Variety is the spice of life: How emotional diversity is associated with better student engagement and achievement

Abstract

Background: Past studies on emotions have mostly focused on mean levels of positive and negative emotions. In recent years, the concept of emotional diversity (emodiversity) which refers to the variety and relative abundance of emotions was introduced and was found to have important implications for mental and physical health. However, its role in the educational context is unexplored. Aims: The current study aimed to examine how emodiversity is associated with indicators of optimal school functioning including engagement and achievement. Sample(s): Four hundred four Filipino high school students (M = 14.34, SD = 1.47; 55% female) and 10 class teachers participated in the study. Methods: Students completed surveys measuring their emotions, emodiversity, and engagement, while class teachers rated their students’ engagement. Finally, grades from the school were obtained at the end of the semester. Results: Positive emodiversity—diversity of positive emotional experiences—was an independent predictor of academic engagement and school achievement over and above mean levels of positive and negative emotions. These results were found to generalize to self-reported and teacher-reported outcomes as well as more objective measures of achievement. Moreover, findings remained robust after controlling for demographic variables such as gender and year level. Conclusions: Positive emodiversity is associated with higher engagement and achievement suggesting the importance of emodiversity in the educational context.