An appraisal model linking epistemic beliefs, beliefs about errors, academic buoyancy, and academic risk-taking in preservice social studies teachers

Academic risk-taking (ART) is a critical disposition for deep learning, yet the psychological processes associated with learners’ willingness to engage with academic uncertainty remain underexplored. Grounded in the cognitive appraisal and coping framework, this study examined how epistemic beliefs, constructive beliefs about errors, and academic buoyancy are associated with ART in teacher education contexts. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 434 preservice social studies teachers in Türkiye (63.8% female; mean age = 20.59 years). We tested a serial mediation model in which beliefs about errors and academic buoyancy were specified as sequential mediators of the association between epistemic beliefs and ART. Structural equation modeling indicated that epistemic beliefs had a significant positive total association with ART, whereas the direct association was nonsignificant after beliefs about errors and academic buoyancy were included in the model. The total indirect effect was significant, as were the specific indirect effects through beliefs about errors, academic buoyancy, and the proposed serial pathway from epistemic beliefs through beliefs about errors and academic buoyancy to ART. These findings suggest that the association between epistemic beliefs and ART is statistically accounted for primarily by the modeled indirect pathways and is consistent with an appraisal-based interpretation linking epistemic beliefs, error interpretations, academic buoyancy, and willingness to take academic risks. Because the study was cross-sectional, the observed pathways should be interpreted as model-consistent associations rather than evidence of temporal or causal processes. The findings identify potentially relevant areas for teacher education, including constructive engagement with errors and support for managing routine academic setbacks.