The mediating role of cognitive flexibility in the relationship between metacognition and psychological health: A study in a non-clinical sample

Objective: Metacognition is a concept that refers to the awareness and control of individuals' cognitive processes. In this regard, metacognitive processes may promote cognitive flexibility. The present study investigates the impact of metacognitions on adults' psychological health and the mediating role of cognitive flexibility through bootstrap analysis. Method: The sample comprised of 212 university students. All volunteers had no history of psychiatric/neurological disorders and no use of medication affecting the central nervous system for the last six months. Participants were required to complete the Metacognitions Questionnaire-30, the General Health Questionnaire- 12, and the Cognitive Flexibility Inventory via an online survey. Results: According to the correlation analyses, cognitive flexibility was found to be negatively correlated with dysfunctional metacognition (r=-0.227, p<0.01) and poor psychological health (r=-0.397, p<0.01); dysfunctional metacognition was positively correlated with poor psychological health (r=0.399, p<0.01). We conducted mediation analyses via the bootstrapping method using a 95% confidence interval and 5000 bootstrap samples. The results showed that cognitive flexibility had a significant partial mediating role in the relationship between metacognition and psychological health [R-2=0.26, F(2, 209)=36.38, p<0.001]. Conclusion: The findings highlighted the importance of cognitive flexibility as an underlying mechanism through the relationship between metacognition and psychological health in a non-clinical sample. The results suggested the need to take "cognitive health" into account while attempting to promote "psychological health."