Comparison of Meaning of Education and Delay of Gratification among Iranian Students with Self-Defeating Behaviors

The present study was conducted to compare the academic meaning and delay of gratification of students with high and low levels of self-defeating behaviors. The current research method was a causal-comparative. The statistical population for this study included all Gilan University undergraduate students during the 2022-2023 academic year. Students were selected according to a three-level cluster sampling process in each University's faculties, disciplines, and courses. The data collection tools were the Self-Defeating Behavior and Cognition Scale (SDBCS (, Delay of Gratification (DOG (, and Meanings of Education (MOE). To investigate the research hypotheses, univariate and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used with SPSS ver,26. The results showed, the main effect of behavior with and without self-defeating behaviors after controlling the gender variable had a significant effect on the delay of gratification and subscales of the meaning of education variable. (p> 0.001). According to the average, the amount of delay of gratification variable and meaning of education subscales was higher in people without self-defeating behaviors. Therefore, in modern learning programs (Schools and universities), the role of the meaning of education, delay of gratification, self-defeating behaviors, and the relationship between them should be seriously considered.