Attributional retraining: facilitating academic adjustment for failure-prone individuals in an achievement setting
| dc.contributor.author | Hamm, Jeremy M. | |
| dc.contributor.examiningcommittee | Chipperfield, Judith G. (Psychology) Clifton, Rodney A. (Educational Administration, Foundations and Psychology) | en_US |
| dc.contributor.supervisor | Perry, Raymond P. (Psychology) | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2011-12-14T16:03:29Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2011-12-14T16:03:29Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2011-12-14 | |
| dc.degree.discipline | Psychology | en_US |
| dc.degree.level | Master of Arts (M.A.) | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | Although some individuals excel during the transition from high school to university, many struggle to adjust and experience repeated failures. To facilitate academic adjustment in those most at-risk of failure, vulnerable students were identified based on their pre-existing levels of preoccupation with failure (PWF; low, high) and primary control (PC; low, high). These factors were combined to create four distinct psychosocial typologies (e.g., low PWF, low PC). Students were subsequently presented with Attributional Retraining (AR), a control-enhancing treatment intervention. An AR (no- AR, AR) by group (failure-acceptors, failure-ruminators, achievement-oriented, over- strivers) 2 x 4 pre-post, quasi-experimental treatment design examined longitudinal differences in causal attributions, achievement emotions, PC, and achievement outcomes. AR encouraged all students to de-emphasize two uncontrollable attributions for failure and emphasize a controllable attribution. Most interestingly, AR was particularly beneficial for at-risk students. Notably, only failure-acceptors (low PWF, low PC) and failure-ruminators (high PWF, low PC) receiving AR reported more adaptive activity emotions and higher PC than their no-AR peers. For only failure-ruminators, those in the AR condition exhibited more adaptive attribution-related emotions than their no-AR peers. Conversely, only failure-acceptors receiving AR had higher grade point averages and fewer voluntary withdrawals than their no-AR counterparts. Results suggest the efficacy of AR in facilitating functional causal thinking for all students, whereas they also underscore AR’s value in promoting adaptive emotions, PC, and academic achievement for failure-prone students. | en_US |
| dc.description.note | February 2012 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1993/4996 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | en_US |
| dc.rights | open access | en_US |
| dc.subject | attributional retraining | en_US |
| dc.subject | perceived control | en_US |
| dc.subject | action control | en_US |
| dc.subject | academic achievement | en_US |
| dc.title | Attributional retraining: facilitating academic adjustment for failure-prone individuals in an achievement setting | en_US |
| dc.type | master thesis | en_US |