Development of a Causal Model of the Tendency to Cheat in the Exam Based on Irrational Beliefs and Self-Control with the Mediation of Anxiety

This research was conducted to develop a causal model of the tendency to cheat in the exam based on irrational beliefs and self-control with the mediation of anxiety.

This research was a descriptive-correlational study using the structural equation method. The statistical population included all the students of Kosar University in Bojnord in the academic year 2022-2023, from which 240 students were selected by random cluster sampling. The research tools were Stephens and Golbaj's (2007) academic cheating questionnaires, Jones' irrational beliefs (1968), Tanji et al.'s self-control (2004),, and Beck's anxiety (1988).

The results showed a significant correlation between all variables (P<0.05). Also, helplessness against change (0.0316), expectation of approval from others (0.0444), and self-control (0.0327) explained the variance of the tendency to cheat in the exam indirectly and with the mediation of anxiety.

The results show that irrational beliefs and self-control affect the tendency to cheat with the mediation of anxiety. According to the obtained indices and coefficients, it can be concluded that the proposed model for developing the causal model of academic cheating tendency is suitable and the data has a good fit with the research model.