Investigating the Mediating Role of Mind-Wandering between Achievement Motivation and Perceived Academic Stress in Nursing Students

Competition and stress drive youngsters positively for developing, but intensifying or continuing the stress can affect people's mental health. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the mediating role of mind-wandering between achievement motivation and perceived academic stress in nursing students. Methods: The study was conducted by descriptive correlation and structural equation modeling. The statistical population was all bachelor's nursing students of Islamic Azad University, Sari Branch Faculty of Medicine during the first semester of 2018-2019. Two hundred forty students were selected as a sample by the purposeful sampling method. Data were collected using achievement motivation questionnaire (1970), perceived academic stress (2005), and mind- wandering questionnaire (2013). Data were analyzed using SPSS.22 and Amos.22 software by employing Pearson correlation coefficient, fitness indices, maximum likelihood estimation, and bootstrap. Results: The results indicated that mind-wandering played a mediating role in achievement motivation and perceived academic stress among nursing students (P<0.05). Conclusion: It can be concluded that mind-wandering has a mediating role between achievement motivation and perceived academic stress in nursing students.