This study investigates the relationship among defense styles and learning through academic procrastination and psychological well-being. The sample comprises 628 social science students from a Greek university. Path analysis is used to explore associations and interactions among the variables. The results show that academic procrastination and psychological well-being mediate the relationship between defense styles and approaches to learning, indicating the expected direct and indirect effects. Defense styles are directly related to approaches to learning. Mature defense styles are associated with learning through psychological well-being in a positive way, and immature defense styles are associated with learning through academic procrastination in a negative way. This study supports the current line of research in associations between defense styles and learning and the importance of linking mental health variables with learning.

The present study is exploring a pathway connecting emotion regulation with academic progress. Specifically, the pattern through which emotion regulation is implicated in learning and academic progress through academic emotions and sense of coherence. This cross-sectional study involves of 406 undergraduate social science students recruited from a university in western Greece. Participants anonymously and voluntarily completed a number of self-report measures. The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, the Sense of Coherence Scale, the Student Experience of Emotions Inventory and the Approaches to Learning and Studying Inventory, were used to measure emotion regulation, sense of coherence, academic emotional experiences and approaches to learning, respectively. Α four-stage model was tested with structural equation modelling techniques. In particular, the model examined associations between emotion regulation, sense of coherence, academic emotions, approaches to learning and academic progress. The analysis revealed pathways through which these associations appear to be maintained and driven by emotion regulation. Emotion regulation is associated with students’ academic emotions that in turn are linked with approaches to learning and academic progress. Both positive and negative emotions appear to play a role in enabling an adaptive approach to learning. Moreover, sense of coherence may serve as an important meta-cognitive factor enabling students to approach the learning process more effectively. The findings are discussed in the light of the recent literature.