The acquisition and promotion of Students' academic competence in the scholastic process is a desirable outcome for any educational system. Having a measure for accurately assessing students’ academic competence is very important. Therefore, the goal of this study was construction and validation of the academic competency questionnaire and identification of its dimensions and components. The population of interest includes all male and female first year high school students in Tabriz. A sample of 660 students participated in the study through multi-stage cluster sampling method. The initial instrument was developed based on the Model of Academic Competence and Motivation (McGrew, 2013). Validity of the instrument was determined by utilizing the Content Validity Ratio (CVR), exploratory factor analysis and concurrent correlation with the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). The results of exploratory factor analysis affirmed 5 significant factors for the “orientation towards self” subscale, 6 factors for the “orientation towards learning” subscale and 8 factors for the “orientation towards others” subscale. The goodness-of-fit indicators obtained from the second-order confirmatory factor analysis also confirmed this structure including three main subscales, 19 factors and 109 items. In general, the research findings showed that this questionnaire has the necessary psychometric properties to assess the academic competence of high school students and can be used as a useful tool in this field.
According to various cognitive models of emotional disorders, anxious and depressed individuals always give priority to negative information rather than positive and neutral ones. Moreover, tests and treatments designed to modify interpretation bias take advantage of limited tools developed in this respect. The Ambiguous Scenarios Test (AST) is also a pragmatic one to measure interpretation bias in clinical situations. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Ambiguous Scenarios Test (AST) in Iranian society and formulate it for application in research on interpretation bias relevant to depression. To this end, a total number of 240 university students (61 boys and 179 girls) enrolled at the University of Hormozgan were selected using simple random sampling method. The psychometric properties of the test were similarly examined using exploratory factor analysis, ROC curve, test-retest method with two-week interval, calculation of Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, correlation with mood states, diagnosis of people with high and low moods, and correlation with scores of the Dysfunctional Thoughts Scale. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the entire test and the correlation coefficient for the test-retest method with two-week interval were 0.78 and 0.72; respectively. The correlation between the given test and the Dysfunctional Thoughts Scale was equal to -0.57 and the correlation coefficient between group membership and the Ambiguous Scenarios Test (AST) was 0.38. Overall, the results showed that the given test was endowed with proper internal consistency, validity, and reliability and it could also distinguish individuals with negative interpretation bias from those with positive one.
Khayyam nekouei, Z., Yousefy, A., Neshat doost, H.T., Manshaee, G., Sadeghi, M.
Journal Of Research In Medical Sciences (17357136)19(2)pp. 90-98
Background: Conducted researches show that psychological factors may have a very important role in the etiology, continuity and consequences of coronary heart diseases. This study has drawn the psychological risk and protective factors and their effects in patients with coronary heart diseases (CHD) in a structural model. It aims to determine the structural relations between psychological risk and protective factors with quality of life in patients with coronary heart disease. Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional and correlational studies were conducted using structural equation modeling. The study sample included 398 patients of coronary heart disease in the university referral Hospital, as well as other city health care centers in Isfahan city. They were selected based on random sampling method. Then, in case, they were executed the following questionnaires: Coping with stressful situations (CISS-21), life orientation (LOT-10), general self-efficacy (GSE-10), depression, anxiety and stress (DASS-21), perceived stress (PSS-14), multidimensional social support (MSPSS-12), alexithymia (TAS-20), spiritual intelligence (SQ-23) and quality of life (WHOQOL-26). Results: The results showed that protective and risk factors could affect the quality of life in patients with CHD with factor loadings of 0.35 and -0.60, respectively. Moreover, based on the values of the framework of the model such as relative chi-square (CMIN/DF = 3.25), the Comparative Fit Index (CFI = 0.93), the Parsimony Comparative Fit Index (PCFI = 0.68), the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA = 0.07) and details of the model (significance of the relationships) it has been confirmed that the psychocardiological structural model of the study is the good fitting model. Conclusion: This study was among the first to research the different psychological risk and protective factors of coronary heart diseases in the form of a structural model. The results of this study have emphasized the necessity of noticing the psychological factors in primary prevention by preventive programs and in secondary prevention by rehabilitation centers to improve the quality of life of the people with heart diseases.
Journal Of Research In Medical Sciences (17357136)19(3)pp. 221-227
Background: Emotion-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (ECBT) is a new form of CBT with emotion regulation components. Th is form of treatment is suggested to be employed to improve dysregulation of anxiety and other kind of emotions in anxious children. Th is study observed and compared the eff ectiveness of CBT and ECBT on anxiety symptoms; sadness and anger management; and cognitive emotion regulation strategies in children with separation anxiety disorder (SAD). Materials and Methods: Th is study is a randomized clinical trial. Subjects were 30 children from 9 to 13-years-old (15 girls and 15 boys) with diagnosis of SAD, being randomly assigned to CBT, ECBT, and control groups (five girls and five boys in each group). Subject children in CBT group participated in 10-h weekly sessions within Coping Cat manual; whereas, subject children in ECBT group contributed in 12-h weekly sessions within ECBT. Th e control group received no treatment. Th e Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED; child and parent forms), Children's Emotion Management Scale (CEMS; anger and sadness forms), and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) tests administered to all subjects in pretest, posttest, and the follow-up measurement (3 months later). Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) repeated measure and Kruskal-Wallis were applied to analyze data by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software package (v. 20). Results: CBT and ECBT; demonstrated no significant diff erence in reducing separation anxiety and total anxiety symptoms from parent and children's reports. ECBT eff ectively increased anger coping and decreased negative cognitive strategies and dysregulation of anger in children, both in posttest and follow-up. Also, ECBT reduced sadness dysregulation and increased sadness coping, though these significant advantages were lost in 3 months later follow-up. CBT reduced negative cognitive strategies in follow-up and increased sadness coping in posttest. None of treatments aff ected on anger and sadness inhibition and positive cognitive coping in separation anxious children. Conclusion: ECBT, in comparison with CBT; eff ectively improved emotion regulation strategies in children with separation anxiety.
Khayyam nekouei, Z., Neshat doost, H.T., Yousefy, A., Sadeghi, M., Manshaee, G.
Arya Atherosclerosis (22516638)9(1)
BACKGROUND: Although psychological factors play an important role in coronary heart diseases (CHD), it seems there is a need for more researches in this respect. The present study aimed to review psychological factors, including depression, anxiety and stress related to etiology and prognosis of CHD. METHODS: This was a review on medical and psychological literatures, particularly in the years 1995-2012. RESULTS: As protective factor or risk factor, psychological factors play an important role in CHD. CONCLUSION: Given the findings of this study, it seems necessary that we pay attention to psychological factors, as independent risk factors or protective factors for CHD.
Sajjadian, I., Neshat doost, H.T., Molavi, H., Bagherian-sararoudi, R., Abrishamkar, S.
Journal of Isfahan Medical School (10277595)30(220)pp. 2392-2402
Background: Mindfulness may mediate the influences of negative cognitions, sensations, and emotions affecting behavior. Besides, mindfulness may affect the experience of pain-related anxiety, and thereby improve other aspects of physical and psychosocial functioning. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential mediating role of pain-related anxiety between mindfulness and physical and psychosocial functioning in women with chronic low back pain. Methods: In this cross sectional study, 144 women with chronic low back pain were selected by randomize simple sampling method. Mindful attention awareness scale, Hospital anxiety scale, and Health status inventory were used to assess the participants' status. The data were analyzed by LISREL8.50 software. Findings: The results showed a negative relationship between mindfulness and anxiety and a positive relationship between mindfulness and physical and psychological functioning (P < 0.01). In addition, based on the path analysis model, anxiety was found to mediate the relationship of mindfulness and physical and psychological functioning (P < 0.01). Path analysis showed that the mediation model had adequate indices for physical and psychosocial functioning. Conclusion: Regarding the mediation role of anxiety, the anxiety level should be assessed before starting mindfulness-based treatment methods among women with chronic low back pain.
Pakistan Journal Of Medical Sciences (1682024X)28(2)pp. 312-317
Objectives: This study investigated the psychometric characteristics (structural, concurrent and construct validity, and internal consistency) of the Persian version of the Irritable Bowel Syndrome Quality of Life (IBS-QOL) questionnaire, which is commonly used across cultures. Methodology: One hundred twenty-six patients with irritable bowel syndrome (based on diagnosis by professional physicians and the Rome II criteria) were selected from patients referred to Alzahra and Noor Hospitals in Isfahan to complete the IBS-QOL questionnaire. Results: Eight subscales of the questionnaire (sum score) had acceptable internal consistency coefficients (alpha for subscales: dysphoria, 0.88; interference with activity, 0.67; body image, 0.72; health worry, 0.57; food avoidance, 0.52; social reaction, 0.71; sexual concern, 0.76; relationships; 0.62; and overall score, 0.93). In order to assess construct validity, groups of healthy persons (n = 40) and patients (n = 40) were selected. Results of an independent t-test showed a significant difference between the mean of overall score and all subscale scores (except body image subscale) of the two groups (P < 0.05). Pearson correlation coefficients showed that the questionnaire has significant concurrent validity (with respect to IBS-QOL-36) (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The Persian version of IBS-QOL-34 is a valid and reliable instrument and is suitable for used in research and clinical trials.
Haghayegh, S.A., Ghasemi n., , Neshat doost, H.T., Kajbaf m., , Khanbani m.,
Iranian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism (16834844)12(2)pp. 111
Introduction: This research, aimed at determining the psychometric properties of the Diabetes Management Self - Efficacy Scale (DMSES) in type II diabetes patients. Materials and Methods: We Selected 112 patients with type II diabetes (according to diagnosis of profession), reffered to Alzahra hospital and asked them to complete the questions (for determining reliability). To study the concurrent validity of DMSES, 40 patients were asked to complete the General Self - Efficacy Inventory (GSES) and Diabetes Care Behavior Inventory. Results: Result Showed that all four subscales have significant and relatively high test-retest and internal reliability. The coefficients of concurrent validity were significant (0.81, 0.48), and results of the correlation matrix showed that the scale has good internal structure. Conclusion: Results of this research is similar to other versions of DMSE in other languages, and the DMSES scale was shown to be a valid and reliable instrument and can be a common and cross-cultural instrument.
Dalgleish, T., Taghavi, R., Neshat doost, H.T., Moradi, A., Canterbury, R., Yule, W.
Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology (15374424)32(1)pp. 10-21
This study investigated theoretical claims that different emotional disorders are associated with different patterns of cognitive bias, both in terms of the cognitive processes involved and the stimulus content that is preferentially processed. These claims were tested by comparing clinically anxious (generalized anxiety disorder [GAD], posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD]) and clinically depressed children and adolescents on a range of cognitive tasks measuring attention, memory, and prospective cognition, with both threat-related and depressogenic stimulus materials. The results did reveal some relative specificity of processing in that the anxious participants exhibited a greater selective attentional bias for threat relative to depressogenic material with no such difference being apparent in the depressed sample. However, this bias was only clear-cut on a dot-probe measure of attentional processing and not on a modified Stroop measure, and indeed threat-related bias on the 2 tasks was uncorrelated. On the prospective cognition task, anxious participants exhibited an other-referent bias in their risk estimations regarding future negative events that was absent in the depressed sample. No specificity effects were evident on the memory task. The results are discussed in terms of the strengths and weaknesses of carrying out direct comparisons across groups and tasks versus drawing conclusions from overall patterns across multiple studies.
British Journal of Clinical Psychology (01446657)42(3)pp. 221-230
Objectives. Research investigating attentional bias for emotional information using the modified Stroop task in younger anxious populations has produced equivocal results. The present data investigated the replicability in younger participants of the prototypical adult finding of Mathews and MacLeod (1985) with patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). Method. A sample of 19 child and adolescent patients with GAD and 19 controls completed the modified Stroop paradigm with threat, depression-related, positive and neutral words. Results. The data revealed a selective Stroop interference effect for negative emotional information in the GAD patients, relative to the performance of the controls. Conclusions. The results provide evidence of a modified Stroop effect for negative emotional material in children and adolescents with GAD, suggesting that modified Stroop processing in younger generally anxious populations broadly mirrors the profile of results in adults.
Background. The present study examined biases in visual attention for emotional material in children and adolescents with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and healthy controls. Methods. The participants carried out an attentional deployment task in which probe detection latency data were used to determine the distribution of visual attention for threat-related and depression-related material. Results. The results showed that children and adolescents with PTSD, relative to controls, selectively allocated processing resources towards socially threatening stimuli and away from depression-related stimuli. This attentional avoidance of depression-related information in the PTSD participants declined with age. Conclusions. The results of the study are interpreted as a consolidation and extension of previous research on attentional bias and emotional disorder in younger participants.
Cognitive theories of anxiety based on adult data predict that individuals vulnerable to anxiety should show threat-related interpretations of ambiguous material and it is proposed that this is an important maintaining factor in anxiety disorders. In the present study, interpretation of ambiguous emotional/neutral information was examined in child and adolescent anxious patients. Two groups of participants, anxious patients (n = 17) and healthy controls (n = 40), were presented with a series of homographs, each with a threatening and a neutral interpretation. For each homograph, the participants were asked to construct a sentence using the homograph. Anxious children and adolescents produced significantly more sentences consistent with threatening homograph interpretations and less consistent with neutral interpretations than did normal controls. Regression analyses revealed no relationship between age and this interpretive bias. Preliminary developmental and theoretical implications are discussed.
Dalgleish, T., Moradi, A., Taghavi, R., Neshat doost, H.T., Yule, W., Canterbury, R.
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines (00219630)41(8)pp. 981-988
Research with clinically anxious adults has revealed that they estimate future negative events as far more likely to occur, relative to healthy controls. In addition, anxious adults estimate that such events are more likely to happen to themselves than to others. Previous research with anxious children and adolescents, in contrast, has revealed no increased probability estimates for negative events, relative to controls, and the events were rated as more likely to happen to others than to the self. The present study followed up these discrepant findings by investigating probability judgements concerning future negative events generated by children and adolescents who had actually experienced an extreme negative event and who met criteria for a diagnosis of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Control groups comprised a group of healthy participants, and a group of healthy participants whose parents had experienced a trauma and who met criteria for PTSD. The results revealed no overall differences between the clinical group and the controls. However, children and adolescents with PTSD estimated all negative events as significantly more likely to happen to others than to themselves, with this other-referent bias being strongest for events matched to their trauma. In contrast, the two control groups exhibited an other-referent bias for physically threatening events but not for socially threatening ones. Developmental analyses indicated that the strength of the relationship between anxiety and elevated judgements about future negative events declined with age in the control participants but that there was no significant relationship in the groups who had been exposed to trauma. The findings are discussed in the context of the literature on information processing biases and PTSD.
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines (00219630)41(3)pp. 363-368
The present study utilised a cognitive paradigm to investigate attentional biases in clinically depressed children and adolescents. Two groups of children and adolescents - clinically depressed (N = 19) and normal controls (N = 26) - were asked to complete a computerised version of the attentional dot probe paradigm similar to that used by MacLeod, Mathews, and Tata (1986). Results provided no support for an attentional bias, either toward depression-related words or threat words, in the depressed group. This findings is discussed in the context of cognitive theories of anxiety and depression.
Journal of Anxiety Disorders (08876185)14(5)pp. 521-534
Studies with adult participants with emotional disorders have revealed an explicit memory bias in favor of recalling negative emotional information, particularly if the information is related to the participants' emotional concerns. This process was investigated in a preliminary study with children and adolescents with posttraumatic stress disorder and control participants. Participants were presented with sets of negative, neutral, and positive words and asked to recall them after a short retention interval. Posttraumatic stress disorder participants showed poorer overall memory performance compared with control participants. They also showed a bias in favor of recalling negative information, but there was no evidence of any specificity beyond this for threat- related material. Regression analyses revealed no relationship between mood, memory bias, and age. Results are discussed in terms of the adult literature and with respect to issues of the developmental continuity of posttraumatic stress disorder. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology (15732835)27(3)pp. 215-223
Recent research has indicated that anxious adult and child patients and high trait-anxious adults selectively shift attention toward threatening stimuli. The present study extends this research and investigates the content-specificity of the effects in clinically anxious and mixed anxious- depressed children and adolescents. Twenty four generally anxious patients, aged 9 to 18, 19 mixed anxious-depressed patients, and 24 normal controls were comparable with respect to age, sex, verbal IQ, and vocabulary level. The participants carried out an attentional deployment task in which probe detection latency data were used to determine the distribution of visual attention for threat-related and depression-related material. The results showed that clinically anxious children, relative to controls, selectively allocated processing resources toward threat stimuli. However, mixed anxious- depressed children, relative to controls, did not show any attentional bias towards either threat- or depression-related stimuli. Preliminary data on age and gender differences are also presented. The results of this study are discussed in the light of previous research.
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines (00219630)40(3)pp. 357-361
Adult post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients often report a wide range of cognitive problems in memory, concentration, attention, planning, and judgement. Evaluation of these cognitive aspects of PTSD in adults has helped to define the nature of the disorder. However, there is a paucity of such work in younger subjects. This study has employed the Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test (RBMT) to examine cognitive factors in children and adolescents with PTSD. Eighteen child and adolescent patients with PTSD and 22 control subjects completed the test. PTSD subjects showed poorer overall memory performance compared with controls. Specifically, they were worse on the prospective and orientation items of the RBMT. The results are discussed in the light of research on everyday memory in adults with PTSD.
Background. Investigators have used various experimental paradigms such as the Stroop colour naming test to study how adults with different emotional disorders process emotional information. However, to date, little research has been carried out on younger subjects. Method. In the current experiment, children and adolescents with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and control subjects aged 9-17 years, participated in a modified Stroop colour naming task. Results. The results indicated that the children and adolescents with PTSD showed increased Stroop interference for trauma-related material relative to neutral words and to the performance of the controls. Conclusions. These findings indicate that attentional bias to trauma-congruent information is a function of PTSD in young age groups. The results are discussed with respect to the literature on information processing in PTSD.
Journal of Traumatic Stress (15736598)12(4)pp. 663-671
Investigators have used various experimental paradigms to study how individuals with different emotional disorders process emotional information. However, little research has been done on relatives of individuals with emotional disorders, despite developments in the area of emotional contagion. In the current experiment, children of adults with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (n = 18) and control participants (n = 21), ages 9-17 years, participated in a modified Stroop color-naming task. The results indicated that the children of adults with PTSD showed increased Stroop interference for threat-related relative to neutral words and to the performance of the controls. These findings are discussed with respect to the literature on information processing in PTSD and emotional contagion in families.
Dalgleish, T., Neshat doost, H.T., Taghavi, R., Moradi, A., Yule, W., Canterbury, R., Vostanis p., P.
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines (00219630)39(7)pp. 1031-1035
Previous research into subjective probability estimates for negative events revealed that depressed children estimated events as equally likely to happen to themselves as to other children. In contrast, both controls and anxious children estimated that negative events were more likely to happen to others than to themselves. The present study followed up this finding by investigating the subjective probability judgements concerning future negative events generated by children and adolescents who have recovered from depression. Subjects generated probability estimates either for themselves or for other children for a range of negative events on a visual analogue scale. The results revealed that both recovered depressed and matched control groups estimated negative events as significantly more likely to happen to others than to themselves. It was also found that the recovered depressed subjects estimated that negative events were less likely overall, compared to the controls. These results are discussed in the context of the adult literature.
Journal of Abnormal Psychology (0021843X)107(4)pp. 642-650
An experiment was conducted to examine memory for emotional trait adjectives in depressed children and adolescents. Two groups of children and adolescents, clinically depressed participants and non-clinical controls, were compared on computerized versions of recall and recognition memory tasks. Three groups of words (positive trait adjectives, negative trait adjectives, and categorized neutral words) were used in the experiment. Results showed that the depressed group recalled significantly more negative adjectives than positive adjectives, whereas the control group recalled the same number of positive and negative adjectives. This effect was predicted by the association between age and level of depression, with the depression- related bias becoming stronger with age. Signal detection analysis revealed that the depressed group did not show any bias in the recognition task. The findings are discussed with respect to cognitive theories of depression with consideration of the developmental implications.
Dalgleish, T., Taghavi, R., Neshat doost, H.T., Moradi, A., Yule, W., Canterbury, R.
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines (00219630)38(5)pp. 535-541
The investigation of cognitive content and processes in childhood anxiety and depression has lagged behind similar research in the adult population. What studies do exist have largely restricted themselves to examining the nature of the thoughts that anxious and depressed children report. There is almost no research examining the ways in which anxious and depressed children perceive, attend to, remember, or think and make judgements about, emotional material. The present study investigated the subjective probability judgements that anxious and depressed children make concerning future negative events. Subjects generated probability estimates either for themselves or for other children for a range of events on a visual analogue scale. Events were either physically-threat-related or socially-threat-related. The results revealed no differences of interest with respect to type of threat but interesting differences between the groups with respect to reference. Depressed subjects estimated that events were equally likely to happen to themselves as to other children whereas both the controls and anxious children estimated that negative events were more likely to happen to others than to themselves, with this effect being stronger in the anxious group. These results are discussed in the context of the adult literature and also the limited literature on emotion-related cognitive processing in children.
