Comparison of Psychological Hardiness and Subjective Vitality in Ordinary Students and Students with Special Learning Disorder

Family is one of the most normal groups that satisfy human needs. The birth of a baby with learning disorder in a family can be the worst and most challenging event. This fact causes the creation of some inappropriate subjectivities and beliefs in this kind of children. Therefore, this study was carried out to compare the psychological hardiness and subjective vitality in ordinary students and students with special learning disorders. The present study was a causal-comparative research. The statistical population of this research consisted of all fourth, fifth and sixth grade primary school students including ordinary students and students with special learning disorders in the academic year 2015-2016 in the city of Khoosf in South Khorasan province. The sample included 30 students with special learning disorders who were selected through simple random sampling method among the students studying in training center for dynamic learning problems of the city of Khoosf and 30 ordinary students of this city who were selected through matching method (based on IQ, age, and gender and education grade). The instruments in this study were Psychological Hardiness Scale (Ahvaz short form) and Subjective Vitality Scale (SVS). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). Finding showed that the mean and standard deviation of psychological hardiness in the special learning disorder group (10.89±3.56) was lower than those of the ordinary group (15.66±3.72). Also, the mean of subjective vitality in the special learning disorder group (19.56±4.73) was lower than the ordinary group (26.18±5.02). Thus, there was a significant difference between the two groups of students in terms of the psychological hardiness and subjective vitality (p<0.001). The findings of the present research indicate that the students with special learning disorder enjoy lower psychological hardiness and subjective vitality than ordinary students and need more attention and psychological services; therefore, attention to training programs and counseling services is of special importance for these students. Therefore, by providing training packages for increasing mental vitality and psychological hardiness in schools, we can take appropriate measures to improve psychological and behavioral performance of ordinary students and students with learning disabilities.