The relationship between religious orientation, emotional intelligence and spiritual intelligence and mental health in high school students in Karaj

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between religious orientation, emotional intelligence and spiritual intelligence and mental health in high school students of Karaj. This research is a descriptive correlational study and is a field-based one in terms of information gathering. The statistical population of this research is all high school male and female students of Karaj, who were studying in the academic year of 2017-2018. Accordingly, 354 people were selected based on Morgan's table using multistage cluster random sampling method (180 girls and 174 boys). The measurement tools included Allport’s religious orientation scale (ROS), general health questionnaire (GHQ), Spiritual Intelligence Self-Report Inventory (SISRI-24), and Trait Meta – Mood Scale (TMMS). Validity and reliability of these questionnaires are in good condition. The results of study showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between internal religious orientation and mental health, but there is a negative and significant relationship between internal religious orientation and physical problems, anxiety, social problems and depression. There is also a negative relationship between external religious orientation and mental health, but there is a positive and significant relationship between external religious orientation and physical problems, anxiety, social problems and depression. Also, there is a positive and significant relationship between emotional intelligence and mental health at significance level of 0.01, but there is a negative and significant relationship between emotional intelligence and physical problems, anxiety, social problems and depression. In addition, there is a positive and significant relationship between spiritual intelligence and mental health at significance level of 0.01, but there is a negative and significant relationship between spiritual intelligence and physical problems, anxiety, social problems and depression. Therefore, it can be concluded that in order to increase mental health in students, their emotional and spiritual intelligence can be increased and lead them to internal religious orientation.