The Role of Meta-Cognitive Belief, Perceived Stress and Cognitive Flexibility in Predicting the Suicidal Thoughts of Male Adolescents

Introduction: The present study was conducted to determine the role of meta-cognitive belief, perceived stress and cognitive flexibility in predicting the suicidal thoughts of male students. Methods: The research method was descriptive and correlational. The statistical population included all male high school adolescents in Ardabil during 2019-2020. of the population, 350 subjects were selected by multi-stage random cluster sampling. In order to collect data, the instruments of meta-cognitive belief (Wells, Cartwright-Hatton, 2004), perceived stress (Cohen, 1983), cognitive flexibility (Dennis, Vanderwal, 2010) and suicidal thoughts (Beck,1991) were used. Data analysis was made using Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression and using SPSS version 18 software. Results: The results showed a significant relationship between meta-cognitive belief (r=0.61), perceived stress (r=0.64) and cognitive flexibility (r=-0.57) and the suicidal thoughts of male adolescents (p<0.05). In addition, the results of multiple regression showed that meta-cognitive belief 0.32, perceived stress 0.35 and cognitive flexibility -0.22 significantly predict the suicidal thoughts of male adolescents (p<0.05). Conclusion: Male adolescents' suicidal thoughts is predictable by the meta-cognitive belief, perceived stress and cognitive flexibility. Therefore, it is suggested that psychologists and counselors consider the role of meta-cognitive belief, perceived stress and cognitive flexibility to decrease the level of adolescents' suicidal thoughts.