DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY (JOURNAL OF IRANIAN PSYCHOLOGISTS)
Year:2008 | Volume:4 | Issue:16|Papers Count:8

This research aimed to examine the effectiveness of Progressive Relaxation Training in evaluating the stress of daily life events. 100 female students of consulting were randomly selected from Azad University and Personal Views Survey (PVS; Hardiness Institute, 1985), Self-esteem Inventory (Coopersmith, 1967), and Cattell Anxiety Scale (Cattell, 1958) were administered. After random assignment of participants to a control and an experimental group, the experimental group received 10 weekly sessions of progressive relaxation training (Jackobson, 1934). Next, the Hassles and Uplifts Scale (Delongis et al, 1982) was administered to both groups. Data showed that by controlling the levels of self-esteem, hardiness and tension, the experimental group, after receiving the relaxation training, appraised the daily life events as less stressful than the control group that did not receive the training

parents (n=1001) and teachers (n=284) of 518 girls and 483 boys (aged 3-5 years old), answered the Social Skills Rating System–Parent and Teacher forms (Gresham & Eliot, 1990), which aimed to measure their children's social skills, internalizing problems, and externalizing problems based on gender differences. The results of a MANOVA showed that, according to parents and teachers, girls scored higher than boys on the social skills (cooperation, responsibility and self control) and internalizing problems (sadness, depression and loneliness) subscales. Boys scored higher than girls on the externalizing problems (aggression, poor control of temper, arguing) subscale. Parents' ratings did not show a significant difference between girls’ and boys' measurements of assertiveness.

A sample of 30 dyslexic 1st to 3rd graders in the city of Tabriz was identified as dyslexia using the Dyslexia Checklist (Michaeli, 2006). The sample was administered the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-R, 1974) and Diagnostic Reading Test (Bahari Gharahgoz, 2006) and randomly assigned to an experimental and a control group. During a three month period, the experimental group received thirteen, 45-minute sessions of individual training using the Sina aid: instructional device for training of reading (Seif Naraghi & Naderi, 2003). The control group received none. The two groups pre-post tests of reading errors were compared using ANCOVA. The results revealed that, controlling for the intelligence variable, the application of Sina aid accounted for a 48% reduction in reading errors, suggesting that teachers can rely on the Sina aid for improving reading skills of dyslexic students.

The mental health of parents with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was compared with that of parents with normal children. The teacher of 315 female and 315 male (ages 7 to 11 years) students completed the Child Symptom Inventory – 4 (Gadow & Sprafkin, 1994). Two groups of students with and without ADHD (consisting of 15 female and 23 male children in each group) were selected. Parents of all the 76 children then responded to the Gender Health Questionnaire (Goldberg, 1972). The results showed that the mental health of parents of children with ADHD was significantly lower than parents with normal children (P<0.001). The implications for devising preventative programs that promote the public health are discussed.

In order to predict academic achievement on the basis of personality traits, 200 junior high school students (100 female, 100 male), chosen by multistage sampling method, completed the Five Factor Personality Inventory (NEO-FFI); (Costa & McCare, 1992). Their academic achievement was assessed through national high school entrance exam scores. Academic achievement had a positive correlation with extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, a negative correlation with neuroticism, and no correlation with openness to experience. Stepwise regression analysis showed that only neuroticism and con- scientiousness, in two steps, could explain 9% of variance in academic achievement. The results are discussed in terms of the trait theory of personality.

The efficacy of Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT) in decreasing the symptoms of anxiety and depression in patients suffering from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) was examined. 32 patients, diagnosed by a gastroenterologist applying the RomeII Criteria, were selected and divided into an experimental and a control group each composed of 12 patients. The experimental group received a weekly session of CBT for eight weeks. The Health Anxiety subscale of the Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire (Pat- rick et al., 1998) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI, 1961) were administered as pre-post and follow-up tests. The results of MANCOVA showed significantly lower mean scores in symptoms of anxiety (P<0.05) and depression (P<0.01) among the experimental group in the post-test. The follow-up test given eight weeks after the post-test did not show a change in the anxiety scores of experimental group. However, the follow-up test showed an increase in the depression scores of experimental group (P<0.05). Findings support the efficacy of CBT in treating the IBS.

In order to evaluate the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Academic Expectations Stress Inventory (AESI, Ang and Huan, 2006), 143 male and 182 female high school students were administered the AESI and the Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (FNES-B, Leary, 1983). Exploratory factor analysis confirmed the two factor-structure of the AESI in the Iranian sample: Expectations of Parents/Teachers and Expectations of Self. The findings of confirmatory factor analysis provided support for the factor structure derived from exploratory factor analysis and suggested that the two-factor model of AESI, compared to the one-factor model, was a better fit to the data. Significant positive correlations between the scores of BFNES scale and AESI's total and subscales scores provided empirical support for the convergent validity of the AESI. Internal consistency of the AESI total score and its subscales was good. The findings support the consistency of the AESI factor structure, and its validity in measuring stress of academic expectations in Iranian students.