The mediating role of the image of God in the relationshipbetween attachment styles and life satisfaction

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the mediating role of the image of God in the relationship between attachment styles and life satisfaction. The research method was descriptive-correlational, and the statistical population included all the undergraduate students of Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute, among whom 267 students were selected through cluster random sampling based on the Morgan table. For data collection, three questionnaires were used: the Hazan and Shaver Attachment Style (AAI) , God Image Inventory (adapted from Greenway's Religious Status Inventory (RSI)), and Diener'sSatisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). The data obtained were analyzed by Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), using the path analysis method through the proposed steps of Baron and Kenny (1986), using AMOS-24 software. The findings in the first hypothesis showed that positive image of God mediated the relationship between safe attachment style and life satisfaction. In the second hypothesis, the negative images of God mediated relationship between an unsafe attachment style and life satisfaction. In the third hypothesis, when the positive and negative images of God were entered the path analysis simultaneously, the results of path analysis showed the significant mediating role of the image of God in the relationship between attachment styles and satisfaction of life so that the safe attachment style of the path of the positive image of God had a positive prediction of life satisfaction, and an unsafe attachment style of the path of negative image of God had a negative prediction of life satisfaction. Regression weights were significant at all the three stages.