires assessing the aforementioned constructs. SEM analysis was conducted to test the hypothesized model, with bootstrapping procedures employed to evaluate indirect effects. Results: Academic self-regulation and optimism were directly associated with academic passion (P<0.001), while self-efficacy did not show a direct effect. Both self-regulation and self-efficacy indirectly influenced passion in medical students with self-handicapping behaviors through academic optimism (P<0.01). Conclusion: These findings highlight the importance of fostering not only academic self-regulation skills but also academic optimism among students with self-handicapping behaviors. Interventions that promote positive academic expectations could be particularly beneficial in promoting academic passion even in the absence of a direct effect from self-efficacy.