Modeling Structural Equations in Investigating the Relationship between Sympathy and Empathy with the Desire to Spirituality in University Students

Aim: The current study was conducted by the aim of investigating the relationship between sympathy and empathy with the desire to spirituality in university students.
Research method is descriptive correlational. The study sample is includes all students in psychology college in central Azad university of Tehran. The number of sample, based on Morgan table is 385 people (10 men and 283 woman) and the sampling method is available Data collection instrument includes self- report scale for sympathy of Rashton et al (1981), empathy scale of Mehrabian and Epstein (1972) and Robert Cloninger questionnaire for desire to spirituality (2003). Data analysis and statistical analysis were done by correlation and multi- variate regression.
The findings suggest that there is a significant relationship between sympathy, the desire to spirituality (sig= 0.006, r= 0.139) and between empathy and the desire to spirituality (sig= 0.000, r= 0.412). All dimensions of empathy had a significant relationship with sympathy and the desire to spirituality variants. Regression coefficient also confirmed the relationship and indicated that sympathy can be a positive and significant prediction for the desire to spirituality. Additionally, empathy variant, the elements of cooperation empathy and empathy towards others can also significantly predict the desire to spirituality. In investigating the conceptual model of the research, the appropriateness indicates of the study and the relationship between variants were confirmed.
based on the findings, the increase in sympathy, empathy and the desire to spirituality among young people is a necessary issue and any kind of improvement in spirituality can lead to developments in emphatic values.