Mahsa Rashidi Sian

Forgiveness and empathy are factors which are influential in improving the relationships between people, themselves can be affected by various factors in turn. The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between the styles of attachment to God and forgiveness and empathy among female students in the city of Qom. 250 students were selected from the city of Qom by cluster sampling. Three questionnaires were used: styles of attachment to God by Kirkpatrick and Rowatt, emotional empathy by Mehrabian and Epstein and forgiveness inventory by Enzeit. Pearson correlation and Regression analysis were used for data analysis. The style of secure attachment to God had a significantly positive relationship with forgiveness and empathy. Furthermore, the style of avoidant attachment to God and the style of bilateral attachment to God had a significantly negative relationship with forgiveness. In addition, the standard coefficients of all three predictive variables were all significant at p=0.05. Assessment and recognition of the style of attachment to God, the students and its relation with forgiveness and empathy can have valuable implications in providing the mental health of the students. Conclusion: The findings of this research show a connection between the style of attachment to God and forgiveness and empathy, indicate the clarification of attachment to God in students' forgiveness and empathy. Based on the findings, it can be suggested that the theory of attachment to God can be used in psychotherapy.

Introduction: in light of the importance of mental health in today life, attending to mental health of the youth to pave the way for a better future is of paramount importance. Various factors can influence mental health, one of which is the quality of attachment to and trust in God. The aim of this paper was to examine the capability of this quality so as to predict the mental health of Tehran University students. Methods: This research was of correlation type which utilized analysis of regression and the multiple correlation factor to analyze data. The participants were 300 students studying at University of Tehran who were stratified into theology 34, biology 38, art 21, literature 54, economics 21, technical 68, English Language 38, and Psychology 26. Data collection was done on the basis of the revised list of mental symptoms, Kirkpatric test of attachment to God method and Rahyaft questionnaire in life events. Findings: in this study, it was demonstrated that 29% of the variance of students' mental health was represented by factors of attachment to God, and the value of F showed that only the aspects of attributive and action were meaningful at the significance level of below 0.5% among other variances and the other predictors of students' metal health all were meaningful at the significance level of below 0.01%. Conclusion: The findings of the study demonstrate the relation between spirituality and mental health in such a way that mental health can be helped by strengthening and reinforcing the students’ sources of spirituality including trust in God.