فصلنامه روان شناسی و دین
سال ششم شماره 1 (پیاپی 21، بهار 1392)

The present paper tries to elaborate on the necessity and the nature of research needs-assessment, provide methodology, propose an operational model for research needs-assessment of relationships between religion and psychology and achieve the research needs in this field. It is a qualitative research in which a combination of survey, content analysis and focus group methods are used. The statistical universe includes documentary, human and organizational resources related to the relationship between religion and psychology. The statistical sample which is based on 123 resources in documentary resources (book, scientific magazine, dissertation, upstream documents, structure and duties), includes 351 individuals in human resources (research and educational managers, experts of psychology and religious sciences, seminary students and their families), and includes 28 organizations in organizational resources (counseling centers, centers related to seminary student's data and statistics, related executive system, and research-scientific institute). The sampling method is a combination of purposive and available samplings. The research findings present: proposing particular methodology, providing an operational model for needs-assessment of relationship between religion and psychology, and accessing to 702 research titles in 15 branches of psychology. The most recognized needs are in the branches of social psychology, positive psychology, and developmental psychology. The least recognized needs are in the branches of physiological psychology, psychometrics, and research method.

The present paper aims at investigating the effect which promoting religious attitude exerts on the decrease of the criminal behavior of the jailed youth. A religious affiliation questionnaire was used to assess the degree of religious attitude of jailed youth and a list was used for recording their criminal acts. In order to conduct the research, thirty prisoners were randomly chosen from among those who have the requirements and were divided into a control group and an experiment group. Before participating in a training course, all the subjects were observed by jailors and assistants indirectly for ten successive days, the criminal acts were noted down and the religious affiliation questionnaire was conducted. Then, the experiment group was offered a religious training course in a certain period of time, while the control group received no religious training. After the training period, the subject's behaviors were re-examined during the next ten days and the questionnaire of religious affiliation was reconducted. The research findings show that criminal acts have decreased after the religious training course and there was a positive and significant relationship between criminal acts and religious non-affiliation.

The present paper seeks to bring out the relationship of Islamic optimism, with depression and ways of coping with the stress among University students. 224 students who participated in Welayat Project in Mashhad in 1391 (2012-2013) (100 males and 124 females) were chosen through simple random sampling. The research tools included Islamic optimism questionnaire, Beck's depression questionnaire and Lazarus's coping styles. Pearson correlation and simple-multiple regressions were used to analyze the data. The research findings show that there is a significant relationship between Islamic optimism, depression and coping styles and that Islamic optimism and coping styles are proper indexes to predict depression. Furthermore, those who have a feeling of Islamic optimism fall into depression less than others and use effective coping styles in traumatic experiences.

The emotional disorder affecting human relations is among the serious problems of the current century. Due to the effect of observation of religious injunctions on human life, especially the emotional and mental ones, the present paper aims at comparing marital adjustment and psychological well-being in prayer-performing people with that of non-prayer-performing people. The study is a causative-comparative research in which a descriptive method is used. The statistical universe includes married teachers from Langarood. 150 of them were chosen through multistage cluster sampling and was conducted in 2012. Spanier's marital adjustment scale and Reef's psychological well-being questionnaire were used in this research. Multivariate analysis, univariate variance analysis and independent T-test were used to test the hypothesis. The results of the data analysis show that the difference observed between the prayer-performing and non-prayer-performing was statistically significant in the area of marital adjustment and psychological well-being. Therefore, the important function of prayer, which constitutes the core of religion and most important practical form of religiosity, manifests itself in the emotional and psychological cohesion of family.

The present paper is concerned with constructing an Islamic hope assessment scale. A descriptive method was used to study the Islamic sources and a survey on a sample of 430 subjects chosen from the seminary and university students in Qom was used to evaluate the validity of the scale. The views of eight authorities on religious based on Lickert's four- degree scale were taken into consideration to determine the construct validity. The study of content validity indicates that the views of seven authorities on psychology based on Kendall coefficient concordance, is 0.181 with significant level of 0.146. The result of the analysis of construct validity based on factor analysis indicates that the variance of the whole scale is totally estimated to be % 53.719. The theoretically extracted factors are: the aim, base, means and endeavor; and at the final phase are: the aim, base of hope, means of hope, endeavor, obstacles to hope, the relationship of individual with base and solutions of hope. The criterion-related validity based on the calculation of correlation coefficient between Islamic hope scale and Snyder's Hope Scale is 0.530 with significance level of 0.01. A through study of scale validity shows that Cornbach's alpha coefficients are 0.883 and 0.894 respectively in the experimental and final phase and the coefficient between the two halves of the scale is 0.828.

The aim of the present paper is to investigate the simple and multiple relationship between religious identity, mental health and optimism among the students of Shahid Chamran University-Ahwaz. It is a causative- correlational or ex post facto research. The statistical universe included the male and female students of Shahid Chamran University-Ahwaz, from whom 186 students (93 male and 93 female students) were chosen through stratified random sampling. The measurement tools used in this research include Kraskian Mojembari's religious identity questionnaire, Goldberg's general health questionnaire, and Scheier and Carver's life orientation questionnaire with acceptable validities and reliabilities. Spearman correlation test and multivariate regression analysis were used to test the hypotheses. The research findings show that there is a significant relationship between religious identity, optimism and mental health. Furthermore, the results of multiple regression analysis show that religious identity plays a major role in explaining and predicting mental health.

The present paper seeks to investigate the relationship between couple's communication patterns in the light of the religious affiliation and marital satisfaction. The study was conducted on 121 couples chosen from teacher training centers and Isfahan seminaries through a random multilevel method. Christensen and Sullaway's questionnaire of Couple's Communication Patterns, Jodayri's questionnaire of Islamic marital satisfaction and Janborzorgi's questionnaire of religious affiliation were used to measure the research variables. Such statistical indexes as independent T-test, multi-way ANOVA and multivariate regression were used to analyze the data. Given to research findings, it can be said that in mutual relations women use the demand pattern more than men. The degree of religious affiliation in women is higher than that in men. They have less marital satisfaction than men. The tendency of the women who adhere to religion to choose incorrect communication patterns is slighter than that of men. In communication patterns of demand-withdraw women's feeling of satisfaction is stronger than that of men but in the pattern of avoidance their feeling of dissatisfaction is stronger.