Journal of counseling research

Metaphors by Iranian Youth about Marriage based on Metaphorical Theory

kowsar dehdast

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate young people's metaphors of "marriage" based on the cognitive metaphorical theory of Lakoff and Johnson. Methods: In line with the goal of this research, and in order to obtain the lived experiences of individuals, phenomenological methodology in qualitative study was used. The study population was married youth who volunteered to be interviewed in this field and based on the principle of theoretical sampling and data saturation, 13 people were interviewed. Results: This study showed how the Iranian youth understand the concept of marriage in such a way that the nature of marriage is a purposeful journey that is created by spouses. The existence of origin, destination, purposefulness, human corridor and movement, and finally the necessities of a healthy and successful transition to this destination, is seen positively to explain "way" as my nickname "marriage". Conclusion: Findings indicate that in this regard, the approach of educational counseling should be resorted to, in addition to the purpose and destination of the couple in marriage, their goals in life in terms of value and semantic changes in society and discourses involving spouses around the concept of marriage was examined.

Identifying the Components of the Tendency to Smoke in Young People from the Experts’ Perspective: A Qualitative Analysis

Atousa Kalantarhormozi

Aim: The aim of this study was to identify the components of smoking tendency in youth from the perspective of addiction and smoking experts. Methods: in this study, a qualitative approach and thematic analysis method were used. Participants included experts in the fields of addictions and smoking and smokers (therapists, researchers, professors and teachers) in 1399 who were selected using purposive sampling. Sampling was done using interview tools (semi-structured) in order to receive the data until the saturation point and then the collected information was analyzed by coding method (main and secondary). Findings: The analysis of the research findings led to the extraction of 85 primary concepts, 38 subcategories and 15 main categories, according to which, the main categories of smoking tendency in youth were: 1. The effective role of relatives in consumption, 2. Inefficient atmosphere of the family predisposing to consumption, 3. Motivation of peer groups in consumption, 4. Media coverage of smoking, 5. Influence of famous personalities, 6. Facilitating society in consumption, 7. Favorable consumption conditions in public recreation area, 8. Easy access to cigarettes, 9. Cognitive distortions about smoking, 10. Inefficient psychological causes, 11. Reverse reaction to superficial inhibitors in consumption, 12. Weak adaptive skills, 13. Consideration of behavioral attractiveness, 14. Media’s superficial portrayal of the harms of consumption, and 15. Recreational consumption. Finally, the combination of the main categories led to the extraction of two core themes, including the interpersonal components, the extra-personal component, and the intrapersonal components of the tendency to smoke in youth. Conclusions: The present study showed that youth are affected by interpersonal and extra-personal factors such as the media, family, society and the atmosphere of peers with common interests or intrapersonal dimensions like psychological disorders, famous characters in movies, or skill weaknesses are more likely to tend to smoke and continue smoking.

The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on Anxiety and Self-efficacy of Children: A Single-Case Experimental Design

Zabihollah abaspour

Aim: The aim of the current study was to investigate the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on Anxiety and Self-efficacy of children among children with anxiety. Methods: The statistical population consisted of all children diagnose with anxiety in Ahvaz. The research sample consisted of 3 children that were selected according to the results of the Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) , using purposeful sampling method. In this research, a single-case experimental design, type of non-concurrent multiple baseline designs was used. To evaluate the anxiety, Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) and self-Efficacy - Children's Self-Efficacy Scale were used. The data was collected in three phases of baseline, during intervention, and one month follow-up. Findings: The findings indicate that the subjects in the treatment phase experienced improvement in anxiety (30/96) and self-efficacy (28/13), and in the follow-up in regards to anxiety (38/44) and self-efficacy (32/25). The change index was indicative of meaningful changes (z=1/95 α=0.05). Conclusion: Therefore, the research findings illustrated that Acceptance and Commitment Therapy reduces anxiety and increases children's self-efficacy by increasing psychological flexibility and reducing dysfunctional reactions.

Comparing the Effectiveness of Imago-Therapy and Transactional Analysis in Improving Communication Skills, Conflict Resolution and Rejection Sensitivity of Couples Referred to Masjed Soleiman Counseling Centers

Zahra Eftekhar Saadi

Aim: The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of Imago-Therapy and Transactional Analysis in improving communication skills, conflict resolution, and rejection sensitivity of couples referred to Masjed Soleiman counseling centers. Methods: The method of this experimental study was pre-test and post-test, with follow-up, on an experimental and control groups. The statistical population of this study included all couples who referred to Masjed Soleiman counseling centers in 2019. Four counseling centers were selected randomly from the statistical population, and then 20 couples (40 persons) were randomly assigned into two experimental groups (10 couples for each group). Experimental groups were trained for ten 1.5 hour sessions. To collect the data, Quinn Dam Communication Skills Questionnaire, Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire (RSQ), and Marital Conflict Questionnaire (MCQ) were used. Multivariate repeated measures analysis of variance was used to analyze the data. Findings: The results of the analysis showed that Transactional Analysis was more effective on the variables of communication skills, conflict resolution and rejection sensitivity than imago-therapy (P<0.05). Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, it can be said that imago-therapy and transactional analysis effective on communication skills, conflict resolution, and rejection sensitivity of couples, but transactional analysis was more effective than imago-therapy.

Comparison of the Effectiveness of Bowenian Family Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment-based Therapy (ACT) on Cognitive Emotion Regulation of Mothers with One Child

mokhtar arefi

Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of Bowenian family therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy on the difficulty in regulating the emotion of mothers with one child. Methods: This was a descriptive quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design with two experimental groups and a control group. The statistical population of the study included all mothers with only one child of preschool age in Kermanshah kindergartens in 2019. A total of 45 people were selected through convenience sampling and 15 people were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group. Data were collected in the pretest-posttest stages with a scale of difficulty in emotion regulation (Grotz and Roemer, 2004). After pre-testing, members of the two experimental groups participated separately in eight 1.5-hour weekly sessions of Bowenian family therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy. Analysis of covariance and Bonferroni post-hoc test were used to analyze the data. Results: The results of analysis of covariance showed that the effect of Bowenian family therapy and the effect of acceptance and commitment based therapy on difficulty in emotion regulation in individuals is significant (P<0.05). Also, differences in the two treatment groups for the dimensions of emotional rejection, difficulty in performing behavior, difficulty in controlling impulse, lack of emotional awareness, limited access, and lack of clarity, respectively, the amount of F statistic; 4.771, 4.461, 3.524, 3.399 and 5.720 with significant levels were 0.026, 0.005, 0.011, 0.001, 0.003 and 0.009, respectively. The results of Bowenian test showed that due to the size of the differences, the effectiveness of acceptance-based and commitment-based therapy in combining with other interventions on the difficulty of emotion regulation and its related components was higher (P <0.05). Conclusion: Psychologists, when faced with problems of mother-child interaction, evaluate the mother in terms of the level of cognitive emotion regulation and other psychological variables affecting emotion regulation and use effective treatment methods if there is a problem.

Presenting a Structural Model for Predicting Psychological Well-being based on Family Performance, Optimism and Resilience Mediated by Social Adequacy and Academic Self-efficacy in Students

Reza khakpuor

Aim: The aim of this study was to present a structural model for predicting psychological well-being based on family performance, optimism and resilience mediated by social adequacy and academic self-efficacy in students. Methods: The method of this study was descriptive-correlation with structural equation model. From the students of Allameh Tabatabaei Campus in Urmia (women’s branch) and Shahid Rajaei Campus in Urmia (male’s branch) using convenient sampling method, 250 individuals were selected and psychological well-being questionnaires (Reef, 1989), McMaster family performance (Epstein et al., (1990), complemented optimism (life orientation) (Shearer and Carver, 1985), resilience (Connor and Davidson, 2003), social adequacy (Flanner, 1990), and academic self-efficacy (Patrick et al., 1997) were administered. Findings: The results showed that the structural model has an acceptable fit with the collected data. Resilience, optimism, social adequacy and academic self-efficacy were positively and significantly and family performance was negatively and significantly (p <0.01) predicting psychological well-being. Social adequacy and academic self-efficacy mediate positively and significantly (p <0.01) the relationship between resilience and optimism, and negatively and significantly (p <0.01) the relationship between family performance and psychological well-being. Conclusion: Based on the results, it can be said that the educational vitality of the educational program can be a good executive strategy to increase academic self-efficacy, psychological well-being, optimism, resilience and social adequacy of students.

Comparing the Dimensions of Marital Intimacy, Commitment, and Satisfaction in Couples With and Without Pre-Marriage Counseling Experience

Hajar Falahzade

Aim: The purpose of this study was to compare the dimensions of intimacy, commitment, and marital satisfaction in couples with and without pre-marrital counseling. Methods: The present study is a causal-comparative study, and the statistical population includes two groups of married people in Tehran between 2018-2019, one of which had experienced premarital counseling while the other group did not have this experience. The sample consisted of two groups of married people using available and convenient sampling method which consisted of total of 60 couples. Three questionnaires of intimacy, commitment and marital satisfaction were applied. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics indices and the mixed variance analysis method using SPSS software. Results: Findings showed that there was a significant difference between the two groups regarding the dimensions of marital intimacy in the dimension of psychological intimacy. And comparing the dimensions of marital commitment in the two groups showed that there is a significant difference in the dimension of personal commitment. Comparison of the dimensions of marital satisfaction showed that the counseling group in the dimension of children and parenting was significantly higher than in the counseling group. Conclusion: Therefore, it seems that pre-marital counseling programs need training and interventions in order to promote intimacy, commitment, and marital satisfaction.

Comparison of Attitude and Tendency Toward Pre-Marital Relationship, Irrational Beliefs, and Self-Inhibition of Male and Female Students

sajjad sheykh

Aim: The aim of this study was to compare attitudes and tendencies towards premarital relationships and irrational beliefs with self-restraint in male and female students. Methods: The research method was descriptive causal-comparative. The statistical population consisted of all students of Shahid Beheshti University in 2015-2016, from which 365 people (170 boys and 195 girls) were selected as a sample by stratified random sampling method. Tools for data collection included the following questionnaires: Irrational Beliefs (Jones, 1980), Premarital Relationship (Cordlow, 2001), and the Self-Determent Questionnaire (Weinberger and Schwartz, 1990). Results: Data analysis by independent t-test showed that there is a significant difference between attitudes and tendencies towards premarital relationship, irrational beliefs and self-restraint in male and female students (P<0.01). Conclusion: The results showed that gender is a factor influencing attitudes and tendencies towards premarital relationships, irrational beliefs and self-restraint. As such, males had greater attitudes and tendencies toward premarital relationships, and lower irrational and slef-restrait, compared with female students.

The Effectiveness of Combined Couple Therapy based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Schema Therapy on Cognitive Flexibility and Cognitive Emotion-Regulation in Couples Seeking Divorce

mohammad ali rahmani

Aim: The occurrence of marital disputes seriously damages the psychological and emotional components. The present study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of couples therapy based on acceptance and commitment and schema-therapy on flexibility, cognitive emotion-regulation in couples seeking divorce. Methods: It was a quasi-experimental design (pre-test-post-test with control group). The statistical population included all couples applying for divorce who were referred by the Behshahr justice system to the counseling centers as part of the divorce reduction program in the second half of 1398. In this clinical trial, 32 people (16 couples seeking divorce) were selected through convenient sampling method and randomly divided into two groups of 16 people. The experimental group was trained in integrated couple therapy protocol based on acceptance, commitment and schema therapy (Liu and McKee, 2012) in fourteen 90-minute sessions as a group. Research tools included the Dennis and Vanderwall Cognitive Flexibility Questionnaire (2010) and the Cognitive Emotion Cognitive Regulation Questionnaire (2001). Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance. Findings: The results showed that combined couple therapy based on acceptance and commitment and schema-therapy is effective in improving cognitive flexibility, and cognitive emotion-regulation in couples seeking divorce in the post-test phase (P <0.05). Also, combined couple therapy based on acceptance and commitment and schema therapy is effective in improving the components of avoiding emotional experiences, life control, adaptive strategy and unadaptive strategy of couples seeking divorce (P<0.05). Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, it is possible to increase cognitive flexibility and cognitive emotion-regulation in couples seeking divorce through integrated group ACT-based couple therapy and schema-therapy.

Investigating the Mediating Role of Identity Crisis and Family Cohesion in Determining the Relationship between Social Networks Participation with Body Image Issues Among Students

Hassan Boland

Aim: The aim of present study was to investigate the mediating role of identity crisis and family cohesion in determining the relationship between participation in social media and body image concerns among students. Methods: The present study was a descriptive correlational study. The statistical population consisted of all public middle school students studying in the city of Rasht in the academic year of 2019-20. Participants were selected using multi-stage cluster random sampling method. To collect data from four questionnaires, Social Network Sites Engagement Scale (Boland1399), Identity Crisis (Ahmadi, 1997), Family Cohesion (Samani, 2002) and Body Image Concern Questionnaire (Littleton et al., 2005) were used. These questionnaires were provided to students online and 674 people responded to them. Finally, 497 questionnaires were examined and analyzed statistically, using path analysis method. Findings: The results showed that social network engagement has a direct effect on body image concern (β=-0.41, P<0.001), family cohesion (β=-0.25, P <0.001), and identity crisis (Β=-0.16, P<0.001). Identity crisis directly and significantly predicts body image concerns (β=-0.13, P<0.001). Family cohesion directly and significantly predicts body image concerns (β=-0.17, P<0.001). In addition, that engagement in social networks mediated by identity crisis has an indirect impact on body image anxiety (β=0.06, P<0.001). However, the indirect effect of the mediating variable of family cohesion on social network engagement and body image concerns is not statistically significant. Conclusion: Therefore, improving the amount and manner of adolescents' use of social networks, teaching media literacy to adolescents and holding training sessions to facilitate the transition from puberty and prevent identity crisis is important to reduce dissatisfaction with body image and promote adolescent mental health.

Studying the Mediating Role of Core self-evaluation In Relationship among personality and Career adaptability

ahmad sadeghi

Aim: The purpose of the current study was to investigate the role of core self-evaluation as a mediator between personality and career adaptability among all University of Isfahan’s bachelor students who were in the last two years of their education. Methods: The method applied was a correlational study analyzed by the structural equation modeling approach. Total of 401 participants were selected through stratified sampling (considering the gender and population of each field of study) among all University of Isfahan’s bachelor students who were in the last two years of their education. The Career adaptability scale (Savickas and Profeili, 2012), the core Self-evaluation scale (Judge & Durham, 2003), and the big five personality traits questionnaire (Mc-Crae & Costa, 2004) were applied to collect data. Results: Results indicated that core self-evaluation partially mediated the relationship between conscientiousness (p<0/001) and extraversion (p<0/001) with career adaptability. On the other hand, the relationship between career adaptability with openness to experience (p<0/05) and neuroticism (p<0/001) was indirect, and a direct relationship was noticed between career adaptability and agreeableness (p<0/02). Conclusion: Results of the current study confirm the importance of conscientiousness, extraversion, and core self-evaluations’ roles on increasing career adaptability of the students who will graduate in the upcoming years. Furthermore, it seems that it is necessary to plan for the programs which enhance students’ core self-evaluation that increases their career adaptability. Also, in planning these programs, individual's big five personality traits should be considered.

The Effectiveness of Hope-Therapy on the Dimensions of Life Quality and Self-Esteem of Depressed Adolescent Girls

kourosh namdari

Aim: The research aimed to study the effectiveness of hope therapy on dimensions of quality of Life and self-esteem in depressed adolescent girls. Methods: For this purpose, a quasi-experimental pretest, posttest with control group was used. The statistical population included all adolescent girls studying in the academic year 2016-2017 in Isfahan, from which 24 depressed girls (12 in the experimental group, 12 in the control group) were selected through cluster sampling and according to the selection criteria. The intervention method included 8 sessions of hope therapy that was implemented for experimental group. In order to assess variables, Beck Depression Inventory 2 (Beck, 1996), Quality of Life Questionnaire (World Health Organization, 1996) and Self-Esteem Questionnaire (Coopersmith, 1967) were used. The data analysis conducted by multivariate analysis of covariance with pretest, posttest, and control groups. Finding: The findings showed a significant increase in the mean scores of dimensions of quality of life including physical health (F= 0.36, p<0.05), mental health (F= 0.30, p<0.05), social relations (F= 0.35, p<0.05), and perception of living environment (F= 0.32, p<0.05) in depressed girls. Also, the result showed a significant increase in the mean scores of academic self-esteem (F= 0.44, p<0.05), and self-esteem (F= 0.40., p<0.05) in these students. Conclusion: Therefore, hope therapy is effective in increasing self-esteem and quality of life in depressed adolescent girls and can be used in schools and counseling centers to reduce depression by designing educational and cultural programs focusing on hope, preventing depression in adolescents, and improving their quality of life and self-esteem.