Alkharj, SarahAlsalamah, Yasir S.Allari, RabiaAlharbi, Maryam SaadAlslamah, ThamerBabkair, LisaLabani, SafiahFawaz, Mirna2025-03-042025-03-042024-05Alkharj, S., Alsalamah, Y. S., Allari, R., Alharbi, M. S., Alslamah, T., Babkair, L., Labani, S., & Fawaz, M. (2024). Stress and academic engagement among Saudi undergraduate nursing students: The mediating role of emotion regulation and emotional intelligence. Nursing Open, 11, e2167. https://DOI.org/10.1002/nop2.2167.2054-1058 (online)10.1002/nop2.2167http://hdl.handle.net/2263/101308DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.AIM : To assess the mediating role of emotion regulation and emotional intelligence in the relationship between stress and academic engagement among Saudi undergraduate nursing students. DESIGN : This study employed a quantitative cross-sectional research design. METHODS : The study recruited 367 Saudi undergraduate nursing students at a major Saudi university. Structural equation modelling was used to explore the mediational model. RESULTS : The results of the ANOVA and Welch F-test demonstrated that the emotional intelligence, emotional regulation and academic engagement scores were statistically significantly different according to stress levels (p-values <0.01). Perceived stress has a statistically significant moderate negative correlation with academic engagement and emotional intelligence and a strong negative correlation with emotional regulation. The results also showed that academic engagement had a statistically significant moderate positive association with emotional intelligence and emotional regulation. Results indicate that stress and academic engagement are negatively correlated among Saudi undergraduate nursing students. It focuses on the balancing functions of emotional regulation and emotional intelligence, highlighting their ability to lower stress levels and improve academic engagement. No Patient or Public Contribution.en© 2024 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License.Academic engagementEmotional intelligenceNursing studentsSelf-esteemSDG-03: Good health and well-beingSDG-04: Quality educationArticle