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Introduction: Stress  is  a  condition  that  causes  tension, disturbance  in  body  and  mind , discomfort  and  unpleasant  status.  Adolescents  are  the  most  susceptible  group  of  the  community, a  susceptibility  which  intensifies  with  age  and  kind  of  stressful  events  that  happened  during  life. In  this  study  we  intend  to  find  types  of  stressors  and  their  severity  in  central  area  of  Iran.
Materials  and Methods: This  is  a  descriptive  study  carried  out  on  2000  students between  12-18  years  from  urban  and  rural  selected  school  of  Isfahan, Arak  and  Najaf  Abad  in  1381 (2002) as  a  part  of  an  annual  report  on  healthy  heart  assessment   program.  Sampling  methods  was  randomized  clustering, and  after  collecting  data  based  on  GHQ12 (generalized  health  questionaire)  data  was  analyzed  by  mean, standard  deviation  and  chi-square  based  on  SPSS  version  software.
Results: Of  the  total  subjects  under  9360 (51.2%)  were  males, and 887 (48.8%)  were  female, with  a  mean  age  of  15/97±1/90, 15/52±2/20  respectively.  In  general, the  proportion  of  female  students  with  high  GHQ  score  was  higher  than  male  students. 38.8%  against  32.7%. The  score  was  higher  in  Arak  than the  other  two  cities.  The  most  common  stressful  item  was  concern  for  a  future  career, which  was  also  the  most  effective  life  event, and  next  to  it  was  the  parental  death.
Conclusion: The  severity  of  stress  in  female  students  of  central  area  of  Iran  was  higher  than male, with  a  direct  positive  correlation  with  age, moreover, the  most  common  stressful  item was  concern  for  a  career  and  the  most  effective  life  event  was  also  the  same, and  next  to  it  was  the  parental  death.    
 

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Introduction: Stress is a condition that causes tension, disturbance in body and mind, discomfort and dissatisfaction. There are differences between stresses in the form of great life events and small daily stressful events. Regarding extension and variation of stresses in different parts of country, this study aims to investigate the prevalence and severity of stresses in central areas of Iran. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional analythical study carried out on 6000 people older than 19 years old, selected from urban and rural areas of Isfahan, Arak and Najaf Abad on 2002, as a part of evaluation of the Healthy Heart program. Sampling method was cluster random sampling. Data was collected using GHQ-12 and stressors' type and severity questionnaire. Statistical analysis was performed using Chi square. Results: Of the total subjects under study %50.6 were male, and %49.4 female, with a mean age of 40.47±15.68 and 40.25±15.15 years respectivly. The proportion of women with high GHQ score was higher than men, which was more pronounced in Arak than the two other cities. There were also higher stress levels in unmarried and urban people. (p0.05)The most prevalent stressor included economical, social and job-related issues and the most severe were death, family related and economical events. Conclusion: This study on stress as an indicator of lifestyle reveals high stress levels in the population, which warrants appropriate planning and community-based interventions, to improve lifestyle and reduce stress.

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Background: Marital conflicts have great impact on social, economic and cultural aspects of the couples and their children. New Psychological interventions like “Imago Relationship Therapy” (IRT) have been widely used for resolving these conflicts. This study examined the efficacy of couple dialogue technique on marital relationship and children`s behavior in Iranian society. Methods and Materials: In a Clinical Trial study eighty consecutive couples refered to general pediatric clinics due to their children’s diseases, randomly allocated to intervention group(couple dialogue technique) and control group (consult usual treatment method) in consultation center. They filled "Distance and Isolation Questionnaire" and "Gottmann Love and Respect Scale" at baseline, post treatment and three months after intervention as follow up all of them. General linear Model with Repeated Measurements was used to analyze the data. Results: In this study, scores of mutual love and respect in marital relationship (Gottmann scale) and scores in Flooding, Loneliness and Retreatment subscales of Distance and Isolation Questionnaire had a better condition in IRT group just after the trial (P<0.05) but after three months, the differences between two groups were only marginal significant (P<0.1). In Parallel lives` subscale, scores were decreased in two groups, but right after trial there was not significant scores of the groups did not difference between scores. Scores after three months in IRT group was significantly lower in compare to control group. Scores of CBCL have not statistically significant differences in both groups at any time (P>0.05). Conclusion: This study revealed couple dialogue technique was an effective intervention in solving marital conflicts in Iranian population but had not a significant effect on children’s behavioral profile. This may be due to other factors or insufficient duration of intervention and needs more investigation and needs more investigation.