ARTICLE INFO

Article Type

Descriptive & Survey Study

Authors

Abbasi Abrazgah   M. (*)
Khodaee   SH. (1)






(*) Psychology Department, Humanities Faculty, Malayer University, Malayer, Iran
(1) Psychology Department, Humanities Faculty, Ardabil Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ardabil, Iran

Correspondence

Address: Malayer University, Kilometer 4 Malayer Road, Arak, Iran. Postal Code: 6571995863
Phone: -
Fax: -
mozhganabbasiabrazgah@gmail.com

Article History

Received:  April  16, 2018
Accepted:  August 4, 2018
ePublished:  October 11, 2018

BRIEF TEXT


... [1-3]. Physical and psychological disorders are considered as the consequences of the war, affecting those who were directly or indirectly involved. ... [4]. The effects of post-war injuries and psychological pressures continue on the families, especially the wives of the affected people [5].

... [6, 7]. Special attentions to the psychological states of martyrs and veterans’ wives who are affected by the was-induced consequences have always been considered. The special conditions of these individuals and their mental capacities determine resilience to face difficulties. This resilience can immune the person to be injured and even can improve their personality in difficult or critical situations. In this regard, factors such as attachment styles, resilience, and social capital have been considered by several investigators. ... [8-11]. Shaver et al. reported a significant relationship between attachment styles with mood disorders, anxiety, personality, and substance abuse [12]. .. [13, 14]. Resilience can be developed in individuals, by which a person can continue to strive to succeed in dealing with failures, disasters, the conflicts of life, and even positive events, progresses, and more responsibilities. Such individuals easily accept the realities of life and believe that the life is meaningful. This belief is usually supported by their values and has great potential for rapid adaptation to major changes [15]. ... [16]. According to Fukuyama, social capital is the result of the values and norms that encourage mutual cooperation and voluntary social participation. These values may have been introduced by the community or the religious teachings [17]. Moreover, the person with more social relations and psychological and social supports will be more resilient [18].

The purpose of this study was to compare the attachment styles, resilience, and social capital in the spouses of martyrs, veterans, and normal people.

This study is a descriptive cross-sectional research.

This research was conducted on the spouses of martyrs, veterans, and normal people in Ardabil city in 2016. The total number of samples was about 600 people, which was estimated by the Department of Statistics and Information of the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs. The spouses of normal people were selected from the housewives and were considered as the control group.

Using cluster sampling method, 135 people were selected. Considering 15 people as the minimum sample size for a comparative research, [19], 45 subjects were considered for increasing the external validity in each group. Inclusion criteria included being at least literate or being able to read and write, the consent to participate in the study, and commitment to cooperate in the research. The lack of cooperation in the research and unwillingness to continue the study were the exclusion criteria.

The following questionnaires were used as research tools: 1) Van Oudenhoven Attachment Style Questionnaire: The questionnaire was designed in 2003 with 21 items and four scales, including secure, fearful, dismissing, and preoccupied scales. The questions are scored directly based on the five-point Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) ... [20]. 2) Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RIS): This scale was used in 2003 to measure resilience. It has been psychometrically examined in six public groups, including those who have referred to primary care units, psychiatric outpatients, patients with generalized anxiety disorder, and two groups of patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and it can be used in clinical and research investigations. CD-RISC consists of 25 items, which are evaluated on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 0-4: not true at all (0), rarely true (1), sometimes true (2), often true (3), and true nearly all of the time (4). These ratings result in a number between 0-100, and higher scores indicate higher resilience. Factor analysis of the original scale produced five factors: Personal competence, trust in one's instincts, tolerance of negative affect, positive acceptance of change and secure relationships, control and spiritual influences. ... [21]. 3) Social Capital Questionnaire: This questionnaire was designed based on the Nahapit and Ghoshal social capital model and the Pantham social capital model in 1998, containing 31 items and six components including, trust, norms, religion, network, participation, and law. Questions have two dimensions including, internal (cognitive and relationship) and external (structural) dimensions. The questions are scored on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree). ... [22]. To collect data, the names and addresses of the martyrs’ wives were provided from the Ardabil Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs. The sample size was selected and the questionnaires were completed through the interviews by the researcher. The literate wives completed questionnaires through writing the answers. The questionnaires were completed in two stages, due to the large number of questions. In this research, the preoccupied component was not assessed among the components of attachment styles. Data was coded based on variables measurement scales and analyzed by SPSS 16. To test the hypotheses, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used and the LSD post hoc test was used to compare the mean of the groups.

Of the participants, 20.8% had elementary education, 11.8% guidance school, 21.5% high school and diploma, and 45.9% had the university degrees. 55.6% of the subjects were 41-50 years old, 20.0% were 31-40 years, 15.5% were over 50 years, and 8.9% were younger than 30 years. In addition, 57.0% of the participants were housewives, 18.5% were employed, and 24.4% were students, retired, pensioners, and others. There was no significant difference between the three groups in demographic variables (p>0.05; Table 1).There was no significant difference between the three groups in secure attachment scores (P=0.884; P=0.123) and avoidance attachment (P=0.122; F=2.136), but there was a significant difference between the fearful attachment scores (p=0.045; F=3.164). Moreover, there was a significant difference between the groups in resilience scores (P=0.026, F=3.770) and social capital (P=0.11; F=4.715) (Table 2). There was a significant difference between the average attachment style in the veterans and normal peoples’ wives (p=0.016); and it was more in the veterans wives than normal peoples’ wives. Of the three studied groups, only normal people and veterans’ wives had a significant difference in resilience, and it was more in the normal peoples’ wives than the veterans’ wives (p<0.05), however, there was no significant difference between the martyrs’ wives and veterans’ wives (p>0.05). However, the resilience in martyrs’ wives was slightly higher than veterans' wives. There was no significant difference between the normal peoples and martyrs’ wives in resilience (p>0.05). Among the three groups, there only was a significant difference in social capital between normal peoples’ wives and two other groups (martyrs and veterans’ wives) (p<0.05); the average social capital of the martyrs and veterans’ wives was higher than that of normal peoples’ wives. The martyrs and veterans’ wives had no significant difference in social capital (p>0.05) and the social capital of martyrs’ wives was slightly higher than that of veterans' wives.

There was a significant difference between the normal people and veterans’ wives in attachment style, whereas this difference was not significant in secure attachment style which indicates trust and security in the relationships and avoidance attachment style. Amiri et al. [18] showed that the employed spouses of disable veterans with spinal cord injury and the employed spouses of the normal people were different in fearful attachment style, which was consistent with the present study. The average resilience was higher in normal peoples’ wives than the veterans’ wives. However, there was no significant difference in resilience in the wives of the martyrs and veteran, since these two groups are similar in living conditions, more responsibilities, dealing with complications of the war and the war-induced consequences. These findings are consistent with the results of studies by Khanjani et al. [23], Conner & Davidson [21], and Akbari et al. [6]. The average social capital of the martyrs and veterans’ wives was higher than that of normal people. However, there was no significant difference in social capital between martyrs and veterans’ wives. These results were consistent with the studies by Narayan & Cassidy [24], Kawachi & Berkman [25], Portes [26], and Ghaderi et al. [27] on the role of social capital in reducing stressors and increasing confidence, well-being, success, and conformity.

It is suggested that this research be done with a larger sample size and in different cities in order to generalize the findings more accurately and reliably. In addition, in order to determine the role of fathers in the mental health of the family, this research can be done on the children of the martyrs and veterans families.

Studying on the known samples by the Ardebil Martyr Foundation was the most important limitation of this research.

The fearful attachment style of veterans’ spouses is more common than normal people and martyrs wives, but other attachment styles are the same in all three groups. Moreover, the level of resilience and social capital are different in three groups; the resilience of spouses of normal people is higher than veterans’ spouses. The spouses of martyrs and veterans comparing to normal spouses have higher social capital.

Authors are grateful to all martyrs and veterans’ wives who participated in the research as well as the Ardabil Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs who helped to do this research.

None declared.

All participants were assured of the confidentiality of the information.

Funding sources are provided by the authors.

TABLES and CHARTS

Show attach file


CITIATION LINKS

[1]Masoumi M, Soroush MR, Modirian E. Evaluation of psychiatric problems among war-related bilateral upper limb amputees. J Mil Med. 2008;10(3):185-92. [Persian]
[2] Rostamalizadeh V, Ghasemiardahaee A. Impacts and implications of social-demographic immigration of imposed war in Iranian society. Holy Def Res Cent. 2012;1(2):59-79. [Persian]
[3]Behdani F, Fayyazi Bordbar MR, Hebrani P, Talebi M, Kohestani L. Psychiatric symptoms in chemical and somatic combat veterans. J Mil Med. 2009;11(1):31-5. [Persian]
[4]Nabatian E, Ghamarani A, Zakerian M, Mahdizadeh I. Relationship between spiritual health with quality of life veterans and disabled Birjand. Iran J War Public Health. 2013;5(2):35-9. [Persian]
[5] Mardani Hamouleh M, Borimnejhad L, Seyyed Fatemi N, Taghavi T. Correlation between general health and quality of life in caregivers of veterans with spinal cord injury. Iran J War Public Health. 2014;6(3):81-6. [Persian]
[6]Akbari Z, Vafaei T, Khosravi S. Relationship between attachment styles and the resiliency amount of veterans wives. Iran J War Public Health. 2011;3(2):12-7. [Persian]
[7] Safavi M, Mahmoudi M, Akbarnatajbisheh K. Assessment of relationship quality of life and coping skills in spouses of chemical devotees with pulmonary complications due to sulfur mustard in Tehran in 2006. Daneshvar Med. 2010;17(87):9-18. [Persian]
[8]Carnes Holt K. Child-parent relationship therapy for adoptive families. Fam J. 2012;20(4):419-26.
[9] Malekpour M. Effect of attachment on early and later development. Br J Dev Disabil. 2007;53(105):81-95.
[10] Hazan C, Shaver P. Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process. J Personal Soc Psychol. 1987;52(3):511-24.
[11]Van Den Dries L, Juffer F, Van Ijzendoorn MH, Bakermans-Kranenburg MJ. Fostering security? A meta-analysis of attachment in adopted children. Child Youth Serv Rev. 2009;31(3):410-21.
[12]Besharat MA, Irvani M, Sharifi M. An investigating the relationship between attachment styles and defense mechanisms. J Psychol. 2001;5(3-19):277-89. [Persian]
[13]Werner EE, Smith RS. Overcoming the odds: High risk children from birth to adulthood. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press; 1992. p. 280
[14]Gobari Bonab B, Steyri Z. Comparison of personality traits and attachment style in mothers of children with disturbed self-deprivation and mothers of normal children. Iran J Except Child. 2006;6(3):787-804. [Persian]
[15] Samani S, Jokar B, Sahragard N. Effects of resilience on mental health and life satisfaction. Iran J Psychiatry Clin Psychol. 2007;13(3):290-5. [Persian]
[16]Kaveh M, Alizadeh H, Delavar A, Barajali A. Development of a resilience fostering program against stress and its impact on quality of life components in parents of children with mild intellectual disability. J Except Child. 2011;11(2):119-40. [Persian]
[17]Rouhani H. The capital of the family, the foundation stone of social capital. Rahbord. 2011;20(59):7-46. [Persian]
[18]Amiri M, Bordbar S, Kateb Z. Comparison of the mental status of working wives of disabled veterans with their spouse working in normal people. J Psychol. 2005;9(1):22-33. [Persian]
[19]Delavar A. Research methods in psychology and educational sciences. Tehran: Publishing Edition; 2005. p. 298. [Persian]
[20]Narimani M, Ahadi B. Personality tests. 1st Edition. Ardabil: Mohaghegh Ardabili Publication. 2010; p. 159. [Persian]
[21]Conner KM, Davidson JRT. Development of a new resilience scale: The Connor‐Davidson resilience scale (CD‐RISC). Depression Anxiety. 2003;18(2):76-82.
[22] Putnam R, Coleman J, Este K, Bourdieu P, Fukuyama F, Porz A, et al. Social Capital: Trust, Democracy and Development. 1st Edition. Khakbaz A, Pooyan H, translators. Tehran: Shirazeh research publication; 2005.
[23] Khanjani M, Sohrabi F, Aazami Y. The effectiveness of resilience and stress management training program on psychological well-being, meaning of life, optimism, and satisfaction of life in female-headed households. Iran J Psychiatr Nurs. 2018;6(2):1-11. [Persian]
[24]Narayan D, Cassidy MF. A dimensional approach to measuring social capital: Development and validation of a social capital inventory. Current Sociology. 2001;49(2):59-102.
[25]Kawachi I, Berkman LF. Social ties and mental health. J Urban health. 2001;78(3):458-67.
[26]Portes A. Social capital: Its origins and applications in modern sociology. Annu Rev Sociol. 1998;24(1):1-24.
[27]Ghaderi M, Maleki A, Haghjo M. The role of social capital in promoting a healthy lifestyle among people with coronary artery disease. Iran J Cardiovasc Nurs. 2015;4(32):24-35. [Persian]