Abstract

Negative emotions in learning, particularly in classroom settings, may adversely affect students’ academic performance. This study aimed to examine the relationship between negative emotions in the classroom and coping strategies, as well as the moderating role of self-esteem in this relationship among university students. A cross-sectional quantitative design was employed with 425 students. Data were collected using a self-report questionnaire distributed both online via Google Forms and in person in classrooms, and then analyzed using SPSS 26.0. The results indicated that boredom was the most prominent classroom emotion among students (M = 2.85, SD = 0.73), whereas neutral coping was the most frequently used coping strategy (M = 3.16, SD = 0.89). In addition, negative emotions were positively correlated with both positive coping (r = 0.22, p < 0.01) and negative coping (r = 0.41, p < 0.01), and negatively correlated with self-esteem (r = −0.17, p < 0.01). However, self-esteem did not significantly moderate the relationship between negative emotions and any of the three coping strategies, as the confidence intervals all included zero. Nevertheless, self-esteem showed a near-significant tendency to moderate the relationship between negative coping and negative emotions in the classroom (β= -0.18, 95% CI [−0.40003, 0.0318]). This suggests that self-esteem may function as a psychological buffer with the potential to reduce the use of self-defeating coping strategies, highlighting the importance of self-esteem and coping in emotional regulation.