فصلنامه روان شناسی کاربردی
سال پنجم شماره 4 (پیاپی 20، زمستان 1390)

The aim of the present research was to determine the effects of forgiveness training on anger and it`s components in married individuals. A quasi-experimental design with pre-test, post-test and follow up and a control group was employed. The population consisted of all the married couples resident in the city of Zahedan in South East Iran. Research participants included 140 married individuals who were chosen randomly and were placed in either an experimental or a control group (70 in each group). The State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI-2, 1998) was used as the research instrument. The experimental group received forgiveness training for six sessions of 90 minutes duration each, one session per week. The control group was allocated to a waiting list. Mixed ANOVA for repeated measures and descriptive statistics were used to analyse data. Results showed a significant effect of forgiveness training on reduction of anger and it`s components including state anger, trait anger, anger-in, anger-out, external control and internal control in post-test state and after four months follow up. This research has implications for family therapists to use forgiveness training in order to reduce anger. It is suggested to adapt the existing training package in the context of the Iranian culture.

The aim of present study was to investigate the effects of maternal attachment therapy in mothers to reduce hyper anxiety symptoms in daughters with attachment problems. An experimental design with pretest- posttest and follow up with control group was employed and the target sample comprised of 32 individuals out of 388 second and fourth grade primary school pupils in Isfahan in 2010. These students had high scores on attachment problems and hyper anxiety symptoms. Therapy was offered to mothers of these pupils. Randolph Attachment Disorder Questionnaire (1997) and The Ontario Mental Health Test (1987) were used. Therapeutic sessions comprising of 10 group sessions were performed for mothers and its effects was investigated in the rate of their daughters’ hyper anxiety symptoms. Results showed that maternal attachment based therapy caused reduction of hyper anxiety symptoms and therefore led to improvement of their daughters in posttest and one month follow up. This amount of reduction of symptoms in the experimental group in comparison with the control group nearly reached statistical significant. Maternal attachment therapy is a functional and useful method for parents and psychotherapists can use this technique in order to treat hyper anxiety disorder in children who suffer from attachment problems.

The aim of this study was to determine and compare self-efficacy, emotional disorder, and perceived loneliness in students with learning disability students and normal students. An ex post facto design was used. Statistical population comprised of all students in third, fourth and fifth grades of elementary school in four educational districts in Alborz province during the 2009 - 2010 academic year. 40 students with learning ability between the ages of 9 - 12 were randomly selected and were matched with with 40 normal students. Research instruments were Bandura’s (2000) Self-Efficacy Questionnaire, Rutter’s (1967) Teacher Questionnaire and Asher, Hymel and Renshaw’s (1984) Perceived Loneliness Scale. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance. Results showed that there was a significant difference in self-efficacy, emotional disorders, and loneliness scores between normal students and those with learning diabilities. In other words, scores of self-efficacy in normal students was higher than in children with learning disabilities and the latter showed higher scores emotional disorder and perceived loneliness than normal children. According to findings of the present study, it is concluded that an increase in self-efficacy of students with learning disabilities can reduce emotional disturbance and feeling of loneliness.

The aim of the present research was to investigate the effects of parental training program on reduction of behavioral problems of children. An experimental design with control group, pre and post test and follow up was used. The population consisted of all third to fifth grade primary school children with behavioral problems in the city of Tehran in the the 2009 – 2010 academic year. Research sample consisted of parents of 18 children with behavioral problems who volunteered to take part in the study and who were chosen via available sampling. Participants completed Rotter’s (1975) Behavioral Problems Test. They were dividedrandomly into an experimental and a control group. The experimental group received parental training which was comprised of eight sessions during a two month period. The control group did not receive any intervention. Data was analyzed using covariance analysis (ANCOVA). Research findings indicate that behavioral problems of the experimental groupwas reduced significantly more than the control group. Follow up tests indicated the relative stability of the effects of parental training program after four months. Parental training program is an effective method for reducing behavioral problems in children. It is recommended that child counselors and psychologists administer parental training program as part of treatment for reducing behavioral problems of children.

This study was conducted with the aim of evaluating factorial validity and measurement invariance of the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations – Short Form (CISS-SF, Endler & Parker, 1999) among parents of normal and expectional children. A correlation method was employed where 800 parents (400 parents of normal and 400 parents of exceptional children) were administered the CISS-SF. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and multigroup confirmatory factor analysis were used to examine the factorial validity and invariance of factorial structure of CISS-SF. Results of principal component analysis and varimax rotation replicated the three-factor structure of task-oriented coping, avoidance-oriented coping and emotion-oriented coping in parents. Goodness-of-fit indices of confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the 3 extracted factors. Results of multigroup confirmatory factor analysis indicated cross-group invariance of of the CISS-SF across both samples. Significant correlations between the subscales of CISS-SF and neurotisim confirmed convergent validity of the CISS-SF. Internal consistency reliability coefficients for each of its subscale of CISS-SF indicated that CISS-SF had high reliability among parents. Results of the present study show that because of the factor structure and the validity of the check list of stress-causing situations in the two groups with parents of normal and exceptional children, the check list may be considered a valid tool for the evaluation and measurement of preferred styles of coping in the two groups of Iranian parents when facing stressful situations.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of combined group cognitive and reality therapy on the relationship between mothers and their adolescent daughters in the city of Shiraz. A quasi-experimental method with pre and post test and a control group was employed using random sampling. The statistical population of this study included all female students aged 15-16 years old)n = 2346) in the academic year 2010-2011in the city of Shiraz. For this purpose, a multistage cluster random sampling method was used. Participants completed Fine, et. al.’s (1979) Mother – Daughter Relations Scale. The sample included 30 adolescent girls whose mean score was below the mean total of the questionnaire (19.5) and who were living with their parents. They were placed randomlyin either an experimental (15 students) or a control group (15 students). Eight group sessions (60-minute) of combined cognitive and reality therapy was then conducted. The control group received no therapy at all. Results showed that a combination of reality & cognitive therapy has positive effects on the relationship between mothers and their adolescent daughters. As far as the subscales of the measure were concerned, positive effects were found in ‘Dialogue’, ‘Positive affect' and ‘identity confusion’ but ‘identification’ scores remained unaffected. Cognitive therapy and reality therapy can be used as an integrative method to reconstruct the relationship between mothers and their teenage girls in schools and other educational institutions.

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between social support and coping styles and resiliency in adolescents in a suburb area of Tehran. The method of this study was descriptive-correlational. 410 adolescents were selected from among middle and high school students in suburb districts of Tehran on random cluster sampling basis. The following measures were used to collect data: Coping Styles Questionnaire (Endler & Parker, 1990); Perceived Social Support Questionnaire (Vaux, Phillips, Holley, Thompson, Williams & Stewart, 1986) and the Resiliency Questionnaire (Connor & Davidson, 2003). Data was analyzed using multiple regression analysis and Pearson correlation coefficient. Results showed that social support and coping styles had positive and significant correlation with resiliency in adolescents. Also, problem-based coping style and social support were able to predicting resiliency. According to the findings of this study, it can be concluded that as far as adolescent individuals in Tehran suburbs are concerned, an increase in social support provided by the family and the City Council and other relevant institutions as well as teaching essential and effective coping skills may play a significant role in increasing resiliency in these individuals.