The Relationship between Cognitive Flexibility and Social Responsibility among Female University Students in Relation to Selected Variables

Abstract

This study aims to identify the levels of cognitive flexibility and social responsibility among female university students, examine the nature of the relationship between the two variables, and determine differences in cognitive flexibility and social responsibility according to the variables of academic specialization (health, scientific and humanities), cumulative grade point average (GPA), and year of study. The study sample consisted of 386 female students, including 202 students from health and scientific colleges and 184 students from humanities colleges. The researcher employed the Cognitive Flexibility Inventory (CFI) developed by Dennis and Vander Wal (2010) and the Social Responsibility Scale developed by Arslan and Wong (2022). The findings revealed high levels of both cognitive flexibility and social responsibility among the participants. A statistically significant positive correlation was also found between the two variables at the 0.01 significance level. The results further indicated no statistically significant differences in cognitive flexibility attributable to academic specialization, cumulative GPA or year of study. In contrast, statistically significant differences were found in social responsibility according to academic specialization, in favor of students in scientific and health disciplines, and according to cumulative GPA, in favor of students with higher GPAs. No statistically significant differences in social responsibility were found according to year of study