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Developmental transitions are experienced throughout the life course and necessitate adapting to consequential and unpredictable changes that can undermine health. Our six-month study (n = 239) explored whether selective secondary control striving (motivation-focused thinking) protects against the elevated levels of stress and depressive symptoms increasingly common to young adults navigating the challenging school-to-university transition. Path analyses supplemented with tests of moderated mediation revealed that, for young adults who face challenging obstacles to goal attainment, selective secondary control indirectly reduced long-term stress-related physical and depressive symptoms through selective primary control and previously unexamined measures of discrete emotions. Results advance the existing literature by demonstrating that (a) selective secondary control has health benefits for vulnerable young adults and (b) these benefits are largely a consequence of the process variables proposed in Heckhausen et al.’s (2010) theory. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the area of achievement motivation, students' beliefs pertaining to achievement goals and perceived control have separately guided a large amount theoretical and empirical research. However, limited research has considered the simultaneous effects of goals and control on achievement. The purpose of this study was to examine primary and secondary control as potential mediators of the effects of mastery and performance goals on achievement, measured as final percentage in Introductory Psychology and GPA. The sample consisted of 224 first-year university students at a Canadian doctoral granting university. All participants completed two surveys and consented to release their grades to the researchers. We found that neither performance goals nor mastery goals had direct effects on achievement. However, performance goals had a positive indirect effect on achievement through primary control. Indirect effects also emerged for mastery goals, positively through primary control and negatively through secondary control. These results offer one explanation for the often-found non-significant relationship between mastery and achievement and are discussed in light of interventions aimed to modify goals and/or control and thereby increase achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the first year of college, students are faced with numerous educational and personal stressors which can negatively impact their psychological and physical health. The present study examined the benefits of primary and secondary control for self-rated health in students based on Rothbaum, Weisz, and Synder's (1982) dual-process model of control, and examined stress and gender as potential mediating variables. College students’ ( n =888) primary and secondary academic control and perceived stress were assessed in the first semester, and self-rated global health, illness symptoms, and illness-related behaviors were assessed at the end of the academic year. For males, primary control was indirectly related to better overall health and fewer symptoms through lower stress levels, and both primary and secondary control directly corresponded to lower illness behaviors. For females, only secondary control was related to better overall health and illness symptoms, albeit indirectly through reduced stress. The mediational roles of stress and gender in health research on primary/secondary control and potential control-enhancing interventions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]