mahdi barzegar; Asma Zare; zahra Naghsh; Mohammad Shafiee; yaser heidari
Abstract
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between help seeking and teacher-student relationship with the mediating role of achievement goals and achievement motivation. The statistical population of this study were students of Tehran province who studied in the seventh and ...
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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between help seeking and teacher-student relationship with the mediating role of achievement goals and achievement motivation. The statistical population of this study were students of Tehran province who studied in the seventh and ninth grades in the academic year of 1398-99. The sample of this study was 317 boys and girls students and was chosen by multi-stage cluster sampling and all of them completed the Ryan and Pintrich (1997) questionnaires, Murray and Zurich’s (2010) teacher-student relationship questionnaires, Herman’s (1997) achievement motivation questionnaires and Eliot and McGregor (2001) achievement goals. Data were analyzed by Pearson correlation and path analysis. The findings showed that the direct effect of the teacher-student relationship on achievement motivation and the direct effect of the mastery approach on achievement motivation were positive and significant. The direct effect of performance-avoidance on help-seeking was negative and significant. The indirect effect of the teacher-student relationship on the help seeking by mediating of mastery approach and performance avoiding was positive and significant, and also the indirect effect of the teacher-student relationship on the help seeking by mediating achievement motivation was positive and significant. The results of this study will be useful for education and higher education centers, especially for teachers, to increase the help seeking and teacher-student relationship and also motivation among students.
Keywords: help seeking, teacher-student relationship, achievement goals, and achievement motivation.
Extended Abstract
Introduction
One of the most prevalent and debilitating problems of adults and young adults is depression, and it is so widespread that it is referred to as a mental “cold” among mental disorders (Madmali et al., 2016). The prevalence of this disorder is reported to be 14% among boys and 28% among girls (Zebrig et al., 2017). Psychological well-being is among the factors affected by depression disorder (Smith et al., 2017). The feeling of mental well-being or having life satisfaction is a field of positive psychology that tries to evaluate the cognitive judgment of people's satisfaction/dissatisfaction and emotions (positive and negative values) from their lives in various situations, such as school, work, and daily life (Desi & Ryan, 2008). Another skill that may be affected by depressed students is social competence. Social competence is the ability to express emotions, understand others, take personal responsibility, and establish appropriate social relationships with others (Lindsey & Berks, 2019). Grisham (1981) showed that success in social interactions requires social competence and students with poor social skills face problems such as peer rejection, behavioral problems, and low academic success when they enter school. One of the methods of psychological empowerment is self-compassion training, which can affect the mental well-being and social adequacy of depressed students. Self-compassion is defined as acceptance of vulnerability, care, and kindness towards oneself, understanding and having a non-evaluative attitude towards one's failures and inadequacy, and recognition of the everyday experiences of a person (Neff, 2016). Various studies have shown the positive result of this treatment in reducing mood disorders and increasing mental health (Macbeth & Gamble, 2012; Zesin et al., 2015). Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive self-compassion training on the mental well-being and social competence of depressed students.
Research question
Does self-compassion affect the mental well-being and social competence of students with depression?
Review of literature
Evidence shows that people who have higher self-compassion experience less depression and anxiety in challenging social situations and are more satisfied with their lives (Marsh et al., 2018). Also, self-compassionate people have more courage in dealing with negative events. They use lower emotional and negative self-evaluation when asked to recall their failure experience (Ross, 2010). Strong relationships between self-compassion and many indicators of positive mental health, including lower levels of depressive symptoms and higher life satisfaction, have been observed in previous research (Zesin et al., 2015; Phillips, 2018). According to Allen and Lori (2010), self-compassion also includes appropriate coping strategies that help people deal with negative events in their lives in a positive way.
Methodology
The current research has a semi-experimental pretest-posttest follow-up design with a control group. The statistical population of this research was all the female students studying in the first and second years of high school referred to the educational counseling organization of Poldakhtar City in the academic year of 2018-2019. For this purpose, among 100 volunteer students, 39 students were diagnosed with depression based on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Then, according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria of the study, 30 female students were selected and randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics tests (mean and standard deviation) and inferential multivariate covariance analysis using SPSS software version 22.
Results
According to the statistical results, it can be stated that the effectiveness of cognitive self-compassion training intervention is effective in the mental well-being and social competence of students suffering from depression (p < 0.05).
Table 1. Pairwise comparison of stages and experimental and control groups in mental well-being and social adequacy variable
P-value
Standard Deviation
Mean
Group J
Group I
Stage
Variable
622/0
61/2
30/1-
Control
Experimental
Pretest
Mental well-being
004/0
96/2
15/9
Control
Experimental
Posttest
004/0
97/2
62/9
Control
Experimental
Follow-up
555/0
87/5
47/3
Control
Experimental
Pretest
Social competence
001/0
97/9
27/51
Control
Experimental
Posttest
001/0
25/10
93/52
Control
Experimental
Follow-up
P-value
Standard Deviation
Mean
Stage J
Stage I
Group
0001/0
11/1
40/10-
Posttest
Pretest
Experimental
Mental well-being
001/0
20/1
93/10-
Follow-up
Pretest
032/0
196/0
533/0-
Follow-up
Posttest
658/0
08/1
063/0
Posttest
Pretest
Control
988/0
161/1
001/0
Follow-up
Pretest
989/0
190/0
063/0-
Follow-up
Posttest
001/0
24/6
66/51
Pretest
Pretest
Social competence
001/0
50/6
26/53
Posttest
Posttest
Experimental
004/0
455/0
60/1-
Follow-up
Follow-up
934/0
05/6
18/3-
Posttest
Pretest
944/0
03/6
75/3-
Follow-up
Pretest
Control
967/0
44/0
063/0-
Follow-up
Posttest
As can be seen, there is no difference in mental well-being and social competence between the two experimental and control groups in the pre-test (p < 0.05). Also, the results indicate a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test stages, between the pre-test and follow-up, and between the post-test and follow-up in the experimental group (p < 0.05). However, in the control group, there is no significant difference between the different measurement stages (p < 0.05). These results and comparing the experimental group's mental well-being and social competence means in the three stages of pre-test, post-test, and follow-up show that cognitive self-compassion training has increased mental well-being and social competence. Therefore, self-compassion training has increased students' mental well-being and social competence in the experimental group.
Figure 1. Mental well-being chart of two groups in pre-test, post-test, and follow-up stages
Figure 2. Social competence diagram of two groups in pre-test, post-test, and follow-up stages
Discussion
This research was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive self-compassion training on the mental well-being and social competence of students with depression. The results of repeated measures ANOVA showed that the difference between the average scores of mental well-being and social competence of the experimental group in the post-test and follow-up phase compared to the pre-test phase is significant compared to the pre-test scores of the control group.
Conclusion
According to the present study findings and similar studies, it was concluded that in stressful and challenging times, instead of rumination, students manage crises using self-compassion skills such as mindfulness, self-kindness, shared human experiences and responsibility, and creating constructive skills with others, strengthening mental health and causing inner satisfaction.
Acknowledgments
In the end, we would like to express our gratitude to all those who helped the authors in the implementation and compilation of the article.