Effects of Achievement Motivation on Job-hunting Stress in College Students: A Moderated Mediation Model

To explore the effects of the motivation of seeking success on job-hunting stress in college students, a sample of 799 college students were recruited in the study to complete the achievement motive scale, the upward social comparison scale and the college student job-hunting stress questionnaire. The results are as follows. First, the motivation of seeking success negatively predicted job-hunting stress in college students. Second, the upward social comparison mediated and suppressed the association between the motivation of seeking success and the job-hunting stress, which reduced the negative prediction effect of the motivation of seeking success on job-hunting stress. Third, gender moderated the first half path of the mediation. Compared with female college students, the upward social comparison had a more significant suppression effect on the association between the motivation of seeking success and job-hunting stress in male college students.