DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY (JOURNAL OF IRANIAN PSYCHOLOGISTS)
Year:2007 | Volume:3 | Issue:12|Papers Count:9

In order to test the reliability and validity of the Oxford Happiness Inventory (OHI; Argyle, 2001), a sample of 142 Iranian males and 227 Iranian females, age 18-53 (Mean = 25), completed the OHI, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck et al., 1979), and the Eysenk Personality Questionnaire (EPQ, 1999). Test of the internal con- sistency of the OHI revealed that all 29 items were highly correlated with the total score. The Cronbach’s alpha for the inventory was 0.91. The Pearson’s correlation coefficient between the OHI and the BDI and Extraversion and Neuroticism of EPQ subscales were respectively -0.48, 0.45, and -0.39, confirming their convergent and divergent validity. Factor analysis extracted five factors including life satisfaction, self-esteem, subjective well-being, self satisfaction, and positive affect, with an eigenvalue of greater than one that could explain 49.7% of the total variance. The Iranian participants’ mean score on the OHI (M = 42.07) differed from that of participants in the Ar- gyle’s study (M = 35.6). The results showed that the OHI is a reliable and valid inventory for measuring happiness among Iranians.

This study aimed to assess the marital values of Iranian youth. A sample of 2680 Iranian university and high school students of both sexes completed the Marital Value Scale developed by the research reflecting five dimensions of culture: embeddedness, affective autonomy, cognitive autonomy, hierarchy, egalitarianism suggested by Schwartz and Ros (1995). Data were analyzed using the Smallest Space Analysis Technique. Findings showed that the content and structure of Young Iranian’s marital values could be explained by the five dimensions of Schwartz and Ros (1995) theoretical model of values. No sex or age differences were obtained regarding the structural and semantic aspects of these values.

In order to study the relationship between self esteem and attachment style, 100 female university students, completed Self Esteem Inventory (Coopersmith, 1967) and Attachment Style Questionnaire (Hazan & Shaiver, 1987). Self Esteem was positively related to the secure attachment style and negatively related to the avoidant attachment style. A non-significant negative correlation was seemed between self-esteem and anxious-ambivalent attachment style. The implications for further studies that include male participants and larger samples are discussed.

This study examined the efficacy of group cognitive-behavior therapy, when combined with parent skill training and joint parent-adolescent sessions, in reducing depressive symptoms among Iranian adolescents. 64 high-school students in Tehran, who scored equal or above the Beck Depression Inventory’s cut point (10), were assigned to either a treatment or control group. The treatment group received 12 CBT sessions for 6 weeks and their mothers received six sessions of parent skill training. Then five joint parent-adolescent sessions were held for the treatment group. Control group did not receive any treatment. Significant reduction in depressive symptoms resulted from applying the CBT together with PST (before joint sessions). The effectiveness of adding joint parent – adolescent sessions was supported by statistical different between second and third assessment though Beck Depression Inventory. The findings provide practical support for prevention and treatment of adolescents’ depressive disorders.

This study investigated the reliability and validity of Dependability and Aggression subscales of the CBI (Goodstein & Lanyon, 2002). 172 male workers completed the Buss-Perry Questionnaire (1992), the Applicant Risk Profiler (ARP; Liobet, 2001), and the Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Personality Inventory (NEO; Costa & McCrae, 1992). Reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha and test-retest measures. Convergent construct validity was studied, measuring correlations with the Buss-Perry Questionnaire, the Aggressive Tendencies of the CBI and Workplace Compliance subscales of the Applicant Risk Profiler, and the Conscientiousness and Agreeableness subscales of the NEO were used for assessing the divergent construct validity. Reliability of dependability, aggression, and a combination of both subscales were respectively 0.84, 0.86, and 0.92. Test-retest reliability of dependability, aggression, and a combination of both subscales were respectively 0.77, 0.73, and 0.76. Items in the Dependedability and Aggression subscales of CBI were significantly correlated (r = 0.81). Convergent validity indicated significant positive correlation between the Aggression subscales of CBI and the Buss-Perry Questionnaire subscales and correlation between CBI Aggression subscale and the ARP Aggressive Tendencies was 0.58. Divergent validity was 0.37, found by measuring correlation between the CBI Aggression and NEO Agreeableness. The Dependability subscale of CBI was negatively correlated with the conscientiousness subscale of NEO(r = -0.47).

This study examined the relationship between the attachment styles and marital satisfaction. 159 (81 females & 78 males) randomly selected high-school and junior high-school teachers, all married and resided in the city of Taybad, Iran, completed the Relationship Adult Attachment Scale (Collins & Read, 1990), the Attachment to Mother Questionnaire (Raja-ei et al., 2006), and the Enriching and Nurturing Relationship Issues, Communication and Happiness questionnaire (Olson et al., 1987; Revised by Soleimanian, 1994). Data showed significant a positive correlation between marital satisfaction and secure attachment style (r = 0.53), but negative correlations with avoidant (r = -0.28) and ambivalent (r = -0.38) attachment styles. Adult attachment styles explained 52% and attachment to mother styles accounted for 29% of the variance in marital satisfaction. Males and females were not significantly different in terms of level of marital satisfaction.

Textbooks incorporate texts, illustrations, and exercises that are devised to achieve the objectives of textbook. This research studied the interrelation of the text, illustrations, and exercises of Literature textbooks and their micro-objectives. Findings indicated that 25.7% of lesson micro-objectives were without text, 43.1% were without illustrations, and 14.7% were without exercises. Hence, half of the micro-objectives of program don’t correspond with the theoretical model of learning reading and writing, which can cause problems in education.