JOURNAL OF EDUCATION AND PSYCHOLOGY
Year:2003 | Volume:10 | Issue:1-2|Papers Count:8

The present research was conducted in two phases. At the first stage, research was aimed at determining the epidemiology of smoking in Ahvaz government organizations personnel, and the second stage was launched to compare the efficacy of the following cessation methods: Behavioral, behavioral-instructional and behavioral-nicotine gum. Research methods of the first and the second stages of this study were, respectively, field and experimental approaches. The target population of the first stage, consisted of male and female personnel of various government organizations of Ahvaz city. The epidemiology sample consisted of 1334 subjects randomly selected from 26 organizations. Cessation sample consisted of 135 male subjects randomly selected from smokers who volunteered for cessation. Subjects were assigned randomly to the experimental and control groups, forming the following five groups each consisting of 27 subjects: 1) Behavioral, 2) Behavioral-instructional, 3) Behavioral-nicotine Gum, 4) Placebo and 5) Waiting list. the epidemiological findings showed that 23% of male personnel and 1.2% of female personnel were smokers, and each one of them, on the average, smokes 9 cigarettes a day. Furthermore, the mean age for turning to smoking was 20.9 years. Data analysis of the cessation stage showed no significant difference between behavior therapy and placebo groups. Behavioral-instructional and behavioral-nicotine gum groups were more effective than behavioral, placebo and waiting list groups.

The aim of this study was to compare intact-couples vs divorce-seeking couples in Ahvaz in terms of the similarity of their values (abstract, artistic, religious, social, political) and attitudes toward child-rearing, education and family sustenance. The hypotheses maintained in this study were: (1) intact couples have more similarity (i.e. homogeneity) in their values than divorce-seeking couples; (2) intact-couples are more similar in terms of their triple attitudes. The sample of the study consisted of 100 randomly selected couples, 50 intact and 50 divorce-seeking: Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Values Scales, Child-rearing Scale, Attitude toward Family, and Attitude toward Education Scales were used. The results showed that intact P-couples were more similar in terms of their attitudes and artistic and economic values. The significant level of #a=0.05 was adopted in this research.

This research was conducted to examine the role of self-efficacy, self-regulation and intelligence in school achievement of first grade high school students. A total of 60 classes of male and female first graders were randomly selected from the secondary schools in Tehran to participate in the study. Self-regulated learning in this study stress the importance of integrated components of the motivational as well as cognitive strategies (various cognitive and metacognitive strategies) that student use to control their learning. Analysis of the data shows that intelligence, self-efficacy beliefs and self regulation variables made independent contributions toward prediction of school achievement.

The present study intends to investigate that whether there is a difference among the nine combinational groups of intelligence and creativity from the standpoint of personality traits. To arrive at an empirical answer, first, from all first grade high school students in Ahvaz, a primary sample including 4500 subjects was chosen randomly via a multistage random technique. Then these subjects took the creativity paper and pencil test. Also, the IQ scores of the subjects were obtained from school archive. Subsequently, the primary sample was divided into three groups of low, intermediate and high levels from the standpoint of intelligence and creativity scores. Therefore, we ended up with nine groups. Then, 1440 subjects were selected from the primary sample as the secondary sample (nine groups). Finally, the 16 PF test was administered to all the nine groups. The results revealed that with regards to the personality characteristics of abstract- concrete, sentimental- emotionally stable, expedient- conscientious, controlled- undisciplined, relaxed- tense, traits, there are significant differences among the nine combinational groups of intelligence and creativity.

This study was aimed at examining the factor structure and psychometric characteristics of Cattell"s 16-PF Personality Questionnaire (version E). To this end, a Farsi translation of 16-PF (E) was administered to 513 subjects randomly selected from all personnel of government organizations and institutions in Ahvaz. Based upon the results of a factor analysis carried out on the data, a four-factor structure was indicated, while 69 items of the 16-P(E) didn"t load on any of four extracted factors. Validity of the four factors (i.e., new sub-scales of the Farsi version of 16-PF-E) was examined by factorial validation, and their reliability coefficients were assessed by Cronbach Alpha. On the whole, the reliability coefficients were satisfactory and validity coefficients were significant. According to these findings, the four-factor solution is more suitable than the 16-factor structure of the 16-PF (E) for use in the Iranian population. The Farsi version of the 16-PF (E) (i.e., 4-PF-E-A) appears to possess sound psychometric characteristics for use in both clinical diagnosis and research settings.

This research was conducted to investigate the comparison of mathematics self-efficacy beliefs of male and female students of math-physics, experimental science and human science fields of study, and its relationship with gender, academic fields of study, prior math achievement and goal setting. 400 male and female sophomore students, from three fields of study (math-physics, experimental science and human science), were selected randomly from Ahvaz high school. The Mathematics Self-efficacy and Goal Setting scales were administered to the subjects. The reliability coefficients (Cronbach Alph and Split-Half) and validity of the scales were satisfactory. The results of factorial analysis of variance showed that there were significant differences between male and female, and between the three fields of study, in the mathematics self-efficacy beliefs. Also the results of simple correlations showed that mathematics self-efficacy was related to gender, goal setting, academic fields of study and prior math achievement. Finally, multiple regression coefficients, using step-wise method, showed that all of the above mentioned variables predicted mathematics self-efficacy beliefs.

The aim of this study was to construct and validate a scale for the measurement of various psychological stressors of undergraduate students studying at Ahvaz Payame Nour University (APNU). An elementary scale consisting of 68 items tapping a wide range of psychological stressors was administered to 500 subjects randomly selected from APNU students. Factor analysis of the data yielded formation of a 28-item scale entitled Ahvaz Payame Nour Students Stressors Inventory (APN-SSI) comprising two factors. The first factor with 17-items related to non-academic stressors. The internal consistenly (as measured by Cronbach Alpha) and test-retest reliability coefficients of APN-SSI were found to be satisfactory. To examine the validity of APN-SSI, it was administered to 110 Subjects concurrently with two other widely used standardized scales, the results of which indicated that APN-SSI is a highly valid scale to be used in future studies.