Quantitative Empirical Studies on Women’s Issues in Islamic Cultures: Introduction to Special Issue

The special issue aimed to focus on quantitative research articles covering gender and women’s issues in Islamic cultures which have not received sufficient attention. The present issue of gender and women’s issues in these cultures adds important information about topics such as the roles of honor, religiosity, and sexism as they interact with gender. In the special issue there are six quantitative research articles focusing on various topics relevant to honor, sexism, economic, and health issues. A study from Turkey examines the associations among benevolent sexism, hostile sexism, religiosity, and the endorsement of honor beliefs in Turkey. Another explores the effects of religious affiliation, patriarchy, and gender on the perception of honor-related crimes in Morocco, Cameroon, and Italy. Views about family issues are explored in a paper from North Cyprus that explores the associations among hostile sexism, benevolent sexism, religiosity, and attitudes toward childlessness. In another paper, researchers from Turkey investigate job-relevant gender issues such as work engagement, job insecurity, and turnover intentions. Finally, women’s health in Muslim cultures is the focus of papers on health screening behaviors in Turkey and on factors relevant to menopausal symptoms of women in Pakistan. In the introduction, the main purposes of the special issue articles are introduced. Then, the importance of studying honor, sexism, religiosity, the economic situation of women, and women’s health issues in Islamic cultures are covered. Some suggestions for future studies and implication and applications of the research findings also are discussed. Finally, limitations of the special issue are presented.     

The effectiveness of a peer-helping programme that increases subjective well-being

The present study aims to investigate the effectiveness of a peer-helping programme in increasing the subjective well-being of a group of university students compared with a control group with the same characteristics who did not receive the intervention. The intervention recipients consisted of 13 male and 17 female participants. The peer helpers were 22 female and 8 male participants. The peer-helping programme consisted of three stages: training in helping skills, implementation and facilitating supervision sessions. The short-term effects of the programme were investigated using the Positive and Negative Affect Scale. The programme's long-term effects were evaluated using the Life Satisfaction Scale and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. The results indicated that the short-term subjective well-being effects of the intervention activities were statistically significant. Additionally, the results revealed statistically significant increases in positive affect and life satisfaction and significant decreases in negative affect in the intervention group compared with that in the control group. Peer-helping programme may be used to increase individuals’ subjective well-being.     

High School Final Year Students’ Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy,Attachment Styles and Gender Role Orientations

The purpose of this research was to investigate the relation between final year high school students’ career decision-making self-efficacy and attachment styles. The research group consisted of 808 final year students selected at random and receiving high school education in the province of Trabzon, Turkey in the 2013–2014 academic years. Participants completed a Personal Data Form prepared by the researchers, the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale in order to measure career decision-making self-efficacy, the Relationship Scales Questionnaire and the BEM Gender role Inventory. Results showed that career decision making efficacy was significantly correlated with the secure and fearful and attachment styles, and career decision making self-efficacy varied according to gender roles. Subjects with masculine and feminine gender roles had greater career decision making self-efficacy than those with indeterminate roles, and those with androgynous roles had greater career making self-efficacy than those with masculine, feminine or indeterminate gender roles.     

A model for the time-order error in contrast discrimination

Trials in a temporal two-interval forced-choice discrimination experiment consist of two sequential intervals presenting stimuli that differ from one another as to magnitude along some continuum. The observer must report in which interval the stimulus had a larger magnitude. The standard difference model from signal detection theory analyses poses that order of presentation should not affect the results of the comparison, something known as the balance condition (J.-C. Falmagne, 1985, in Elements of Psychophysical Theory). But empirical data prove otherwise and consistently reveal what Fechner (1860/1966, in Elements of Psychophysics) called time-order errors, whereby the magnitude of the stimulus presented in one of the intervals is systematically underestimated relative to the other. Here we discuss sensory factors (temporary desensitization) and procedural glitches (short interstimulus or intertrial intervals and response bias) that might explain the time-order error, and we derive a formal model indicating how these factors make observed performance vary with presentation order despite a single underlying mechanism. Experimental results are also presented illustrating the conventional failure of the balance condition and testing the hypothesis that time-order errors result from contamination by the factors included in the model.     

The Relationships between Ambivalent Sexism and Religiosity among Turkish University Students

This study explored the relationships among hostile sexism (HS), benevolent sexism (BS), and religiosity for men and women in Turkey, where Islam is the predominant religion. 73 male and 93 female university students completed measures of ambivalent sexism and religiosity. Replicating previous work with Christians, religiosity was a significant correlate of BS when HS was controlled, for both men and women. As predicted, and in contrast to previous research with Christians, partial correlations indicated that Muslim religiosity was a significant correlate of HS for men, when BS was controlled, but not for women. Women but not men showed a significant difference between religiosity’s partial correlations with HS and BS. The results were discussed in the light of relevant literature.     

Invasion of Ukraine: Observations on Leader-Followers Relationships

This paper illustrates how and when the personality characteristics of a political leader can initiate and/or become intertwined with societal and political processes. We are not suggesting that “real world” issues and secondary process calculations are not important or should be discarded in favor of psychological considerations. Instead, we suggest that psychoanalysts and psychodynamically informed mental health professionals can contribute to a more complete analysis of political or societal processes and the personalities of leaders who play major roles in them. Only through such interdisciplinary work can we fully understand the complex and intertwined nature of the crucial events that shape political leaders’ internal and external worlds.

     

Determining the Cultural Care Needs of Infertile Couples in Turkey: A Qualitative Study Guided by the Cultural Competence Model

Journal of Religion and Health - The cultural competence model is an ethnographic model created to improve the cultural understanding of people’s status in the context of health, health...     

I am so Happy ’Cause Today I Found My Friend: Friendship and Personality as Predictors of Happiness

Relying on the theoretical model of [Lyubomirsky et al. 2005, Review of General Psychology, 9, pp. 111–131], the present study investigated the relationship between personality, number of friends, best friendship quality and happiness among 423 young adults (n = 300 women). The main interest was to examine whether friendship contributed to happiness while controlling for personality. Friendship variables accounted for 58% of the variance in happiness. Results revealed that friendship quality predicted happiness above and beyond the influence of personality and number of friends, but friendship conflict was not a significant predictor. Additional analyses revealed that the companionship and self-validation features of friendship quality were predictive of happiness while controlling for gender and personality. The findings were discussed in the light of theory and empirical research and suggestions were made for future research. An erratum to this article can be found at