Punishment and reward sensitivity, daily emotion regulation, and school performance in a low-middle ses Colombian adolescent sample

Each day, students around the world attend school to learn. Throughout their learning journeys, these students will experience various rewards (e.g., solving a tough problem) and failures (e.g., failing a test). Individual differences in adolescents’ sensitivity to these rewards and punishments have implications for their learning (Davidow et al., 2017). Two mechanisms by which feedback sensitivity may impact learning are negative emotionality (the experience of emotions such as sadness and anger) and emotion dysregulation (the ability to properly cope with or resolve negative emotions) (Dennis, 2007). However, this has not been empirically tested. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to examine the mediating role of emotionality and emotion regulation on the association between feedback sensitivity and school performance. Participants included 244 adolescents from low-middle SES homes in the country of Colombia (57% girls, Mage =15,40, SD= 1,69). Negative emotions and emotion regulation were measured via ecological momentary assessments For 15 days, adolescents were prompted via mobile-phones to respond to questions about their emotions and emotion regulation strategies (Rothenberg et al., 2019). Feedback sensitivity was indexed using the self-reported BIS/BAS scale (Carver & White, 1994). School performance was measured using school records. To further explore the impact of feedback on learning, participants were also administered a novel computerized learning task that was modified from the feedback learning task developed by Peters and Crone (2017). On this task, participants learned to match symbols with target cues based on positive and negative feedback. Learning will be indexed based on participants’ ability to correctly match symbols with their target cues. Differences in learning based on feedback (positive or negative) will also be examined. Preliminary analyses indicated that punishment sensitivity was associated with higher daily anger, daily sadness, and daily sadness dysregulation. In addition, self-reported reward sensitivity was associated to lower daily sadness and daily sadness dysregulation. Data collection and preparation for school records [[[and the feedback learning task are]]] still in progress. Upon the completion of data collection, a mediational path analysis will examine the mediating role of daily emotionality and daily emotion regulation in the association between punishment and reward sensitivity with school performance. We hypothesize that high punishment sensitivity and low reward sensitivity are associated with high emotion dysregulation which, in turn, is associated to low school performance. These findings contribute to the discussion on the role of adolescents’ individual differences on their adjustment at school. Or: Results may be informative to educators working with students who struggling academically.