The mediating role of emotional processing in the relationship between self-efficacy and tendency for virtual networks in gifted students

Context: Cyberspace covers many aspects of humans’ life, and the tendency to cyberspace can be influenced by cognitive and emotional aspects.
Aims: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the mediating role of emotional processing in relation to self‑efficacy on tendency to virtual networks in gifted students.
Settings and Design: The present study was a correlational research with structural equation modeling.
Materials and Methods: The statistical population of the present study was all 300 gifted students of Sampad High School in the 11th course of experimental field in the academic year of 2019 in Gorgan city, 300 students of which were selected as samples through census method and evaluated by virtual network questionnaire of Mojardi et al., emotional processing questionnaire of Baker et al., and self‑efficacy questionnaire of Sherer et al. (1982).
Statistical Analysis Used: The collected data were analyzed using structural regression equations using SPSS 18 and Amos 23 software.
Results: The results showed that there is a significant negative relationship between self‑efficacy and emotional processing with the tendency to virtual networks (P ≤ 0.01). Self‑efficacy (= −0.267, P ≤ 0.002) and emotional processing (= −0.221, P ≤ 0.000) had a significant negative effect on tendency toward cyberspace. The research model was fitted and confirmed and 0.38 of the variance of tendency to virtual networks was explained by self‑efficacy and emotional processing, and emotional processing had a mediating role in the relationship self‑efficacy with tendency to virtual networks.
Conclusions: Changes in tendency to cyberspace can be explained directly based on self‑efficacy and indirectly based on emotional processing in gifted students, and this study has practical implications for school counselors.