Achievement emotions in AI-assisted learning, academic self-efficacy, and learning engagement and AI dependence among university students in statistics-related programs: a moderated mediation study

Abstract

Background Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools have become part of everyday coursework for university students, yet the emotional and motivational conditions under which these tools support or undermine learning remain poorly understood. Drawing on the control-value theory of achievement emotions, this study examined whether academic self-efficacy mediates the links of positive achievement emotions in AI-assisted learning with learning engagement and AI dependence, and whether AI literacy moderates the first stage of these pathways. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 700 undergraduate students (386 female; M_age = 19.81 years, SD = 1.27) majoring in applied statistics and related programs at three universities in Shijiazhuang, China. Participants completed measures of positive and negative achievement emotions, academic self-efficacy, learning engagement, AI dependence, and AI literacy. Confirmatory factor analysis preceded a first-stage moderated mediation analysis with bias-corrected bootstrap confidence intervals (5,000 resamples), controlling for negative emotions, gender, and year of study. Results The six-factor measurement model fitted the data well, χ 2 (50) = 55.62, p = 0.271, CFI = 0.998, RMSEA = 0.013, SRMR = 0.017. Positive achievement emotions predicted higher self-efficacy ( β = 0.374), which in turn predicted stronger engagement ( β = 0.395) and lower AI dependence ( β = −0.176), all p < 0.001, with AI literacy entered in every equation. AI literacy moderated the emotion-efficacy association ( β = 0.152, p < 0.001): the conditional indirect association with engagement rose from 0.088 to 0.208 across ±1 SD of AI literacy, and that with AI dependence fell from −0.039 to −0.093. The direct association with AI dependence was positive ( β = 0.447, p < 0.001), and the conditional total association remained positive (0.355 to 0.408). Both indexes of moderated mediation were significant. Conclusion Positive emotional experiences in AI-assisted coursework show beneficial and costly associations simultaneously, and self-efficacy statistically accounts for opposing parts of each. The total association with dependence remained positive at all literacy levels, so the results describe inconsistent mediation rather than protection. AI literacy marks where the emotion-engagement pathway is strongest.