Attachment,Infidelity, and Loneliness in College Students Involved in a Romantic Relationship: The Role of Relationship Satisfaction,Morbidity, and Prayer for Partner

This study examined the mediating effects of relationship satisfaction, prayer for a partner, and morbidity in the relationship between attachment and loneliness, infidelity and loneliness, and psychological morbidity and loneliness, in college students involved in a romantic relationship. Participants were students in an introductory course on family development. This study examined only students (n = 345) who were involved in a romantic relationship. The average age of participants was 19.46 (SD = 1.92) and 25 % were males. Short-form UCLA Loneliness Scale (ULS-8), (Hays and DiMatteo in J Pers Assess 51:69–81, doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa5101_6, 1987); Relationship Satisfaction Scale (Funk and Rogge in J Fam Psychol 21:572–583, doi:10.1037/0893-3200.21.4.572, 2007); Rotterdam Symptom Checklist (De Haes et al. in Measuring the quality of life of cancer patients with the Rotterdam Symptom Checklist (RSCL): a manual, Northern Centre for Healthcare Research, Groningen, 1996); Prayer for Partner Scale, (Fincham et al. in J Pers Soc Psychol 99:649–659, doi:10.1037/a0019628, 2010); Infidelity Scale, (Drigotas et al. in J Pers Soc Psychol 77:509–524, doi:10.1037/0022-3514.77.3.509, 1999); and the Experiences in Close Relationship Scale-short form (Wei et al. in J Couns Psychol 52(4):602–614, doi:10.1037/0022-0167.52.4.602, 2005). Results showed that relationship satisfaction mediated the relationship between avoidance attachment and loneliness and between infidelity and loneliness. Physical morbidity mediated the relationship between anxious attachment and psychological morbidity. Psychological morbidity mediated the relationship between anxious attachment and physical morbidity. The present results expand the literature on attachment by presenting evidence that anxious and avoidant partners experience loneliness differently. Implications for couple’s therapy are addressed. Future research should replicate these results with older samples and married couples.     

The effect of physical fitness training on reaction time in youth with intellectual disabilities

The purpose of this study was to assess whether reaction time in persons with intellectual disabilities can be improved with an exercise program. 50 children and adolescents (M age = 14.7 yr., SD = 1.4, range = 11-18) with mild intellectual disability without Downs syndrome were randomly divided into control (20 boys, 5 girls) and experimental (19 boys, 6 girls) groups. The experimental group participated in a structured physical fitness program for 12 weeks. Reaction time was assessed at baseline and after 12 weeks. Significant improvements in reaction time were observed in the exercise group but not for the control group. Results indicated that reaction time can be improved with an exercise program in youth with intellectual disability.     

Do changes in threat salience predict the moral content of sermons? The case of Friday Khutbas in Turkey

We analyzed the content of “Friday Khutbas” delivered in Turkish mosques between January 2001 and December 2018 to test the prediction of moral foundations theory (MFT) literature that threat salience would lead to an increased endorsement of binding moral foundations. As societal-level indicators of threat, we examined (a) historical data on the proportion of terrorism-related news published in a Turkish newspaper, (b) the geopolitical risk score of Turkey as measured by Geopolitical Risk Index, and (c) Google Trends data on the search frequency of words “terror”, “terrorism”, or “terrorist”. To measure the endorsement of moral foundations, we built a Turkish Moral Foundations Dictionary and counted the relative frequency of morality-related words in the khutbas delivered in Istanbul, Turkey. Time series analyses showed that risk salience in a certain month was positively related to endorsement of the loyalty/betrayal foundation in that month’s Friday Khutbas. There were mixed results for the other moral foundations.     

Social Safeness and Psychological Vulnerability in Turkish Youth: The Mediating Role of Life Satisfaction

The present study examined whether life satisfaction mediated social safeness and psychological vulnerability in Turkish youth. The participants included 261 university students who completed a questionnaire package that included the Turkish versions of the Social Safeness and Pleasure Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the Psychological Vulnerability Scale. To test the proposed mediation model, authors employed hierarchical regressions. Furthermore, the authors tested mediation model using the Sobel Z-test and bootstrapping method to examine any indirect effects. Consistent with our hypotheses, the results indicated that there was a positive relationship between social safeness and life satisfaction, and a negative relationship between social safeness and psychological vulnerability. The results of the Sobel Z-test and bootstrapping revealed that life satisfaction significantly, yet partially, mediated the relationship between social safeness and psychological vulnerability. The findings highlight the importance of life satisfaction in enhancing perceptions of social safeness and decreasing psychological vulnerability among Turkish college students.     

The conceptualisation of forgiveness among Turkish children and adolescents

This study examined (a) how Turkish children and adolescents define forgiveness, (b) the association between self‐reported forgiveness and the concepts participants hold and (c) the association between self‐reported forgiveness and age. Three hundred and sixty‐seven Turkish children in primary (N = 220) and secondary schools (N = 147) were involved in the study. Participants were asked to define forgiveness, and the study used the Enright Forgiveness Inventory for Children (EFI‐C). Participants' conceptions of forgiveness were categorised into four groups: conditional forgiveness, reconciliation, ignoring the hurtful event and affective reactions. Half of all the participants in the study were found to be in the conditional forgiveness category. Turkish children were found to be mostly in the category of conditional forgiveness, reconciliation and affective reactions compared with adolescents. Adolescents were mainly found to be in the ignoring the hurtful event category. The highest self‐reported forgiveness mean was in the affective reactions category. Participants were commonly offended by friends, siblings, teachers and fathers. No correlation was found between self‐reported forgiveness and age. The present results expand the literature of forgiveness by presenting evidence that Turkish children's and adolescents' understanding of forgiveness moderately relates to theoretical definitions.     

Turkish Version of Self-Reflection and Insight Scale: A Preliminary Study for Validity and Reliability of the Constructs

The current study aims to explore the validity and reliability characteristics of the self-reflection and insight scale originally developed by Grant et al. (Soc Behav Pers 30(8):821–836, 2002). The study includes two convenience samples, comprising a total of 659 university students. The test–retest reliability study was carried out in a private university in Istanbul. The validity study was carried out in a state university that is located in Samsun, a city in the black sea region of Turkey. Both schools recruit students coming from various regions in Turkey. The results revealed a 10-item scale as a better fit compared to the original 20-item scale. The presence of both subfactors self-reflection and insight were confirmed. The Cronbach’s alpha for the whole scale was .70, .80 for the self-reflection and .65 for the insight subscales. The convergent and discriminant validity analyses revealed a negative relationship between private self-consciousness and insight scores, positive relationship between self-reflection and social anxiety plus external locus of control. There was no significant relationship between private self-consciousness and self-reflection scores. A negative relationship was found between insight and public self-consciousness, a positive relationship between mindfulness and insight scores, and finally a nonsignificant relationship between narcissism and insight scores.     

Interrelations between virtual-world and real-world activities: comparison of genders, age groups, and pathological and nonpathological Internet users

After the Internet Revolution, people have started to spend most of their everyday time online carrying out virtual activities. A limited number of studies tried to answer whether virtual activities match our real-world (RW) activities. Moreover, to our knowledge, there was no study that dealt with these interrelations between virtual and RW activities among the pathological and nonpathological users of the Internet (i.e. PIUs and NPIUs). The primary aim of this study was to fill this gap and to investigate the correlations between virtual-world (VW) and RW activities among PIUs and NPIUs. The secondary aim was to examine the perceptions of the Internet and motivations to go online for PIUs and NPIUs. The third aim was to compare virtual and RW activities across gender and age groups. The results indicated that correlations between most of the activities in RW and VW were high among men and women, among age groups, and also among PIUs and NPUs. However, beyond these similarities, perceptions of the Internet and motivations to browse into VW were differed among PIUs and NPIUs. In other words, PIUs, but not NPIUs, perceived VW activities more gratified and had motivations to go online for gratified functions.     

Hope,Anger, and Depression as Mediators for Forgiveness and Social Behavior in Turkish Children

ABSTRACT. This study examined the mediating effects of hope, anger, and depression in the associations between forgiveness and social behavior, in fourth grade students in Turkey. The 352 fourth grade primary school students were involved in the study. The average age was 9.98 and 56.3% were boys. The Enright Forgiveness Inventory for Children (EFI-C), the Beck Anger Inventory for Youth (BANI-Y), the Children Hope Scale (CHS), the Social Behavior Questionnaire (SBQ), and the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) were used. Results showed that depression mediates the relationship between anger and antisocial behavior and between hope and antisocial behavior. Anger mediates the relationship between hope and depression and between hope and antisocial behavior. Forgiveness was related to anger and hope directly. Implications of this study for child counseling were discussed.     

The Mediating Role of General Self-Efficacy in the Relationship Between the Big Five Personality Traits and Perceived Stress: A Weekly Assessment Study

A cross-sectional study design may not be a reliable procedure for indicating the effects of stable individual structures on transient conditions in stress situations. In order to address this gap, we aimed to explore the role of the direct and indirect effects of the big five personality traits with the mediating effect of self-efficacy on perceived stress using a weekly diary method. The sample comprised 79 full-time workers who filled in a questionnaire that included the Big Five Inventory and General Self-Efficacy Scale at the initial administration and the Perceived Stress Scale over 12 weeks. Data were analysed using hierarchical linear modelling to examine the relationship between the big five personality traits and weekly perceived stress and the mediating role of general self-efficacy in this relationship. The results indicated that neuroticism and extraversion were significantly associated with general self-efficacy and perceived stress. The results further indicated that general self-efficacy fully mediated the relationship between extraversion and perceived stress. General self-efficacy partially mediated the relationship between neuroticism and perceived stress. Our findings highlight the importance of personality and self-efficacy for predicting perceived stress. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

Covariation of sex differences in mental rotation with body size

Sex difference in mental rotation ability was reconsidered. The Vandenberg-Kuse figures were administered to 120 male and 76 female students from the Medical School of BlackSea Technical University in Trabzon, Turkey to assess the mental rotation ability. Students' height and weight were measured. As expected, men outperformed women on this test and had greater height and weight. Number correct on mental rotation test significantly correlated with height and weight for the total sample and for men, but only with weight for women. Using weight as covariate, the sex difference was no longer significant. The mean mental rotation score was significantly higher for heavy women than for light men. There was a positive correlation between weight and mental rotation test scores for heavy women, but height and weight were negatively correlated with mental rotation test scores for light men. These results suggest that there is no sex difference in mental rotation ability as measured.