Investigation of the mediator role of life satisfaction in the relationship between pre-service teachers' cognitive flexibility and psychological well-being

The aim of this study is to examine the mediating role of life satisfaction in the relationship between pre-service teachers' cognitive flexibility levels and psychological well-being. In this study, which was designed in the relational research model, which is one of the quantitative research types, psychological well-being of pre-service teachers was determined as the dependent variable, cognitive flexibility levels as the independent variable, and life satisfaction as the mediating variable. In addition, the study group of the research consists of 173 pre-service teachers studying at Akdeniz University Faculty of Education in the 2021-2022 academic year and participating in the research voluntarily. Research data were collected with Life Satisfaction Scale, Cognitive Flexibility Scale and Psychological Well-Being Scale. The problem situation was determined by the researchers for the data obtained from the aforementioned scales and it was tested by conducting mediation analysis. SPSS 25 and LISREL 8.80 programs were used to analyze the data. Besides, the hypotheses determined by the researchers were tested using the Process Macro developed by Hayes. Within the scope of the research, it was concluded that the cognitive flexibility level of pre-service teachers has a significant effect on psychological well-being and life satisfaction has a mediating role in this effect. In this context, it can be said that it is possible to improve the psychological well-being of pre-service teachers by increasing their cognitive flexibility levels. Also, suggestions have been made to guide the researchers in future studies. As a result, hypotheses regarding the relationship between pre-service teachers' cognitive flexibility levels and life satisfaction were confirmed and the tested model was presented based on the literature.