Adaptation of a Muslim Spiritual Attachment Scale (God attachment) for Turkish Muslims: a validity and reliability study

ABSTRACT

Despite the importance of a believer’s attachment relationship with God for mental health, there are few measures relevant to Muslims, and little work on cross-cultural validation of such measures. The objective of the present study was to examine the validity and reliability of the Muslim Spiritual Attachment Scale (M-SAS) in Turkish Muslim samples. In analyzing the data, three different samples of college students (N?=?525, N?=?341, and N?=?47 respectively) were used. The validity and reliability of M-SAS were examined through exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, the internal consistency coefficient and the split-half reliability coefficient. Results supported a three-factor model of M-SAS with good reliability for the factors, and convergence with an alternative God Attachment measure. As a result, it may be concluded that M-SAS can be used as a valid and reliable measurement instrument in Turkish Muslim samples. The results are discussed in the light of the relevant literature.     

Effects of mask use and other-race on face perception,emotion recognition,and social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic

We tested the effect of mask use and other-race effect on (a) face recognition, (b) recognition of facial expressions, and (c) social distance. Caucasian subjects were tested in a matching-to-sample paradigm with either masked or unmasked Caucasian and Asian faces. The participants exhibited the best performance in recognizing an unmasked face condition and the poorest to recognize a masked face that they had seen earlier without a mask. Accuracy was poorer for Asian faces than Caucasian faces. The second experiment presented Asian or Caucasian faces having emotional expressions, with and without masks. The participants' emotion recognition performance decreased for masked faces. From the most accurately to least accurately recognized emotions were as follows: happy, neutral, disgusted, fearful. Performance was poorer for Asian stimuli compared to Caucasian. In Experiment 3 the same participants indicated the social distance they would prefer with each pictured person. They preferred a wider distance with unmasked faces compared to masked faces. Distance from farther to closer was as follows: disgusted, fearful, neutral, and happy. They preferred wider social distance for Asian compared to Caucasian faces. Altogether, findings indicated that during the COVID-19 pandemic mask wearing decreased recognition of faces and emotional expressions, negatively impacting communication among people from different ethnicities.     

The Relationship Between Mindfulness and Happiness in Student-Athletes: The Role of Self-Compassion—Mediator or Moderator?

Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy - In the present study, the mediating and moderating role of self-compassion in the relationship between mindfulness and happiness was...     

A comparison of paper-and-pencil and computerized forms of Line Orientation and Enhanced Cued Recall Tests

The purpose of this study was to assess whether a computerized battery of neuropsychological tests could produce similar results as the conventional forms. Comparisons on 77 volunteer undergraduates were carried out with two neuropsychological tests: Line Orientation Test and Enhanced Cued Recall Test. Firstly, students were assigned randomly across the test medium (paper-and-pencil versus computerized). Secondly, the groups were given the same test in the other medium after a 30-day interval between tests. Results showed that the Enhanced Cued Recall Test-Computer-based did not correlate with the Enhanced Cued Recall Test-Paper-and-pencil results. Line Orientation Test-Computer-based scores, on the other hand, did correlate significantly with the Line Orientation Test-Paper-and-pencil version. In both tests, scores were higher on paper-and-pencil tests compared to computer-based tests. Total score difference between modalities was statistically significant for both Enhanced Cued Recall Tests and for the Line Orientation Test. In both computer-based tests, it took less time for participants to complete the tests.     

Association between Religious Attitudes and Aggression Levels in Turkish University Students

Journal of Religion and Health - This study aimed to analyze the relationship between university students’ religious attitudes and aggression levels. Stratified sampling method was used for...