Proposing a Model of Psychological Well-Being Path Analysis With Psychological Capital and Psychological Flexibility With the Mediating Role of Mindfulness in Master's Students of Psychology

One of the main concepts in positive psychology is psychological well–being. Psychological well–being improves the ability to find all of one's talents. A construct in positive psychology that affects the sense of psychological well–being in a person is psychological flexibility. Another construct in positive psychology that affects the psychological well–being of a person is psychological capital. Furthermore, many spiritual and philosophical traditions have stressed on the importance of quality of consciousness in maintening and promoting well–being. Meanwhile, a most–discussed consciousness–related construct that affects psychological well–being is mindfulness. So, the present study aims to model psychological well–being based on psychological capital and psychological flexibility considering the mediating role of mindfulness in master's students of psychology.

This study was analytical with a correlational plan and was conducted based on path analysis. The statistical population of the study consisted of all master's students of psychology who were studying in the Science Research Branch of Islamic Azad University in Tehran, Iran, during the academic year of 2019–2020. A total of 150 students were selected through convenience sampling. The participants responded to Psychological Well–Being Scale (Ryff, 1989), Cognitive Flexibility Inventory (Dennis et al., 2010), Psychological Capital Questionnaire (Luthans et al., 2007), and Five Fact Mindfulness Questionnaire (Baer et al., 2006). In the present study, descriptive statistics were used to categorize the personal characteristics of the respondents to calculate the frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. Regarding the inferential statistics, the Pearson correlation coefficient and path analysis model were used to investigate the relationship between variables. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 26 and SmartPLS version 3.20 software, and the significance level of all tests was considered 0.05.

The results showed that the direct path coefficient between psychological flexibility and psychological well–being was positive and significant (p<0.001, β=0.352); the direct path coefficient between psychological capital and psychological well–being was positive and significant (p<0.001, β=0.369), and the direct path coefficient between mindfulness and psychological well–being was positive and significant (p=0.006, β=0.230). The direct path coefficient between psychological flexibility and mindfulness was positive and significant (p=0.001, β=0.385) and the direct path coefficient between psychological capital and mindfulness was positive and significant (p<0.001, β=0.477). Also, the coefficient of the indirect path between psychological flexibility and psychological well–being with the mediation of mindfulness was positive and significant (p=0.001, β=0.088) and the coefficient of the indirect path between psychological capital and psychological well–being with the mediation of mindfulness was positive and significant (p<0.001, β=0.109). The model had an acceptable fitting for the purpose which was based on R2α=0.803, Q2=0.776, and GOF=0.808 indices.

Based on the findings, psychological flexibility and psychological capital directly and through the mediation of mindfulness play an effective role in improving the psychological well–being of Psychology master's students.