Designing a model for predicting moral behavior based on parenting styles and ego-strength: The mediating role of the self-transcendence structure

This study aimed to design a model for predicting moral behavior based on parenting styles and ego-strength with the mediating role of the structure of self-transcendence among university students.

The statistical population of this descriptive-correlational study included all students of Bu-Ali Sina University of Hamadan city-Iran in the 2020-2021 academic year. Two-hundred eighty-five students were selected using a multi-stage cluster sampling method. The instruments were the moral behavior scale, parenting styles scale, ego-strength scale, and self-transcendence scale. The data were analyzed by path analysis with LISREL software.

The results indicated that the proposed model fitted the experimental data (GFI= 0.95, IFI= 0.98, and CFI= 0.97). Also, the results of path analysis indicated that the effects of parenting styles on moral behavior and self-transcendence and the effects of ego-strength and self-transcendence on moral behavior were significant. The results of Sobel's test (z) indicated that the self-transcendence variable has a significant mediating role in the relationship between permissive style (Z= -2.68, P< 0.01), authoritative style (Z= -2.55, P< 0.01), authoritarian style (Z= -3.61, P< 0.01), and ego-strength (Z= 4.56, P< 0.01) with moral behavior.

Based on the results, it can be said that pa renting styles, ego-strength, and self-transcendence can predict conducting moral behaviors. Also, self-transcendence can be one of the factors that influence the relationship between pa renting styles and ego-strength with moral behavior.