Journal of Child Mental Health
Year:2018 | Volume:4 | Issue:4 |Papers Count:18

Background and Purpose: Research evidences suggest that stress is a major contributor in marital conflicts. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of stress management training on marital satisfaction and parental stress of mothers with child with behavioral problems.Method: This semi-experimental research was a pre-test post-test-follow-up with the control group. The statistical population in this research was all mothers with preschool children with behavioral problems in Rasht city. Through preschool children's behavioral problems questionnaire (Shahim and Yousefy, 1999), 30 mothers were selected using convenient sampling method and randomly assigned into two groups of experimental and control (n=15).Enrich marital satisfaction scale (Olson, 1989) and Abidin parental stress scale (Abidin, 1990) had been used for data collecting. The experimental group received stress management training in ten sessions. For data analysis, repeated measure ANOVA was used.Results: Findings showed that stress management training had a significant effect on marital satisfaction and parental stress (P<0.01).Conclusion: According to the findings of the present study, along with statistical significance, we can point to clinical significance. It means that stress management training can increase the life satisfaction by affecting the emotional, cognitive, communicative, motivational and semantic dimensions of life, and consequently mental health of mothers with children with behavioral problems.

Background and Purpose: Bilingualism means that the person is trained in a language other than his native language, and this situation provides problems for minority languages, especially in education. The present study aimed to compare the emotional intelligence of monolingual (Persian) and bilingual (Persian-Baluchi) students and its role in the attitude toward learning English.Method: The present research is a causal-comparative study. The statistical population consisted of all students in the second grade secondary school of Chabahar city in the academic year 2012-2013. The sample was 240 students (Persians and 120 Baluchis) were selected by stratified sampling and completed emotional intelligence questionnaire (Schutte et al., 1998) and motivation and attitudes toward learning English scale (Gardner, 1985). Data were analyzed using independent T-test, multivariate analysis of variance and multiple regression analysis.Results: The results showed that bilingual students had higher emotional regulation compared to monolingual students. There was no significant difference between students' attitudes toward learning English in monolingual and bilingual students. Also, there was no significant difference between students' emotional intelligence of monolingual and bilingual students (p<0.01).Conclusion: Attitude toward English learning is a predictor of students' academic achievement, but emotional intelligence variable does not predict academic success in English lesson; as a result, changing attitudes of Persian students about the importance of learning English language can be useful.

Background and Purpose: Dyslexia is the most common type of learning disability. Children with dyslexia have difficulty in learning to read and write despite their normal intelligence. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the positive self-talks on reducing test anxiety in male elementary students with dyslexia.Method: The present study was a semi-experimental and pre-test-post-test with control group.The statistical population of the study consisted of all male students in the second grade of Bostanabad (East Azarbaijan) in the academic year of 2016-2017. Using cluster random sampling and with the dyslexia index (Azizian & Abedi, 2006) and the test anxiety inventory (Philips, 1979), 32 Dyslexic students with test anxiety were selected as sample and randomly assigned in two experimental and control groups. The experimental group received eight sessions in positive self-talk classes, and the control group did not receive any training. After the end of the sessions, the test anxiety questionnaire was administered to both groups and the data were analyzed using SPSS software and covariance analysis.Results: The results showed that the implementation of positive self-talk sessions significantly decreased test anxiety in experimental group students compared to control group (p<0.001).Conclusion: Based on the results of the research, positive self-talk is an acceptable strategy for reducing test anxiety in students with dyslexia.

Background and Purpose: Children's behavioral problems can lead to frequent problems in school and not only endanger the education of children, but also cause social problems and reducing their attention and self-esteem. The purpose of the research was to the effectiveness of cognitive therapy based on mindfulness on children's behavioral problems.Method: The research method was semi-experimental with pre-test-posttest design with control group. The statistical population consisted of all sixth grade students in the 2nd district of Tehran in the academic year of 1395-1959, among them 20 students were selected using purposeful sampling method and placed in the experimental and control groups. The research tools were child and adolescent mindfulness measure (Greco and Baer, 2011) and behavior problems checklist (Quay-Peterson, 1987). Before intervention both groups were evaluated. Cognitive therapy based on mindfulness was trained in 12 sessions of 90 minutes to the experimental group. Covariance analysis was used to analyze the data.Results: The findings showed that the students in the experimental group had significantly lower behavioral problems (symptoms of conduct disorder, attention problems and immaturity, anxiety and withdrawal symptoms) in the post-test stage. Also, there was a significant increase in mindfulness and acceptance of children participating in the program (P<0.01).Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, cognitive therapy based on mindfulness for children can be used to reduce behavioral problems and increase their mental awareness.

Background and Purpose: Neglect and mistreatment have always had a negative psychological and educational effect on children. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of resiliency education on the coping styles and optimism of unprotected and neglected children.Method: This research was a quasi-experimental design with pretest-posttest design with control group. The statistical population consisted of all unprotected and neglected girls aged 12 to 16 years old in the care centers of these children in Ardabil city in 2016. Among them, 30 girls were randomly selected and divided into two experimental (15 people) and control (15 people) group.Participants in the experimental group received resiliency training in 9 sessions. Stress coping style questionnaire (Becker & Endler, 1990) and optimism questionnaire (Carver & Bridge, 1994) were used to collect data. For analysis of data, one-way covariance analysis was used.Results: The results of covariance analysis showed that there was a significant difference between the mean post-test scores of the two groups in problem-oriented coping styles (P<0.05, F=16.15), excitement (P<0.05, F=9.36), and optimism (P<0.001, F=24.21), but there was no significant effect on avoidance coping style (P>0.05, F=1.45).Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, it can be concluded that resiliency training by increasing flexibility and improving psychological health has led to an increase in effective coping styles and optimism in unprotected and neglected children. Therefore, it is possible to use resiliency training to improve the mental and social health of individuals.

Background and Purpose: Depression is one of the factors that is currently expanding and affects people's individual and social aspects. Since learning disorders and emotional intelligence can affect students' depression, the present study aims to investigate the relationship between depression, emotional intelligence and learning disorder.Method: The research is descriptive and correlational. The statistical population included all sixth grade elementary students of Agh Ghala city in the academic year 2016-2017. For sampling, 295 students from both urban and rural areas were selected randomly.Emotional intelligence questionnaire (Bradbury-Greaves, 2004), children’s depression inventory (Maria Kovacs, 1977) and Colorado learning difficulty questionnaire (Wilcutt, 2011) were used to collect of data.Findings: The findings of the research showed that there is a positive relationship between depression and learning disorder, negative relationship between emotional intelligence and learning disorder, and emotional intelligence with depression (P>0.01).Conclusion: Findings indicate that there is a direct and reverse relationship between learning disorder, depression and emotional intelligence. Also, emotional intelligence has an indirect effect on depression. Therefore, due to the results obtained from the structural model, learning disorder has a greater effect on emotional intelligence than depression.

Background and Purpose: School refusal disturbs the child, the family, as well as delays in social and academic development. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of parental management education in reducing the refusal behavior of elementary school students.Method: This semi-experimental study was a pre-test-post-test with control group. For this purpose, from parents of students in the first, second and third grades of primary schools of Urmia in the academic year of 2015-2016, 351 students were selected using a multi-stage cluster sampling method. The participants completed school refusal assessment scale, revised (SRAS-R). In the next stage, 39 parents who had both child with high school refusal rates and willingness to participate in the study were selected. Of these, 20 parents were randomly assigned to the experimental group and 19 were in the control group. One-way covariance analysis was used to analyze the data Results: The results showed that the intervention in parental management training has been able to significantly reduce the fear and refusal rates of school attendance in children (p<0.01).Conclusion: Therefore, according to the results of this study, parent’s management education can be used as an effective way to reduce fear and refusal of school among children.

Background and Purpose: Stress is one of the inevitable problems of life, which is conceptualized as academic stress in educational situations. This study aimed to study the internal factors of academic stress and prediction of academic stress based on personality traits with the mediation of coping styles.Methods: This descriptive study is of correlational type. Participants of the study were 327 high school students (172 girls and 155 boys) in Sepidan city in the academic year 2014-2015 that were selected by multistage cluster sampling.Academic stress questionnaire, five big personality traits questionnaire, and coping styles questionnaire were used to gather of data.Results: The results showed that personality traits can predict the dimensions of academic stress either directly or through the interplay of coping styles. The role of the neuroticism factor in the positive prediction of stress due to sensitization factors and openness to experience in the negative prediction of stress due to lack of ability is significant. Also, the emotional coping style has a prominent role in the prediction of stress due to allergenic factors (P<0.05).Conclusion: The results of this study showed that personality traits can affect academic stress both directly and through coping styles. Therefore, it can be admitted that students with specific personality traits choose coping styles that can affect their academic stressful experience.

Background and Purpose: Previous studies have shown that parents play an important role in children's mental and physical development; however, research on the impact of parental personality traits on children's social development is low. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of parent’s personality traits in the social development of preschool children.Method: The present study is descriptive and correlational. The statistical population included all the mothers and fathers of preschool children in Tehran during the school year of 2016-2017.508 parents (mother or father) were selected by referral to pre-school centers in Tehran and using multistage cluster sampling method. The participants completed the Vineland social maturity scale (Edgar, 1956) and NEO- personality inventory -revised questionnaire (McCrae & Costa, 1997). Data analysis was performed using the Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis (stepwise).Results: Regression analysis showed neuroticism of parents (mother or father) had negative predictive for social development of preschool children and extroversion, openness and conscientiousness of parents (mother or father) had positive predictive for social development of preschool children (P<0.05).Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, it can be conclude that parent’s personality traits have a significant effect on the social development of preschool children. Therefore, according to the importance of personality traits on the social development of children, it is necessary to pay special attention to the characteristics and personality traits of the parents in the process of education of children.

Background and Purpose: Since the formation of maternal attachment to the child begins from birth or even before that (during pregnancy), therefore appropriate interventions to educate mothers on the correct attachment process of fetal and maternal-infant is very important. The aim of the present study is a meta-analysis of psychological interventions and the effectiveness of self-care practices on increasing maternal attachment behavior of mother -fetal and mother-infant.Method: For this purpose, from among the numerous researches related to this field, 21 studies that was published during the years 1999-2016 in reputable databases such as Iranduc, Magiran, SID, Pubmed, ISC, portal of humanities science, & Silivika, was selected in terms of methodological criteria and meta-analysis was done on them. This research was based on 21 measure sizes and the tool used was meta-analysis checklist. Data was analyzed by CMA-2 software.Results: The results showed that the effect size of psychological interventions and education to promote mother-infant and mother-fetal attachment behavior was 0.64 (P<0.001), respectively.Conclusion: The effect size obtained of the effectiveness of interventions and psychological education in mother-fetal attachment behavior and mother-infant is calculated according to the average Cohen size interpretation table. Therefore, these interventions and training can be effective in enhancing mother-fetal and mother-infant attachment behaviors.

Background and Purpose: An efficient tool for diagnosing childhood disorders is projective drawing tests. In these tests, the cognitive, interpersonal, and psychological functions of an individual are assessed by drawing a person, a subject or a person. The present study aimed to investigate and compare the elements of draw -a -person test (DAP) in children 5 to 10 years old with spectrum autism, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and typically developing children.Method: This is a causal-comparative study. The statistical population of this study included children with spectrum autism and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders referring to counseling clinics under the welfare organization and education in Yazd city of 2016. The sample consists of 35 children from each group (105 individuals) were selected by convenient sampling method. Draw -a-person test (DAP), Echelle de comportment autistic (ECA-2) and impulsiveness scales (Barratt, 1995) were used to collect of data. The research sample was selected based on convenient sampling from clinical and therapeutic clinics in Yazd. Frequency, frequency percentage, cumulative frequency and Kruskal-Wallis test were used for data analysis.Results: The results showed that there was a significant difference between children with ADHD and autism with normal children in 10 elements of DAP, but there was no significant difference in the other three elements.Conclusion: The difference between the levels of the elements of draw -a -person test (DAP) in children with spectrum autism and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders means that there are elements in drawing a person that can be linked to the diagnosis of children with these disorders.

Background and Purpose: The change in lifestyle in recent decades has led children to change in body composition, while researchers have shown that physical changes can affect cognitive components. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between some body composition features with sustained attention as one of the components of cognitive function in children.Method: The method of this study was descriptive and correlational.100 children aged 7 to 9 years from Mashhad (winter 2017) were examined via the body composition (Cha.1996) and continuous visual performance tests (Rosvold, 1954). For data analysis, correlation and regression tests were used.Results: The results showed that there was a significant relationship between fat percentage, body mass index, trunk fat percentage and waist to hip ratio with omission error and reaction time variability (P<0.05). On the other hand, there was a significant negative relationship between the components of total body water, body protein, basal metabolic level and skeletal muscle mass with reaction time (P<0.05). Based on regression results, the fat percentage and body mass index were able to predict omission error and the skeletal muscle mass can predict reaction time (P<0.05).Conclusion: Based on the results, each body composition characteristics was associated with a specific component of cognitive function. In this regard, the components associated to the reaction time can be considered in relation to the perceptual motor aspect, while the obesity-related components were associated with the performance accuracy. As a result, there appears to be a specific connection between the body composition features and the cognitive control structures.

Background and Purpose: Early childhood plays an important role in the development of personality and the future of a person. The purpose of this study was to compare mental health, social phobia and psychological distress of children under the care of the welfare organization and children under the care of the family.Method: The research method is a causal-comparative study. The statistical population consisted of 55 male children under the supervision of one of the welfare centers of Khoy city and 220 children under the supervision of the family of this city in the academic year of 2016-2017. A sample of 48 children under the care of welfare was selected by simple random sampling and 136 children were selected by stratified sampling method (primary school). Data were collected using the General health questionnaire (Goldberg and Hiller, 1979), social phobia inventory (Colette and Connor, 2000) and mental health ckeclist (Pramod Kumar, 1992). Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance.Results: Findings show the effect of family on increasing mental health, reducing social phobia and mental disturbance in children. Mental health scores of children under the care of the family were significantly higher than the children under the supervision of welfare organization, and the scores of social phobia and mental disorder in the children under the supervision of the family were significantly lower than those under the care of the welfare organization (P<0.001).Conclusion: Based on the results obtained in this study, it can be concluded that the physical and psychological health of the child depends on his way of communicating with the family and the extent to which his needs are met.

Background and Purpose: Behavioral disorders are prevalent and disabling, which cause many problems for family and children and are accompayning with social negative consequences.Present study aims to develop a scale of psychological pathology for children-parent form.Method: An initial item pool of 190 was generated and after first edition 125 items were selected to comprise the preliminary version of the scale. Population includes parents of elementary school students in six states of Alborz, Eastern Azerbaijan, Sistan & Baluchestan, and Fars & Khorasan Razavi. Sample includes about 100 parents in each state which were randomly chosen from two cities in each state. In sum, sample consists of 600 parents.Results: Results from item analysis supported the exclusion of 14 items. Factor analysis with generalized least squares method and equamax rotation was performed on the item responses and yielded a 6 factor solution which is consistent with the theoretical framework. Reliability coefficients of subscales ranged between 0.65 (self-regulation) and 0.90 (homework deficiency).Evaluation of correlation coefficients between items and subscales illustrated those coefficients to vary between 0.17 (item 101) and 0.73 (item 37).Conclusion: Findings suggest that the preliminary scale of psychological health for children parent form has adequate psychometric properties, and further research can improve it.

Background and Purpose: The existence of an exceptional child often imposes irreparable damage on families. The extent of this vulnerability is sometimes to the extent that the mental health of the family is severely damaged. The aim of the present study was to compare parental stress, parenting styles, and social problem solving in mothers of children with autism, ADHD, and typically developing children.Method: The statistical population consisted of mothers of children with attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder and typically developing children in second district of Tehran during the academic year of 2016-2017.75 mothers (n=25 in each group) were selected using convenience sampling method and responded toparenting stress index (PSI) (Abdin, 1983), the social problem-solving inventory - revised (SPSI-R) (D’Zurilla et al, 2002), and Baumrind’sparenting styles questionnaire (Bamrynd, 1973). In order to analyze the data, multivariate analysis of variance was used.Results: The results of analysis of variance indicated significant differences between mothers of children in the three groups in parental stress and authoritarian parenting style, but no significant difference was found in permissive and authoritative parenting styles. There were also significant differences between mothers of children in the three groups in negative problem orientation and avoidance style, but no significant difference was found in positive problem orientation, rational problem-solving, and impulsive/carelessness style (p<0.005).Conclusion: The results of this study emphasize the increase of knowledge in the application of parental styles and the effective social problem solving as well as the negative consequences of parenting stress in mothers of children in the three groups.

Background and Purpose: Motivation is the most important learning condition. Learning motivation is important for the effectiveness of teaching and learning activities. The aim of the present study is modeling the relationship between teachers' demographic characteristics and internal motivation of students by mediating cognitive and metacognitive strategies.Method: This research was a descriptive-correlational study of structural equation modeling.The statistical population consisted of all high school students in Zabol 2017-18. The sample included 368 people who were selected by cluster random sampling and self-regulating learning strategies questionnaire (Pintrich and Diegrout, 1990) and academic motivation (Valerand, 1993). To measure the demographic characteristics of teachers, a form was developed by the researcher and provided to the students and completed by the question of their teachers. Data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling and Imus software.Results: Data analysis using structural equation modeling showed that teacher's demographic characteristics by mediating cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies on intrinsic motivation have a significant effect on the intrinsic motivation. Also, the demographic characteristics of the teacher have a positive and significant effect on the students' intrinsic motivation (P<0.01).Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, promoting educational styles through focusing on life patterns of our cultural community, including income level, complementary employment, and residence, can have a role in influencing students' thinking and motivation patterns.

Background and Purpose: Inclusive education is one of the main and basic programs in the field of educating children with special needs. The purpose of the present study was to study the perception and explanation of teachers’ experiences of schools with special needs in relation to the method and conditions of educating exceptional children and planning the inclusive education.Method: This research was a qualitative one with descriptive phenomenological approach. To collect data, the semi-structured interview was applied. The data from these interviews were analyzed by Smith's phenomenological method (1995).Results: By analyzing the data, in the end, five main themes were extracted from the experiences of special school teachers for working with children with special needs and their views on the inclusive education program: advantages, disadvantages, social and cultural accommodations, facilities, and the drawbacks of separating the students.Conclusion: In examining the experiences and views of teachers of special schools, it became clear that the inclusive education program has many advantages and benefits. In implementing of the inclusive, teaching methods, goals, and content of education is important. Also, the preparation of social cultural platforms and the provision of facilities is an essential prerequisite for the implementation of this plan. The current education system, which is more based on the separation of students, has major disadvantages and cannot meet the needs of all students.