DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY (JOURNAL OF IRANIAN PSYCHOLOGISTS)
Year:2006 | Volume:2 | Issue:8|Papers Count:8

This study attempted to devise and validate a scale for measuring entrepreneurship among managers of the Tehran area's governmental organizations. A random selection of 410 managers, working in different ministries of Iran, participated in this research. In the first stage, a 121-item questionnaire of Hooman (2001) using Likert scale from one to four was used. The results of this stage of the study showed that the Cronbach's alpha coefficient of this questionnaire was 0.986 and the item-total Polyserial correlations of seven items were not significant. In the second stage, these 7 items in addition to an item that lacked significant factor loading were omitted from the original questionnaire. The new 113 item scale showed a reliability coefficient of 0.988. Principal component analysis, using a varimax rotation, resulted in the following components: endeavor risk taking, locus of control, fluency, creativity and innovation, flexibility, and uncertainty and ambiguity tolerance.

The effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral family therapy in the treatment of patients with psychosomatic musculoskeletal pain was examined. Applying an A-B single- subject design, three patients (two males and one female) with psychosomatic musculoskeletal pain in the areas of lower back and neck, referred to a private, psychological clinic, were selected as the sample. Clinical interviews, MMPI and ScL-90-R tests were done to measure psychological problems. Family therapy was done and post test results showed the effectiveness of cognitive- behavioral family therapy by promoting patients' skills of problem solving and communication, effective coping and self assertion. Further research is suggested to assess the relative effectiveness of other kinds of therapy techniques such as drug, behavior, and individual and group cognitive therapy.

The educational, organizational, and economical factors that negatively affect job satisfaction of the faculty members of Azad University were investigated by questionnaire based on previous research. 269 randomly selected Instructor, recruited from nine regional branches of Islamic Azad University, participated in this research.Factors that created higher levels of stress and lower levels of job satisfaction among the instructors included overcrowded class, low income, administrative deficiencies in evaluations necessary for promotion in the faculty, inadequacy of the bureaucratic system in approving research proposals, barriers in the system that limit the faculty's continuing education, lack of organizational policies in support of faculty members, and low motivation of university students for studying.

Gender differences in the hierarchy of values of Iranian university students' were examined and the relationship between academic majors and those hierarchies was studied. A random selection of 300 female and 300 male Iranian university students, recruited from four faculties of Islamic Azad University South Branch, completed the Schwartz Value Survey (SVS). Findings showed that the students' value hierarchies were consistent with the pan-cultural hierarchies.However certain unconventional differences were noted. The male's and female's hierarchy of values were shown to be similar. Several similarities also were found among students with diverse majors.

This research studied the relationship between marital adjustment and relationship standards (i.e., beliefs about how the relationship between two spouses should be). 50 female high school teachers and their husbands in Mashad district completed Baucom and Epstein's Inventory of Specific Relationship Standards (ISRS) and the Spanier's Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS). The correlation between the relationship-focused standards in the three major dimensions of marital functioning (boundaries, power, and investment), and marital adjustment was significant. Also, satisfaction from meeting relationship standards was significantly related to marital adjustment. The results suggested no significant correlation between emotional responses to unmet standards and marital adjustment. The relationship standards predicted 25% of marital adjustment. The results of the stepwise regression technique showed that the expressive investment was the only standard that significantly predicted marital adjustment and accounted for 24.6% of variance of marital adjustment. Differences between spouse's standards also were related to marital adjustment.

This study examined gender" and marital status differences in religious attitudes and social adjustment.232 male and 192 female university students of Azad University, Tehran South Branch, completed the Religious Attitude Scale and the Bell Social Adjustment Scale. The results showed that the females' religious attitude was stronger than males' attitudes. Also religious attitudes and social adjustment of females were negatively correlated. There was no significant relationship between men's religious attitudes and their social adjustment. The results of a regression analysis showed that the social adjustment could not be predicted by religious attitude and gender. The differences between married and single participants regarding religious attitude and social adjustment were not significant.