Contemporary Psychology
Year:2006 | Volume:1 | Issue:2|Papers Count:9

This study was carried out in order to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised Short-Scale (EPQ-R S) in Iranian sample. The EPQ-R S is a 48-selfreport questionnaire to assess the dimensions of personality, neuroticism, extraversion, psychoticism. It also includes a Lie scale. The EPQ-R S and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEOFFI- R) is completed by a sample of 343 Tabriz university students (168 males, 175 females) aged 18-35. Reliability coefficients (internal and test-retest, as well as mean interitem correlations) were found to be satisfactory for E, N, L and low for P. The validity of the EPQ-R S is evaluated by the correlations of the subscales of EPQ-R S with the subscales of NEO-FFI-R, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The E, N dimensions of EPQ-R S had high correlations with the corresponding dimensions of NEO-FFI-R. EFA results show that the EPQR S has a very robust four-factor structure. However, CFA shows a misfit of four-factor simple structure model.

The association of family risk and protective factors with internalizing - externalizing symptoms and prosocial behavior was examined with 75 young female adolescents and their mothers who came from deprived socio-economic conditions in the city of Hamedan Iran. Parental data was obtained via a semi-structured interview with the Risk and Protective Factors Scale (RPFS, Looper & Grigenko, 1998) and female young adolescents' prosocial behavior and symptoms of risk for maladjustment were assessed with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ, Goodman, 2001). Test-retest reliabilities and Alpha Cronbach internal consistency coefficients were acceptable for most scales. Data from children and parents were collected in the homes and at school cites were the children were attending school. Consistent with the hypothesized predictions, family risk and protective factors, as measured by the RPFS were antagonistic to each other such that risk factors positively predicted affective and behavioral problems but negative predictors of prosocial behavior. Family protective factors conversely, were negative predictors of internalizing problems but were positive predictors of children's prosocial behavior. Results are discussed in light of theoretical frame works that emphasize the consideration of both risk and protective factors in the study of child psychopathology and the interactive nature these factors in the prediction of family health and its outcomes in children's vulnerability or resilience.

This study investigates health related quality of life of patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Seventy three patients with IBS (diagnosed based on Rome- II by gastroenterologists) who were matched with 73 healthy subjects responded to GHQ-28. Data was analyzed using t-tests for two independent groups and step-by-step regression analyses. Results indicated that health related quality of life of patients with IBS was significantly lower than those in the control group, and their somatization, anxiety, social dysfunction and depression were significantly higher than the control group. Results related to hypotheses were consistent with previous research, which confirm the need for dual methods of medical and psychological treatment.

The aim of the current paper is to provide a review of the neuropsychology of acquired reading and writing impairments from an orthographic transparency perspective within the dual-route framework. Orthographic transparency refers to the ease with which one can directly predict phonology (sound) from orthography (print) in a given alphabetic writing system. Writing systems with highly predictable mappings between print and sound are said to be transparent (e.g. Turkish, Italian, Spanish) whilst unpredictable mappings between print and sound lead to opaque writing systems (e.g. English, French, Arabic). In addition, in some orthographies (such as Persian) transparent and opaque words coexist in print. The impact of orthographic transparency on normal (and impaired) language processing has led to the development of at least two opposing views, namely, the orthographic depth hypothesis and the universal hypothesis. Ultimately, the objective here is to demonstrate how neurological damage to the language area in the brain is linked to acquired dyslexia and dysgraphia irrespective of orthographic transparency. That is, neurological damage to the brain yields impairments that are universal in nature but perhaps manifested in a different way depending on the specific characteristics of the language. Evidence from atypically transparent Turkish orthography will be utilised to argue in favour of the universal hypothesis.

The present study was aimed at exploring the possible relationship between cholesterol, triglycerides, low and high density lipoprotein levels with depression in normal participants. One hundred and ninety two men were randomly selected among those attending for general health screening in a large industrial company as the subjects of this research. Before having their blood sampled for determining their blood total cholesterol, triglycerides, high density and low density lipoprotein levels, they all completed Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The results revealed significant negative correlation between cholesterol and HDL levels and depression. Hierarchical regression confirmed these finding and indicated that HDL level accounted further variance in depression severity not accounted for by cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL. In other words the results showed that after controlling other confounding variables, cholesterol and HDL levels had significant negative correlation with depression. In addition they could significantly predict the variation in depression after eliminating the effect of other variables. Triglyceride's and LDL had no significant relation with depression. These findings expanded the previous studies and provided additional support for the relationship between blood serum cholesterol and HDL levels with depression. Careful research is needed to explore the underlying nature of these relationships.

The present study investigated belief related to the possible depressive relapse. 93 subjects were assigned in three groups: first-episode depressed subjects, several episode depressed subjects and nonclinical subjects. All subjects, underlying beliefs were assessed before and after mood induction and after distraction. Results showed no difference between the two depressed groups, but a significant difference between nonclinical subjects and both depressed groups was found. When patients with less than 4 episodes were excluded from the several episode depressed group, the difference between two depressed groups was found to be significant. The results showed that depression-related schemata are developed during several episodes of depression, and can contribute to the new episodes of depression. The results propose that Beck's model of depression can explain relapse of depression.

The main purpose of this study was to explain personality disorders in terms of attachment theory in a sample of patients with personality disorder. Sixty eight patients (43 male, 25 female) referred to the University of Tehran and the Iran University of Science and Technology clinics were included in this study. All participants were asked to complete the Millon Clinical Multiaxel Inventory-II (MCMI-II) and the Adult Attachment Inventory (AAI). Analysis of the data involved both descriptive and inferential statistics including means, standard deviations, chi-square tests, and correlation coefficients. The results revealed that ambivalent attachment style was significantly associated with dependent, histrionic, obsessive-compulsive, and passive-aggressive personality disorders while avoidant attachment style was significantly associated with paranoid personality disorder. The correlations of avoidant attachment style and personality disorders of schizoid, narcissistic, schizotypal, and borderline were in the positive directions but just failed to reach levels of statistical significance. The association of personality disorders to attachment disorders is explained by internal working models through negative evaluation of self, positive/negative evaluation of others, and constant preoccupation with interpersonal relationships.