Lucy examined relationships between middle-school students'self-esteem and their performance in Mathematics. Her data analysis indicated that students with higher self-esteem perform better than those with lower self-esteem. Her investigation further revealed that students with higher self-esteem are more willing to invest effort in solving Math problems. In this case, the amount of effort is: Group of answer choices

a mediating variable
a fixed variable
a constant variable

The correct answer is mediating variable

A variable can be considered a mediator when it influences the relationship between VI and VD, so that its insertion in the structural equation neutralizes, or even reduces, the strength of the impact of the independent variable on the dependent.

A mediating variable is one that, in a relationship between variables in which there are indirect effects, transmits the causal effects of the variables preceding the consequent ones.

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