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Spiritual Health and Resilience Among University Students: the Mediating Role of Self-Esteem

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Abstract

Due to the positive effects of resilience on different dimensions of health, the aim of this study was to propose and examine a model for a deeper understanding of the predictive factors of resilience. In this hypothetical model, self-esteem was suggested as the mediator of the relationship between spiritual health and resilience. This correlational design’s statistical sample consisted of 240 university students who were chosen via multilevel cluster sampling from different faculties of Iran University of Medical Sciences in 2018. For data collecting, the Spiritual Health Questionnaire, Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory, and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale were utilized, and for data analysis, the Pearson correlation method and structural equation modeling were calculated using SPSS 18 and LISREL 8.5 software. According to the results of the current study, self-esteem played a partially mediating role in the relation between spiritual health and resilience. The fitness indices demonstrated satisfying fitness of the model. Since spiritual and religious beliefs are important topics in the lives of the people of Iran, it is possible to strengthen the field of self-esteem and resilience through education on spirituality and increase their positive attitudes toward life.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank all the participants in this study and the members of the Spiritual Health Research Center of Iran University of Medical Sciences for their valuable contributions.

Funding

The author(s) received financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article from Spiritual Health Research Center of Iran University of Medical Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Spiritual Health Research Center, Mental Health Department, School of Behavioral Sciences and Mental Health (Tehran Institute of Psychiatry), Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mitra Borji, Zahra Khorrami, Elahe Farshadnia & Maryam Sadighpour

  2. Community Medicine, Spiritual Health Research Center, Mental Health Department, School of Behavioral Sciences and Mental Health (Tehran Institute of Psychiatry), Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Nadereh Memaryan

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  1. Mitra Borji
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  2. Nadereh Memaryan
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  3. Zahra Khorrami
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  4. Elahe Farshadnia
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  5. Maryam Sadighpour
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Correspondence to Mitra Borji.

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Borji, M., Memaryan, N., Khorrami, Z. et al. Spiritual Health and Resilience Among University Students: the Mediating Role of Self-Esteem. Pastoral Psychol 69, 1–10 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-019-00889-y

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