The role of personality factors in predicting life satisfaction of non-native students with the mediating role of self-differentiation

Introduction: This study aimed was to predict the life satisfaction (LS) of non-native students based on personality traits and mediated by the level of differentiation. Aim: The aim of this cross-sectional study was to determine the psychosocial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on students attending a private high school in Istanbul, Turkey. Material and methods: This study population consisted of all non-native students of the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Two hundred people were selected by convenience sampling method and answered the Diener life satisfaction questionnaire, Gary-Wilson personality traits and Skowron and Friedlander self-differentiation questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using AMOS and SPSS software v. 24 and Pearson correlation coefficient, regression coefficient, and path analysis. Results and Discussion: The mean age of participants was 27.92 ± 5.32 years. The proposed model had a good fit according to the index of fitness. There was a significant correlation between behavioral activation systems (BASs) as one of the subscales of personality factors with LS (P < 0.05, r = 0.47), and between BASs with self-differentiation (P < 0.05, r = 0.35). Also, there was a significant indirect correlation between behavioral inhibition system (BIS) and LS (P < 0.05, r = –0.40) and between BIS with self-differentiation (P < 0.05, r = –0.30). There was a significant relationship between differentiation with LS (P < 0.05, r = 0.55). Due to the significant indirect effect of the model, the level of differentiation could mediate the relationship between personality factors and LS. Conclusions: Although personality factors predict a part of LS, the ability to differentiate between thought and feeling and to maintain independence in interpersonal relationships plays an essential role in the LS of non-native students.