The Role of Spiritual Intelligence and Identity Styles in Predicting Psychological Hardiness of Students of Kerman University of Medical Sciences in 2019

Abstract

Medical students face a lot of job stress daily that endangers their mental and physical health and affects their academic performance. Spiritual intelligence is a new concepts of intelligence, refers to problem-solving behavior. Besides, personal identity plays an important role in one's and others' self-esteem and these two factors play an important role Psychological hardiness. So, this study aims to determine the role of spiritual intelligence and identity styles in predicting psychological hardiness of students of Kerman University of Medical Sciences in 2018. The samples of this cross-sectional descriptive study were 300 students of Kerman University of Medical Sciences who were selected via random cluster sampling. The instruments used for data collection in this study were the demographic information questionnaires, Ahvaz Psychological Hardiness Scale, Identity Style Inventory (Berzonsky, 1989) and Abdollahzadeh's Spiritual Intelligence Questionnaire that were completed by the participants. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 18). Data analysis was done with SPSS 25 software. The participants' mean age was 22.28±3.80 years. The participants were studying medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, and nursing. The participants' mean scores of psychological hardiness, spiritual intelligence, and identity styles were 48.16±9.68, 108.43 ±18.82, and 128.01±15.99, respectively. Moreover, the highest mean scores were related to informational style (35.85±6.16) and commitment (34.44±7.02). The scores of informational style, normative style, and commitment had a positive significant correlation with spiritual intelligence (P <0.05). Furthermore, the scores of informational, normative and commitment dimensions were positively and significantly correlated with psychological hardiness (P <0.05). The results of this study showed that spiritual intelligence and identity styles have a positive effect on psychological hardiness. Therefore, promoting spiritual intelligence and identity styles increases psychological hardiness in students.