Research in psychological health

A Structural Equation Modeling Approach to the Cross-Cultural Analysis of the Relationship between Neuroticism, Academic Stress and Health Behaviors among Iranian and Swedish University Students

Omid Shokri

The main aim of this study was to investigate the model of structural relations between neuroticism, academic stress and health behaviors among Iranian and Swedish students.199 students (100 Iranian and 99 Swedish) completed the Big Five Inventory-SV (BFI-SV, Rammstedt & John, 2007), the Academic Stress Questionnaire (ASQ, Zajacova, Lynch & Espenshade, 2005) and the Health Behavior Inventory (HBI, Broman, 1998). Relations between latent and observed variables in the conceptual Model were examined using structural equation modeling. The results of structural equation modeling showed that the global model had an acceptable fit to the data. In the global model, neuroticism and academic stress showed a significant positive relationship and the results of the global model indicated a significant negative relationship between neuroticism and academic stress with health behaviors. The results of the culture specificity of structural relations showed that structural relations were equivalent for the cultural groups. In sum, these findings through emphasizing the importance of the integration of trait and cultural psychology perspectives, retains heuristic value in designing studies, formulating hypotheses, and making theoretical refinements in the study of the structural relations between neuroticism, academic stress and health behaviors across cultures.

A comprehensive meta-analysis of the relationship between Emotional Intelligence and mental health

Somaye Jamali Paghale

Given the importance of emotional intelligence in mental health, the purpose of this study is meta-analysis of the studies which were conducted on the relationship between emotional intelligence and mental health. Through meta-analysis method, this study integrates the results of various studies and then determines the effect size of the relationship between emotional intelligence and mental health. To achieve this purpose, of 45 studies, 30 studies accepted methodologically, were selected and meta-analysis was done on them. Research tool for the study was meta-analysis checklist The present study is based on 4858 participants and 32 effect sizes.The findings indicates that in general, the effect size of emotional intelligence and mental health is 0/48. Furthermore, When emotional intelligence is evaluated as trait, it has stronger correlation with mental health(r=0/51) rather than when it is evaluated as ability(r=0/38).Therefore,according to the present study, it can be concluded that higher emotional intelligence has correlation with better mental health.

Self-Awareness Process and BioPsychoSocioSpiritual Health

Mehdi Reza Sarafraz

The aim of present study was to investigate the relationship between two holistic constructs of self-awareness, mindfulness and integrative self-knowledge, and their associations with physical, psychological, social and spiritual health problem. To do so, 249 Iranian university students,170 women and 79men,completed following scales: Mindfulness Attention Awareness (Brown & Ryan, 2003), Integrative Self-Knowledge (Ghorbani, Watson & Hargis, 2008), Biopsychosociospiritual inventory (Katerndahl& Oyiriaru, 2007), and Depression Anxiety Stress (Lovibond&Lovibond, 1995). The data showed that these two constructs of self-awareness are negatively associated with all aspects of health. The integrative self-knowledge also predicted all measures of health that are beyond the mindfulness. These results point toward the integrative and temporal nature of self- awareness processes and suggest a need for studying the direction and nature of relation between Self-awareness and health.

The Comparison of the perfectionism, negative affect and brain-behavioral systems in persons with and without bulimia.

Behrooz Khosravian

The purpose of present study was to compare perfectionism, negative affect and brain-behavioral systems in individualsl with and without bulimia. To achieve this, of treatment center clients, 70 bulimia nervosa patients were selected through purposeful sampling,.Furthermore,70 normal persons were selected through purposeful sampling who were matched with the control group in terms of demographic characteristics. To collect the data, the Hewitt and Flett multidimensional perfectionism scale, Hed depression and anxiety scale and Carver and White’s brain-behavioral systems questionnaires were used. Data were analyzed by multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA). Results revealed that there was significant difference between patient group and normal group in perfectionism, negative affect and brain-behavioral systems.Furthermore, Bulimia nervosa patients, in comparison with normal group, reported higher levels of perfectionism, negative affect and BAS. Also normal group showed higher level of BIS in comparison with bulimia nervosa patients.

A comparison of behavioral inhibition between juvenile delinquents, with or without history of substance abuse, and normal adolescents

Mohammad hamzeloo

Inhibition as an important component of executive functionsplays an important role in the incidence of juvenile delinquency.The aim of thisresearch is to investigate the role ofbehavioral inhibition in the Juvenile delinquents with or without history of substance abuse.42 juvenile delinquents and 20 normal adolescents, as the control group, were selected through cluster random sampling method. Juvenile delinquents were divided into two groups: with or without history of substance abuse and these two groups were matched for age and sex andThen the two groups were assessed through tests including go no go and stop signs.Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance test, univariate analysis of variance test and Tukey test. Analysis of data showedthat the juvenile delinquents, in comparison with the normal adolescents,performed poorly on behavioral inhibition,but there was no significant difference between groups with or without history of substance abuse (p>0.05).Therefore, Insufficiency of behavioral inhibition can be one of the underlying causes of tendencies to delinquency. The findings of thepresent studyemphasize the necessity ofthe focused interventions to improve the executive function in juvenile offenders

The effect of positive/negative mood induce on cognitive processing speed in impulsive individuals according to impulsivity components

Parviz Azadfallah

Recently, the study of cognitive processes in impulsive individuals has attracted the researchers’ attention. Considering impulsivity as a multidimensional construct, this study was performed to compare cognitive processing speed in 80 female college students who, on the basis of their scores on UPPS Impulsivity Scale (Whiteside & Lynam, 2001), were divided into four groups (n=20 for each) which were dominant in one of the impulsivity components (i.e. Urgency, Lack of Premeditation, Lack of Perseverance, Sensation seeking). Reaction time task was administered on all participants in two positive and negative mood contexts (which was induced by music). Results revealed a significant difference between the functioning of Urgency group and two other groups (Lack of Premeditation & Lack of Perseverance) in negative mood context. There were no significant differences between four groups’ functioning in positive mood context. The role of impulsivity dimensions and mood context on cognitive processing speed was discussed. In general the findings of present research emphasize the multidimensional concept of impulsivity & provide new guides to study lateralized cognitive processes according to personality constructs.

The study of psychometric properties of Hope Scale

Mohsen Ahmadi Tahoor Soltani

The aim of the present study was to consider psychometric properties of Sympson's Hope Scale in a sample of Iranian university students. To do so, 457 students of Hamadan universities were selected through proportional stratified sampling method and were asked to complete Snyder's Hope Scale, Oxford Happiness scale, Hardiness Scale, Beck Hopelessness Inventory, Riff 's Psychological Well-being Scale along with Sympson's Hope Scale (changed a little). Cronbach's coefficient Alpha (0/95), split-half (0/84), convergent validity ( Hardiness, 0/36, Happiness, 0/58, Psychological Well-being, 0/43), divergent validity (Hopelessness, -0/18) were significant (p<0/01). Second order confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the five factors had high factor loadings on one latent factor and therefore six factors model was fitted with the data (AGFI=0/91, RMSEA=0/047, NFI=0/98). Results will be present in detail in the following.