Doctoral students’ self-regulated learning: the roles of academic buoyancy and perceived autonomy support

Abstract

Drawing on the job demands–resources model and conservation of resources theory, this study explored the roles of two types of resources, namely academic buoyancy (a personal resource) and perceived autonomy support (a social resource), and their interactive effect on self-regulated learning (an adaptive outcome), controlling for age, gender, and academic discipline. Five hundred and fifty-two doctoral students recruited from six major cities in China provided their demographic information and completed three self-report inventories. Regression analysis results showed that both academic buoyancy and perceived autonomy support from supervisors positively predicted doctoral students’ self-regulated learning. Simple slope analyses showed that the relationship between academic buoyancy and self-regulated learning was stronger for students who perceived higher levels of autonomy support than for those who perceived lower levels of autonomy support. The findings contribute to the literature and provide practical implications for the postgraduate, undergraduate, and school levels.