Explaining the causal model of tendency to high-risk behaviors based on psychological flexibility and attachment styles mediated by emotion-seeking in male and female high school students

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD student in Psychology, Bushehr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bushehr, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Bushehr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bushehr, Iran

3 Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Bushehr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bushehr, Iran.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explain the causal model of tendency to high-risk behaviors based on psychological flexibility and attachment styles mediated by emotion seeking in male and female high school students. This research has been a descriptive correlation in terms of applied purpose and in terms of data collection by structural equation method. The statistical population of the present study was all students studying in the second year of high school in Shiraz in the academic year 1399-1400. 300 people were selected as a sample using cluster random sampling method. In the descriptive statistics section, the indicators of mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum scores and in the inferential statistics section, Pearson coefficient, multiple regression and path analysis test have been used. Findings showed that the causal model of tendency to high-risk behaviors based on psychological flexibility and attachment styles mediated by emotion-seeking in female and male high school students has a good fit and significance (P <0.05). All direct and indirect pathways in this study that lead to predicting the tendency to high-risk behavior were significant (P <0.05). In the meantime, only ambivalent attachment style could not significantly explain the tendency to high-risk behavior (P <0.05). Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that; Secondary school students, both boys and girls, with high flexibility, secure attachment style and distance from avoidant attachment style can reduce their excitement and ultimately avoid high-risk behaviors.

Keywords


1- Atash Nafs, A., Ghorbani, R., Tabatabai, M., Abdus, H., Abbaspour, S., & Mahmoudian, A. (2014). Common high-risk behaviors and family factors affecting it from the perspective of adolescents: A qualitative study. Family Studies, 10 (2), 217-233.[in persian]
2- Eskandari, H., Pajuhinia, Sh., & Abovisani, Y. (2016). Explain psychological problems based on their cognitive flexibility and differentiation. Khatam Healing Neuroscience, 4 (3), 18-27.[in persian]
3- Bahari, S., & Shirkhani, M. (2009). The relationship between personality traits, attachment styles and risk-taking in young people. Educational Management Innovations, 15, 18, 29 46.
4- Bahrami, M., & Kamrani Saleh, B. (2016). Investigating the relationship between personality traits and attachment styles with the level of excitement of the operational forces of a military organization. Military Psychology, 28, 16, 29-44.
5- Jalvani, M., Abedi, A., & Mr. Jashoughani, A. (2015). The relationship between attachment styles and emotion seeking in high school girls in Isfahan. Journal of Rehabilitation Research in Nursing. 1 (3): 45-53.
6- Rezapour Mirsaleh, Y., & Ismail Beigi, M. (2020). Comparison of family functioning, marital satisfaction and thinking styles in mothers of children with learning disabilities and mothers of normal children. Learning Disabilities, 9 (4), 34-51.
7- Salimi Kochi, A. (2014). Predicting adolescent high-risk behaviors based on parenting styles, attachment styles, and family cohesion. Master Thesis. Tehran, Teacher Training University, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences.
8- Fouladi, F., Esfandiarpour Boroujeni, N., Adnani, A., & Kaviani Boroujeni, M. (2020). Predicting students' tendency to risky behaviors based on psychological toughness, coping styles, and psychological resilience. 8th Scientific-Research Conference on Educational Sciences and Psychology, Social and Cultural Harms of Iran, 2020.
9- Mohammadi, M., Farnam, R., & Mahboubi, P. (2011). Relationship between attachment styles and difficulty in emotional regulation with marital satisfaction in female teachers of Kish Island. Women and Culture, 2 (7), 9-20.
10- Mehrabizadeh Honarmand, M., Fathi, K., & Shahni Yilagh, M. (2008). Study of depression, excitement, aggression, attachment styles and socioeconomic status as predictors of drug dependence in male adolescents in Ahvaz. Journal of Educational Sciences and Psychology, 15 (1) (Special Issue of Psychology), 153-178.
11- Baumeister, R. F. (2016). Toward a general theory of motivation: Problems, challenges, opportunities, and the big picture. Motivation and Emotion, 40(1), 1–10.
12- Beirne, P. J. W. Messerschmid. (2011). Criminology: A Sociological Approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
13- Blakemore SJ, Mills KL. Is adolescence a sensitive period for sociocultural processing? Annu Rev Psychol. 2014; 65:187-207. doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115202. Epub 2013 Sep 6. PMID: 24016274.
14- Burton, C. L., Yan, O. H., Pat-Horenczyk, R., Chan, I. S. F., Ho, S., & Bonanno, G. A. (2012). Coping flexibility and complicated grief: A comparison of American and Chinese samples. Depression and Anxiety, 29, 16–22.
15- Daspe, M. È., Arbel, R., Ramos, M. C., Shapiro, L. A., & Margolin, G. (2019). Deviant peers and adolescent risky behaviors: The protective effect of nonverbal display of parental warmth. Journal of research on adolescence, 29(4), 863-878.
16- DeLisi, M., Tostlebe, J., Burgason, K., Heirigs, M., & Vaughn, M. (2018). Self-Control Versus Psychopathy: A Head-to-Head Test of General Theories of Antisociality. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice.; 16(1):53-76.
17- Fuchshuber J, Hiebler-Ragger M, Kresse A, Kapfhammer HP, Unterrainer HF. The Influence of Attachment Styles and Personality Organization on Emotional Functioning After Childhood Trauma. Front Psychiatry. 2019 Sep 5; 10:643. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00643.
18- Griffin, P., & Esther, c. (2012). Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills. USA: Springer.
19- Gupta, S., & Bonanno, G. A. (2011). Complicated grief and deficits in emotional expressive flexibility. Journal of abnormal psychology, 120(3), 635.‏
20- Hu, N., Shu, C., & Chen, X. (2019). Adult attachment and self-disclosure on social networking site: A content analysis of Sina Weibo. Personality and individual differences, 138, 96-105.
21- Kagitcibasi, C. (2013). Adolescent Autonomy-Relatedness and the Family in Cultural Context: What Is Optimal. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 23(2). https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.2041
22- Kashdan, T. B., & Rottenberg, J. (2010). Psychological flexibility as a fundamental aspect of health. Clinical psychology review, 30(7), 865-878.‏
23- Kim, H. M., & Miller, L. C. (2020). Are insecure attachment styles related to risky sexual behavior? A meta-analysis. Health Psychology, 39(1), 46.
24- Kupfer, D. J., Steinberg, L., Dahl, R., Keating, D., Masten, A. S., & Pine, D. S. (2006). The study of developmental psychopathology in adolescence: Integrating affective neuroscience with the study of context. In D. Cicchetti & D. J. Cohen (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology: Developmental neuroscience (pp. 710–741)
25- Lougheed, J. P., Hollenstein, T., & Lewis, M. D. (2016). Maternal regulation of daughters' emotion during conflicts from early to midā€adolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 26(3), 610-616.‏
26- Mathews, E S. (2015). Towards an Independent Future: Life Skills Training and Vulnerable Deaf Adults, Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies: 15(1): 1- 15.
27- Polaschek,D., & Wong, S. (2020). Risk-Reducing Treatment in High-Risk Psychopathic and Violent Offenders. UK: Routledge.
28- Schumpe, B. M., Bélanger, J. J., Moyano, M., & Nisa, C. F. (2020). The role of sensation seeking in political violence: An extension of the Significance Quest Theory. Journal of personality and social psychology, 118(4), 743.‏
29- Stein, D. J., & Vythilingum, B. (2009). Love and attachment: the psychobiology of social bonding. CNS spectrums, 14(5), 239-242.‏
30- Tu, X, C., Lou, E., Gao, N., Li, L., S. Zabin. (2012). the Relationship between Sexual Behavior and Nonsexual Risk Behaviors among Unmarried Youth in Three Asian Cities.” Journal of Adolescent Health, 4(50), pp: 75-82.
31 -Vujanovic, A. A. (Eds.)., Zvolemky, M. J. (Ed.), Leyro, T. M., & Bernstein, A. (2011). Historical perspectives, theory, and measurement of distress tolerance. In M. J. Zvolensky, A. Bernstein, & A. A. Vujanovic (Eds.), Distress tolerance: Theory, research, and clinical applications (pp. 3–27). The Guilford Press.