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The relationships between cognitive flexibility, perfectionism, optimism, self-compassion and psychological well-being: A mixed study

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Abstract

Adolescence is a period that involves a series of complex life tasks to be accomplished by the individual. It is important to support adolescents who are trying to become a part of the adult world by providing them with the necessary knowledge and skills in this process. Supporting adolescents’ cognitive flexibility may be effective in helping them cope with these complex problems specific to their period. In this context, a two-stage research was conducted to thoroughly examine the cognitive flexibility of adolescents. In the first stage, it was examined whether optimism, self-compassion and psychological well-being played a mediator role in the relationship between adolescents’ perfectionism and cognitive flexibility. In the second stage of the study, it was investigated whether the cognitive flexibility psycho-education program based on optimism, self-compassion and psychological well-being was effective on the cognitive flexibility of adolescents. The first stage of the study was conducted with a predictive correlational model, and the second stage was conducted with a pretest–posttest control group model. During the first stage of the study, it was found that self-compassion and psychological well-being acted as mediators in the relationship between perfectionism and cognitive flexibility. However, optimism was not found to play such role. As a result of the experimental application, which is the second stage in the study, the cognitive flexibility psycho-education program applied was found to be effective in increasing the cognitive flexibility of adolescents. The findings were discussed in the light of the literature and suggestions were made for researchers and practitioners.

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Data availability

Materials and analysis code for the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ministry of Education, Guidance and Psychological Counseling, Konya, Turkey

    Osman Cırcır

  2. Faculty of Education, Guidance and Psychological Counseling, Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Burdur, Turkey

    Özlem Tagay

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  1. Osman Cırcır
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  2. Özlem Tagay
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***. identified the research question, conducted the analyses, collected research data, reported the research and drafted the manuscript; *** oversaw the design and execution of the larger study, assisted with interpreting the study findings, and collaborated in drafting and revising the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Osman Cırcır.

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Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee, as well as with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. All procedures in this study ethical permission was obtained from Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University Ethics Committee (06.10.2021-GO.2021/328) and research permission was obtained from the Konya Provincial Directorate of National Education (dated 04.10.2021, with reference number E-83688–605.99–33652283). Throughout the research process, no compromise was made on publication ethics. Then, the research data were collected by giving informed consent to the students.

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Cırcır, O., Tagay, Ö. The relationships between cognitive flexibility, perfectionism, optimism, self-compassion and psychological well-being: A mixed study. Curr Psychol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-024-05775-2

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