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Loneliness can be seen as a social failure subject to causal search: Why am I lonely? Why do I lack friends? According to attribution theory, answers to these questions can influence emotions, motivation, and behaviours. This study examined the relationships between various affiliative causal beliefs (i.e., beliefs about loneliness and friendship development), social participation, and loneliness among older adults (72+ years). Cross-sectional and longitudinal (over five years) results showed that more strongly endorsing internal/controllable causal beliefs (i.e., believing that making friends depends on effort) related to greater social participation. Moreover, greater social participation related to less loneliness. External/uncontrollable causal beliefs predicted greater loneliness. In fully addressing loneliness, it may be important to focus on people's causal beliefs.

Attributional retraining (AR) is a psychotherapeutic motivational intervention which consistently produces modest improvements in motivation and performance by encouraging controllable attributions for failure experiences. Research suggests that unsuccessful individuals high in primary control (PC) and low in secondary control (SC) are at risk of failure and may especially benefit from AR techniques. College students' (N = 255) primary and secondary academic control was assessed at the beginning of the first academic semester, after which half of the students received a writing-based AR intervention. Final grades and performance-related perceived success, affect, and attributions were assessed at the end of the academic year. Attributional retraining (No AR, AR) by secondary control (low/high) 2 × 2 ANCOVA analyses for high-primary-control students revealed significant improvements in performance, coupled with decreased perceived success and increased negative affect for unsuccessful, high-PC/low-SC students. The importance of primary and secondary control for development in achievement set

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Due to its widespread popularity, self-esteem is continually being promoted to students despite limited empirical support for its effectiveness in improving their academic achievement. As a result, constructs that are potentially more salient to academic performance, such as perceived control, have gone relatively unnoticed. Although past research has examined the link between students' academic achievement and either their self-esteem or perceived control, few studies have compared both constructs simultaneously to elucidate which one is more important to academic success. This longitudinal study directly contrasted the effects of self-esteem and perceived control on the academic performance of 802 first-year college students. After accounting for incoming ability (high school grades), age, and gender, a structural equation model showed perceived control positively predicted students' GPA. In contrast, the predictive effect of self-esteem on GPA was non-existent. Findings indicate that compared to self-esteem, perceived control is a more powerful predictor of first-year college students' GPA. Implications for utilizing educational interventions to boost perceived control among college students are discussed.