روان شناسی و دين

Evaluating Additional Validity of ReligiousConfrontation

in Predicting Posttraumatic Growth and Distress in Iranian Students

Parisa Sayyid Musawi / Maryam Wafaie

Religious researches need to answer two questions: (1) How much are the religious constructs distinct from psychological variables? (2) How far do the religious constructs provide an insight beyond the existing psychological constructs for understanding human's activity? The present research evaluates the relative share of the strategies for public confrontation and two scales for religious confrontation in predicting posttraumatic growth and distress among Iranian students. In this research, 381 MA students (275 female, 127 male) were selected through random classified multi-stage sampling from among students in three universities, i.e. Shahid Beheshti, Allama Tabatabaie and Shahed universities. For data gathering, the following devices were used: Comparative Responses Inventory (CRI), positive and negative religious confrontation scale, Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), and Impact of Event Scale (IES). The results of the analysis showed that the strategies of positive religious confrontation meaningfully explain the variables of posttraumatic growth after controlling the strategies of behavioral and attitudinal-cognitive confrontation.

Furthermore, the strategies of negative religious confrontation meaningfully predict distress more than strategies of behavioral and avoidance-cognitive confrontation. On the whole, the results support the additional validity of religious confrontation in predicting positive and negative consequences.

KEY WORDS: additional validity, posttraumatic growth, distress and students

The Relationship between Commitment to Prayer

and Stress with Regard to Demographical Variables in Students of Islamic Azad University/ Anzali

Bahman Akbari

The present study is dealing with the relationship between commitment to prayer and stress with regard to demographical variables in students of Islamic Azad University of Anzali. To do so, 200 male and female students from this university were selected based on classified random selection; they were tested using the Spielberger's questionnaire on commitment to prayer and stress. The study aimed at determining the relationship between commitment to prayer and stress with regard to demographical variables. The results obtained from Pearson's correlation coefficient showed that there was a negative relationship (r = -0.25) between commitment to prayer and stress, and there is a negative correlation (r = -0.26) between age and stress in those committed to prayer. The results of T-test and analysis of variance showed that there was no a statistically meaningful difference between sex and stress and students of humanities, technical-engineering, sciences and single or married students, but there is a meaningful difference between native and non-native students as far as stress is concerned.

KEY WORDS: prayer, stress

An Investigation of the Relationship

between Secularism and Mental Health

Allah Reza Akbari

The present study aims at defining the relationship between secularism and mental health. To measure the mental health, the GHQ-28 questionnaire – firstly presented by Goldberg et al – was used. To measure the amount of secularism, we also prepared a sixty-item questionnaire using Islamic sources. Both of these questionnaires were of a high and acceptable validity and reliability. These two questionnaires were conducted in the communities of seminary students and university students containing 267 subjects. The results showed a meaningful negative relationship between secularism and general health. Furthermore, there obtained a positive meaningful relationship between secularism and the type of education (seminary or university), showing a higher degree of secularism in university students than the seminary students. There was also a positive meaningful relationship between secularism and marital status; that is, there was a higher degree of secularism in single persons than married ones. The statistical sample was selected through cluster sampling. To investigate the hypotheses of the study and analyze the data, the following methods were used: T-test, Pearson's correlation coefficient, analysis of variance, and calculating the quotient of validity using the SPSS software.

KEY WORDS: secularism, luxury, afterlife-phobia, mental health, stress and insomnia, depression

An Investigation of the Effectiveness of Psychological instructions Based on Islamic Traditions on the Couples' Marital Satisfaction

Ali Naqi Faqihi / Fatima Rafi'ie Muqaddam

The present paper aims at an investigation of the results obtained from teaching Islamic traditions on marital satisfaction of 20 spouses (10 couples) who referred to the consultation center of the Research Institute for Islamic Consultation in Qom, ready to receive these instructions.

The research method was experimental with a control group, using pre-test and post-test. The experimental group was composed of 20 couples with marital problems, who received the psychological instructions based on Islamic traditions and Quranic verses, and the control group was composed of 20 couples with marital problems but with no such instructions. After the diagnostic interview and the pre-test, each of the couples in the experimental group received these instructions individually or collectively in six sessions, with the post-test being conducted in 2 weeks after the end of the instructional sessions.

A comparison of the two groups showed that the abovementioned psychological instructions are effective in improving the couples' relations, and accordingly in their marital satisfaction. It also showed that the instructions have permanent effects (in the course of time) on the marital satisfaction of the couples. The results also showed no effects for sex on the efficiency of psychological instructions.

KEY WORDS: psychological teachings, improvement of the couples' relations, marital satisfaction

The Effect of Islamic Therapy

on Externalized Disorders in Children and Juveniles

Reza Mahkam

The main goal of the present study is to prepare and enforce an intervening plan based on Islamic traditions and Quranic verses for reducing externalized disorders. The way and the degree of the effectiveness of this therapeutic plan on children afflicted with this disorder constitute the hypothesis of the present study. Considering two issues of national and local culture of the families as well as their religion, this study presents a new model for investigating the effectiveness of this plan on externalized disorders. The method for conducting this study was of the "experimental type through pre- and post-test with a control group", conducted on male students in 4th and 5th grade of primary schools in Qom. After the analysis of data, the results showed that Islamic-Psychological intervention is effective in reducing externalized disorders, and this supports the hypothesis of the study.

KEY WORDS: internalized disorders, externalized disorders, Islamic-psychological intervention

An Investigation of the Relationship between Innate Optimism and Optimism from Islamic Viewpoint and Satisfaction with Life

Najibullah Nuri / Naser Saqay Biriya

The present study aims at investigating the relationship between innate optimism and optimism from Islamic viewpoint and satisfaction with life. The hypotheses of this study are as follows: "there is a meaningful relationship between the above mentioned variables" and "Islamic optimism can predict satisfaction with life more strongly". To test these hypotheses, 269 subjects (122 scholars, 55 employees, and 92 students) were randomly selected through simple and cluster sampling. The subjects answered the questionnaires of satisfaction with life (SWS), life orientation test (LOT), and the researcher-made questionnaire on Islamic optimism. The data were analyzed using the SPSS software. The findings show that there is a meaningful and positive relationship between innate optimism and Islamic optimism on the one hand and satisfaction on the other hand. There is no meaningful difference between men and women as to the satisfaction and both types of optimism. As to both types of optimism, however, the younger subjects (15-25 years old) were meaningfully less optimist.

KEY WORDS: innate optimism, satisfaction with life, optimism in Islamic sources, paying attention to positive aspects of life, active welfare

Abstracts

Translated by: Seyyed Rahim Rastitabar

An Investigation of the Relationship between Islamic Happiness and Psychological Happiness among the Students of Qom University in 1388-89

Kazem Ali Muhammadi

The present study aims at answering the following questions: "Can we build a device based on Islamic sources for assessing happiness?" and "Is there any relationship between religious doctrines in the sphere of happiness (if transformed to assessable parameters) and psychological happiness?" This study deals with investigating this relationship in 143 male and female students in BA and MA levels at Qom University. To do so, a questionnaire on parameters of happiness in Quranic verses and sayings of the Impeccable was prepared, validated and conducted along with Fordyce's questionnaire on happiness in a sample group. The data were analyzed using Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficient, Levin's T-test and independent T-test. The results showed a positive and meaningful relationship between Islamic happiness and psychological happiness. Considering these results, it is possible to build a device based on Islamic sources for measuring the happiness of religious and non-religious individuals. Furthermore, we may plan some interventions to change, somehow, the lifestyle of the depressed persons with parameters of religious happiness.

KEY WORDS: Islam, measurement, happiness, Islamic happiness, Fordyce's happiness

Table of Contents

An Investigation of the Relationship between Islamic Happiness and Psychological Happiness among the Students of Qom University in 1388-89 / Kazem ali Muhammadi

An Investigation of the Relationship between Innate Optimism and Optimism from Islamic Viewpoint and Satisfaction with Life / Najibullah Nuri / Naser Saqay Biriya

The Effect of Islamic Therapy on Externalized Disorders in Children and Juveniles / Reza Mahkam

An Investigation of the Effectiveness of Psychological instructions Based on Islamic Traditions on the Couples' Marital Satisfaction / Ali Naqi Faqihi / Fatima Rafi'ie Muqaddam

An Investigation of the Relationship between Secularism and Mental Health / Allah Reza Akbari

The Relationship between Commitment to Prayer and Stress with Regard to Demographical Variables in Students of Islamic Azad University/ Anzali / Bahman Akbari

Evaluating Additional Validity of ReligiousConfrontation in Predicting Posttraumatic Growth and Distress in Iranian Students / Parisa Sayyid Musawi / Maryam Wafaie

In the name of Allah

Concessionary: Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute

Manager: Mohammad Naser Saqaie Bi-Ria

Editor in chief:Mohammad Reza Ahmadi

Executive manager: Mahdi Dehghan

Editorial Board:

ª Hujjat-ul Islam Mohammad Reza Ahmadi: Associate Professor, Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute

ª Hujjat-ul Islam Ali Reza Arafi: Head of Research center of the seminary and university

ª Dr. Qulam Ali Afruz: Professor, Tehran University

ª Dr. Muhammad Karim Khoda panahi: Professor, Beheshti University

ª Dr. Parirukh Dadsetan: Professor, Tehran University

ª Hujjat-ul Islam Dr. M. J. Zarean: Associate Professor, Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute

ª Hujjat-ul Islam Dr. N.Saghaye Biria: Associate Professor, Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute

ª Hujjat-ul Islam Dr. Abas Ali Shameli: Associate Professor, Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute

ª Hujjat-ul Islam Seyyid Muhammad Qaravi: Associate Professor, Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute

ª Dr. Ali Fathi Ashtiani: Professor, Baqiat Allah Medical University

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