The relationship between alexithymia and shyness in nursing students with mediating roles of loneliness and social identity

Background: Shyness is a main cause of poor results in the educational environment. The present study aimed at studying relationship between alexithymia (the inability to recognize or describe one’s own emotions) and shyness in nursing students, with mediating roles of loneliness and social identity.

Methods: This descriptive-correlational study was based on structural equation modeling, specific regression equations, and a statistical population of 658 nursing students at Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences in 2018. A sample of 331 students was selected. To collect the data, Toronto’s Alexithymia Scale, Russell, Peplau and Cutrona’s Loneliness Scale, Safarinia’s Social Identity Questionnaire and Briggs, Cheek and Buss’ Shyness Scale were used.

Results: The findings from regression analysis showed that there was a direct effect between alexithymia and shyness and an indirect effect between alexithymia and shyness with mediating factors of loneliness and social identity (P<0.01). In total, alexithymia, feelings of loneliness, and perception of social identity had a predictive power of 0.51% of shyness.

Conclusion: The results of this study show the effect of alexithymia and the role of moderating influences on feelings of loneliness and social identity perceptions and shyness among nursing students, which can provide useful practical applications to advisers and trainers in order to improve the psychological state of nursing students.