Structural Model of the Relationship between Communication Beliefs and Social Interest Mediated by Self-Differentiation

This research investigates the relationship betweencommunication beliefs and social interest mediated bydifferentiation of self in students.

The research is correlative of thestructural equation using PLS software which is conducted via asurvey type method. All students at Islamic Azad University,Khomeini Shahar Unit (from 2019 to 2020) comprised the statisticalpopulation. The sampling method was random clustering with thetotal samples amounting to 300 people. The subjects responded tothe Skowron & Friedlander (1998)’s Differentiation of SelfInventory (DSI), Adelson & Epstein (1982)’s CommunicationStandardized Beliefs Questionnaire, and Greever et al.’s SocialInterest Scale (1973.)

The model test indicated that the direct effects ofcommunication beliefs on social interest had been rejected;however, considering the significant effects of communicationbeliefs on differentiation of self and differentiation of self on socialinterests, the mediating role of differentiation of self in therelationship between communication beliefs and social interest wasconfirmed (p> 0.05), with the indirect effect intensity at 0.053.Accordingly, communication beliefs were found to only have anindirect effect on social interest.

This research demonstrated that increasingdifferentiation of self could improve communication beliefs andpromote social interests