The Effectiveness of Spiritual Intelligence Training on Cognitive Flexibility and Tendency to Risky Behaviors in First-Year Male High School Students

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic Philosophy and Contemporary Wisdom, Philosophy Research Institute, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran (Corresponding Author).

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, Islamic Azad University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of spiritual intelligence training on cognitive flexibility and the tendency to engage in risky behaviors among first-year male high school students. The research design was semi-experimental with a pre-test and post-test method involving a control group. The statistical population included all first-year male high school students at Sama schools in Tehran during the 2021-2022 academic year. Using cluster sampling, one high school was selected, and from a population of 240 students, 40 students were chosen based on scoring below average on the Dennis and Vander Wal Cognitive Flexibility Scale and above average on the Mohammadkhani Risky Behavior Scale. The participants were randomly assigned to two groups of 20: experimental and control. Spiritual intelligence training was administered to the experimental group in 12 sessions of 90 minutes each. After the training, both groups were reassessed on cognitive flexibility and their tendency to engage in risky behaviors. Independent t-tests, paired t-tests, and covariance analysis revealed that spiritual intelligence training significantly increased cognitive flexibility and reduced the tendency to engage in risky behaviors among the students (P < 0.001). These findings suggest that enhancing spiritual intelligence through training improves cognitive flexibility and reduces students' tendency to engage in risky behaviors.

Keywords


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