The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between psychosocial correlates (big 5 personality traits, dispositional optimism, the Health Belief Model, breast cancer fear, mammography self efficacy, and social support) and breast self examination (BSE) and mammography in breast cancer-free women. In order to measure the social support of the participants, the MOS social support survey was adapted to Turkish culture in the scope of study 1. The sample of the study 1 included 241 participants. The analyses showed that Turkish version of the MOS social support survey had satisfactory psychometric properties. The sample of the study 2 was composed of 230 asymptomatic women for breast cancer. Independent samples t-test results indicated that among the Health Belief Model notions, perceived benefit, barrier, confidence, and health motivation significantly differentiated women who practiced BSE and who did not. However, the HBM notions were not able to differentiate women who had mammography and who did not have. Instead, social support significantly clarified the difference between v women who had mammography and women who did not have. Two hierarchical logistic regression analyses were carried out for BSE and mammography. Big 5 personality traits and dispositional optimism were entered at the first step. The HBM factors and self efficacy were entered at the second step. Breast cancer fear was added at the third step / and for the last step social support measures were added to the equation. For BSE, hierarchical logistic regression yielded no significant predictors but BSE confidence and susceptibility from the HBM. For mammography, the hierarchical logistic analysis resulted that only functional support, which was entered at the fourth step was significant. The strengths and limitations, as well as the implications of the findings, were discussed.

This thesis provides an experimental approach to abstract anaphora resolution in Turkish written discourse. The core of this work consists of identifying various manifestations of abstract anaphoric expressions &ndash / bu vs. bu durum, bu olay, bu is, bu ger&ccedil / ek (bu as the bare abstract object anaphor vs. bu+label abstract anaphors)- in Turkish discourse, and investigating whether any difference is observed in their processing. To this end, two offline experiments are conducted with human subjects, and the results indicate that label anaphors, compared to the bare anaphor bu, have a tendency to disambiguate the antecendent in some cases.

This thesis provides an experimental approach to abstract anaphora resolution in Turkish written discourse. The core of this work consists of identifying various manifestations of abstract anaphoric expressions &ndash / bu vs. bu durum, bu olay, bu is, bu ger&ccedil / ek (bu as the bare abstract object anaphor vs. bu+label abstract anaphors) - in Turkish discourse, and investigating whether any difference is observed in their processing. To this end, two offline experiments are conducted with human subjects, and the results indicate that label anaphors, compared to the bare anaphor bu, have a tendency to disambiguate the antecendent in some cases.

Coping is an important concept to explain stress-related factors because it is a process that is mediated by both primary, and secondary appraisal (Lazarus &amp / Folkman, 1984). The present study aims to examine the extent to which correctional officers&#039 / cognitive appraisal associated with stress, and to develop, and test models including work stress, cognitive appraisal of stress, affect-related variables, coping strategies, psychological distress, and psychological adjustment. For this aim, a total of 268 correctional officers from seven different prisons in Turkey participated in the present study. The subjects were given Stress Appraisal Measure (SAM), Work Stress Scale for Correctional Officers (WSSCO), Positive, and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Emotional Approach Coping Scale (EACS), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Trait Form (STAI-T), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Job Satisfaction Scale (JSS), and The Ways of Coping Inventory (WCI) in addition to Demographic Information Form. A variety of hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to reveal the significant associates of psychological distress and adjustment. According to the results of regression analyses, four models were developed, and tested by structural equation modeling. The results of the present study demonstrated that different cognitive appraisals, different affect-related variables, different coping strategies combined to influence psychological distress, and psychological adjustment measures in addition to the direct effects of work stress. Following discussion of the results in terms of theoretical, and methodological perspectives, the limitations of the present study, and the suggestions for future research were also handled.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between the stressors of the caregiving process and the health related outcomes (depression, anxiety, and general psychological health) in caregivers of children with leukemia. Caregiver Stress Model was used as the conceptual framework for the study. In order to measure the stressors of the caregivers, caregiver well-being scale was adapted to Turkish culture as the study 1 by using the caregivers of family members with various chronic illnesses. The analyses showed that Turkish version of the caregiver well-being scale had satisfactory psychometric properties for Turkish caregivers. The sample of the study 2 was composed of 100 caregivers of children with leukemia, who were treated at oncology or hematology departments of hospitals in Ankara and izmir, Turkey. Nine mediation models were tested using problem focused coping, emotion focused coping, and social support as mediators. The models included primary stressors (caregiving tasks and basic needs) and secondary stressors (interpersonal relationships and role strain) as independent variables / and depression, anxiety, and general psychological health as dependent variables. The findings suggested that emotion focused coping and social support were significant mediators of the relationships between the stressors and the outcomes, however, problem focused coping was not a significant mediator. Different patterns of significant relationships were found between the primary stressors, secondary stressors, and the outcome variables. However, caregiving tasks was not significantly predicting of any of the outcome variables. The strengths and limitations, as well as the implications of the findings, were discussed.

This study aimed to explore the emotional and behavioral problems of Turkish adoptees and compare them with non-adopted peers raised by their biological parents. To fulfill this aim, 61 adopted children aged between 6-18 were compared to 62 age and gender matched non-adopted children. A second classification was made in terms of being followed in a child psychiatry unit. Both parents were asked to rate their children&rsquo / s problem behaviors on &ldquo / Child Behavior Check List / 6-18&rdquo / , temperament characteristics on &ldquo / School Age Temperament Inventory&rdquo / , their own personality traits on &ldquo / Basic Personality Traits Inventory&rdquo / and own parenting styles on &ldquo / Measure of Child Rearing Styles&rdquo / . Children were asked to rate both parents&rsquo / availability and reliability as attachment figures on &ldquo / Kerns Security Scale&rdquo / and parenting styles on &ldquo / Measure of Child Rearing Styles&rdquo / . Adolescents between ages 11-18, rated their own problem behaviors on &ldquo / Youth Self Report&rdquo / . Group differences and correlations were analyzed. The results indicated non-significant differences between adopted and non-adopted groups in all of the measures. Children in clinical group unit displayed more problem behaviors, were less task persistent and had more activity than children in non-clinical group. Children under 10 years rated their mothers as being more available attachment figure, being more accepting and responsive than their fathers. Contrary to the literature, age of the child at the time of adoption was not found to be related with problem behaviors or attachment relations. On the other hand, results indicated that the older the child learned about her/his adoption status, the more emotional and behavioral problems occurred. Findings of the study were discussed in the frame of relevant literature. Clinical and policy implications were offered.

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of social support, perceived control, locus of control and demand on adopting coping strategies to deal with workto- family conflict (WFC) and family-to-work conflict (FWC). A questionnaire was administered to Turkish dual-career couples with diverse occupational backgrounds (N = 300). Results suggested that (a) those who received social supported adopt problem-focused coping strategies through the effect of having high perceived control, (b) those with external locus of control adopted emotion-focused coping strategies which in turn increased family-to-work conflict, but not such relationship was observed on work-to-family conflict, and (c) work/home demands moderated the relationship between perceived control and coping strategies only when it was measured as a combination of both self-reports and objective demand indices. Practical implications of the findings are discussed along with the limitations of the study.

The aims of the present study are to examine the traumatic effects of EMI on the offended partners as well as to find out the predictors (coping, resources, and forgiveness) of the severity of PTSD. The participants of the study consisted of 189 married women who had continued their marriage after discovery of partners&rsquo / EMI. EMI was assessed with one item measure with the six-point continuum starting from &ldquo / entirely sexual&rdquo / to &ldquo / entirely emotional&rdquo / involvement. The instruments of the study: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Scale-Self Report (PSS-SR), Ways of Coping Inventory (WCI), The Conservation of Resources Evaluation (COR-E), and Forgiveness Inventory (FI: its reliability and validity study was completed for the present study). Although EMI is a traumatic event that was not consist with the DSM-IV, the results of the present study revealed that 34.4% of participants completed the whole DSM-IV criteria for PTSD. More specifically, the rates of participants who met the criteria were: 50.7% A (stressor), 97.9% B (intrusive recollection), 85.2% C (avoidant/numbing), 91.0% D (hyper-arousal), 93.1% E (duration), 85.7% F (functional significance). In addition, the results of the present study showed: Coping / problem-focused group had lower PTSD than emotion-focused coping groups, Resource / a resource loss group had higher PTSD than resource gain group, and Forgiveness / stage I-impact group showed the highest PTSD whereas the stage III-recovery group showed the lowest PTSD. Furthermore, the final model of regression analyses revealed the predictors of PTSD total symptom severity as emotion-focused coping, resource gain, and stage I-impact, and these variables explained 46 % of the total variance. The results were discussed in accordance with the relevant literature.

The current study aimed to examine two potential positive outcomes of an earthquake experience, namely posttraumatic growth (PTG) and earthquake preparedness behavior. Variables that may be related to PTG and earthquake preparedness behavior were examined after earthquake victimization by using two models, which were the Person Relative to Event (PrE) Model (Mulilis &amp / Duval, 1997) to understand earthquake preparedness behavior, and Model of Life Crises and Personal Growth (Schaefer &amp / Moos, 1992) to understand PTG. In order to examine earthquake preparedness behavior, the roles of demographic variables, event-related variables, cognitive appraisal factors, and coping strategies, and in order to examine PTG, environmental factors, system factors, event related factors, earthquake specific coping and cognitive appraisal factors, and general ways of coping responses factors were examined. Data was collected by a questionnaire consisting of three parts. The first part was a socio-demographic information form. The second part of the questionnaire included set of items designed to examine past earthquake experience, the severity of past earthquake experience and reasons to prepare for a possible future earthquake. The third part of the questionnaire consisted of eight scales. These scales were Ways of Coping Inventory (WCI) to measure coping strategies used in stressful situations, Revised and Translated Mulilis-Lippa Earthquake Preparedness Scale (MLEPS) to measure the level of earthquake preparedness behavior, perceived difficulty and perceived effectiveness of being prepared, Religiousness Scale (RS) to measure the level of religious resources of participants, The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) to measure perceived adequacy of social support, The Quality of Life Scale (WHOQOL) to measure the quality of life of the participants, Psychological Well-Being Scale to measure the level of psychological well-being of participants, Traumatic Stress Symptom Checklist (TSSC) to measure posttraumatic stress, and Post-traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) to measure stress-related growth. One hundred ninety nine adults (105 females and 94 males with an age range of 18 to 73) were participants of the study. The participants were from Kaynasli, D&uuml / zce. The participants were selected on the basis of their age, gender, and the type of their houses. They were contacted through home visits. In the result section, the level of the different categories of earthquake preparedness behavior, self-efficacy and outcome efficacy / the reasons of preparedness and nonpreparedness for earthquakes, the variables related to earthquake preparedness behavior and PTG were presented. Hierarchical regression analysis results revealed that perceived responsibility to prepare for earthquakes, outcome efficacy, and problem-focused coping were positively and posttraumatic stress was negatively related to earthquake preparedness behavior. As a result of the regression analysis, it was found that being married, perceived social support, well-being, problem-focused coping, and seeking social support coping were significant predictors of the level of PTG. The results of regression analysis also showed that, general problem focused coping was more efficient than earthquake specific active coping after earthquake victimization for the development of PTG. The results of the study were discussed within the relevant literature, shortcomings of the current study, clinical implications and suggestions for future research were proposed.

The purpose of the study was to examine the influences of basic personality traits, cognitive emotion regulation and interpersonal problems on the cognitive aspects of personality disorders. 1298 adult participants (411 males and 887 females) between the ages of 18 and 68 (M = 26.85, sd = 7.95) participated in the study. In the first part of the study, Inventory of Interpersonal Problems was adapted to Turkish, and psychometric properties of the adapted inventory as well as Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire and Personality Belief Questionnaire were analyzed and were found to have good validity and reliability characteristics. Differences in demographic variables and correlational data for the measures were examined. Direct and mediational models were used to investigate the relationship among basic personality traits, cognitive emotion regulation, interpersonal problems and personality disorder beliefs. The results revealed that openness and neuroticism were associated with positive and negative emotion regulation, respectively. Neuroticism, negative valence and catastrophization were associated with interpersonal problems positively whereas extraversion was associated with them negatively. In terms of personality psychopathology, neuroticism, catastrophization, blaming others, and being cold and domineering in relations were found to be positively associated with personality disorder beliefs. Furthermore, the effect of neuroticism and negative valence on personality disorder beliefs was mediated by interpersonal problems, with the effect of negative valence also being mediated by negative cognitive emotion regulation. The findings and their implications with suggestions for future research and clinical applications, were discussed in the light of relevant literature.