DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY (JOURNAL OF IRANIAN PSYCHOLOGISTS)
Year:2017 | Volume:14 | Issue:53 |Papers Count:10

the purpose of this study was to investigate the roles of object relations and defense mechanisms in predicting social anxiety. The sample of 558 students were selected from the University of Tehran by convenience sampling method. The participants completed Bell Object Relations Inventory (BORI; Bell, Becker & Billington, 1986), Defense Styles Questionnaire (DSQ; Andrews, Singh & Bond, 1993) and Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN; Connor, et.al, 2000). The results indicated that social anxiety is significantly correlated with object relation dimensions (i.e., egocentricity, alienation, insecure attachment and social incompetence) and mature defense styles (suppression and humor). The correlations between social anxiety and all immature defense styles were significant except the correlation with denial. The results of step by step regression indicated that social incompetence, insecure attachment, autistic fantasy, dissociation and passive aggressive were the most important predictors of social anxiety. The findings empirically supported psychodynamic explanations about psychopathology, and also indicated the roles of object relations and immature defenses in social anxiety.

the present study aimed to determine the mediating role of defense mechanisms in the relationship between attachment pathologies and the symptoms of depression and anxiety. Four hundred and six participants (242 boys and 164 girls) were recruited to fill out Adult Attachment Inventory (AAI; Besharat, 2011, 2013), Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995), and Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ; Andrews, Singh & Bond, 1993). The results of path analysis indicated that the proposed model had a good fit with the observed data, confirming that the relationship between attachment pathologies and the symptoms of depression and anxiety is a non-linear relationship. Specifically, it was found that attachment pathologies affect the depression and anxiety symptoms through defense mechanisms. Accordingly, it is very important to consider defense mechanisms in addition to attachment pathologies in depression and anxiety disorders.

the aim of this study was to predict materialism on basis of perceived social support, self-esteem and decision making styles. Two hundred high school female students were selected from high schools in Tehran by multistage sampling method. The participants completed the Material Value scale (Richihs & Dawson 1992), Perceived Social Support Scale (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet& Farley, 1988), Decision Making Styles Scale (Schott & Broce, 1995), and Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965). The result of multiple regression analysis indicated that self-esteem, dependent, avoidant, and intuition decision making styles, and also family support can predict materialism. As a result, it can be concluded that by clarifying the role of self-esteem, social support and decision making in predicting materialism, this phenomenon may be reduced.

the aim of present study was to investigate the mediating roles of self-system processes, academic motivation and emotions in the relationship between classroom social context and academic engagement. The participants were 586 grade nine students in Tehran. They completed Academic Engagement Questionnaire (Reeve & Tseng, 2011), Academic Emotions Questionnaires (Pekrun et al., 2005), Academic Motivation Scale (Vallerand et al, 1989), Psychological Needs Satisfaction Scale (Filak & Sheldon, 2003), Teacher Emotional Support Scale (Sakiz, 2007), Autonomy Support (Blackburn, 1998) and Peers Emotional Support (Johnson et al, 1983) subscales. The results of path analysis showed that classroom social context (including teacher emotional support, autonomy support and peers emotional support) have effects on academic engagement through several pathways. Findings indicated that social context factors of classroom had effects on self-system processes (autonomy need satisfaction, competence need satisfaction and relatedness need satisfaction), and these processes influenced academic motivation. Academic motivation had an effect on academic emotions, and academic emotions structurally influenced academic engagement. Therefore, classroom social context had effects on academic engagement by the mediating roles of self-system processes, academic motivation and emotions.

the aim of this study was to determine the contribution of hope and expectancy of treatment on clients’ improvement feeling. For this purpose, in a descriptive study, 160 clients who had completed at least two sessions of psychotherapy were selected by purposive sampling method from psychotherapy and counseling centers in Tehran. They were then tested by Subjective Units of Hope and Expectancy of Treatment and Improvement Questionnaire. The results of multivariate regression analysis showed that hope and expectancy explained 93.5, 87.3, 93.1, and 90.9 percent of the variance respectively in improvement feeling, symptom distress, interpersonal relationships and social-role functioning. This study confirmed the significant contribution of hope and expectancy of treatment on clients’ improvement feeling.

the aim of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA; Lebuffe, Shapiro & Naglieri, 2009) scale in Iranian children. Seven hundred forty four children aged 5 to 14 years (384 girls and 360 boys) were selected by multistage random sampling method from Isfahan city in 2015-2016 academic year. The reliability of the DESSA was assessed via internal consistency, inter-item correlations. Factor structure of the scale was assessed by explanatory and confirmatory factor analysis. The validity of the DESSA was examined by the correlation between the subscales and divergent validity. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients in all subscales and the total scale for the participants of both genders had acceptable psychometric properties and most of the correlations range were more than.40. Explanatory factor analyses indicated eight factors model. Confirmatory factor analysis indices also indicated that items had good fit. Moreover, divergent validity of the DESSA with the Ratter's Child Behavior Questionnaire for parents was satisfactory.

in the present study, the effectiveness of humor training on reducing social phobia symptoms in students was examined. The research method was quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest design with control group and follow-up in 2 months. From a population of male students attending an education counseling center, after preliminary interviews, 30 students who had higher score (according to standard clinical cut-off point) in Social Phobia Inventory (Connor et al, 2001) were selected. The participants were randomly assigned to the experimental (n=15) and control (n=15) group. The experimental group received humor Training (McGhee, 2004) for 8 consecutive weeks in 80 minutes and the control group received no training in this period. The analysis of variance with repeated measures was done for analyzing the pretest, posttest and follow-up data. The results showed that humor training can lead to a reduction in the total score of social phobia and also its subscales such as fear, avoidance, and physiological discomfort. Additionally, the stability in the post-test scores at the follow-up stage was found.

the objective of this study was to examine the mediating role of resilience in the relationship between family communication patterns and the achievement motivation. For this purpose, 370 BA students of Kerman Farhangian University were selected by cluster sampling method and responded to Hermens’ Achievement Motivation Questionnaire (1970), Resilience Scale (Connor & Davidson, 2003), and Family Communication Patterns Questionnaire (Fitzpatrick & Ritchie, 1994). For data analysis, path analysis and t-test were used. The results showed that conformity has a significant negative correlation with resilience, and resilience and conformity have direct effects on the achievement motivation. The findings revealed that resilience has a mediating role in the relationship between conformity and motivation. Additionally, resilience is higher among males compared to females, but in the area of family communication patterns and motivation, no differences were found among females and males.