Attributional Retraining and Student Health: A Latent Growth Analysis of Mediating and Moderating Variables

• In Event: Poster Session 5
  In Poster Session: Motivation in Education SIG: Poster Session 1 of 2

Abstract

The present study examined the effects of a modified attributional retraining (AR) motivational intervention on physical health in first-year college students as mediated by changes in control strategies and stress, and moderated by gender. Significant moderated latent growth models showed the AR program to significantly predict health outcomes (males), and further, strengthen relations between assumed underlying process variables (i.e., increased secondary control and decreased stress). Study findings underscore the utility of AR for improving critical developmental outcomes in students beyond academic achievement, and the importance of evaluating both mediating and moderating variables when assessing intervention effects.

Authors

• Nathan C. Hall, McGill University

• Lauren Elizabeth Musu-Gillette, University of Maryland

• Jason L. Ringo, McGill University

• Kyle Hubbard, McGill University