نشریه روانشناسی معاصر
سال دوم شماره 1 (بهار 1386)

The purpose of this study was to test the direct and indirect impact of attitude, locus of control, self-management skills and social commences on drug use among at risk adolescents. The subjects of the study were 480 students of junior high schools (mean age15.5 years) in Tehran City. Students completed self-management, locus of control, attitude toward drug abuse and social competence subscales if risk and protective factors inventory (RAPI) and drug use questionnaire. Lisrel project software was applied for Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Based on the tested structural equation model, self-management and locus of control and attitude toward drug abuse directly and indirectly through social competence predicted drug abuse among at risk adolescents. Self-management and locus of control predicted higher social competence and this greater social competence predicted less drug abuse. The tested model had a good fit. present findings suggest that teaching general competence skills such as problem solving, decision making, coping and social skills may help to reduce drug abuse because youth with better general competence skills are better able to implement social and assertive skills. Drug abuse prevention approaches should incorporate the teaching of general competence skills and should contain components designed to increase sense if internal control and self-esteem and altering attitude toward drug abuse

This study investigates the coping styles and hardiness of patients with functional dyspepsia. 60 patients with functional dyspepsia (diagnosed based on Rome-II and en-- doscopy by gastroentrologists) who were matched with 60 healthy subjects responded to a checklist of coping styles – carver, scheier & weintrub and hardiness scale of kobasa. Data was analyzed using t-test for two dependent groups and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) with rando-- maized block design and backward regression analysis. Re-- sults indicated that patients with functional dyspepsia were significantly lower than the control group in hardiness, and using problem-focuced copings and significantly higher in using uneffective copings and emotion-focuced copings. Results of this study were consistant with previous re-- search in other countries, which justify the medi-- cal and psychological treatments when necessary.

The goal of this study was to compare pris-- oners Personality characteristics and Cop-- ing strategies of criminal and normal individu-- als. The subjects were a random sample of 50 prisoners from Tabriz Central Prison in Iran who were compared with 50 normal persons. All participants completed Millon Inventory as well as Cassidy and Long Problem Solving test. The results of MANOVA showed that the two groups had significant differences in clinical scales of personality, anti-social Personality dis-- order, borderline, Substance dependence and al-- chol dependence disorders. Also, the two groups showed significant differences in helplessness Coping strategies, monitoring and Creativity.

The current study attempts to investigate the preva-- lence of Internet addiction among high-school girls in Tehran. Another goal is to determine if female Internet addicts in Tehran show the same problems as addicts in other countries, such as more loneliness, and lower self- esteem and social skills. A total of 939 high-school girls in three grades and three fields from five areas of Tehran were selected using cluster sampling. They responded to four measures; namely, Internet Addiction Test (IAT; Young, 1998), UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell, 1996), Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (1965), and Matson Evalu-- ation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY; 1983). Four hundred and thirty five girls were Internet users. Based on the score obtained in IAT, 14 Internet addicts (IA) were recognized (scoring 70-100 in IAT), which shows a prevalence of 3.2% for Internet addiction among high-school girls in Tehran. Using the demographics, 14 moderate users (MU; scoring 0-40 in IAT), and 14 non- users (NU) were matched with the IA. Statistical analysis showed no significant difference between the three groups in loneliness and self-esteem. Using an exploratory factor analysis, five factors were derived for the Farsi version of MESSY, namely, altruistic behaviors, inappropriate so-- cial behaviors, recalcitrance, fear of relations, and domi-- nance. The three groups showed no significant difference in altruistic behaviors, fear of relations, and dominance. However, the IA group showed significantly more inap-- propriate social behaviors than the MU and the NU, and more recalcitrance than the MU.

The main goal of the present research was to compare, personality factors, stressful life events and social support in coronary heart dis-- ease (CHD) patients and non-patients. In this re-- search, 300 individuals (n =150 male, 150 female) are divided in two groups of patient (n=150) and non-patients (n=150) at Rajaee Heart Hospital of Tehran. They completed the NEO-FFI (short form), Life Event Inventory, and Quality Rela-- tion Inventory (QRI). Data were analyzed by in-- dependent t-tests. Results showed that there are significant differences between CHD patients and non patients in personality factors, stress-- ful life events and social support. CHD patients showed significantly : 1) more Extraversion; 2) more Neuroticism; 3) less consciousness; 4); less Agreeableness 5) less Openness 6) more stressful life events and 7) less social support than non-patients. In sum, findings indicated the importance of personality factors, social support and stressful life events in coronary heart disease.

The aim of this study was to examine the rela-- tionship between emotional intelligence, de-- fense mechanisms and general intelligence in a sample of Tehran University students. One hun-- dred and sixty one students (109 girls, 47 boys, 5 unknown) were included in this study. All par-- ticipants were asked to complete the Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS) and the Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ). Analysis of the data in-- volved both descriptive and inferential statistics including means, standard deviations, t-tests, pearson>s correlation coefficients, and regres-- sion analyses. The results revealed that emo-- tional intelligence was positively associated with mature defense mechanisms and negatively associated with immature defense mechanisms. No significant correlation was found between emotional intelligence and general intelligence. The results of regression analysis showed that both mature and immature defense mechanisms could be predicted by emotional intelligence and its component of emotional regulation. It can be concluded that ego defense mechanisms are in-- fluenced by emotional intelligence through man-- agement, understanding, regulation, and evalua-- tion of emotions in an uncounsciosc level.