JOURNAL OF FAMILY AND RESEARCH
Year:2024 | Volume:21 | Issue:1|Papers Count:10

This study was undertaken to design an educational package on the counseling needs of parents of junior high school students. This research had a mixed (qualitative and quantitative) design. The sampling was executed in two stages: first, semi-structured interviews were conducted with thirty parents until data saturation was achieved. Second, cluster multistage sampling method was utilized and 384 questionnaires were administered to identify the counseling needs of parents and their children at junior high school level. Data analysis included two parts: 1. exploratory qualitative type using non-parametric statistics, and 2. descriptive statistics as well as Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The results demonstrated that the top four priorities for parents’ counseling needs were respectively psycho-social, psycho-emotional, cognitive-educational, and moral-spiritual ones. Furthermore, there was a significant difference between girls and boys regarding their counseling needs priorities. This package can be a fruitful guideline for consulting services so that parents and their children’s needs are adequately fulfilled.

The body of research shows that teachers’ educational style and type of thinking can have fundamental effects on children. This study set out to evaluate the effectiveness of the Child Development Educational Program on improving teachers' educational styles. The present quasi-experimental study had a pre-test, post-test design without a control group. The sample included the teachers of 7-11 year-old students in a private school in Tehran who were selected through convenience sampling method. The Teacher Educational Style Questionnaire was used as the pretest and the sample participated in 5 two-hour weekly sessions. After the workshop, the post-test was administered and the research data were analyzed via dependent t-test. Results revealed that the child development workshop could significantly increase the problem-solving method in teachers and decrease their scores on the three other methods, namely punishment and reprimand, advice without explanation, and advice with explanation (p<0.001). In general, the findings showed that the Child Development Educational Program played a significant role in improving the educational style of teachers. When teachers participate in such educational programs, they learn alternative solutions to punishment or advice and encourage their students to solve various problems.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of school climate on students' social well-being with the mediating role of social capital. The research method was descriptive-correlational based on structural equation modeling. The statistical population of the study was comprised of all vocational high school students in Hirmand city (Sistan and Baluchestan Province) in 2021-2022 academic year (N= 622). A number of 238 students were selected through random stratified sampling method (by gender) and were given the Social Capital Questionnaire for ‎ Adolescent Students (Paiva et al., 2014), School Climate Measure–Student (Lee et al., 2017) and Well-being Social Inventory (Keyes, 1998).The  Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Pearson correlation coefficient and structural equation modeling were used to analyze the data using SPSS and SmartPLS software. Correlation coefficient results showed a positive, significant relationship between school climate, social well-being and students’ social capital. The results of structural equation modeling demonstrated that the direct effect of school climate on students' social well-being was positive and significant. Moreover, the indirect impact of school climate on students' social well-being through the mediation of social capital was positive and significant. Hence, it can be concluded that improving the school climate not only directly boosts students’ social well-being but also enhances their social well-being by increasing students’ social capital.

The present study was undertaken to design a parent-adolescent psychological intervention to reduce loneliness based on the components of loneliness of teenage girls and the evolutionary theory of loneliness of Cacioppo as well as conducting a case study on loneliness and parent-child interaction. The research had a single-subject design (AB multiple baseline design). The statistical population of the study was comprised of adolescent girls aged 16 to 18 along with their parents who were selected through purposive and voluntary sampling methods from two schools. The sample included two students along with their parents. The UCLA Loneliness Scale was used to measure loneliness and the Parent-Child Interaction Questionnaire (PACHIQ) was utilized to measure parent-child interaction. Based on the results, a psychological intervention consisting of 11 sessions was designed and implemented for parents and adolescents. The quasi-experimental case validation method (single subject) was used in the next stage. More specifically, loneliness, the parent-child interaction from teenagers’ point of view as well as the parent-child interaction from their parents’ viewpoint were examined and tested using the multi-level AB design in fourteen weeks. The results indicated that the developed psychological intervention reduced loneliness in female students and improved parent-child interaction from both adolescents and parents’ perspectives.

Traditional education transformation into virtual education has brought new challenges and opportunities at the social and technological levels. This study sought to analyze the challenges and opportunities of virtual education during the COVID-19 pandemic by examining the parents' experiences. The method of this research was qualitative with a phenomenological approach. Semi-structured interviews were utilized to gather data and continued until theoretical saturation was achieved. The target population included parents with at least one child participating in virtual education from March 2020 onwards. The sampling method was targeted approach and included 24 parents. Colaizzi’s method of data analysis was used and the data were coded in three stages: descriptive, interpretive and explanatory. Findings included two main or explanatory codes of “Damages and Threats with five interpretive codes” and “Consequences and Opportunities with three interpretive codes” derived from descriptive codes. The results showed that virtual education has created new challenges and opportunities at the social and technological levels and due to parents' prominent roles, it can help empower officials and decision makers to find appropriate solutions for obstacles parents and students encounter.

The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of music therapy on the executive functions of aggressive female students. This quasi-experimental research had a pretest-posttest control group design. Random cluster sampling method was utilized and 30 aggressive students were selected from among female elementary school students in District 4 of Karaj in 2020-2021 school year. The drawn sample was randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. The research instruments included the Aggression of Elementary School Children Questionnaire (Shahim, 2006), The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (Grant & Berg, 1948), the Continuous Performance Test (Rosvold et al., 1956), and the Stroop test (1935). The experimental group underwent music therapy in 8 sessions. Data were analyzed via multivariate analysis of covariance. Results showed that in the experimental group, cognitive flexibility increased significantly compared to the control group (p<0.001). On the continuous performance test, a significant effect was observed on improved sustained attention in the experimental group (p<0.001) because the number of errors in the experimental group decreased compared to the control group. On the Stroop test, a significant effect was observed on improving inhibition in the experimental group (p<0.001). Thus, it can be concluded that music therapy significantly improves the aggressive female students’ executive functions (cognitive flexibility, sustained attention, and inhibition). Therefore, it is suggested that music therapists utilize this treatment to help aggressive students in educational and therapeutic settings. The findings of this research can have many educational implications.

The current research aimed to design a model for the educational needs of Iranian female heads of the family. This qualitative research had a phenomenological approach and was undertaken through carrying out semi-structured interviews. The statistical population of the study was comprised of all experts in the field of female heads of the family from the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation, the State Welfare Organization of Iran, and the Municipality of Tehran in 2021. For the purpose of sampling, 12 experts were chosen through purposive sampling and the interviews were undertaken until data saturation was achieved. The obtained data were content-analyzed and coded using open, axial, and selective coding. Finally, 5 main components were extracted: “knowledge of menopause”, “knowledge and skills of employment and self-sufficiency”, “development of individual abilities”, “and development of social skills”, and “knowledge and skills of raising children”. Based on the main goal of this research, 34 categories were obtained which were placed in 5 themes, and finally a model was designed for the education of women heads of the family. This model can be used by such organizations as the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation to design educational programs for women heads of the family.

This study set out to predict the symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children based on character traits and irritability of mothers according to gender roles. The present study had a descriptive-correlational design. The statistical population of the study was comprised of all mothers of elementary school students with symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in Districts 5 and 7 of Tehran in the 2019-2020 school year. The sample was drawn using the purposive sampling method (N= 230). The research instruments included the Temperament & Character Inventory (Cloninger, 1994), Conners’ Adult ADHD Rating Scales (1999) and The EAS Temperament Questionnaire (Buss & Plomin, 1984). Descriptive statistics as well as multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data. Data analysis showed that there was a significant relationship between character traits and irritability of mothers with symptoms of ADHD in children (β= 0.56, P≤0.001). The results also demonstrated that gender in interaction with mothers' character traits and irritability could not predict the symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity in children (β= 0.052, P≤0.001). Based on the results, it can be concluded that some of the personality and character traits of mothers underlie the symptoms of ADHD in children. Therefore, paying attention to the personality characteristics of parents can prove helpful in the treatment of children with ADHD symptoms.

This study was conducted to identify the opportunities and threats posed by the Internet and its effects on the psychological well-being of online children and adolescents. This qualitative research had a synthesis design based on Roberts’ six-step research synthesis model. The statistical population of the study was comprised of all national and international research and scientific articles related to the research topic in the period of 2000-2021. 250 of such sources which were collected from various databases were reviewed and analyzed based on the research input criteria. The results of the study revealed that online children and adolescents have opportunities such as socialization and communication with others, self-expression and identity formation, learning and development of creativity, personal growth and self-acceptance and threats such as anxiety and depression, sleep disorder, low self-esteem, social isolation, lack of self-acceptance, Internet addiction, academic failure, cyberbullying, suicide and sexual abuse, each of which can affect their psychological well-being.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between parents’ motivations for involvement and children’s academic performance and to examine the mediating role of school-based parental involvement in this relationship. This study also explored the extent of school-based parental involvement. The research method was correlational and of structural equation modeling type. The participants were 384 sixth graders (200 boys and 184 girls) in Lorestan Province aged 11-13 years and their parents (69 male and 315 female ones) who were selected by multistage cluster sampling method in 2019-2020 school year. The results demonstrated that parents' motivation for involvement had a direct, significant relationship with school-based parental involvement and children’s academic performance. Furthermore, the structural analysis indicated that school-based parental involvement significantly mediated the relationship between parents' motivation for involvement and academic performance. Finally, the results showed that parents participated moderately in their children's school events. These findings show the importance of school-based parental involvement in primary schools and play a prominent role in providing evidence and empirical background based on parents' motivation for involvement in developing interventions and educational models to improve children's academic performance.