فصلنامه علوم روانشناختی
پیاپی 74 (اردیبهشت 1398)

  Developmental coordination disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder that can interfere with motor coordination and that causes psychological problems. Research refer to the positive effects of training on sensory and motor functions, but could Wii Fit exercise be effective on clumsiness and quality of life these children? 

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of Wii Fit exercises on clumsiness and the quality of life in children with DCD.

The present research was a quasi-experimental study. Using  Willson (2007) developmental coordination disorder questionnaire, 30 children aged 7-12 years with DCD were selected through cluster sampling and placed randomly into two experimental and control groups. In order to evaluate the dependent variables, Bruininks-Oseretsky (1950) test of motor proficiency and Sebir et al. (2007) health related quality of life questionnaire were used. The experimental group received an intervention program for 8 weeks (2 sessions per week, 55 minutes per session). Statistical analysis was performed using multivariate analysis of covariance.

The results showed that there was a significant difference between the two experimental and control groups in the variables of clumsiness (F= 14/92, p≤0/001) and quality of life (F= 121/28, p≤0/001).

Wii Fit exercises can affect the clumsiness and quality of life of DCD children.

  Various theoretical approaches have different views regarding the role and importance of vision information in the production and control of movements, but how vision control mechanisms act under anxious conditions?

The present research  aimed to evaluate vision control mechanisms under anxious conditions in novice golf players.

In this  quasi-experimental study, 20 novice golf players were selected through convenience sampling in the city of Isfahan. The task of the current study was the performance of golf-putting skill under different anxious conditions (baseline vs. anxiety). In this study, participants in the baseline and anxious conditions performed 6 trials of counterbalance in each condition without blocking (control), the first phase blocking, and the last phase blocking of movement in each task. Simultaneously with  golf-putting  performance, the quiet eye data were recorded by an eye tracker system. Data were analyzed via two-way ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc statistical methods.

The results indicated that participants’ quiet eye significantly decreased under anxiety conditions (p=0/0001). Also, the results showed that the initial blockage of movement caused further weakening of the accuracy and quiet eye compared to the final blockage of movement (p=0/0001).

Overall, the results of the current study emphasize the pre-programming system in the performance of golf-putting skill in novice golf players.

Chronic pain is a pervasive phenomenon that negatively affects many aspects of an individual’s life, research has refer to acceptance and commitment therapy and physiotherapy, but the  main issue of this study is what treatment is more effective for chronic pain

The present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and physiotherapy on depression, anxiety, and stress in patients with chronic pain.

The research was a quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest design with control group. The study sample included 75 patients with chronic pain. Among them, 50 patients were selected and placed randomly into acceptance and commitment therapy(Wales and Sorrell, 2012) and control groups. Also, 25 subjects were selected through convenience sampling for the physiotherapy group. Participants completed Lovibond and Lovibond (1995) depression, anxiety, and stress scales in pre-test and post-test.

There was significant difference between ACT and physiotherapy and control group on the scores of anxiety, depression, and stress (p<0/001), but there was no significant difference between physiotherapy and control group on the scores of anxiety, depression, and stress (p> 0/05).

The results of this study showed that ACT is an effective intervention to improve anxiety, depression, and stress in  patients with chronic pain, but physiotherapy cannot reduce anxiety, depression, and stress resulted from chronic pain.

Aesthetics is one of the concepts that have recently received psychologists’ attention.  In this regard, the main question is whether there are significant relationships between the dimensions of psychological capitals  (hope, resiliency, optimism, and efficiency) and emotional empathy components (cognitive, social and emotional empathy) by mediating aesthetic intelligence or not?

The present study aimed to explain the relationships between the dimensions of psychological capitals and emotional empathy components by mediating aesthetics intelligence.

The present study was a correlational-descriptive design. 205 high school students of the city of Touyserkan were selected by stratified cluster sampling. Data were collected using the psychological capital questionnaire (Luthans and Avolio, 2007), the intelligence aesthetic scale (Rashid and Hasanvand, 1393), and the emotional empathy scale (Baron-Cohen, 2003). Data were analyzed through structural equation modeling.

Results showed that there were significant relationships between  the dimensions of psychological capitals and emotional empathy components (p<0/001). Also, among the variables and components under study, aesthetics had the highest effect on emotional empathy and the efficacy had the least effect on aesthetics.  

with the change in each of  the dimensions of psychological capitals, the individuals’ emotional empathy components change and, of course, the individuals’ aesthetic intelligence is effective in this regard.

Many studies have pointed to the impairments of emotion regulation in attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but the main problem is whether emotion dysregulation in this disorder can be affected by the theory of mind and metacognition?

The present study aimed to predict emotion dysregulation based on the theory of mind and metacognition in male students with ADHD.

The current study was a descriptive-correlational design. The statistical population of the study was all male students of the sixth grade of elementary school (2567 people) in the cities of Bostanabad and Sarab in the academic year 2017-2018. The study sample included 90 students with ADHD selected through multistage cluster random sampling. The data were collected using Conners’ teacher rating scale (1998), Gross and John (2003) emotion regulation questionnaire, Sperling et al. (2002) children's metacognition scale, and Qomrani et al. (2006) theory of mind test.

The results of multiple regression showed that metacognition and the theory of mind together significantly predicted 34% of the variance in cognitive reappraisal and 42% of the variance in emotional suppression (p<0/05).

According to the results of the study, metacognition and the theory of mind have important roles in the emotion dysregulation of children with ADHD.

 The experience of stress disrupts the balance of human mental organization, as a result the individual experiences unpleasant emotions so that low capacity to regulate these emotions leads to psychological and physical symptoms. But whether could be help them to reduce the level of anxiety  and enhance psychological capacity, which is assumed to be nurtured through self-regulation to better cope with their difficult experiences to have better function.

This study aimed  to investigate the effectiveness of  group self-regulation triple strategies training including integrative self-knowledge, self-control, and self-compassion(Ghorbani and  colleague , 2012., Neff, 2009) on adverse physical and emotional consequences resulted from stress including  physical symptoms, unpleasant emotions, and self-destructiveness.

This research was a quasi-experiment study with pretest-posttest design with control group. The statistical population included mothers with children suffering from cancer refering to Imam Reza hospital and Namazi hospital in the city of Shiraz in 2017. Among 245 mothers who completed  the perceived stress scale (Cohen et al., 1983),  the physical symptoms checklist  (Bartone, 1995), the unpleasant emotions scale (Leary et al., 2007), and the chronic self-destructiveness scale (Kelley et al., 1985), 30 mothers were selected through convenience sampling and placed into three paired groups including experimental group, control group, and waiting list group. Data were analyzed at two levels of descriptive and inferential (multivariate analysis of covariance).

The results of MANCOVA showed that group self-regulation triple strategies training significantly reduced the mean scores of physical symptoms, unpleasant emotions, and self-destructiveness of experimental group in post-test compared to the control group and waiting list after controlling for pre-test scores.

Based on the results, group self-regulation triple strategies training including integrative self-knowledge, self-control, and self-compassion could increase individuals’ mental capacity engaged in chronic stress to adaptive cope with stress and thereby reduce the devastating consequences of stress in these individuals.

Research has shown that there are relationships between early maladaptive schemas (EMSs) and obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OC), but no research has been performed on the mediating role of  inferential confusion in this regard. Therefore,  the question of research is whether  inferential confusion can mediate this relationship?.

The present study was carried out aming to investigate the mediation role of inferential confusion in the relationships between EMSs and OC symptoms in university students.

The present research was a descriptive-correlational study. The statistical population of this study included all undergraduate students  in  Arak University. Among them, a  sample  of 532  undergraduate students were selected by multiple cluster sampling method. To collect data, the obsessive-compulsive inventory-revised (Foa et al. 2002), the Young early maladaptive schema questionnaire-short form (1998), and the inferential confusion questionnaire-expanded version (Ardema et al, 2010) were used.

According to maladaptive schemas and inferential confusion theories, findings indicated the significant direct and indirect effects of EMSs on OC symptoms through the mediating inferential confusion (p<0/01, p<0/05) .

The findings emphasizd that both EMSs and inferential confusion are important to explain OC symptoms. Also,  inferential confusion as a mediator is a variable that explins the relationships between EMSs and OC symptoms.

 Academic engagement is one of the effective variables in the field of education and learning, which is affected by various factors, but to what extent can cognitive ability, socioeconomic status and academic enthusiasm?  

The present study was carried out to investigate the structural pattern of predicting academic engagement based on cognitive ability and socioeconomic status by mediating academic enthusiasm in high school students in the city of Rumshkan in 2017-2018.

The research method was descriptive-correlational of structural equation modeling type. The statistical population of the study consisted of all secondary school female students in the city of Rumshkan who were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling method (317 people). The used instruments included Reeve's (2013) academic engagement scale, Nejati's (2013) cognitive ability questionnaire, Fredericks et al (2004) academic enthusiasm inventory, and researcher-made socio-economic and demographic information questionnaire. The data were analyzed by  structural equation modeling.

The results showed significant direct effects of cognitive ability, socioeconomic status, and academic enthusiasm on academic engagement as well as  significant  direct effects of cognitive ability and socioeconomic status on academic enthusiasm. Also,  cognitive ability and socioeconomic status had significant indirect effects on academic engagement by mediating academic enthusiasm. Also, results showed that the designed model by using the present study sample had appropriate model fit.

Therefore, the mentioned structural pattern can predict the extent of students' academic engagement with regard to the variables of cognitive ability, socioeconomic status, and academic enthusiasm.

Increasing age, decreasing social efficacy perception due to retirement, and getting the children away cause feeling loneliness in the elderly.

this study was conducted to investigate the role of experiential avoidance and psychological capitals in predicting feeling loneliness by mediating the meaning in life in the elderly in the city of Isfahan.

The study was descriptive-correlational of structural equation modeling type. The statistical population of the study included the elderly in the city of Isfahan in 2018. The study sample was 253 elderly people who were selected through convenience sampling. The applied instruments included the loneliness scale (Russel, 1996), the psychological capital questionnaire (Lotanz and Olio, 2007), the meaning in life questionnaire(Stagger et al., 2006), and the acceptance and action questionnaire (Bond et.al, 2011). After collecting questionnaires, the data were analyzed through Pearson correlation and structural equation modeling methods.

The results showed that there were significant relationships between the variables (p˂0/001). Moreover, the mediating role of the meaning in life in the relations of experiential avoidance and psychological capitals to feeling loneliness  in the elderly was confirmed.

 Developing meaning in life in elderly, can overcome felling of loneliness and experiential avoidance.

Research showed that play therapy has improved behavioral disorders, but could play therapy also be effective for anxiety disorder in students?

This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of play therapy on reducing anxiety in elementary school students.

The present study was a quasi-experimental  design with pretest-posttest with control group. The statistical population of the present study included all elementary second grade female students from SAMA schools in the city of Malayer (68 students). Among them, a sample of 30 students who had the highest  scores of anxiety on Kingery et al. (2009) child anxiety scale was selected and placed randomly into experimental and control groups. The experimental group received 10 sessions of play therapy(Mohammad-Esmaeil, 2010) intervention and no intervention was performed on the control group. The scores of screening test for  students’ anxiety were considered as pre-test, and after the intervention, the children anxiety test was readministered to both groups and its scores were considered as post-test. The data were analyzed by ANCOVA analysis and independent t-tests.

The results showed that play therapy had positive significant effects on reducing social anxiety, separation anxiety, and harm avoidance (p<0/05), whereas it had no significant effects on children’s physical symptoms (p>0/05).

Play therapy can be an effective treatment on anxiety disorder of elementary female students.

 Evidence suggests that excessive and borderless relationships in virtual networks seriously damage trust between couples and cause marital strife, separation, and even divorce. But could quality of life therapy on Communication skills and addiction to cyberspace be effective?

The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of quality of life therapy on communication skills, addiction to cyberspace, marital satisfaction, and emotional self-regulation in couples.

The present research was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest, two-month followup design with control group. The research statistical population consisted of couples with Internet addiction and communication problems in the city of Isfahan. Among them, 20 couples were selected through purposive sampling and placed randomely into the experimental (10 subjects) and control (10 subjects) groups. The research instruments included the Internet addiction questionnire (Young, 1991), the emotional self-regulation questionnaire (Hofmann and Kashdan, 2010), the communication skills questionnaire (Queen Damm, 2004), and the marital satisfaction questionnaire (Olson, 2006). Quality of life therapy (Frisch, 2006) was administered on the experimental group at eight 90-minute sessions once a week. Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA.

The results showed that the quality of life therapy had significant effects on addiction to cyberspace (F=83/89, p<0/001), communication skills (F=282/65, p<0/001), emotional self-regulation (F=162/66, p<0/001), and marital satisfaction (F=70/78, p<0/001). These results continued during the follow-up period too.

Generally, it was found that couples’ quality of life therapy may be used as a new and effective method to improve addiction to cyberspace, emotional self-regulation, communication skills, and marital satisfaction of couples.

Investigating the factors affecting student performance in international tests such as the TIMSS and PIRLS tests has always been of interest to researchers, but could reading literacy be effective in this relationship?

This study aimed to investigate the relation of reading literacy of 4th grade female students in  elementary school to their math and science performance in the TIMSS study.    

The research method was a descriptive-correlational design. The statistical population of the study included all  elementary school 4th grade students in the city of Khoy in the academic year 2017-2018 (1398 people). Among these students, 127 students were selected using convenience sampling method. To collecte data,  the PIRLS (2016) reading literacy test and the TIMSS (2016) math and scince performance test were used. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation coefficient.

Results showed that there was a positive and significant relationship between reading literacy and math performance in the TIMSS test (p<0/001), but there was no significant relation between reading literacy and students’ science performance in the TIMSS test (p>0/05). Also, there was a positive and significant relationship between  students’ math and science performance in the TIMSS test (p<0/001).

According to the results of this study, enhancing reading literacy in students could be effective to increase their performance in the TIMSS test.