| چکیده انگلیسی مقاله |
The role of self complexity, evaluative self-organization and self-concept clarity in predicting cognitive flexibility in Afghan immigrant adolescents morteza delavarpouraghdam, Alireza Moradi, Jafar Hasani, Robabeh Nouri 1. PhD Candidate of Health Psychology, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran 2. Professor of Clinical Psychology, Department of Clinical Psychology, Kharazmi University, Inistitute for Cognitive Science Studies, Tehran, Iran 3. Professor of Clinical Psychology, Department of Clinical Psychology, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran 4. Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology, Department of Clinical Psychology, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran Introduction Immigrant adolescents are considered to be an extremely vulnerable group who are at increased risk for a range of psychological problems. On the other hand, the increase in the number of immigrant people may potentially pose a substancial pressure on mental health services in the country they are hosted. The current situation in Afghanistan makes it likely that Iran is facing a new wave of immigrants, warranting more knowledge about how to facilitate and promote the immigrant adolescent's positive adoptation. Cognitive flexibility refers to the mental ability that enables immigrant adolescents to effectively adjust to changing enviromental demands and effectively switch between cognitive strategies. Considering that few studies have been done in this regard with the variables studied in this study at present, thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the role of structural properties of self consisting self complexity, self-concept clarity, and evaluative self-organization in the cognitive flexibility of Afghan immigrant adolescents in Iran. Methods The research method was descriptive correlational in which the relationship between research variables is analyzed. Three properties of structural self consisting self complexity, self-concept clarity, and self-organization as predictor variables and cognitive flexibility as criterion variable entered to the study. The statistical population included all male and female Afghan immigrant adolescents in Iran aged 11 to 19 years. The sample of this study included 147 adolescents from four cities (Tehran, Ghom, Semnan and Mashhad) who were selected by convenience sampling. Inclusion criteria for participation were having ability to read and write and informed consent to participate in the research. Also, the criteria for exclusion were history of pschiatric disorder, severe cognitive disability and sight/hearing problems affecting person's ability to communicate with the researcher. In order to observe the ethical principles of the research, all subjects received information about the research. They were assured that all information would remain confidential and would only be used for research purposes. Written informed consent and verball assent were obtained from immigrant adolescents and their parents. This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of the Kharazmi University Regional Research Ethics Committee (protocol number: IR.KHU.REC.1399.041). The Self-descriptive Attribution-sorting Task, the Self-concept Clarity Scale, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) were used. In this study, Data analysis was performed by descriptive statistical methods (mean, standard deviation), conventional correlation, and multiple regressions to measure the research variables. In this study, a significance level of less than 0.05 was considered. Data were analyzed using SPSS-24 software. Results Of 147 participating adolescents, 80 were girls, and 67 were boys. The mean and standard deviation of the age of male adolescents (14.13, 2.12) and female adolescents (14.93, 2.48) were obtained. Also, the mean and standard deviation of the total age of adolescents was 14.56 and 2.35. Most of participants in the study (76.2%) were of second generation imigrants who were born in Iran or immigrated to Iran before age 6. The results showed the relationship between evaluative self-organization and TNE (total number of errors) ( r=-.25), evaluative self-organization with NPE (number of perseverative errors) ( r= -.22), evaluative self-organization with NCC (number of completed categories) ( r=.25), self-concept clarity with TNE ( r=-.22), self- concept clarity and NPE ( r=-.19), and self-concept clarity with NCC (r=.20) were significant. The highest correlation coefficient was between evaluative self-organization with TNE and NCC ( r=.25). According to the regression analysis results, among structural properties of self, self-concept clarity and evaluative self-organization could play the role in predicting cognitive flexibility. They predicted 10.8% of Completed Categories measure (P< .01) and 11.7% Total Incorrect measure (P<.001) of WCST. Among predictor variables, evaluative self-organization could predict 4.9% Persevarative Errors measure (P< .01) of WCST. The relationship between self- complexity and cognitive flexibility was not significant. Result showed that evaluative self-organization (compartmentalization vs integration) has the highest predictive power among the properties of structural self. Conclusion In summary, the present study results revealed that self concept clarity and evaluative self-organization -two properties of structural self – have a significant relationship with cognitive flexibility. According to the results of the present study, paying attention to structural properties of self can contain valuable points to improve cognitive flexibility. These findings suggest that increase the level of self-concept clarity and compartmentalization of self-organization may promote adjustment and better performance in Afghan immigrant adolescents when faced with stressful challenges of immigration. Therefore, according to the importance of immigrants' adoptation and the role of structural self in predicting cognitive flexibility, it is necessary to develop specific, codified, and accurate programs to create a suitable environment for the immigrant adolescents to engage in more social roles, relations and activities; promote a clearer positive and negative self-knowledge and enhance skills to effectively switch between conflicting contextualized identities. This study has some limitations that future research could address. The first one regards the cross-sectional nature of the study. In future research, the use of longitudinal design will help Among the research limitations, we can mention the limited population, the cross-sectional statistical sample of the research, contradictory remarks about validity and reliability of Linville H index, impossibility to examine all the other variables playing role in this process, and self-report measure for self-concept clarity. Therefore, the use of longitudinal studies, search for a more valid and reliable index for self complexity, comparison with different groups such as native adolescents, the expansion of the statistical population and sample, and examine the mediation and moderation role of other potential variables such as acculturation strategies, emotion regulatio and personality dimentions can more appropriately explain the relationship. |