DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY (JOURNAL OF IRANIAN PSYCHOLOGISTS)
Year:2010 | Volume:6 | Issue:22|Papers Count:13

The present study examined socio-cognitive factors involved in loneliness among adolescents. A sample of 629 (314 females and 315 males) high school students in Tehran (16 years old on average), randomly selected on the basis of gen- der, grade level (201 sophomores, 206 juniors and 221 seniors) and educational fields (mathematics, science and humanities), completed the UCLA Revised Loneliness Scale (Russell, Peplau & Cutrona, 1980) and the Children and Adolescents Self- Efficacy Questionnaire (Murris, 2001). Findings showed that the distribution of loneliness scores for sophomores and juniors of both sexes was positively skewed and indicative of the respondents’ inclination to report low levels of loneliness. The distribution of loneliness scores for seniors and across fields of study was normal. The correlation between loneliness and social self-efficacy for all study groups was negative and significant. The differences between the coefficients of correlation using a Z transformation in groups were not significant. Implications for prevention of loneliness in adolescents are discussed.

A sample of 440 students in Mashhad Islamic Azad University completed the Basic Religious Beliefs Questionnaire (Rajaee et al., 2008), Identity Crisis Questionnaire (Rajaee et al., 2008), and the General Health Questionnaire (Goldberg, 1972). The results showed the persons with high scores on basic religious beliefs had low scores in identity crisis and more general health. A significant negative correlation was found between the identity crisis and general health. Multiple regression analysis showed that basic religious beliefs explained variance of identity crisis (R2=0.094) and general health (R2=0.023) among young adults. The results were discussed based on cognitive and emotional theories.

This study aimed the content analysis of academic articles in psychology journals. Three hundred seventeen articles of seven scientific Iranian journals published in 2005-2007 were given randomly to 6 psychology researchers to content analysis regarding their topics and research methods.Another researcher reanalyzed 20% of the target articles randomly (interrater correlation coefficient=0.85). Findings demonstrated that the areas of health, developmental, educational, clinical, and counseling psychology were the most frequent subjects.The most common designs were test standardization, correlational, causal-models, experimental and quasi-experimental studies. No articles about sport psychology or any articles based on qualitative methods were found.

In order to explain humor styles based on the personality traits, 221 female and 127 male university students completed the Humor Styles Questionnaire (Martin, 1998) and the Five Factor Personality Inventory (Costa& McCrae, 1992). The results suggested that adaptive humor styles (including affiliative and self-enhancing styles) were correlated with Neuroticism (negatively) and with Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness and conscientiousness (positively), while the ma- ladaptive humor styles (included self-defeating and aggressive styles) were correlated with Neuroticism (positively) and with the four big traits (negatively). Step by step regression analysis showed that personality traits could explain the variances of the humor styles in the following ways: a) Neuroticism and Extraversion explained all four styles of humor (respectively average R2=0.17, average R2=0.38); b) agreeableness explained self-enhancing and aggressive styles (average R2=0.025); c) Openness explain ed self-enhancing style (average R2=0.05) and d) Conscientiousness explained affiliative, self-defeating and aggressive styles of humor (average R2=0.02). Results were discussed based on their relations with main personality traits.

This study compared self-consistency and self-affirmation theory with the aim of changing attitude toward a favorite individual in the context of 2×2×2 design. A sample of 120 male students of Shahid Beheshti University participated in this study. Using the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965) participants were divided into two groups of low and high self-esteem. Next based on the Role Playing Paradigm (Nail et al., 2001) a scenario was read to the participants in which during a momentous meeting a person favorite to the participants rejected the request of a ten year old child who asked for his/her autograph. Half of the participants received a good explanation for this behavior (sufficient justification) while the rest received a poor explanation (insufficient justification). In order to determine two conditions of self-focus and non self-focus (third independent variable) half of the participants under both conditions (i. e., sufficient and insufficient justification) answered the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale before and after the scenario was read to them.Consistent with the self-consistency theory, findings revealed that in both conditions of sufficient and insufficient justification the popularity of the individual decreased more among the participants with high self-esteem. The role of self-esteem, self-focus in dissonance processes, the source of dissonance (one's own behavior or another' s) and the paradigm in which dissonance occurs are discussed.

The present research investigated the relationship between two patterns of family communication (including conversational and conformity patterns) with self-esteem, shyness, and the desirability of control. One hundred ninety four students (97 females, 97 males) at Shahid Beheshti university completed Persian translations of the Ritchie Revised Family Communication Pattern (Ritchie, 1991), the Desirability of Control Questionnaire (Burger & Cooper, 1979), the Self-Esteem Questionnaire (Rosenberg, 1965) and the Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale (Cheek & Buss, 1983). Canonical correlation analysis determined that the persons who reported a conversational communication pattern in their family had more desire for control over events occurring in one’s life and obtained higher scores in the self-esteem and lower scores in shyness. Conformity communication pattern was significantly correlated with self-esteem and the desirability of control (negatively) and shyness (positively).

The relationship between self-esteem, locus of control, and religious attitude was studied. A sample of 181 female and 175 male university students (19.5 years old on average) responded to the Religious Attitude Scale (Khodayarifard, 1999), Levenson Locus of Control Inventory (Levenson, 1972), and the Self-esteem Inventory (Cooper-Smith, 1967).Pearson’s correlation analysis revealed a significant positive correlation among the religious attitudes, internal locus of control and self- esteem. Step by step regression analysis revealed that the internal locus of control and self-esteem respectively accounted for 31% and 4% of the variance in the religious attitude.

This research explored the relationship between mental health (somatic symptoms, anxiety, insomnia, depression and social dysfunctioning), coping styles, religious attitudes and life satisfaction. A random selection of 120 (55 males, mean age: 30 and 65 females, mean age: 27) Isfahan people answered the General Health Questionnaire (Goldberg & Hillier, 1979), The Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (Parker & Endler, 1990), Religious Attitudes Questionnaire (Keshavarz, Mehrabi & Soltanizadeh, 2009) and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985). Results showed life satisfaction was correlated: a) negatively with somatic symptoms, insomnia and emotion-focused coping style; b) positively with a belief in principles of religion, performing religious rituals, reverence, and problem-focused coping style. Step by step regression analysis revealed that 45% of life satisfaction could be explained by symptoms of depression (25%), reverence (8%), emotion-focused coping (7%), avoidant coping (3%), and social dysfunctioning (2%). The roles of mental health, coping styles, and religious attitudes in life satisfaction are discussed.