Burnout among Iranian school principals

This study investigated burnout among Iranian school principals. Also, the relationships of sex, years of administration, age, and marital status were considered. The sample were 200 principals (100 men, 100 women) who completed the Friedman School Principal Burnout Scale. Analysis showed principals who completed the scale felt exhausted, aloof, and deprecated. The women scored lower. There were significant correlationships between marital status and years of administration with the scores on burnout.     

Effects of age on flashbulb memories

The authors investigated the effect of aging on flashbulb (FB) memories. In 1996, elderly Turks recalled how they had heard about 2 remote events--the death of the first president of Turkey (in 1938) and another event involving a change in the national borders of the country (in 1939)--and both elderly and younger adults recalled how they heard about the recent death of the 8th president of Turkey (in 1993). Seventy percent of the elderly had FB memories for the 1938 death; critical variables for the formation of FB memories were personal importance attached to the event and rehearsal. Ninety percent of younger Turks and 72% of elderly Turks had FB memories for the 1993 death; the only variable that differed between the 2 groups was rehearsal.     

Comparison of Egyptian and Canadian children on a picture apperception test

Individualism-collectivism theory predicted that Egyptian and Canadian children's performance would differ on relevant scales of the Roberts Apperception Test for Children (RATC). The RATC was administered to 34 Egyptian and 34 Canadian children ages 6-13 years. Canadian children scored higher on autonomy and lower on receiving support from others and parental limit setting. At older ages, Egyptian children manifested less rejection, desire for help from others, and aggression. There were no cultural differences in anxiety or depression and few differences on indicator and resolution scales related to understanding the task and resolving problems. The findings validated cross-cultural use of the RATC and demonstrated that the increasingly general theory of collectivism allowed meaningful predictions about personality and clinical traits.     

Reliability and validity of the Padua Inventory in an Iranian population

In order to study the reliability and validity of the Padua Inventory (PI), its items were translated into Persian and then back-translated into English as suggested by Brislin, Lonner, Thorndike, Cross-cultural research methods, Wiley, New York, 1973. Using the translated version of the PI, two studies were carried out. The first study included 219 healthy participants selected from Shiraz city in Iran to examine the reliability and factorial structure of the PI via test-retest, internal consistency and principal component analysis methods. The results of this study showed good reliability for the PI and confirmed its factorial structure reported by previous studies. The second study included four groups of participants as follows: patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), patients with anxiety disorders, patients with depressive disorder and normal individuals. The PI scores were able to differentiate between OCD patients and normal individuals, but failed to differentiate between neurotic and OCD patients. Two subscales of PI-R version of the PI (precision and washing) differentiated depressive and OCD patients.     

Suicidal attempt and psychiatric disorders in Iran

This study is part of broader research aimed to determine the lifetime prevalence and pattern of comorbidity on self-reported suicidal attempts in the general population of Iran. Overall, 25,180 subjects were interviewed, face-to-face, at home; the lifetime prevalence was 1.4% (0.9% males and 2% females). The majority of attempters were 26-55 years of age, married, more highly educated, female, retired, and lived in urban areas. Many of the attempters (45.3%) reported at least one psychiatric disorder during their lifetime; major depressive disorder (22%), panic disorder (6.3%), and obsessive compulsive disorder (6%) was the most common. Because less than half of suicidal attempters reported a psychiatric disorder, the existence of other pathways to suicide may be important foci for prevention. Many of the demographic correlates of suicidal behavior in Iran are very similar to those seen in Western cutlures; however, the sociodemographic factors such as few working women and very low levels of divorce is quite different to that of Western populations.     

Statistical analysis for finger tapping with a periodic external stimulus

In this paper we outline an experiment in which seven subjects attempted to tap in synchrony with a pacing stimulus with the interstimulus interval that varied in a cycle (T,T+dT,T, T-dT) repeating every fourth interval, where T represents an unexpected step change of an interstimulus interval. Conditions included three levels of T= (400, 500, and 600 msec.) with four levels of dT= 1, 3, 5, and 7% of T). The statistical analysis indicated that small changes in T lead to rapid matching of the interresponse intervals to the new interstimulus intervals even when the variation in the input is not apparent to subjects.     

Brief maternal interaction increases number, amplitude, and bout size of isolation-induced ultrasonic vocalizations in infant rats (Rattus norvegicus)

The number, amplitude, duration, and bout structure of isolation-induced ultrasonic vocalization (USV) of infant rats (Rattus norvegicus) were measured on postnatal Day 10. Measurements were made before and after a brief, 1-min, active interaction with their mother or before and after a "pick-up" control procedure. Consistent with prior studies, the number of USVs emitted was significantly increased in the period following the maternal reunion but not after the control procedure. The average amplitude of USVs was also greater following maternal reunion. Finally, analyses characterizing the bout structure of USV production indicated that the average bout size (i.e. number of USVs/bout) was increased severalfold following the reunion with the mother, accounting for the greater rate of USV production during the second isolation period.     

The role of distress tolerance in the relationship between depressive symptoms and problematic alcohol use

Empirical evidence and theory implicate the role of distress tolerance in the relationship between negative affect and alcohol use. However, limited research has been conducted to explore these relationships. As such, the purpose of this study was to examine whether distress tolerance moderates the relationship between current depressive symptoms and problematic alcohol use in a community sample of adults. Participants included 150 adults, primarily female, recruited from the local community. Problematic alcohol use was measured using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) total score, which is a composite measure of harmful and hazardous patterns of alcohol use and several current alcohol dependence symptoms. Distress tolerance was measured using a computerized behavioral distress tolerance task, the Computerized Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT-C). Tobit regression analyses indicated a significant interaction between distress tolerance and depressive symptoms in predicting alcohol problems, such that depressive symptoms were significantly associated with problematic alcohol use among adults with low, but not high, distress tolerance. Thus, alcohol use interventions with a focus on distress tolerance skills in the context of depressive symptoms may be particularly effective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Relative blindsight arises from a criterion confound in metacontrast masking: implications for theories of consciousness

Relative blindsight is said to occur when different levels of subjective awareness are obtained at equality of objective performance. Using metacontrast masking, Lau and Passingham (2006) reported relative blindsight in normal observers at the shorter of two stimulus-onset asynchronies (SOAs) between target and mask. Experiment 1 replicated the critical asymmetry in subjective awareness at equality of objective performance. We argue that this asymmetry cannot be regarded as evidence for relative blindsight because the observers' responses were based on different attributes of the stimuli (criterion contents) at the two SOAs. With an invariant criterion content (Experiment 2), there was no asymmetry in subjective awareness across the two SOAs even though objective performance was the same. Experiment 3 examined the effect of criterion level on estimates of relative blindsight. Collectively, the present results question whether metacontrast masking is a suitable paradigm for establishing relative blindsight. Implications for theories of consciousness are discussed.     

Forgiveness in relation to attachment style and consanguine marriage in Iranian married individuals

The aim of this study was to compare forgiveness in secure and insecure Iranian married couples. Whether marriage had occurred within the family (consanguine) or not (non-consanguine) was also considered. 400 married participants completed the Family Forgiveness Scale and the Adult Attachment Questionnaire. Analysis of reported forgiveness within the marital family showed that, although there was no significant difference between secure and insecure participants in overall forgiveness, secure participants rated "reparation" and "resolution" higher, whereas insecure participants rated "realization" and "recognition" higher. Comparing the experience of forgiveness in the family of origin, securely attached couples not only reported significantly more overall forgiveness but reported more "realization" and "resolution" while forgiving. Some interesting sex differences were also found, as individuals in consanguine vs non-consanguine couples differed in mean "recognition" in the forgiveness process.