The mediating role of irrational beliefs in the relationship between values and life aspirations with mental health

Mental health plays an essential role in ensuring the dynamism and efficiency of any society. Entering the university is a challenging life event for young adults; because students encounter changes in social communication, expectations, and roles. As a result, they are susceptible to experiencing stress and anxiety that could affect their functions. The present study was done to present the causal model of the effect of intrinsic and extrinsic aspirations on mental health about the mediating role of irrational beliefs. The research method was descriptive correlational. To do this, 250 students from Allameh Tabatabaei University were selected via available sampling and then answered a self-report questionnaire consisting of four Factors of Irrational Beliefs Test-Ahvaz (4IBT-A; Ebadi and Motamedi, 2005), General Health Questionnaire (28- GHQ; Goldberg & Hiller, 1979), and Aspiration Index (AI; Grouzet et al., 2005). Data analysis was administered in two parts of latent and observed variables via structural equation modeling using AMOS software. The results showed that extrinsic aspirations positively predict irrational beliefs and intrinsic aspirations negatively predict irrational thoughts; intrinsic aspirations, directly and indirectly, affect mental health; but extrinsic aspirations have no direct effect on mental health; instead, they can reduce students' mental health mediating irrational beliefs. Also, irrational beliefs had a causal and immediate impact on mental health.