International Journal of Behavioral Sciences
Volume:14 Issue: 3, Autumn 2020

The purpose of this research was to compare the effectiveness of the behavioral cognitive play and child- parent interaction based play application on anger and anxiety in aggressive students.

In this study, a quasi-experimental method (pretest-posttest with control group) was used. The sample of this study included 48 aggressive students (16 in experimental group 1 for behavioral cognitive play application, 16 in experimental group 2 or child- parent relationship based play application and 16 in the control group) who were selected by systematic sampling. Data gathering tools included the Nelson Anger Questionnaire, Spence Anxiety Questionnaire and Garnefski, and Kraaij’s Emotional Cognitive Adjustment Questionnaire. For data analysis, Multivariate analysis of covariance MANCOVA, ANCOVA and independent groups’ t-test were used.

Findings revealed that using behavioral cognitive play and parent-child interaction based play reduced anger, anxiety, negative emotional cognitive regulation, and increased positive emotional cognitive regulation in aggressive students in the experimental groups (1) and (2) in comparison with the control group. It was found that the effectiveness of behavioral cognitive play and parent-child interaction based play on reducing anger, anxiety, negative emotional cognitive regulation, and increasing positive emotional cognitive regulation in aggressive students were not the same.

To sum up, it can be stated that parent-child interaction based play is more effective compared to behavioral-cognitive play.

This paper presents the rationale of applying a combined cognitive behavioral and dialectical approach with parent management strategies to a case of anxiety-based school refusal. School refusal is a serious concern that causes much subjective distress to the child, placing his/her parents under tremendous stress. It negatively impacts the child’s self-worth and psychological well-being, and also interferes with social and educational development. The condition is frequently co-morbid with emotional difficulties including depression and anxiety in children and adolescents.

The client in this study is a 17-year-old boy with an above average intelligence level presented with school refusal, along with symptoms of anxiety, obsessive worry and excessive reassurance seeking behaviors. Initial assessments using the Children’s Global Assessment Scale (CGAS) revealed moderate impairment in the social area and severe impairment in the academic area. The client showed clear difficulties in emotion regulation, in terms of a higher use of expressive suppression and lesser use of cognitive reappraisal, which were identified on the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ). Psychotherapy involved weekly sessions of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) techniques including facilitating exposure, cognitive restructuring, distress tolerance, effective goal setting, and interpersonal effectiveness skills in the family context. Changes were assessed at 6 months, 12 months and 18 months follow-up.

Results showed reductions in subjective anxiety and reassurance seeking behaviors, and an increase in distress tolerance, with a higher use of cognitive reappraisal. Improvements in interpersonal effectiveness in the family context were noted. The CGAS and ERQ ratings at 6 months, 12 months and 18 months follow-up showed steady improvement, with the client resuming regular schooling.

A combined cognitive behavioral and dialectical behavioral approach can be useful in managing school refusal. This case report emphasizes the need for further research to understand the effectiveness of multicomponent approaches to school refusal.

In today’s world, social media plays a major role in young people’s lives. Social media has the potential to reach and deliver information far and wide, including information on health behavior and lifestyle which could benefit in long term. The objective of this paper was to examine the use, reach and effectiveness of social media in health promotion and behavior change of young people.

In order to carry out this study, a review of secondary literature was done. PubMed, Cochrane Library and reference lists of relevant articles from 2012-2018 were searched to identify social media interventions. Studies included in the review had used social media interventions for health behavior change. 

Nine studies were identified as relevant to the study objective. Studies mainly used Facebook (n=6) as a social media platform to carry out behavior change interventions. Findings suggest that social media interventions are not only feasible but acceptable in the young community. The principle of engagement and peer or social support emerged as an important construct associated with behavior change.

Social media platform provides advantages like easy accessibility and acceptability. However, its mere availability and increasing use do not ensure its effectiveness. The lessons which this review gives are that while social media is an accepted platform for youth, it will not be effective as a behavior change tool if it is used just for information-sharing. Thus, behavior change theories and social support ensuring engagement are a few recommended approaches for social media interventions to facilitate behavior change.

Parental mediation of adolescents’ internet use is a descriptive study to understand the level of parental control over internet usage of adolescents in the state of Kerala in India. It also aims to understand the relationship of various adolescent and parental demographic factors with parental mediation.

A descriptive correlation study was conducted among the parents of 388 students between the age of 13years and 18 years old, selected from different (government, aided and private) schools through stratified sampling method. Data were collected through a survey conducted using Parental Mediation Questionnaire prepared by the investigator.

The descriptive analysis revealed that active mediation was the predominant mediation strategy used by parents than co-viewing mediation and restrictive mediation. Analysis of the adolescent demographic factors revealed that a difference exists in parental mediation over internet usage of boys and girls. A difference was also found in the mediation of parents of adolescents studying in government, aided and private schools. The study also revealed that younger parents in Kerala mediated the internet usage of adolescents' more than older parents. Other demographic factors related to parents including their education, employment status or annual family income had no significant relation to their parental mediation.

The study pinpoints the need to sensitize the parent community and provide them with ample support for parental mediation over internet usage of adolescents.

This study was conducted aiming at predicting adolescents' resiliency based on parenting styles mediated by basic psychological needs satisfaction.

This study has a descriptive-correlational method with structural equation modeling. The statistical population comprises of all female students of first and second grade high school in the district 21 of Tehran. Using convenience sampling method, 196 students were selected. Connor-Davidson Resiliency Scale, Baumrind's Parenting Styles Questionnaire and Deci and Ryan's Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction Scale were used. The data were analyzed by path analysis.

The findings revealed that the direct path of authoritarian parenting style to basic needs, direct path of authoritarian parenting style to resiliency, authoritative parenting style to resiliency and the basic psychological needs to resiliency were significant. The results also showed that the indirect effect of authoritarian parenting style on resiliency through basic psychological needs was significant. The model fit was confirmed with the data and the relationship between three variables of parenting styles, basic psychological needs and resiliency was also confirmed.

Adolescent resiliency can be predicted based on authoritarian parenting style mediated by basic psychological needs. It will be useful for raising parents' awareness of proper parenting style and paying attention to children's basic needs and thus increasing their resiliency in life.

Although several studies have been conducted about self-directed learning readiness, it seems that in Iran there has been no research on the relationship between information literacy, motivated strategies for learning with self-directed learning readiness. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between information literacy and motivated strategies for learning, and students’ self-directed learning readiness.

This research was a descriptive correlational study. For this purpose, 335 students were selected using convenience sampling method. To collect data, the Information Literacy Questionnaire (ILQ), Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) and Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS) were used. The SPSS, Pearson correlation coefficient, and multiple regression analysis were applied to analyze the data.

The findings showed that information literacy, motivated studying and learning strategies, and their components, except formetacognitiveself-regulation, had a significant relationship with self-directed learning readiness. Also, the results of multiple regression analysis revealed that approximately 39 percent of students' self-directed learning readiness variance is predictable based on motivated strategies for learning. The coefficients of the regression model showed that information exchange was significantly involved in predicting self-directed learning readiness among the components of information literacy.

It can be concluded that information literacy, motivated strategies for learning are the variables associated with self-directed learning readiness. It is necessary to focus on cognitive skills for improving self-directed learning readness in education system.

The present study investigated the COVID-19-induced anxiety and Covid-19 precautionary measures as predictors of mental wellbeing of Nigerians during the COVID-19 pandemic.

By using a cross-sectional design methodology, 340 participants (58.2% males and 41.8% females) were selected through the snowball sampling technique. Their age ranged from 15 to 56 years (M=26.66; SD=6.485). Participants responded to the COVID-19-Induced Anxiety Questionnaire (C-19-IAQ), COVID-19 Precautionary Measures Questionnaire (C-19PMQ), and the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS).

Standard multiple regression analyses indicated that COVID-19 induced-anxiety and COVID-19 precautionary measures significantly predicted mental wellbeing [R= .082; R2 -.077;F (2,337) =15.096, P < .05]. However, only COVID-19 induced-anxiety [b= -.25, t (339)=-3.94,p < .05] independently predicted mental wellbeing.

Based on these findings, the researchers recommended that mental wellbeing in the era of COVID-19 should be prioritized and given necessary attention by governments and other stakeholders. Information on COVID-19 should be structured in a manner that promotes health knowledge of the pandemic rather than inducing fear and anxiety. Individuals are also urged to engage in anxiety-reducing techniques which may help curb the rise of anxiety in these times of the COVID-19.

Cyberspace covers many aspects of human’s life and this tendency to cyberspace can be influenced by self-efficacy and emotional aspects. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to model the structural relationship of self-efficacy with the tendency to virtual networks through the mediation of social adjustment in gifted students.

The research method was correlational-descriptive and in particular structural equations modeling. The statistical population of the present study was all 300 gifted students of Sampad High School in 11th course in the academic year of 2019 in Gorgan city. These students were selected as samples through census method and were evaluated using the virtual networks questionnaire (2014), Scherer Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (1982) and California Compatibility Questionnaire (CCP).

The results showed that there is a significant negative relationship between self-efficacy and social adjustment with tendency to virtual networks. The research model was well-fit and confirmed and 0.39 of the variance of tendency to virtual networks was explained by self-efficacy and social adjustment. Also, social adaptability played a mediating role in the relationship between self-efficacy and the tendency to virtual networks.

Changes in tendency to cybersecurity can be directly explained based on self-efficacy and indirect social adjustment states in gifted students and this study has practical implications for school counselors.

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Iran is part of the worldwide pandemic of the COVID-19 caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) coronavirus. The present study has aimed to identify, through a qualitative methodology, the lived experiences of the Health Care Workers (HCWs) who are the most important group to keep others safe, alive, and healthy in the COVID-19 patients' ward in Iran.

A conventional content analysis method was conducted on 11 HCWs involved with COVID-19 patients by purposeful sampling. Their experiences were explored through in-depth semi structured interviews.

The conventional content analysis revealed five themes: 1- Experiencing psychological distress without sufficient psychological services; 2- Experiencing multiple stressors that gradually reduced; 3- Using coping skills; 4- Family and public support; 5- Media, Medical Community, and Government Officials role

It can be concluded that HCWs need bio-psycho-social-spiritual protection from family, public, media, officials and government.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the interpersonal theory of suicide in firefighters in Tehran. This research was based on an interpersonal suicide theory in understanding whether two variables of thwarted belonging and burdensomeness play an important role in suicidal thoughts of firefighters or not.

The present study was a quantitative and correlational study. The statistical population included all firefighters in Tehran, and 150 samples were selected by available sampling method. The tools used include the Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire, the Deafness Abusive Scale and the Depression Symptom Index Joiner.

Data were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistical methods using SPSS version 24 and correlation and predictor method and linear regression analysis. The results revealed that there is a positive and significant correlation between suicidal ideation with belongingness, burdensomeness, age and work experience, and there is a significant negative correlation between suicidal thoughts and education.

Considering the existence of suicidal thoughts in firefighters, it is recommended that programs be made to reduce these thoughts among them.