Development and Validation of the Subjective Well-Being Resources Scale.

Subjective well-being (SWB) is an important construct of positive psychology and it is known that these resources should be supported to prevent mental health disorders. However, there is no measurement tool to assess individual differences concerning SWB resources. The present study aims to develop a valid and reliable scale to measure SWB resources. For this aim, two studies were conducted. As a result, the five-factor (personal, religious, health, social, and external resources) construct explaining 45.3% of the variance was derived and validated with both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The factors were related to mental health indicators and personality as expected. The internal consistency coefficient of the scale was .83), and the test re-test reliability was .88. As a result of the analysis, it is concluded that the Subjective Well-Being Resources Scale is valid and reliable and can be used to measure SWB resources.

Reliability and Validity of the Turkish Version of the Body Image Disturbance Questionnaire-Scoliosis.

STUDY DESIGN: It is cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Body Image Disturbances Questionnaire. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to adopt the English version of the Body Image Disturbance Questionnaire-Scoliosis (BIDQ-S) into Turkish language. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: BIDQ-S is originally adopted from BIDQ scale which is designed to be used for healthy subjects in order to assess concerns and distress about physical appearance, and impairment on daily functioning. However, there is no culturally adopted and validated BIDQ-S for the Turkish population. METHOD: Translation and back translation method was used to guide the translation process of the BIDQ-S from English to Turkish. In order to determine and confirm the factor structure of the Turkish BIDQ-S exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were performed. Convergent validity of the Turkish BIDQ-S- was determined by calculating the correlations of BIDQ-S, and the factors emerged, with the indicators of subjective well-being which consists of three components: positive affect (PA), negative affect (NA), and satisfaction with life (SWL) and of health related quality of life measured by Scoliosis Research Society Questionnaire (SRS-22). RESULTS: The data from the present study demonstrated that different from the original, German and Chinese versions two factor solutions were found. The Turkish BIDQ-S also showed satisfactory internal consistency value with Cronbach α equals to 0.88 construct validity. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, current study shows that Turkish BIDQ-S is a valid and reliable questionnaire for assessing the body image concerns in patients with scoliosis in Turkish population. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4.

REBT with context of basic psychological needs: RESD-A Scale.

BACKGROUND: Accurate psychometrics benefit from assessing given constructs within specifically defined contexts. The assessment of context-specific irrational beliefs as put forth in rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT), under the three basic psychological needs described in self-determination theory (SDT), represents a new path for research. Under the umbrella of 'positive psychology', a new scale for adolescents combining REBT and SDT is the first step towards conceptualizing irrational beliefs within the three basic psychological needs. The integration of REBT and SDT would provide a more fully integrated view of adolescent mental health, and as such could provide a more cost-effective approach for preventing cognitive, emotive and behavioural disturbances in young people. AIMS: The main aim of this paper is to outline the development and validation of the Rational Emotive Self Determination Scale for Adolescents (RESD-A), which measures irrational beliefs about the three basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence and relatedness). METHOD: To achieve this main study aim, we report the results of four studies that test the factor structure, internal consistency, construct, predictive validity, and test-re-test reliability of the 51-item RESD-A, within samples of Turkish adolescents. RESULTS: Data analyses confirmed the theoretical expectations and yielded promising results for the validity and reliability of the RESD-A. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that assessment of irrational beliefs in the context of autonomy, competence and relatedness is possible and valuable for the treatment of adolescents.

Language and the Symptoms of Mental Illness Connection via Abstract Representations of the Self and the World.

The aim of the present study is to provide additional knowledge about the mediatory processes through which language contributes to the symptoms of mental illness. Although recent studies have provided insight about the relationship between language and the indicators of mental illness, the role of intervening variables in this connection has been ignored. The present investigation tested a structural equation model in which the need for the absolute truth about self and worry mediated the relationship of the gap between inner psychological experience and language with anxiety and depression. The results have provided support for the model and showed that the gap predicts both the need for absolute truth and worry which, in turn, predict the levels of anxiety and depression. The results have been discussed in the light of previous research, and implications for future research have also been considered.

Mediational role of rumination and reflection on irrational beliefs and distress.

BACKGROUND: The cognitive restructuring of maladaptive beliefs within many cognitive behavioural psychotherapies typically encourages the client to undertake self-reflection. However, whilst self-consciousness can aid self-regulation, it is also implicated in a broad Grange of psychopathologies. The extent to which self-consciousness is associated with psychological distress is yet to be fully determined, but recent literature suggests that irrational beliefs, as proposed within rational emotive behaviour theory (REBT) may play an important role. AIMS: The aim of the study was to test the mediational effects of self-consciousness, specifically reflection and rumination, on the relationship between irrational beliefs and psychological distress. Based on past research, it was hypothesized that reflection and rumination would mediate the positive relationship between irrational beliefs and psychological distress. We expected irrational beliefs to interact with rumination to positively predict psychological distress, and irrational beliefs to interact with reflection to negatively predict psychological distress. METHOD: The present research tested a structural equation model (SEM) in which rumination and reflection mediated the relationship between irrational beliefs and psychological distress. RESULTS: Results indicated that rumination mediates the positive relationship between irrational beliefs and psychological distress. However, in contrast to our hypotheses, significant mediation did not emerge for reflection. CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to show how irrational beliefs and rumination interact to predict psychopathology using advanced statistical techniques. However, future research is needed to determine whether similar mediational effects are evident with rational beliefs as opposed to irrational beliefs.

Relationships between knowledge, attitudes, stigma, anxiety and depression, and quality of life in epilepsy: A structural equation modeling.

PURPOSE: Epilepsy not only is a medical disorder characterized by seizures, but is also associated with stigma and a neurological disorder that affects quality of life. Insufficient knowledge and misconceptions about epilepsy that causes the development of negative attitudes towards patients with epilepsy increase the stigmatization and psychosocial problems and impact the quality of life. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between epilepsy knowledge, attitude, stigma, anxiety and depression, and quality of life within the framework of structural equation modeling. METHOD: This research was carried out between May 2015 and May 2016 at the Epilepsy Outpatient Clinic of Istanbul University Istanbul Faculty of Medicine. The Epilepsy Knowledge Scale, Epilepsy Attitude Scale, Stigma Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and Quality of Life in Epilepsy Scale-10 (QOLIE-10) were used. To determine the relationship between the concepts, research hypotheses were created, and structural equation modeling was made. RESULTS: Two hundred five patients were included in the study, 53.7% were women, and the mean age was 32.5. It was found that 72.2% had generalized seizures, and 46.3% had more than one seizure per month. According to our proposed model, knowledge had a moderate relationship with attitude (including stigma) (r = 0.50) that, in turn, had a strong relationship with mental health (r = -0.62) while a moderate relationship with quality of life (r = 0.45). Our findings revealed that proposed model accounted for 20% of the variance in quality of life and 39% of the variance in mental health (anxiety and depression). CONCLUSION: Mental health and quality of life of patient with epilepsy are closely related to the knowledge, attitude, and perceived stigma of the patients. Therefore, educating/supporting patients can help increase the mental health and quality of life.

Higher-order Traits and Happiness in the Workplace: The Importance of Occupational Project Scale for the Evaluation of Characteristic Adaptations.

This study attempts to explain the relationship between job satisfaction and the Big Two, Stability and Plasticity, which are the higher-order traits of Big Five. Occupational Project, a narrative construct, was considered a mediator variable in this relationship. Occupational Project consists of affective and cognitive evaluations of an individual's work life as a project in terms of the completed (past), the ongoing (present) and the prospective (future) parts. The survey method was applied to a sample of 253 participants. The results supported the proposed model, in which Occupational Project mediated the relationship between the Big Two and both job satisfaction and affect in workplace. Discussion is focused on applying Occupational Project as a practical tool for management. Consideration of an employee's Occupational Project could provide management with a means to question, understand, intervene with and redefine the narrative quality of his/her occupational project that influences job satisfaction.

Intentional and Non-Intentional Assessments of Emotion Experiences: Comparisons of Old and New Measures.

In two studies, we compared intentional and non-intentional measures of emotional well-being in terms of reliability and validity. In the first study, we expanded on the findings of Simsek ( 2011 ) by showing that an intentional measure of emotional well-being, namely the Emotional Well-Being Scale, accounted for unique variance in both negative and positive mental health indicators above and beyond the variance accounted for by Larsen and Diener's Scales (1992), which measures all dimensions of affect circumplex. The correlated traits-correlated uniqueness model results showed that the original-intentional version of the Emotional Well-Being Scale explained more variance in the measurement model than the non-intentional version. The second study showed that the results were similar for the intentional vs. non-intentional versions of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedules (Watson, Clark & Tellegen, 1988 ). The intentional version of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedules accounted for more variance in the criteria than the non-intentional version.

Parental Attachment and Adolescents' Perception of School Alienation: The Mediation Role of Self-Esteem and Adjustment.

The present study examined the relationship between adolescents' attachment to parents and their feelings of alienation in the school context by considering the mediating role of adjustment and self-esteem. It was proposed that the degree of attachment to one's parents was associated with adjustment and self-esteem, which in turn predicted possible school alienation. A total of 227 students completed self-report measures on parental attachment, adjustment, self-esteem, and alienation from school. Results were consistent with the attachment theory and related literature that posits that (a) secure attachment to parents was associated with adjustment and self-esteem, (b) secure attachment to parents was negatively associated with feelings of school alienation, and (c) adjustment and self-esteem were a crucial mediators between attachment to parents and school alienation. In addition to enhanced adjustment, the self-esteem of adolescents may be an additional factor in reducing alienation at school. The results also supported the mediator role of self-esteem in the relationship between attachment to parents and adjustment. Finally, the relationship between self-esteem and school alienation were shown to be fully mediated by adjustment. The results were discussed in the context of responsibilities of teachers and school counselors, which may provide both students and parents with the skills to improve social functioning in the school context.

A cross-cultural investigation into the relationships among parental support for basic psychological needs, sense of uniqueness, and happiness.

A significant number of empirical studies have reported that parental support for basic psychological needs is a robust correlate of adolescent happiness. Yet, less is known about the mechanisms responsible for this link. The present study proposed a model suggesting that personal sense of uniqueness explains why satisfaction of basic psychological needs in parent-child relationships is related to happiness. This mediational model was tested among late adolescents in Turkey and the United States. Analyses relying on structural equation modeling and bootstrapping supported the model in both cultures. Implications of the findings for theory and cross-cultural research are discussed. Directions for future research that could improve our understanding of the dynamic interplay between basic needs, sense of uniqueness and well-being are provided.

Higher order structure of personality and mental health: does general affectivity matter?

The higher order personality model, namely the Big Two, was tested in 2 studies (Ns = 878 and 467, respectively) by controlling for the effects of both general affectivity and common method variance. Study 2 also examined the associations of the metatraits with different mental health indicators through regression analyses. The results consistently provided support for the validity of the Big Two model in the latent space, with and without the effects of general affectivity and the common method variance. Moreover, in both studies, the high correlation between stability and plasticity decreased when these 2 method effects were controlled statistically. The regression analyses also showed that the associations of plasticity and stability with the indicators of both subjective and psychological well-being, as well as psychopathology, were consistent with the theoretical arguments behind the Big Two.

Factor structure of the Subjective Well-being under Neuroleptic treatment Scale-short form in schizophrenic outpatients: five factors or only one?

UNLABELLED: BACKROUND AND AIM: The Subjective Well-Being under Neuroleptics Scale, short form (SWNS), is a self-report measure that evaluates the states of well-being of schizophrenia patients using antipsychotic drugs independently from psychopathology of disease. This study examined the factor structure of the Turkish version of the scale using high-level statistical analyses. METHODS: The SWNS was translated into Turkish and applied to 103 schizophrenic patients. A type of multi-trait-multi-method (MTMM) confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to determine the factor structure of the Turkish version of the scale. RESULTS: The results of factor analysis of the SWNS were incompatible with the factor structure of the original scale. A set of MTMM analyses showed distinct method effects for both positive and negative item wording in the scale. In light of these findings, the factor structure of the SWNS was determined as having a one-dimensional structure, with bias due to item wording. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the present investigation indicated that the sub-factors of the SWNS failed to emerge from the data. This study is the first to show that there is an urgent need for further examination of the factor structure of the SWNS with regard to method effects. This issue has important implications for the use of sub-factors by both researchers and practitioners.

Relationship of the gap between experience and language with mental health in adolescence: the importance of emotion regulation.

Although past research has provided important information about the relationship between language use and mental health in the period of adolescence, the role of intervening variables in this association has been seriously neglected. The aim of the present study was to illuminate the association between language use (operationalized by "the gap between experience and language--GAP") and mental health (e.g., adjustment and depression, with the mediator role of emotion regulation). Three-hundred-and-seventy-four adolescents (220 female, 154 male; 16.08 mean age) participated in the study. The results provided support for the mediator role of emotion regulation in the relationship between GAP and mental health. Moreover, it was shown that the relationship between emotion regulation and depression was mediated by adjustment.

Self-absorption paradox is not a paradox: illuminating the dark side of self-reflection.

Although considered an important component of a healthy personality, self-reflection has not so far been shown to have any specific benefits for mental health. This research addresses this issue by taking into consideration two important suppressor variables, self-rumination and the need for absolute truth. The latter is an innovative variable, defined and presented in this research. The first two studies aimed to validate a new measure that acts as an operational definition of the need for absolute truth. The first study was conducted with two group of participants; the first group consisted of 129 females and 67 males, mean age = 20 years, and the second 182 females and 104 males, mean age = 27. In the second study, participants were 22 females and 18 males, mean age = 20.5. In the final study, conducted with 296 female, 163 male participants (mean age = 37), suppressor effects were tested using structural equation modeling. The results showed that by taking account of these two suppressor variables, particularly the need for absolute truth, the expected relationship between self-reflection and mental health was revealed. The need for absolute truth was shown to be crucial for understanding the effects of self-reflection on mental health, therefore it should be considered in all processes of psychotherapy.

The relationship between language use and depression: illuminating the importance of self-reflection, self-rumination, and the need for absolute truth.

The main aim of the present study was to provide additional knowledge about the mediatory processes through which language relates to depression. Although previous research gave clear evidence that language is closely related to depression, the research on intervening variables in the relationship has been limited. The present investigation tested a structural equation model in which self-concept clarity and self-consciousness mediated the relationship between personal perceptions of language and depression. Since "the need for absolute truth" construct has been shown to be important in providing greater consistency in estimates of the relationships among the variables, it has been added to the model as a control variable. The results supported the model and showed that personal perceptions of language predicted self-concept clarity, which in turn predicted the participants' self-reflection and self-rumination. Self-reflection and self-rumination, in turn, predicted depression.

Self-determined choices and consequences: the relationship between basic psychological needs satisfactions and aggression in late adolescents.

This research examined the mediatory role of life purpose and career indecision in the relationship between the satisfaction of basic psychological needs and aggression. Data were collected from high school students (n = 466) and results showed that life purpose and career indecision fully mediated the relationship between basic psychological needs satisfaction and aggression. These findings suggested that unsatisfied basic psychological needs foster late adolescents' aggression by promoting less clear life purposes and career indecision.

The need for absolute truth and self-rumination as basic suppressors in the relationship between private self-consciousness and mental health.

Self-reflection has not so far been shown to have any specific benefits for mental health except for self-knowledge. Recent research showed that the controversy concerning the relationship between self-reflection and mental health could completely be eliminated if self-rumination and the need for absolute truth, especially the need for absolute truth, were considered as suppressor variables. This research replicated these findings in a different sample and expanded these findings by showing that the same is true for private self-consciousness. The need for absolute truth as a new variable was shown to be highly important in understanding the effects of self-consciousness on mental health.

The gap that makes us desperate: paths from language to mental health.

Although past research provided some clues about the relation of language use with mental health, the mediatory functions of personality variables in this relationship have been ignored. This research examined the mediatory role of self-concept clarity in the relationship between language use perceived by individuals and mental health indicators including anxiety, depression, and alexithymia. Based on the theoretical framework suggested by Simsek (2010), two studies sought to test two alternative structural equation models in data from university students in the first study (n = 250) and data from other groups in the second study (n = 331). The first model assumed that the relationship of language use with anxiety, depression, and alexithymia was mediated by self-concept clarity. The second model tested the mediatory role of both anxiety and self-concept clarity in this relationship. The results of the first study showed that the second model fitted better to the data than the first. Consistent with the first study, the results of the second study confirmed that the second model produced better goodness of fit statistics than the first model.