Presenting a structural model for predicting mental disorders based on intolerance of uncertainty mediated by a sense of psychological cohesion and cognitive flexibility in students

The aim of this study was to provide a structural model for predicting mental disorders based on intolerance of uncertainty mediated by feelings of psychological cohesion and cognitive flexibility.

The method of the present study was descriptive and the correlational research design was structural equation modeling. The statistical population of this study consisted of all undergraduate students of Islamic Azad University of Tehran who were studying in the academic year 1399-1400, from which 387 people were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling. Data were collected using the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Lovind and Lavind (1995) Questionnaire, the Freeston et al. (1994) Uncertainty Intolerance Questionnaire (1994), the Flensburg (2006) Feelings of Mental Cohesion Questionnaire, and the Dennis and Vanderwall Cognitive Flexibility Questionnaire (2010). شد. Research data were analyzed using SEM structural equations using Amos software. Significance level in this study was considered 0.05.

The results showed that the indirect path coefficient between intolerance of uncertainty and psychological turmoil is significant through the feeling of psychological cohesion and positive cognitive flexibility. Based on this, it was concluded that the feeling of psychological cohesion and cognitive flexibility positively and significantly mediates the effect of uncertainty intolerance on mental disorder. This suggests that intolerance of uncertainty, a sense of psychological cohesion, and cognitive flexibility account for a total of 63% of the variance in psychological distress.