Scientific applications of interaction, moderation, and mediation analyses in occupational health psychology research

In recent years, interaction, moderation, and mediation analyses have been widely used in occupational health psychology research to explore the relationships among independent variables, dependent variables, and other related variables; however, issues of misuse and abuse still exist. This article introduced the concepts, theoretical foundations, research designs, and data analysis methods of these three analytical approaches, examined their application scenarios, strengths and limitations, as well as common forms of misuse and abuse in occupational health psychology research, proposed recommendations for their scientific application, and discussed prospects for future application.