JOURNAL OF FAMILY AND RESEARCH
Year:2016 | Volume:13 | Issue:33|Papers Count:6

The present correlational study sought to determine the mediating role of academic motivation in the relationship between attachment to mother and academic performance among 303 Tehrani eleventh graders majoring in natural sciences (134 boys and 169 girls). The participants completed the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) (Vallerand & Bissonnette, 1992) as well as the Inventory of Parent and Peers Attachment (IPPA) (Armsden & Greenberg, 1987). In addition, the students’ academic performance was estimated through their average scores on physics, chemistry and biology final examinations. The validity and reliability of the instrumentation were obtained by confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results were indicative of the goodness of fit of the model and showed that attachment to mother and academic motivation accounted for 33 percent of the variance of academic performance. Furthermore, attachment to mother predicted 36% of the variance of academic motivation. It can be concluded that attachment to mother affects adolescents’ academic motivation and thus improves their academic performance.

The present study was carried out to examine the congruence among the intended, implemented and attained “thinking and life style” curricula in the eighth grade. The statistical population and sample of this descriptive survey comprised: 1) the curriculum guide as well as eighth grade “thinking and life style” textbook and teachers’ guide 2) 10 subject-matter experts, 3) 155 eighth grade “thinking and life style” teachers who were selected through random cluster sampling method in Tehran, 4) 10 observers who were randomly selected to observe teachers’ performance, 5) 384 eighth graders studying in academic year 2015-2016 who were selected via random multi-stage cluster sampling method, and 6) the entire population of Tehran’s heads of educational departments (19 individuals). Results indicated that there exits low congruence between intended and attained curricula and the same holds true for intended and implemented curricula. Despite the roughly appropriate curriculum, numerous practical difficulties such as inadequate teacher training, inadequate resources, curriculum overload, and difficulty of the content are encountered. In order to bridge the observed gaps and accomplish curriculum objectives, it is recommended that the curriculum be redesigned using inter-disciplinary subjects and teaching skills be enriched via high quality in-service teacher training.

The present study was undertaken to examine the effectiveness of positive thinking skills training on high school girls’ achievement motivation in Tehran. The study was a quasi-experimental one with pretest/posttest/follow-up design. The population of the study comprised all girls studying in Tehran’s private high schools (district five). For the purpose of sampling, one high school was selected through convenience sampling method and in the next step two classes were randomly chosen. The instrumentation included Hemans Achievement Motivation Questionnaire. At first, a pretest was administered to both experimental and control groups and next the control group received eight 90-minute sessions of positive thinking skills training, whereas the control group did not receive any intervention. After completion of the training, both groups were given the achievement motivation test. The data were analyzed using ANCOVA and the results showed that the experimental group’s mean scores on the achievement motivation test were 82 and 93 in the pretest and posttest, respectively. Furthermore, the inferential analyses confirmed the effectiveness of the positive intervention on students’ achievement motivation with 99% confidence interval. Hence, it can be concluded that positive thinking skills training significantly increases students’ achievement motivation (p>0.05). As a result, it seems necessary that positive thinking skills be taught to high school students.

Regional conflicts have greatly increased during the last two decades, a trend that is the outcome of the type of relationships among civilizations. Considering the political, social and economic relations between Muslim and western countries majority of these conflicts have taken place in the Middle East. In such a situation, surely family and educational systems play a vital role in alleviating human suffering. These two social systems can increase common understanding among intellectuals and people in the involved societies. On this score, comparative education can promote intercultural understanding in the diverse world of the twenty-first century. The present paper endeavors to briefly compare educational viewpoints held by three Muslim pedagogues- Al-Farabi, Avicenna and Al-Ghazali – with those of three western pioneers in education–Locke, Rousseau and John Dewey- via historical comparative research and demonstrate the fact that common educational viewpoints can reduce formation of prejudiced attitudes and boost intercultural understanding at national and regional levels via family system.

The traditional approach to education advocates a dichotomy between vocational training and academic education. Some scholars contend that the knowledge which resides in minds of individuals is more valuable than hands-on skills, whereas their opponents argue that academic education incorporates abstract concepts which are of little practical use. In the present article, an attempt is made to scrutinize liberal education and vocationalism. The results indicate that the two worlds of practical and conceptual endeavors are less distant than they may seem, and these simplistic views of education and training are the result of considering education and training as polar extremes. At one end of the continuum is devaluing vocational training and its exclusion from tertiary education; at the other end is pure vocationalism with no development of the mind. Accordingly, the proposed approach in this paper is a synthetic one which favors integration of practical and theoretical components in any type of education, prioritizes theoretical knowledge, and supports incorporating more academic content in vocational courses.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between parenting styles (dominant, possessive and ignoring child rearing attitudes), psychological hardiness, and students’ resilience. The research method was correlational and the statistical population of the study included all girls studying in vocational high schools of Kermanshah in 2014 (approximately 2000 students). Random cluster sampling method was utilized and 300 students were selected. The instrumentation comprised Drews and Teahan Parenting Styles Questionnaire (1957) (translated by Shokrkon and Najarian, 1993), Ahvaz Hardiness Questionnaire (Kiyamarsi et al., 1998) as well as Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC, 2003). The obtained data were analyzed through both descriptive and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation coefficient and regression analysis). Results showed that there was a significant, positive relationship between ignoring child rearing attitudes and students’ resilience, whereas neither dominant nor possessive child rearing attitudes had significant associations with resilience. In addition, a significant, positive relationship was observed between psychological hardiness and students’ resilience. Results of regression analysis indicated that two predictive variables, namely students' psychological hardiness and ignoring child rearing attitudes, could positively predict resilience in students. Hence, it is suggested that due attention be paid to the above-mentioned variables.