DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY (JOURNAL OF IRANIAN PSYCHOLOGISTS)
Year:2013 | Volume:10 | Issue:37|Papers Count:12

The aim of this study was to examine mediating effect of cognitive emotion regulation strategies in the relationship between  secure, avoidant and ambivalent attachment styles, and alexithymia. A total of256 volunteers (lIS males, 141 females) participated in this study. All participants were asked to complete the Attachment Inventory (AAI, Besharat, 2005, 20 II), the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (FTAS, Bagby, Parker, & Taylor, 1994), and the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ, Gamefski & Kraaij, 2006). Secure attachment style had a significant negative relation with alexithymia, while avoidant and ambivalent attachment styles had significant positive relations with alexithymia. The results of regression analysis indicated that both adaptive and maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies mediated the relationship between attachment styles and alexithymia. The secure and insecure attachment styles predicted changes of alexithymia through adaptive and maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies in opposite directions. The results indicated a partial mediation of cognitive emotion regulation strategies on the relationship between attachment styles and alexithymia.

Since mother's mind-mindedness while interacting with the infant throughout the first year of life is a critical factor and plays a significant role in predicting infant's attachment security / insecurity, the present stud y focused on developing a package for increasing mind-mindedness in mothers with a 6-7-month-old infant and examining the efficacy of the package. Twenty mother-infant pairs with an insecure attachment style were selected by the Current Relationship Interview (Crowell & Owens, 1996). The participants were assigned in either experimental or control groups. Mind - mindedness was assessed through appropriate or non-attuned comments provided to the infant by the mother during a 20-minute free-play. Comparison of pre and post test indicated that mothers' mind-mindedness in experimental group significantly increased in comparison with control group, as it was found that these mothers showed higher capacity for placing themselves in mental state of the infant.

The present study examined psychometric properties of teacher form of Preschool Children Anxiety Scale (Spense & Rapee, 2001) among a sample of 4-6 year old children of Ahvaz city. One hundred and fifty children from care centers of four areas of Ahvaz were selected by multi-stage sampling. The children's teachers completed the Teacher Form of Preschool Children Anxiety Scale and the Teacher Report Form of the Conner's Child Behavior Checklist (Conner, 1999). The exploratory factor analysis with principal component and varimax rotation led to extraction of five factors, including general anxiety, social anxiety, fear of physical injury, separation anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive. The results indicated good psychometric properties of the teacher form of Spence Preschool Children Anxiety Scale.

The aim of the present research was to conduct a meta-analysis examining the effectiveness of life skills training on the mental health of school children and university students. Twenty seven Iranian studies from 2001 to 2012 comprising of 3089 participants were used in the meta-analysis. Data was analyzed using standardized mean difference effect size method or Cohen's d (1988) for fixed effect model. Findings indicated that the mean of mixed-model of effect size for fixed effect model and for random effect model were significant, respectively 1.834 and 3.117(p<0.001). Since the effect sizes were heterogeneous, moderating variables were searched. The results indicated that in terms of research designs and gender there were no significant differences between effect sizes across the studies. However, in terms of age and number of life skills training there were significant differences between effect sizes across the studies.

The present study examined the effects of working memory computer assisted program on improving executive functions of deaf students. Eighteen male deaf students were selected and randomly assigned to either experimental or control groups. Students were administered Stroop Test (Stroop, 1935), Continuous Performance test (Rosvold, Mirsky, Sarason, Bransom, & Beck, 1965), the computerized version of Tower of London Test (Morris, Ahmed, Sted, & Toone, 1993), and the Working Memory Test (Comoldi & Vecchia, 1995). The experimental group received 20 training sessions (45 minutes a session) of working memory computer assisted program (Bokharayian, 2010). The results of t tests indicated experimental group performed better than the control group. Furthermore, one month follow-up indicated no change in executive function scores of deaf students. The findings suggested the effect of working memory computer assisted program on improving of executive functions of deaf students.

This study aimed to undertake a meta-analysis examining the effectiveness of psychological interventions on Iranian happiness. The sample consisted of 16 studies and 770 participants. The data were analyzed using the Khun's meta- analysis check-list. The results indicated a high effect size of the effectiveness of psychological interventions on happiness (d=1.3, p<0.001). The Fordyce therapy approach had the highest effect size and the gratitude strategy training had the lowest effect size on promoting happiness. The final finding of the present study indicated the effectiveness of psychological interventions on promoting Iranian happiness.

The aim of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of life skills training program on the improvement of students' life quality. The pretest-posttest with control group design was used. Thirty students with the lowest score in the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36, Warosherbon, 1992) were selected from management and accounting faculty of Eslam Shahr branch of Islamic Azad University in 2011-2012 academic year. The participants were randomly assigned to either experimental or control groups. The experimental group received nine life skills training sessions weekly for 90 mintues. The results of covariance analysis indicated that the life skills training program increased the mental and physical healths of the students significantly. The findings suggested the effects of life skills training on improving the life quality of the students.

social desirability of the university students studying social sciences at Kermanshah Razi university. Forty participants out of 500 first year students participated in the study. The participants, with moderate to low assertiveness and with moderate to high social desirability randomly assigned to either experimental or control groups. The experimental group received 18 life skills training sessions twice a week for 90 minutes and the control group received no treatment. The Assertiveness Scale (Lee, Hallberg, Siemon, & Haase, 1985) and the Social Desirability Scale (Crown & Marlowe, 1960) were administered to the participants before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed using the analysis of covariance method. The results indicated that assertiveness and social acceptance were significantly different in the experimental and the control groups. The findings suggested that life skills training enhanced assertiveness and social desirability.