The Structural Relationship between Religious Orientation and Psychological ‌Hardiness through the Mediating Role of Identity Style in Senior High School Students

This study aimed at predicting psychological hardiness based on religious orientation through the mediating role of students’ identity styles.

The method of the study was correlational and of structural equation analysis type. The statistical population of the study included all the senior high school students of Kashan city (8100 people) in the academic year of 2021-2022. To determine the sample size, the criteria involved in the statistical method of structural equations were used. The sample size in this study was 500 people selected using cluster multistage sampling method.The data-collecting tool included three questionnaires: Hardiness Scale (Kobasa, 1990), Identity Style Inventory (Berzonsky, 1992) and Religious Orientation Questionnaire (Allport, 1950). The data were analyzed by structural equation modeling and using LISREL 8.8 and SPSS 26 software.

According to the findings of this study, external orientation (p < 0.01), internal orientation (p < 0.05) directly predicted psychological hardiness. Internal orientation predicted psychological hardiness through the mediating role of identity styles (p < 0.01). Informational identity style (β<0.05), and normative identity style (p<0.05) directly predicted psychological hardiness. External orientation (p < 0.01), and internal orientation (p < 0.01) directly predicted informational identity style. Internal orientation (p < 0.01) directly predicted normative identity style.

According to these findings, psychological hardiness can be predicted based on religious orientation through the mediating role of identity style. Therefore, it is recommended to consider these two variables in students’ educational programs.