Optimism and Attributional Retraining: Longitudinal Effects on Academic Achievement, Test Anxiety, and Voluntary Course Withdrawal in College Students¹

Abstract

A longitudinal study examined how optimism and attributional retraining (AR) influenced 256 first‐year college students' test anxiety, cumulative academic achievement, and course persistence in college over an academic year. Students' optimism was assessed at the start of the academic year and they were assigned to either an AR or no‐AR (control) condition. Measures of students' test anxiety, cumulative grade point average, and voluntary course withdrawal were obtained at the end of the academic year. Results suggest that although high optimism was an academic risk factor among students who did not receive AR, high‐optimism students who did receive the AR cognitive intervention benefited from its effects to a greater extent than did low‐optimism students.

Positividad y afrontamiento en pacientes con trastorno adaptativo

“…Por último, el optimismo, dentro del enfoque del optimismo disposicional de Scheier y Carver (1987), se entiende como la tendencia a esperar que en el futuro ocurran eventos positivos (Scheier y Carver, 1987, con un importante componente cognitivo y evaluativo, en cuanto que media entre los eventos externos y su interpretación personal, pero que involucra también aspectos emocionales y motivadores. Los resultados de diferentes estudios han encontrado relaciones importantes del optimismo con variables como el éxito profesional (Seligman, 2003), y el ajuste y rendimiento escolar (Ruthig, Perry, Hall y Hladkyj, 2004), ejerciendo un efecto positivo sobre la salud y el bienestar psicológico y físico (Scheier y Carver, 1987).…”

Academic boredom among students in higher education: A mixed-methods exploration of characteristics, contributors and consequences

“…Students for whom academic boredom proves troublesome or who find themselves identified as 'at risk' of falling behind or terminating studies as a result of academic boredom should be directed to pastoral tutors and learning development units, or counselling services in extremes, for advice and support, perhaps informed by 'attribution retraining' which has already proved useful elsewhere (e.g. Perry et al, 1993;Ruthig et al, 2004). More positive and constructive emotional reinforcement or conditioning might prove beneficial, improving resiliency and building confidence generally, while helping students to work through high-stress periods of formative and summative assessment which may cause anxiety and damage self-worth (Harris, 2000;Vodanovich, 2003b;Goetz et al, 2010).…”

Exploration of scholars' attributions of instructional barriers in the context of pedagogical-epistemological belief systems

“…Ancak akademisyenler atıflarının yönelimlerinin aşırı dışa bağımlı olduğunun farkında olma gibi zorunlu bir duruma sahip değillerdir. Yani atıfsal farkındalık (Fosterling, 1985;Hunter ve Perry, 1996) ancak kişilerin atıflarla yüzleştirilmesi ile kendini gösterebilen bir olgudur (Ruthig et al, 2004). Dolayısıyla atıfsal akıl yürütmelerin sonuçlarının aşırı dışsallaştığı bir durumda atıfsal farkındalık eğitimlerin düzenlenmesi kişilerin karşılaştığı öğretimsel bariyerlere yönelik daha rasyonel ve sağlıklı nedensel açıklamalar yapması için düzenleyici ve denetleyici etki sağ-layabilecektir (Pintrich & Schunk, 2002).…”