Unpacking the relationship between self-control and academic engagement: the mediating role of meaning in life and the moderating role of GenAI dependence

With the rapid integration of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) into higher education, understanding how technology shapes students’ psychological motivation has become increasingly critical. Self-control is widely recognized as a core internal resource that sustains academic engagement, yet little is known about how this self-regulatory capacity operates when external technological reliance intervenes in learning. Addressing this gap, the present study introduces an innovative framework that integrates Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and Path Dependence Theory (PDT) to examine how meaning in life—defined as individuals’ perceived sense of purpose, coherence, and value in life—mediates the relationship between self-control and academic engagement, and how GenAI dependence moderates this pathway. This approach provides a novel perspective on the interaction between inner volitional strength and external technological dependence in shaping academic motivation. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1,139 university students in China. Validated self-report questionnaires were used to assess self-control, meaning in life, GenAI dependence, and academic engagement. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed using Mplus 8.3 to construct latent variables and test the hypothesized moderated mediation model. The findings indicated that self-control significantly predicted academic engagement. Meaning in life partially mediated this relationship. Furthermore, GenAI dependence negatively moderated the pathway from self-control to meaning in life—specifically, the positive effect of self-control on meaning in life was weaker among students with higher GenAI dependence. These results reveal a dynamic interaction between internal psychological strengths and external technological reliance in shaping academic engagement. This study proposes and validates a novel moderated mediation mechanism linking self-control, meaning in life, and academic engagement within the emerging context of AI-augmented learning. By integrating motivational and technological perspectives, it contributes a new theoretical model of “motivational regulation under technological mediation.” Practically, the findings underscore the dual importance of cultivating students’ self-regulation and existential meaning-making capacity while promoting reflective and autonomous GenAI use. These insights offer evidence-based guidance for fostering sustainable academic motivation and psychological well-being in digitalized higher education environments.