Genetic Screening Services Provided in Turkey

In Turkey, the rate of consanguineous marriage is quite high (22–24 %) and as a result, the incidence of autosomal recessive diseases and congenital anomalies is also very high and gives rise to a serious public health problem. In the last three decades, great effort has been made to avoid increases in the prevalence of these hereditary diseases. For this purpose, population-based premarital, prenatal, neonatal and adult genetic screening programs are performed in various centers such as Community Health Centers, Early Diagnosis of Cancer and Education Centers (KETEM), Prenatal and Neonatal Departments of Universities and State Hospitals and Thalessemia Screening Centers. Such centers are staffed by health professionals including physicians, family physicians, nurses, midwives, biologists and medical geneticists. Genetic counseling is also provided to patients attending these centers after screening tests are performed. Since there are no specialized training programs for genetic counselors, genetic counseling is generally provided by doctors or medical geneticists. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of the genetic screening services provided in Turkey, the prevalence of genetic diseases and the design of intensive educational programs for health professionals.     

The nuclear plant accident in chernobyl experienced by men and women of different ages: Empirical study in the years 1986–1991

Abstract

Psychological responses to the nuclear accident in Chernobyl were assessed in several self-report inventories once a year from May 1986 until May 1991. Independent groups of subjects, divided according to sex and age (18–39 versus 40–59 years) were examined at six points in time for the subjective effects of the nuclear accident. The inventories included items related to attitudes, behavior, emotional states and coping styles. The results showed a generally greater emotional concern for women and for younger people. The findings also suggest that the psychological effects of the nuclear accident are long lasting.     

Competence and control orientations as predictors of test anxiety in students: Longitudinal results

Abstract

The hypothesis that domain-specific self-related cognitions (self-concept of own competence and control orientations) are predictors of text anxiety in students is tested by longitudinal data. At the beginning and at the end of a school year the following variables were measured twice in a sample of 346 secondary school students (grades six to ten): (1) self-concept of own competence in mathematics, (2) three aspects of locus of control for problem-solving behavior (internality, powerful others control, and chance control), (3) generalized locus of control of reinforcement, (4) test anxiety as well as manifest anxiety. The cross-sequential developmental gradients point toward symmetries in the development of self-related cognitions and test anxiety. The results of cross-lagged correlation analyses show that the null hypothesis (no causal relations exist between the self-related cognitions and test anxiety) can be rejected for the domain-specific aspects of (a low) self-concept of own competence and locus of control (low internality and high chance control), which are confirmed as preceding test anxiety. However, longitudinal results also show that findings of cross-sectional studies tend to overestimate the relations between self-related cognitions and test anxiety in a developmental perspective.     

A Bayesian Approach to More Stable Estimates of Group-Level Effects in Contextual Studies

Multilevel analyses are often used to estimate the effects of group-level constructs. However, when using aggregated individual data (e.g., student ratings) to assess a group-level construct (e.g., classroom climate), the observed group mean might not provide a reliable measure of the unobserved latent group mean. In the present article, we propose a Bayesian approach that can be used to estimate a multilevel latent covariate model, which corrects for the unreliable assessment of the latent group mean when estimating the group-level effect. A simulation study was conducted to evaluate the choice of different priors for the group-level variance of the predictor variable and to compare the Bayesian approach with the maximum likelihood approach implemented in the software Mplus. Results showed that, under problematic conditions (i.e., small number of groups, predictor variable with a small ICC), the Bayesian approach produced more accurate estimates of the group-level effect than the maximum likelihood approach did.     

Doubly-Latent Models of School Contextual Effects: Integrating Multilevel and Structural Equation Approaches to Control Measurement and Sampling Error

This article is a methodological-substantive synergy. Methodologically, we demonstrate latent-variable contextual models that integrate structural equation models (with multiple indicators) and multilevel models. These models simultaneously control for and unconfound measurement error due to sampling of items at the individual (L1) and group (L2) levels and sampling error due the sampling of persons in the aggregation of L1 characteristics to form L2 constructs. We consider a set of models that are latent or manifest in relation to sampling items (measurement error) and sampling of persons (sampling error) and discuss when different models might be most useful. We demonstrate the flexibility of these 4 core models by extending them to include random slopes, latent (single-level or cross-level) interactions, and latent quadratic effects.

Substantively we use these models to test the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE), showing that individual student levels of academic self-concept (L1-ASC) are positively associated with individual level achievement (L1-ACH) and negatively associated with school-average achievement (L2-ACH)—a finding with important policy implications for the way schools are structured. Extending tests of the BFLPE in new directions, we show that the nonlinear effects of the L1-ACH (a latent quadratic effect) and the interaction between gender and L1-ACH (an L1 × L1 latent interaction) are not significant. Although random-slope models show no significant school-to-school variation in relations between L1-ACH and L1-ASC, the negative effects of L2-ACH (the BFLPE) do vary somewhat with individual L1-ACH.

We conclude with implications for diverse applications of the set of latent contextual models, including recommendations about their implementation, effect size estimates (and confidence intervals) appropriate to multilevel models, and directions for further research in contextual effect analysis.     

Examination of Personality Characteristics in a Turkish Sample: Development of Basic Personality Traits Inventory

The aim of the present study was to test the cross-cultural validity of the five-factor nature of personality. For this aim, an indigenous, psychometrically strong instrument measuring the basic personality dimensions within Turkish culture and language was developed through three consecutive studies. The first study aimed to reveal the adjectives that have been most frequently used to define people in the Turkish culture. In the second study, factor analysis of these personality characteristics revealed big five personality factors, along with the sixth factor, which had been called as the Negative Valence factor. The adjectives that most strongly represented and differentiated each factor constituted 45-item “Basic Personality Traits Inventory”. Finally, in the third study, psychometric characteristics of the Basic Personality Traits Inventory were examined. Factor structure and psychometric properties of this instrument confirmed that five-factor nature of personality may not hold true in every culture.     

Examining the Cultural Validity of Fear Survey Schedule for Children: The Contemporary Fears of Turkish Children and Adolescents

The authors examined the cultural validity of Fear Survey Schedule for Children (FSSC-AM) developed by J. J. Burnham (2005) with Turkish children. The relationships between demographic variables and the level of fear were also tested. Three independent data sets were used. The first data set comprised 676 participants (321 women and 355 men) and was used for examining factor structure and internal reliability of FSSC. The second data set comprised 639 participants (321 women and 318 men) and was used for testing internal reliability and to confirm the factor structure of FSCC. The third data set comprised 355 participants (173 women and 182 men) and used for analyses of test–retest reliability, inter-item reliability, and convergent validity for the scores of FSSC. The sum of the first and second samples (1,315 participants; 642 women and 673 men) was used for testing the relationships between demographic variables and the level of fear. Results indicated that FSSC is a valid and reliable instrument to examine Turkish children's and adolescents’ fears between the ages of 8 and 18 years. The younger, female, children of low-income parents reported a higher level of fear. The findings are discussed in light of the existing literature.