مجله روان شناسی فرهنگی
سال سوم شماره 1 (بهار و تابستان 1398)

A second-generation immigrant refers to a person who is born in a different country to where at least one of his/her parents immigrated. Immigration and being an immigrant through which immigrant families become a minority in the destination country, is not an easy task from different perspectives, and when it is coincided with children’s adolescence and the common conflicts and problems of this period, immigrant parents face additional challenges. This article is the result of a qualitative phenomenological study conducted to understand how Iranian Muslim parents living in California connect with their adolescent children. The participants of this study consisted of 15 parents of Iranian Muslim immigrant families with their 13-19  year-old children. They were selected through snowball method of sampling. Forty to ninety-minute interviews were conducted with each of them, and the interviews continued until theoretical saturation was achieved. Data analysis resulted in three main themes: challenges and concerns of Iranian Muslim immigrant parents about raising their children, opportunities or positive aspects of parenting in the United States, and effective educational strategies for transferring Islamic and Iranian identity. This study can provide practical points for counselors, instructors, and providers of immigration services for immigrant families.

Psychological adjustment is a complex process aimed at coping with the widespread changes in a new environment. The study aimed to predict psychological adjustment of immigrant adolescents based on coping skills, social distance and sociocultural adjustment. The methodology was descriptive-correlational. The participants of this study included 96 adolescents of 12-18 years old (48 male and 48 female) who were enrolled in Bay View School in Ontario, Canada in 2014. Adjustment Scale Inventory, Social Distance Scale, Sociocultural Adjustment Inventory, and Coping Skills Inventory were used for collecting data. The data were analyzed using multivariate regression analysis and Pearson’s correlation coefficient. The findings of this study showed that coping skills and social distance, accompanied by sociocultural Adjustment, had a meaningful positive relationship with the psychological Adjustment of immigrant adolescents through the mediating role of immigrants’ sociocultural Adjustment; and problem-oriented coping skills and social distance, considering the level of immigrants’ sociocultural Adjustment could predict psychological Adjustment in immigrant adolescents. It can be concluded that adolescents with more coping skills have a lower perception of social distance between the original and destination countries and have had more sociocultural Adjustment, and  have been more adjusted with destination country.

Conflict as one of the destructive factors in marital life has harmful effects on the physical and emotional health of couples. This research aimed to compare the efficacy of Training Intervention based on emotionally focused approach and Gottman’s relationship enrichment approach on the marital conflicts of a group of women in Khomein city. This research was a quasi-experimental field research with pre-test, post-test, a control group and a 3-month follow up. The statistical population of the study consisted of women in Khomein city who referred to Faraz Counseling Center in 2017. Among them, 36 women were selected by available sampling method and were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group. To collect the data, a Marital Conflict Questionnaire was used. The results of multivariate covariance analysis indicated that the application of the two approaches – the educational intervention based on excitement-focused approach and Gottman’s relationship enrichment approach – reduced marital conflict scores. Also, the results of Bonferroni test showed no significant difference between the two educational approaches regarding the variable of marital conflict, but there was a significant difference between the two experimental groups and the control group in the post-test and follow up regarding the marital conflict. The 3-month follow up implied that the results were stable. Since emotionally focused approach helped couples to identify and express their needs and feelings, and as structured exercises of Gottman’s relationship enrichment approach also increased their communication skills, so these two approaches can be used to reduce marital conflicts.

The purpose of this research was to study the effectiveness of storytelling on moral intelligence, emotional intelligence, and inferiority feelings of labor children. The study was semi-experimental with pre-test and post-test with control group. The population included all labor children in District 5 of Tehran city. Using available sampling method, 40 labor children who were fully satisfied with the research were selected and randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. For collecting data, Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (Golman, 1995), Inferiority Scale (Yao, et al. 1997), and Moral Intelligence Questionnaire (Lennick & Kiel, 2005) were used and the storytelling training package was used as intervention. Results showed that with the pre-test being controlled, there was a significant difference between the control and experimental groups in moral intelligence (P<0.01, F=24.73). In other words, the storytelling had a significant positive effect on moral intelligence. Moreover, with pre-test control, emotional intelligence was significantly different between control and experimental groups (p<0.01 and F=13.40) which showed that storytelling therapy has a significant positive effect on emotional intelligence. The results also showed a significant difference between the inferiority feelings of the experimental and control groups (p<0.01 and F=10.05). In other words, story therapy has a significant positive effect on inferiority feelings of labor children.

The main goal of this study was to determine the relationship between God image and attachment to God among high school freshwomen students in 2015-2016 academic year in Malayer city. Based on the sampling table of Krejcie and Morgan, and through multi-stage random sampling, a sample group was selected, including 346 high school freshwomen students. God Image Inventory (Lawrence, 1997) and Attachment to God Inventory (Beck and McDonald, 2004) were implemented as research tools. The research hypotheses were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and its significance test. While confirming the existence of a positive relationship between God image and attachment to God, the findings also showed a significant positive correlation between the subscales of God image – i.e. presence, challenge, acceptance, benevolence, influence, as well as providence – and attachment to God. It means that the more positive is individuals' God image, the more is their attachment to God.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of positive thinking on resilience and depression in female older adults resident in sanatorium. The research method used pre-test, post-test, and control group. The statistical population included all female older adults resident in sanatorium (FOARS) in Tehran city. Thirty FOARS were selected through convenience sampling and were randomly assigned into two experimental and control groups. Data collection tools were Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale and Beck Depression Inventory. Educational protocols and a Group Positive Guidance Guide were used for training. Covariance analysis was used to analyze the data. The results showed that positive attitude and positive thinking reduced depression and increased resilience in FOARS. Hence, in various interventions intended for these elderly women, positive psychological intervention can be included too.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of training in developing Iranian-culture-based self-differentiation on dyadic perfectionism and differentiation in women. The research method was semi-experimental and was based on pre-test, post-test, and follow-up test with control group. The statistical population consisted of all women who referred to community houses of Tehran's District 1. The women were summoned by advertisements that were posted in the community houses of Tehran's District 1. Among them, 20 women who gained the higher than average score in Self-Differentiation Scale (SDS), and lower than average score in Dyadic Perfectionism Questionnaire (DPQ) were selected by available sampling, and according to entrance-exit criteria  were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups (10 members in each group). The data were collected using SDS and DPQ. The experimental group participated in eight 90-minute self-differentiating training sessions. The experimental and control groups were evaluated in three stages: pre-test, post-test and follow up using the mentioned tools. The results were analyzed using Mixed Analysis of Variance. The results showed that teaching self-differentiation on Iranian culture basis has increased differentiation and its components. This training has also reduced the discrepancy (perfectionism subscale) but has not had any significant effect on the other perfectionism subscale, the high standards. In general, it can be concluded that teaching self-differentiation on Iranian culture basis, as an effective way to increase differentiation and reduce perfectionism, should be considered by consultants and family therapists.

Near the university entrance exam, pre-university students may be impressed by motivational and psychological variables. Academic burnout is a variable that can always occur under these conditions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating role that academic motivation plays between outcome expectations and academic burnout in pre-university female students. ‎The research method was descriptive based on Structural Equation Modeling. Using cluster sampling method, 350 students were selected from the statistical population of pre-university students of Tehran city. They responded to questionnaires of academic burnout, outcome expectations, and academic motivation. Structural model test results showed that there was a positive relationship between outcome expectations from one hand and internal and external motivations on the other hand; and there was a negative relationship between outcome expectations and non-motivation. There was a positive relationship between academic burnout from one hand and non-motivation and external motivation on the other hand; and there was a negative relationship between academic burnout and internal motivation. The relationship between outcome expectations and academic burnout was negative. The results of the present study showed that the conceptual model fits well with the tested model and also academic motivation has a mediating role in the relationship between outcome expectations and academic burnout.

Retirement, defined as the abandonment of a job or social aspects of life, is associated with widespread changes in everyday life, opportunities, expectations, values, hopes and fears. Since retirement is considered as an important event and as a transition from primary adulthood to secondary adulthood, making adjustments is necessary. The aim of this research was to examine the lived experience of retired people with the challenges of retirement and strategies they used to overcome these challenges. For this purpose, 10 retired male ex-educators in Behshahr city were selected through available and purposeful sampling and were studied using semi-structured interviews to allow participants to freely describe their experience. The data were analyzed by a method that was suggested by Frost (2011). As a result of the analysis, four themes were emerged as main challenges experienced by retired men: financial challenges, health challenges, extra time challenge, and feelings of futility. Financial issues were mentioned more than others and had impacts on the participants’ lives in psychological, physical, health care, marital relationship, and leisure aspects. Finally, the strategies that individuals have reported to overcome these challenges can be divided into four main themes (self-reliance, spirituality, alternative activities and positivism) and 11 sub-themes. Retirement adjustment is possible through self-reliance, spirituality, alternative activities and positivism so that each one of these strategies can be used to solve a range of challenges rather than addressing just one single problem. It is important to mention that the most commonly used strategies for retirement challenges are re-employment and spirituality. Considering the role of the cultural and religious factors in the Iranian society and the life of retirees, it is possible to differentiate the conditions of retirees in Iran with retirees of other communities in terms of the used strategies.

The aim of this study was to investigate the prediction of academic procrastination by emotional regulation and academic burnout. Regarding data analysis, this research was a correlation-descriptive study with an applied objective. The statistical population of the study consisted of University of Isfahan students. Based on Cochran sampling formula, 200 students were selected by cluster random sampling. Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, Academic Burnout Inventory, and Procrastination Scale were used as questionnaires. The data were analyzed using SPSS-22 statistical software. Correlation analysis was used to investigate the relationships and also stepwise regression was used to predict the variables. Results of correlation analysis showed that academic procrastination and its subscales (other than the lack of emotional awareness) had a significant relationship with academic procrastination. Moreover, all the three subscales of academic procrastination – i.e. emotional exhaustion, skepticism and pessimism, as well as academic self-efficacy – had a significant relationship with academic procrastination. A negative relationship was found between academic procrastination and the students' grade point average. The results of regression analysis also showed that academic self-efficacy, lack of emotional clarity and emotional exhaustion were able to predict academic procrastination.

There are various factors that affect language learning which could all lead to greater efficiency in the correct use of language. The objective of this study was to compare learning styles and academic goal orientation in bilingual and monolingual students. The research design was causal-comparative. The bilingual population consisted of 120 female students of Marand and Tabriz University Jahad Institute with one Turkic parent and one Persian parent; the statistical population of the monolinguals included 140 female students of a school in Dolat Abad Village in Marand. The statistical sample of this study consisted of 30 monolingual students and 30 bilingual students who were selected by available sampling method. Learning Styles Scale (Kolb, 1985) and Academic Goal-Oriented Scale (Bufard et al, 1998) were used as study tools. Results indicated that there was a significant difference between academic goal orientation and learning styles (except active experiential learning style) in bilingual and monolingual subjects, as well as the fact that bilinguals had higher educational goal orientation and used a more objective style than monolinguals. However, monolinguals used more reflective, conceptual, and experiential learning styles. Accordingly, we could suggest that bilingualism is not a ban for learner, but it also can help the bilinguals have a more goal-oriented life and achieve their goals.

Happiness and life satisfaction play an important role in increasing mental well-being and preventing mental disorders. The purpose of this study was to compare the relationship of attachment to God with happiness and life satisfaction in spiritual students (tollāb) and non-spiritual students (Non-tollāb) [tollāb ‘طلاب’ is the plural form of talabe ‘طلبه’, and refers to the students who study Islamic sciences in seminaries]. In this descriptive-correlational study, 461 married people residing in Pardisan Settlement, in Qom (198 spiritual students and 263 non-spiritual students) were selected through multi-stage cluster sampling. The participants completed attachment to God questionnaire, happiness questionnaire, life satisfaction questionnaire, and demographic questionnaire. For analyzing data, Pearson correlation, ANOVA and Fisher’s statistical Z-test bySPSS-24 statistical software were employed. Findings showed that the relationship between ‘attachment to God’ and ‘life satisfaction and happiness’ in both groups was positive. Also, the findings indicated that the differences between spiritual students and non-spiritual students in research variables and correlation coefficients were not significant.