Abstract
BACKGROUND: Nursing students often face high levels of stress due to demanding responsibilities during clinical placement. Emotional regulation, the ability to manage and regulate one's emotions effectively, is crucial for nursing students in dealing with stress and maintaining their overall well-being. Additionally, learning motivation plays a vital role in students' engagement and academic success. The current investigation aimed at studying the link that exists among stress, learning motivation, and emotional regulation among Saudi undergraduate nursing students. The study also aimed at investigating the sequential mediating effects that motivation might perform in this association. METHODS: A quantitative cross-sectional methodology was used in the present research, which recruited 367 Saudi undergraduate nursing students. RESULTS: The results of the ANOVA showed that the level of perceived stress was linearly and negatively correlated with emotional regulation and motivation. Upon conducting structural equation modeling, significant direct and indirect effect pathways were identified between perceived stress, emotional regulation, and motivation, while only indirect pathways were identified between perceived stress and emotional regulation. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence of the mediating role of learning motivation in the relationship between perceived stress and emotional regulation among Saudi nursing students. The results highlight the negative impact of stress on emotional regulation and learning motivation and emphasize the importance of addressing motivational factors in interventions aimed at enhancing emotional regulation among nursing students.