Prediction of Mental Health in Only Child Students based on Defense Mechanisms and Coherent Self-Knowledge

This structural equation modeling research using the correlation method examines the prediction of the mental health of only-child students based on defense mechanisms and coherent self-knowledge. In the spring/summer of 2022, only-child students from the Islamic Azad University of Rudehen and Tehran Medical Branch comprised the statistical population of this study. The General Health Questionnaire (Goldberg and Hillier, 1979), the Defense Styles Questionnaire (Andrews et al., 1993), and the Integrative Self-Knowledge Scale (ISK) (Ghorbani et al., 2008) were administered to 300 participants in one session. Significant at the 0.01 level are the overall path coefficients between psychotic defense mechanisms (p< 0.01, β= 0.168) and immature defense mechanisms (p<0.01, β = 0.296) and positive mental health, and between mature defense mechanisms (p<0.01, β= -0.180) and adverse mental health. Mental health was positively linked with the indirect path coefficient between psychologically offended defense mechanisms (p<0.05, β =0.094) and immature defense mechanisms (p<0.05, β=0.110). Positively and significantly, coherent self-knowledge influences the relationship between defense mechanisms and the mental health of only-child students.