Investigating the Role of Moral Identity and Alexithymia in social adjustment in Dormitory Female Students

Adaptation in the university affects all aspects of students' lives and promotes general performance, academic success and physical and mental health. The aim of this study was to determine the role of components of moral identity and emotional malaise in social adjustment in female students living in dormitories.

This is a descriptive correlational study. The statistical population was female students of Shiraz University who lived in dormitories in the academic year of 1996-97, from which 243 people were selected by available sampling method. Data were collected using the California Social Adjustment Scale, the Moral Identity Scale, and the Emotional Dysfunction Questionnaire. Data were analyzed in SPSS-19 statistical software using descriptive statistical methods and Pearson correlation test and regression analysis.

Social adjustment was correlated with moral identity by 0.32, and its correlation with emotional malaise was -0.43. Both variables and their subscales had a significant relationship with social adjustment at the level of P <0.001. Moral identity also showed 0.17 of the variance of social adjustment in the sample population and emotional malaise explained 0.18 of the variance.

The study showed that moral identity and emotional malaise played an important role in social adjustment of female students living in dormitories and significantly predict social adjustment.