JOURNAL OF CHILD MENTAL (JOURNAL OF CHILD MENTAL HEALTH)
Year:2020 | Volume:7 | Issue:2|Papers Count:26

Background and Purpose: Whereas Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) negatively affects the students' academic performance and social relations; hence, failure to diagnose and treat it may result in serious pathological problems in their future life. Therefore, present study was done to compare the effectiveness of anger management training and narrative therapy on academic self-efficacy and academic resilience in students with ADHD. Method: The present study was a quasi-experimental research with pretest-posttest control group design. The sample included thirty 11 to 12-year old male students with ADHD who were studying at grades five and six of primary school in Bandaranzali in 2019. They were selected by convenience sampling and then randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group (10 students per group). To collect the data, Parent Rating Scale (Conners, 1990), Academic Resilience Questionnaire (Martin, 2002), and Academic Self-efficacy Scale (Jinks, 1999) were used. The first experimental group received twelve 60-min sessions of anger management training and the second experimental group received eight 45-min sessions of narrative therapy whereas the control group underwent no intervention. All the three groups were assessed at pretest, posttest and follow-up stages. ANCOVA and repeated measurers ANOVA were used to analyze the data. Results: Results showed that there was a significant difference between anger management training and narrative therapy in terms of their effectiveness on academic self-efficacy (F=403. 2, P<0. 000) and academic resilience (F=789. 992, P<0. 000). Considering academic self-efficacy, narrative therapy was more effective than anger management therapy (P<0. 001) and in terms of academic resilience, anger management training was more effective than narrative therapy (P<0. 001). Also, there was significant difference between anger management therapy and narrative therapy in terms of their effect on academic self-efficacy (F2. 588=116. 407, P<0. 000) and academic resilience (F3. 086=385. 648, P, 0. 000) in two-month follow-up period. Conclusion: Results showed that narrative therapy was more effective than anger management training in terms of increasing the academic self-efficacy. However, anger management training was more effective than narrative therapy in increasing academic resilience. By facilitating training, helping to behavior shaping and satisfying the affective needs of students, narrative therapy can be effective. Also, through training the problem-solving techniques, anger management training can result in self-control improvement, psychological adaptation, adaptation in interpersonal relations and positive performance in tasks.

Background and Purpose: The environment in which a child lives plays an important role in the physical, mental, and well-being of the child. The child's home environment and parental teaching are among factors that have a pivotal role in the child's cognitive function. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the validity and reliability of the home environment questionnaire based on executive functions in Mashhad. Method: The present study was a developmental research method. The sample of the study consisted of three hundred 8 to 12-year-old students (103 girls and 197 boys) in Mashhad in the academic year of 2019-20 academic year, who were selected using the cluster sampling method. The participants completed the Home Environment Executive Functions (HEFE) Questionnaire (Kurako et al, 2018) and the Barkley Deficits in Executive Functioning Scale--Children and Adolescents (BDEFS-CA) (2012). The reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha method in SPSS software and the construct validity was evaluated by confirmatory factor analysis in Lisrel software. Moreover, the convergent validity was checked using the correlation method between two questionnaires at a significance level of 0. 05. Results: The items of the (HEFE) Questionnaire suggested that 5 subscales of this tool, i. e. control discipline, stimulation, sensitivity responsivity, warmth and specific activities, had desirable fitness. Also, Cronbach's alpha for the total score of the (HEFE) Questionnaire was estimated at 0. 75. For the subscales of control discipline, stimulation, sensitivity responsivity, warmth, and specific activities, this value was 0. 75, 0. 68, 0. 78, 0. 81, and 0. 83. Conclusion: Based on the obtained factors, the findings of the study revealed that the HEFE Questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool for assessing cognitive development activities between parents and children.

Background and Purpose: Whereas high-risk behaviors result in serious individual and social damages, identifying these behaviors and factors influencing them is highly important. In this regard, during the recent years, thinking patterns of the way these behaviors shape and persist has been investigated by the psychologists and clinicians. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the role of rumination and psychological hardiness in predicting high-risk behaviors of adolescents. Method: The present research was a descriptive correlational study. The study population included all the male students studying at the first cycle of secondary school at Sarayan city in the academic year of 2019-2020, among which 205 students were selected as the sample group through convenience sampling. Ruminative Responses Scale (Nolen-Hoeksema& Morrow, 1991), Psychological Hardiness Questionnaire (Kiamarie et al., 1998) and Risky Behavior Questionnaire (Mohammadi et al., 2011) were used to gather the required data. Data were analyzed by the statistical methods of mean, standard deviation, Pearson correlation coefficient, and simultaneous multiple regression. Results: Results showed that there was a significant positive relationship between rumination and high-risk behaviors (P <0. 001), while psychological hardiness and its components had a significant negative relationship with high-risk behaviors (P <0. 001). Additionally, rumination and psychological hardiness explained 26. 6% of adolescent high-risk behaviors variance (P <0. 01). Conclusion: Based on the results of this research, it can be concluded that reducing the subjective interpretations and modifying the psychological indicators like resilience can reduce the adolescent risky behaviors.

Background and Purpose: Aggression is a social damage which is increasing in the society. In addition, aggression is one of the most important issues of childhood and adolescence which is related to parent-child relationships and family conflicts. Therefore, present study aimed to modeling the structural relationships of conflicts between the parents and adolescents with aggression through the moderating role of moral disengagement in female students. Method: This was a study with descriptive-correlational design and structural equations. The study population included all the female students studying at the secondary schools of Qom in the academic year of 2019-2020. A sample of 607 students was selected by multi-stage cluster sampling to participate in this research. The participants answered Parent-Child Relationship Scale (Fine, Moreland, & Schwebel, 1983), Moral Disengagement Scale (Caprara et al., 2006) and Aggression Questionnaire (Buss & Perry, 1992). To analyze the data, structural equations modeling with AMOS was used. Results: Results showed that effect of adolescent-parent conflict on moral disengagement (P<0. 01, β =0. 67) and aggression (P<0. 01, β =0. 47) was positive and significant. The effect of moral disengagement on aggression (P<0. 01, β =0. 26) was positive and significant. Moral disengagement had a positive and significant mediating role in the relationship between parent-adolescent conflict and adolescent aggression (P<0. 01, β =0. 17). Conclusion: Based on the results of the present research, it can be concluded that the parent-adolescent conflict leads to the increase of moral disengagement and aggression in female students. Also, moral disengagement increases the relationship between parent-adolescent conflict and aggression.

Background and Purpose: During the recent years, different types of aggression have been one of the most common behavioral problems in children. The surrounding environment and exposure to effective behavioral patterns play important roles in shaping the child’ s behavior. Considering the necessity of having exact knowledge of the factors influencing the aggressive behaviors, the present research was conducted to predict the aggression in children based on domestic violence and communication patters. Method: The research was a descriptive-correlational study. The study population included all the male and female students of the public primary schools in Shiraz in the academic year of 2019-2020. A sample of 136 students was selected by multi-stage cluster sampling. Aggression Questionnaire (Buss & Perry, 1992), Child Exposure to Domestic Violence Scale (Edleson, Johnson, & Shin, 2007) and Family Communication Patterns Questionnaire (Ritchie & Fitzpatrick, 1990) were used to collect the data. By using SPSS Statistics 22, data were analyzed by mean, standard deviation, and regression analysis. Results: Results of regression analysis showed that combination of children's exposure to parental conflict, exposure to violence in school or neighborhood, and conformity orientation is the best predictor of aggression in children, which explains 65% of its variance in total. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that aggression in children can be explained by factors in the family like parental conflict and factors outside the family like the school environment. Implications of the results obtained are discussed in the article.

Background and Purpose: Alexithymia is defined as difficulties in identifying and describing the feelings, externally oriented thinking and limited imaginative processes. Most of studies on alexithymia have been performed on adults and less research has been done to assess alexithymia in children. Therefore the purpose of this study was to construct, validate and identify the factor structure of a children's alexithymia scale. Method: This research was a descriptive-survey study. The study population included all the primary school students of Qorveh city in the academic year 2019-2020. A sample of 260 students was randomly selected from this population by cluster sampling. Toronto Alexithymia Scale (Rieffe et al., 2006) for establishing concurrent validation and Researcher-made Questionnaire of Children's Alexithymia were completed by the parents. Data were analyzed by SPSS 22 and LISREL 8. 5 using correlation coefficient, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Also the content validity of this scale was confirmed by four experts in the field of psychology. Results: Factor analysis showed that the five factors of difficulty in identifying the feelings, difficulty in describing the feelings, difficulty in imagination, difficulty in distinguishing the feelings from the physiological changes, and objective thinking with the specific value greater than 1, explained 59. 26% of item variance. Results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that model fit indices were good. Findings of this research showed that Cronbach's alpha for the whole scale was 0. 70. The value of Cronbach's alpha for each of the factors of difficulty in identifying the feelings, difficulty in describing the feelings, difficulty in imagination, difficulty in distinguishing feelings from physiological changes, and objective thinking were 0. 89, 0. 81, 0. 88, 0. 60, and 0. 71 respectively. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that the 26-item Children's Alexithymia Scale is a suitable tool for being used in fields of psychology, education and research and its use is suggested to all professionals and researches in the area of psychology.

Background and Purpose: Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) is one of the most common behavioral disorders in children and adolescents. Genetic and environmental factors play equal roles in clinical manifestations of ODD. This disorder is very common in the pre-school and primary school children and significantly affects their academic performance and adaptation. This research aims to compare the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral play therapy and parent-child interaction therapy on the executive functions and parent-child interaction of children with ODD. Method: This study was a quasi-experimental research with pretest-posttest control group design. The study population included all the 7 to 9-year old girls with ODD who were studying at grades one to three of the primary school in Tonekabon city during the academic year 2019-2020. Through random two-stage sampling, 39 students were selected as the study sample and then randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group (13 students per group). The first experimental group received eight 90-min sessions of play therapy and the second experimental group underwent twelve 90-min sessions of parent-child interaction training; while, the control group received no intervention. Child Symptom Inventory (Gadow & Sprafkin, 1994), Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (Gioia et al., 2000), and Parent-Child Relationship Survey (Fine et al., 1983) were used for data collection. Data were analyzed by Analysis of Covariance. Results: The results of the present study showed that there is a difference between the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral play therapy and parent-child interaction therapy on behavior regulation skills (F=52. 23, P=0. 001) of children with ODD; But between the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral play therapy and parent-child interaction therapy on metacognitive skills (F=11. 71, P=0. 001), positive emotions (F=6. 77, P=0. 005), identification (F=11. 06, P=0. 018), no disorientation in relation to the role (F=4. 86, P=0. 001), and communication (F=6. 49, P=0. 005), there is no difference. Conclusion: It seems that by improving social cognition and facilitating self-regulation and behavioral inhibition in children, both therapies are effective on the executive functions and parent-child interaction in children with ODD.

Background and Purpose: Due to the importance of children's and adolescents' quality of school life, the World Health Organization has raised the issue concerning the necessity of improving the quality of school life, which includes the students' welfare and their satisfaction with positive experiences in school activities. Therefore, present research aimed to investigate the role of social skills in predicting the sense of coherence and quality of school life in grade 6 students in Tabadkan district. Method: This research was a descriptive-correlational study. The study population included all the male and female grade 6 primary school students in Tabadkan during the academic year 2018-2019. A sample of 384 students was selected by convenience sampling. Social Skills Questionnaire (Keramati, 2007), Sense of Coherence Scale (Antonovsky, 1993), and Quality of School Life Scale (Ainley & Bourke, 1989) were used to collect the data. Pearson regression coefficient and simultaneous multiple linear regression were used to analyze the data with SPSS 22. Results: Data analysis showed that there was significant positive relationship between sense of coherence and quality of school life (P <0. 001). Also, dimensions of social skill explained 21. 4 % of sense of coherence and 17. 4 % of quality of school life (P <0. 001). Conclusion: Results of this study showed that improving the social skills can increase the student's sense of coherence and quality of school life. Implications of results are discussed in the article.

Background and Purpose: Sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) includes a series of symptoms used to describe a special type of attention-concentration disorder and slow information processing. Present study was done to investigate the effectiveness of psychosocial program on the speed and accuracy of information processing in children with SCT. Method: This study was a quasi-experimental research with pretest-posttest control group design. The study population included all the 9 to 12-year old students with symptoms of SCT who were studying at the public schools of Tehran in the academic year 2016-2017. A sample of 60 students with SCT was selected by convenience sampling and then randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group. Slugging Cognitive Tempo Scale (Boronz, 2019) was used to identify these students and the d2 Test of Attention (Brickenkamp, 1981) was used to assess the speed and accuracy of information processing. The experimental group received eight 60-min sessions of psychosocial program, while the control group underwent no intervention. Data were analyzed by MANCOVA. Results: Findings showed that there was a significant difference in the mean score of the experimental and control group in terms of speed and accuracy of information processing (F=32. 4, P<0. 001) and scores of the experimental group increased compared to the control group in the post-test stage. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that the psychosocial program can increase the speed and accuracy of information processing and thus it can significantly reduce the behavioral and academic problems of children with SCT.

Background and Purpose: Play therapy is an innovative psychotherapy technique in child therapy. This therapy can fulfill the needs of children in different ages and it can significantly affect their behavior change, adaptability, and social skills. Present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of individual and group play therapy on the coping behaviors of students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Method: This study was an experimental research with pretest-posttest control group design. The study population included all the male and female students with ADHD in Tehran in the academic year 2018-2019. A sample of 60 students was selected by purposive sampling and then randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group (20 per group). The experimental group underwent ten 45-min sessions of individual play therapy and ten 60-min sessions of group play therapy, but the control group received no intervention. Oppositional Behaviors Questionnaire (Falahi et al., 2017) and Conner’ s ADHD Rating Scale (1999) were used to gather the data. Data were analyzed by ANCOVA. Results: Findings showed that both individual and group play therapy were effective in increasing the component of problem coping (F=217. 93), decreasing the component of solution aversion (F=1153. 09) and destructive coping (F=317. 57) in primary students with ADHD (p<0. 01). Also, based on the findings of follow-up test, group play therapy was more effective than individual play therapy in terms of increasing the component of problem coping (MD=-3. 61) and decreasing the components of solution aversion (MD=4. 65) and destructive coping (MD=3. 66) in primary school students with ADHD (p<0. 01). Conclusion: Individual and group play therapy are effective in increasing the coping behaviors of primary school students with ADHD but based on the results, group play therapy can be more effective in improving the mental and behavioral situation of children.

Background and Purpose: Art therapy helps people to cope with their unknown feelings and emotions and, as a result, to achieve the self-awareness and the ability to overcome problems in a variety of ways. Emotion regulation plays a pivotal role in children’ s mental health and it can contribute to their future achievements. The goal of this research was to study the effect of expressive art therapy on emotion regulation of primary school students in Isfahan. Method: This research was a quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest design. The sample included thirty two 8-9 year-old boys studying at grade two of primary school in Isfahan in 2017, who were selected by purposive sampling. Then the participants were randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group (16 students per group). The experimental group received twelve 60-90 sessions of expressive art therapy whereas the control group underwent no intervention. Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (2001) was used to gather the data. Finally, data were analyzed by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Results: Based on the results of ANCOVA, expressive art therapy was effective on positive emotion regulation; in such a way that there was significant difference between the experimental and control group in terms of emotion regulation scores (p<0. 05, F=4. 72). Also, results showed that expressive art therapy had a significant positive effect on positive emotion regulation and reappraisal (p≤ 0. 000, F=8. 39) whereas it had not a significant effect on negative emotion regulation (p≥ 0. 755, F=0. 10). Conclusion: Through using self-expression, imagination, active participation, mind-body relationship and by activating and strengthening the cerebral cortex networks, expressive arts therapy can improve the positive emotion regulation skills which can help children to cope with stressful situations and to manage their behaviors.

Background and Purpose: Research has shown that children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) lack problem-solving skills to face with problems in different situations. Different techniques have been used to treat and rehabilitate these children. This study aimed to investigate the effect of group cognitive rehabilitation therapy on problem-solving skills of students with ADHD. Method: This research was a quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest control group design. The study population included all the students with ADHD who were studying in District 12 of Tehran during the first semester of academic year 2017-2018. A sample of 30 students was selected by convenience sampling based on inclusion and exclusion criteria and then randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group (15 per group). The experimental group underwent ten 30-45-min sessions of group cognitive rehabilitation therapy, while the control group received no intervention. Child Symptom Inventory (Sprafkin & Gadow, 1994) and London Tower Test (Shalis, 1984) were used to collect the data. Data were analyzed by ANCOVA. Results: Findings showed that group cognitive rehabilitation therapy had a significant effect on improving the problem-solving skills of students with ADHD (p<0. 01). Conclusion: Based on the results of this study which indicated the effect of group cognitive rehabilitation therapy on problem-solving skills of students with ADHD, it can be concluded that via reinforcing the brain areas related to attention and concentration, this therapeutic method can improve the academic and behavioral performance of these children.

Background and Purpose: The problems of childhood can be generally divided into two large, but overlapping groups of internalizing and externalizing problems. Internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems can negatively affect the different functions of children and adolescents. Present study aimed to investigate the role of parenting styles, parental stress and children’ s executive functions deficits in predicting the children's internalizing and externalizing problems. Method: The present research was a descriptive correlational study. The study population included all the male primary school students in district 2 of Rasht city in the academic year of 2018-2019 and their parents. From this population, a sample of 375 students was selected by multistage cluster sampling. They completed Parenting Stress Index (Abidin, 1990), Parenting Questionnaire (Frick, 1991), Barkley Deficits in Executive Functioning Scale (Barkley, 2011), and Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001). Data were analyzed by Pearson correlation coefficient and step-wise regression method. Results: Findings showed that there was a significant negative correlation between positive parenting, father involvement and awareness and children's internalizing and externalizing problems. It was also found that corporal punishment, poor monitoring and authority had a significant positive correlation with children's internalizing and externalizing problems. Also, results showed that parental stress and children's executive functions deficits (and its components) had a significant positive correlation with children's internalizing and externalizing problems (P> 0. 01). Results of regression indicated that executive functions, father involvement, corporal punishment, authority, awareness, positive parenting, and poor monitoring were predictors of internalizing problems, whereas father involvement, executive functions, positive parenting, stress, corporal punishment, emotional self-regulation, awareness, authority, and poor monitoring were predictors of children's externalizing problems (P> 0. 01). Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that positive parenting, father involvement and awareness are negative predictors of children's internalizing and externalizing problems, whereas corporal punishment, poor monitoring, authority, parental stress, and children's executive functions deficits are positive predictors of children's internalizing and externalizing problems. Findings of the present study can help to the development and implementation of effective preventive and therapeutic interventions for behavioral disorders in children.

Background and Purpose: Reading and mathematics abilities play a significant role in the life of students and can be associated with emotional-behavioral problems. Due to the frequency of adaptive problems in students with specific learning disorders, the present study was conducted to compare the emotional-behavioral problems and aggression in students with and without specific learning disabilities (SLD). Method: This research was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The study population included all the primary school students with and without (reading and math) learning disability in Rasht city in the academic year 2018-2019. Two groups of students with dyslexia (14 students) and dyscalculia (16 students) were selected by convenience sampling and a group of students without learning disability (28 students) was selected by purposive sampling. Aggression Questionnaire for Primary School Students (Shahim, 2006) and Conners' Parent Rating Scale (1996) were used to gather the data. Results: One-way analysis of variance showed that there was a significant difference between the groups in terms of emotional-behavioral problems (F= 43. 72, P<0. 01). Results also showed that there was a significant difference between the groups in terms of aggression (F=10. 88, P<0. 01). According to the results of the Games-Howell post-hoc test, this difference was in favor of the normal group. But no significant difference was observed between the two groups of students with dyslexia and dyscalculia in terms of aggression level (P>0. 05). Conclusion: Results indicate that students with SLD have conduct problems, impulsivity, interpersonal and communication problems and because of these problems, they may experience educational deficiencies. In addition, whereas these students experience continuous failures, they are more susceptible to emotional-behavioral problems.

Background and Purpose: As students form the cornerstone of educational systems, features and variables related to their mental health should be considered carefully. Research has shown that self-control and academic performance are important factors related to the level of anxiety in students. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive therapy based on mindfulness on self-control and academic performance of students with the moderating role of test anxiety. Method: This research was a quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest design, which had two control groups and two experimental groups. The study population included all the grade 6 female students in Sari in 2017. A sample of 40 students was selected by multi-stage cluster sampling and then was randomly divided into 20 students in experimental groups (10 students in high level of test anxiety, 10 students in low level of test anxiety), and 20 students in control group (10 students in high level of test anxiety, and 10 students in low level of test anxiety). The study tools included Self-control Scale (Tangney, 2004), Academic Performance Questionnaire (Pham & Taylor, 1999), and Test Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, 2010). The experimental groups received eight 45-min sessions of mindfulness training, while the control groups underwent no intervention. Data were analyzed by multivariate ANCOVA. Results: Findings of the research showed that cognitive therapy based on mindfulness was effective on the self-control of students with high level of test anxiety (F=41. 07, P<0. 001), but it had no effect on the self-control of students with low level of test anxiety (F=0. 06, P>0. 80). Also, this intervention was effective on the academic performance of students with high level of test anxiety (P<0. 001, F=28. 64), but it had no effect on the academic performance of students with low level of test anxiety (F=0. 3, P>0. 68). Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that test anxiety has a moderating role in the effectiveness of mindfulness training on self-control and academic performance of students. Therefore, test anxiety must be emphasized as a factor influencing the effectiveness of mindfulness training on the self-control and academic performance of students.

Background and Purpose: Students with learning disabilities are always exposed to a variety of psychological disorders, which can reduce their mental health and increase the risk of depression and anxiety in them. Therefore, present study aimed to investigate the effect of minfullness training on the depression and anxiety in children with learning disabilities. Method: This research was a quasi-experimental study with two-group pretest-posttest design. The sample included thirty 10-11 year-old male students with learning disabilities in Shiraz in the academic year of 2017-2018. They were selected by convenience sampling and then randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group (15 per group). Both groups completed Anxiety and Depression Scale (Ebesutani, 2017) at pretest and posttest stages. The experimental group underwent fifteen 45-min sessions of mindfulness training, while the control group recieved no training. Univariate ANCOVA was used to analyze the data. Results: Date analysis showed a significant decrease in the experiment group in terms of mean depression score (F=29. 20 P < 0/05) and mean anxiety score (F=16. 94 P < 0/05). Conclusion: Based on the results of the present research, it can be suggested that mindfulness training is an appropriate mechanism to decrease depression, anxiety, and probably other psychological problems in children with learning disabilities. This training increases the individual's attention to his/her own feelings and thoughts and as a result it can reduce stress.

Background and Purpose: Neglecting the children is a risk factor for their emotional and social development that has a long-term effect on all dimensions of their lifespan development. Emotion regulation training can be one of the effective interventions to reduce the consequences of neglect. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of emotion regulation training on social adjustment of neglected children. Method: This research was an experimental study with pretest-posttest control group design. The study population included all male and female working children covered by Welfare Department of Kashan city in 2018. A sample of 20 children aged 12 to 14 were selected by convenience sampling and then randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group. The experimental group received eight 90-min sessions of emotion regulation training, while the control group underwent no intervention. Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 1997) was used to gather the data. Data were analyzed by univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Results: The results of ANCOVA showed that emotion regulation training had a significant effect on social adjustment of neglected children (P>0. 05, F=167. 4) Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that emotion regulation training moderates the mental evaluations and reactions of the individual and thus it results in appropriate cognitive, motivational, and behavioral reactions.

Background and Purpose: Man is a social being. The social aspect of child development shapes the basis of his/her life. Social life demands mental readiness, social skills, self-confidence, and social adjustment. This study aimed to determine the development of social relationships in children aged 4 to 6 in the kindergartens of Qom province, based on the demographic status of their families. Method: To carry out this causal-comparative study, 300 children aged 4 to 6 (150 boys and 150 girls) were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling from ten kindergartens of Qom province in 2016. Development of social relationships in these children was determined based on the subscale of the social relationship in Newsha Cognitive, Social Communication and Motor Development Scale for Persian Speaking Children (Jafari et al., 2009) and Researcher-made Demographic Test. Descriptive statistical techniques, Kruskal-Wallis test, and Mann-Whitney U-were used to analyze the data. Results: Results showed that development of social relationships in these children improved with age. The demographic variables, including the paternal level of education (p <0. 714), maternal level of education (p<0. 574), paternal income (p <0. 796), maternal income (p <0. 479), housing status of the family (p<0. 330), history of parental death or divorce or death of a loved one (p <0. 433), history of psychiatric problems in siblings (p<0. 758), being right-handed or left-handed (P <0. 351), being monolingual or bilingual (p <0. 907) had no effect on the development of social relationships in these children. Conclusion: In general, results of this study showed that based on developmental theories like social development theory and social learning theory, child's social relationships improves with age. Also, noneffectiveness of family demographic factors on the child's social relationships indicates the importance of social learning theory and it shows that children are affected by socialization factors outside the family.

Background and Purpose: Parents of children with hearing impairment have problems in their perceived social support and have a negative attitude to their own life. On the other hand, time perspective program that reflecting the feedbacks, beliefs and values of individuals over time, is related to perceived social support. The present research aimed to investigate the effect of time perspective program training on the perceived social support in mothers of children with hearing impairment. Method: This research was a quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest control group design. The sample included 30 mothers of 7-10 year-old children with hearing impairment in the academic year 2017-2018. They were selected by convenience sampling and then randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group. The experimental group underwent ten 60-min sessions of time perspective program training (twice per week), while the control group was assigned to a waiting list. The study tool was the Scale of Perceived Social Support (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet & Farley, 1988). Data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of covariance. Results: Results showed that time perspective program training had a significant effect on the perceived social support in mothers of children with hearing impairment (F=50. 04, P<0. 0001). It was also effective on them at the subscales of support by family (F=12. 28), support by friends (F=10. 74) and support by significant others (F=13. 65) (P<0. 001). Conclusion: The time perspective is dependent on how people relate their behavior to the past, present, and future as well as to their welfare and personal experiences and it can affect on their cognitive processes and social relationships. Therefore, it seems that training this program can play an important role in the perceived social support of mothers who have children with hearing impairment.

Background and Purpose: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder. Its treatment specifically needs parental training. Most parents of children with ADHD show revengeful and confrontational behavior towards them and use ineffective parenting strategies that may increase the symptoms of this disorder and influence the parent-child interaction. Method: Regarding the subject of this research, the exploratory mixed methods design was used. First, at the qualitative stage, problems of children with ADHD and problems of their parents were identified and encoded through content analysis and review of articles and books. Then, educational and therapeutic models and programs related to these problems were investigated. Next, the qualitative findings were used to create a parenting model. At the quantitative stage, this model was taught to 10 mothers of children with ADHD over 16 two-hour sessions for two months. Then their parent-child interaction was compared with the control group. Purposive sampling was used at the qualitative stage. The sample was selected by purposive sampling at the quantitative stage and then randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group (10 per group). Child-Parent Relationship Scale (CPRC) (Pianta, 1992) was used as the study tool. Data were analyzed by repeated-measures ANOVA at 95% confidence level with SPSS20. Results: In content analysis, 10 themes and 50 sub-themes in the area of problems of children with ADHD were identified and then the sessions were organized based on them. Results of quantitative stage showed that the mean difference of the total score and all the sub-scales (conflict, positive relationship, and dependency) was significant at pretest, posttest and follow-up stages (P<0. 05), indicating that multidimensional parenting model training can enhance parent-child interaction. Conclusion: Results showed that multidimensional parenting model training (based on the problems of children with ADHD) is more suitable for the etiology and symptoms of this disorder and it is a mixture of different methods that have been shown to be effective based on different studies, so it can be effective on the enhancement of parent-child relationship.

Background and Purpose: Research indicate the relationship between birth order and intelligence quotient (IQ), generally suggesting that the first-borns have a higher IQ. This study aims to investigate the relationship between birth order and IQ in the children of families with intellectually disabled children. Method: This research was a fundamental study in terms of its goal and a descriptive and casual study in terms of gathering data. The study population included all the families with intellectually disabled children in Tabriz in 2016. The sample included 194 families selected by cluster sampling from this population. Data were collected by researcher-made questionnaire and Raven's intelligence test. Correlation and One-way ANOVA were used to analyze the data. Results: Data analysis showed that there was no significant difference in the birth order and IQ in families with three and four children, whereas the difference was significant in families with five children (P<0. 04). Also, results showed that there was a significant relationship between the birth order and IQ of the children, in such a way that the first-borns have the higher mean IQ, while second-born and third-born children have the lowest IQ. Conclusion: In short, contrary to research literature and birth order theories that claim superiority of intelligence in first-born children, this research did not establish such a relationship. Results showed that birth order effects are a function of family size and birth order has no pure effect on the intelligence of children.

Background and Purpose: Dyslexia is a neurodevelopmental disorder. Recently, researchers have focused on the cognitive correlates of this disorder. Identifying the cognitive processes of children with dyslexia can provide a deeper understanding of this disorder and guide the effective intervention programs for it. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the role of four cognitive processes of Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, and Successive (PASS) in explaining the ability of word reading and text comprehension in children with dyslexia. Method: This research was a descriptive correlational study. The study population included all the students with dyslexia who were studying at grades two to five of primary school in Isfahan in the academic year of 2017-2018. A sample of 100 students was selected by multistage sampling. Raven's Progressive Matrices (1956), Reading and Dyslexia Test (Karami Noroozi & Moradi, 2005), Assessment System-second edition (Naglieri, Das & Goldstein, 2014) were used to collect the data. Data were analyzed by Pearson correlation coefficient and regression analysis. Results: Findings showed that "word reading" was associated with simultaneous and successive processing and attention, and "text comprehension" was associated with simultaneous and successive processing, planning and attention (P≤ 0. 01). Based on the regression analysis, the simultaneous and successive processing predicts 49% of the variance of "word reading", whereas successive processing and planning predict 44% of the variance of "text comprehension". Conclusion: Results showed that children with dyslexia have dysfunction in simultaneous and successive processing and planning. These finding can be helpful in the process of diagnosing this disorder and designing interventions for it. In fact, identifying the cognitive processes involved in "reading" can provide a deeper understanding of how to facilitate and improve reading performance through explicit training of PASS processes.

Background and Purpose: Parental divorce represents one of the most stressful events for children and adolescents and it has short-term and long-term economic, social, affective and emotional effects on them. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of compassion-focused therapy on fostering the self-esteem and resilience in children and adolescents with divorced parents. Method: This research was a quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest control group and two-month follow-up design. The study population included twenty three 10-13-year-old male children and adolescents with divorced parents in Karaj in 2017. After screening with Self-Esteem Scale (Pepper, 1999) and Conner-Davidson Resilience Scale (2003), 20 of these students were selected by convenience sampling and then randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group. The experimental group received eight 90-min weekly sessions of compassion-focused therapy (Gilbert, 2009), while the control group underwent no intervention. Data were analyzed by repeated measure ANOVA. Results: Findings showed significant difference between the experimental and the control group in terms of self-esteem (F=5. 67, p<0. 02) and resilience (F=12. 68, p=0. 001) at the pretest, posttest and two-month follow-up stages. Conclusion: Whereas self-esteem and resilience have widespread effects on the quality of interpersonal relations, education, and adjustment of children and adolescents with divorced parents, based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that the compassion-focused therapy increases the self-esteem and resilience of these children by modifying and increasing their interpersonal interactions.

Background and Purpose: Dyslexia as one of the most prevalent learning disabilities may cause many cases of academic failure in primary school students. During the recent years, several research and clinical methods have been used to treat children with this disability. Present study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation and neurofeedback on improvement of executive functions in children with dyslexia. Method: This research was a quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest control group design with 2-month follow-up period. The study population included all the 8 to 12-year old children with dyslexia who had referred to centers for learning disability in District 3 of Tehran in 2019, among which a sample of 36 students were selected by purposive sampling and then randomly assigned to one of the two experimental groups or the control group. One of the experimental groups received eleven 60-min sessions of rehabilitation with working memory training software and the second experimental group received thirty 45-min sessions of neurofeedback intervention, whereas the control group received no intervention. All the three groups were assessed at the stages of pretest, posttest, and two-month follow-up period. To collect the data, Reading and Dyslexia Test (Karami Nouri & Moradi, 2008) and Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (Gerard et al., 2000) were used. Repeated measures analysis of variance were used to analyze the data. Results: Results of data analysis indicated that cognitive rehabilitation and neurofeedback were significantly effective in improving the components of executive functions at both pretest and posttest stages (P<. 05). Also, comparison of means showed that there was no significant difference between the cognitive rehabilitation and neurofeedback in terms of their effects on the components of executive functions (P>. 05). However, scores of the experimental groups were significantly different from those of the control group (P<0. 05). Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that cognitive rehabilitation by promoting the mental and intellectual abilities, and neurofeedback by providing positive and negative feedbacks and reinforce self-regulation can be effective in improving executive functions in children with dyslexia.

Background and Purpose: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common disorders among children, which is associated with symptoms such as hyperactivity, hyperarousal, distraction, and attention deficit. Parents of these children, especially their mothers, suffer from negative emotions such as anxiety and stress. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on anxiety and stress in mothers of children with ADHD. Method: This research was a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design. The study population included all the mothers of children with ADHD referring to the counseling centers of Isfahan in 2017. The sample included 30 mothers selected by convenience sampling based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. They were assigned to either the experimental or control group (15 per group). Both groups were assessed by Anxiety and Stress Scale-Short Form (Lovibond, 1995) at pretest and posttest stages. The experimental group received eight 90-min sessions of (ACT), while the control group received no intervention. Data were analyzed by ANCOVA. Results: Results showed that the mean anxiety score (F=22. 13, P<0. 01) and the mean stress score (F=18. 17, P<0. 01) significantly decreased in the experimental group in comparison to the control group. Conclusion: The results of the study indicated that ACT was effective in reducing the stress and anxiety in mothers of children with ADHD. This therapy taught mothers to get rid of annoying thoughts and to accept the events instead of getting away from them. Acceptance occurs in mothers when the emotions are in the field of consciousness and are experienced as they are, without an effort to change their frequency or shape.