Attribution-based motivation treatment efficacy in high-stress student athletes: A moderated-mediation analysis of cognitive, affective, and achievement processes

作者：Parker Patti C^*; Perry Raymond P; Hamm Jeremy M; Chipperfield Judith G; Hladkyj Steve; Leboe McGowan Launa

来源：Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 2018, 35: 189-197.

DOI：10.1016/j.psychsport.2017.12.002

• Attributional retraining
• Motivation treatment intervention
• Competitive student athletes
• Perceived stress

Objectives: Student athletes encounter significant challenges during school-to-college transitions that can increase stress and undermine academic adjustment (Heelis & Shields, 2015). An attribution-based motivation treatment (Perry et al., 2014) was administered to student athletes who differed in perceived stress to improve short-and long-term academic performance.
Methods: In a two-semester, quasi-experimental, randomized treatment study, we examined the efficacy of an attribution-based motivation treatment (Attributional Retraining; AR) for competitive student athletes (N = 185) who differed in perceived stress (low, high). A theory-based path analysis assessed whether AR performance effects were mediated by perceived academic control (PAC) and achievement emotions.
Results: High-stress student athletes who received AR outperformed their no-treatment counterparts by roughly one letter grade on a Semester 1 post-treatment class test. Consistent with Weiner's attribution theory (1985, 2012) of motivation and emotions, AR-performance effects were mediated by cognitive and affective process variables. For high-stress athletes, AR fostered course-related PAC, which in turn increased positive and reduced negative affect, which in combination promoted final course grades.
Conclusions: AR effects on performance for high-stress student athletes were indirect via cognitive and affective mediators consistent with Weiner's attribution theory (1985, 2012). Findings suggest attribution-based motivation treatments have practical implications for athletic programs, administrators, coaches, and directors in facilitating adjustment for high-stress student athletes.

• 出版日期2018-3