Emotional Intelligence, Instructor Warmth, and Metacognitive Effort Regulation in Nursing Students: An Exploratory Two-Institution Correlational Study in China and Pakistan

Understanding how psychological attributes are associated with academic behavior is fundamental to educational psychology. This exploratory study investigated the relationships between emotional intelligence (EI), relational instructor warmth (RIW), and a newly developed measure of metacognitive effort regulation (MER) among nursing students in Pakistan and China. While prior research has examined these constructs separately, their interrelationships across different institutional contexts remain underexplored. A questionnaire survey containing 36 statements was completed by 581 nursing students in Pakistan and China, with responses collected on a 5-point Likert scale. The relationships were analyzed via partial least-squares structural equation modeling. The results indicate that emotional intelligence is directly and indirectly related to metacognitive effort regulation. Specifically, all four aspects of emotional intelligence (self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, and social skills) were positively associated with metacognitive effort regulation. These associations are preliminary and require confirmation with validated measures. Relational instructor warmth was also positively correlated with metacognitive effort regulation, suggesting its potential association with higher metacognitive engagement and effort regulation in an academic context. Relational instructor warmth played a partial mediating role in the relationship between emotional intelligence and metacognitive effort regulation. Multigroup analysis revealed one significant difference between the two participating institutions: the path from self-regulation to relational instructor warmth was significantly stronger among students at the participating Pakistani institution than at the participating Chinese institution (p = 0.004). This institutional difference suggests that context-specific educational interventions may be more effective than one-size-fits-all approaches. These findings suggest that students with higher levels of emotional intelligence and relational instructor warmth may report better metacognitive regulation, which is associated with higher metacognitive effort regulation. As an exploratory study, the findings are preliminary and hypothesis-generating; they require confirmation using validated measures and longitudinal designs. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of these results and offers suggestions for future research.