Sadia Saleem

• PhD Clinical Psychology
• Professor (Associate) at University of Management and Technology

In the Pakistani cultural context, dating violence is a pervasive issue that poses significant risks to mental health. This qualitative study aimed to explore the experiences and expressions of young adults who have faced dating violence, with a focus on informing counseling and early intervention. Through interpretative phenomenological analysis o...

Strong emotional bonds with the family often result in many positive consequences for human functioning, including emotional regulation and eating patterns. The study aimed to determine the relationship between unbalanced family cohesion, emotion regulation, and eating problems in young adults. A correlation research design was used with a non-prob...

The current study aimed to explore the experience, expression and manifestation of parentification among adolescents experiencing parental discord in Pakistan. Interpretative phenomenological analysis design (IPA) was used for the study, and purposive sampling strategy was employed. The sample included eight boys and girls of class 9th, 10th, 11th...

The current study aims to explore the serial mediating role of ADHD symptoms and self-criticism between dysfunctional attitudes and mental health problems in young adults. The sample of 315 university students (13men and 180 women) with age ranging from 18 to 24 years were given a Demographic Performa, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Symptom Scale (A...

The current study intended to investigate the role of self-esteem as a mediator between reassurance-seeking behavior and interpersonal difficulties in 300 university students (50% men and 50% women) aged between 18-30 years (M = 20.72, SD = 1.88). Measures consisted of the Reassurance Seeking Behavior Scale (Hafeez, 2020), Self-Esteem Scale (Zafar...

The correlational linkages between dark triad personality and unlawful, antisocial, and repulsive behaviors have been identified in the literature but little is known about the relationship between emotion regulation, dark triad personality, rule-breaking behavior and mental health problems and the processes underlying this association. The current...

The trauma related to death is always an intense emotional and psychological experience that tend to shake the stability of life. Through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), this study explored the experience and expression of trauma related to the death of a close family member in women. A sample of 5 women of age ranging from 22 to 30...

This study investigates the moderating role of interpersonal skills in the relationship between family cohesion and emotional–behavioral problems (EBPs) in a sample of 1,452 (boys = 46% ; girls = 54%) adolescents, between the ages of 12 and 19 years ( M = 15.11, SD = 1.33) was selected through multistage sampling technique from Lahore, Islamabad, a...

Family plays a pivotal role in the growth and development of the individual and disharmony brings significant distress among family members. To deal with this distress, the family member may seek sources of support to assist in the copying process. An adaptive attitude that leads to this behaviour may result in the adoption of certain roles. In the...

Objective: This study aims to explore the mediating role of interpersonal problem between emotion regulation and attention deficits hyperactivity symptoms in young adults. Methodology: This cross-sectional research was carried out from September 2020 to November 2020 in the city of Lahore. A sample of 1190 university students (545 men and 645 wome...

The current study aimed to develop a culturally appropriate measure of eating problems in young adults in Pakistani culture. The items were generated through an open-ended phenomenological approach and 40 participants (20 women and 20 men) with age range of 15-25 years (M = 19.43, SD = 3.31) grads and undergrads from public and private sectors were...

ABSTRACTOBJECTIVE: To find out ADHD symptoms in a sample of young adults. To developADHD symptoms in a sample of young adults METHODOLOGY: A mixed-methods design was used. The study was carried out from July 2019 to February 2020 in series of phases, in phase I, 20 university students of BS Hon(11 women 9 men) age range 18-24 were interviewed and a...

ABSTRACT Objective: To explore the mediating role of temperament traits in parenting styles and Attention Deficits Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) symptoms in young adults. Study Design: A Cross-sectional research design. Place and Duration of Study: This study was carried out in Lahore from September 2019 to March 2020. Materials and Methods: A sample...

Background: COVID-19 pandemic has created numerous psycho-social issues throughout the world. Aim: The current study is aimed at identifying and validating the psychosocial reactions of university students to current pandemic COVID-19. Methods: Mixed-methods research design was used. Initially, the presenting problems of 39 university studentswere...

Emotional neglect is said to be a risk factor for long lasting mental health problems in adolescents. This study aims to explore the experience and manifestation of emotional neglect in adolescents. Initially, 29 items were generated through open-ended interview approach from 25 participants (13 boys & 12 girls) aged 10-19 years. After content vali...

Several empirical studies have linked parenting styles with different mental health consequences in samples from Western nations, with some studies also in East Asian countries. However, few studies have analyzed such associations specifically in South Asian countries such as Pakistan. Moreover, few studies have examined the potential interactive r...

Abstract The current research is aimed at investigating the mediating role of emotional neglect and self-injurious behaviors in the association between family satisfaction and depressive symptoms in 312 undergraduates (45% boys and 55% girls) in the age range of 14–19 years (M ¼ 17.23, SD ¼ 1.02). The measures include the Emotional Neglect Scale, S...

The current study aimed to determine the predictive relationship of family communication, prosocial behavior, and emotional/behavioral problems in adolescents. A sample of 273 adolescents (girls = 148; boys = 125), aged 11–18 years ( M = 14.41, SD = 1.53) were recruited through multistage sampling strategy. Family Communication Scale, Prosocial Sca...

This research aims to determine the mediating role of social deficits in self-criticism and aggression using a sample of 695 adolescents (girls = 49%, boys = 51%), aged 12 to 19 years ( M = 14.97, SD = 1.30) from an urbanized city of Pakistan. Interpersonal Difficulties Scale, Self-Criticism Scale, and Aggressive Behavior Scale were used in the pre...

The aim of this study was to develop a culturally relevant scale of satisfying marriage for dual-career couples. In order to explore the phenomenology of satisfying marriage, 25 participants, 25–42 years of age, were interviewed and their responses were recorded. Responses were then collated and duplicate and vague items were discarded. The remaini...

The current research explored the serial mediating role of social comparison and interpersonal skills in the association between positive parenting and self-esteem in adolescents. The participants for this study comprised 674 (boys = 47%, girls = 53%) adolescents recruited from the mainstream government school of Lahore, an urbanized city of Pakist...

The current mental toughness is multidimensional construct that help the individual to show persistent strength and preservation during the high competitive situations. The university life is the most vulnerable and pressured time for the university students. The aim of the current study was to determine the psychometric properties of the Mental To...

Background: The current study aimed at investigating the manifestation and prevalence of the commonly reported psychosocial reactions in the university students following the onset of COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This cross-sectional survey was carried out during April to May, 2020 in the city of Lahore. Based on the interviews and presenting pro...

Objective: To find out the mediating role of emotional neglect between family communication and self-injurious behaviour. Methodology: In this cross sectional study, total 312 college students from an urbanized city of Lahore were surveyed using the Family Communication Scale, the Emotional Neglect Scale, and the Self-injurious Behaviour Scale. Dat...

Objective: To identify the mediating role of self-confidence in family cohesion and depression in adolescents. Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted at five mainstream government boys and girls schools in Lahore, Pakistan, from March 1 to November 30, 2019, and comprised adolescents aged 12-19 years. Data was collected using Family Co...

Objective: To develop a valid and reliable scale for measuring psychosocial issues of hearing-impaired school children. Methods: The cross-sectional study with four stage model of scale development was conducted at Multan, Muzafargarh, and Dera Ghazi Khan Pakistan from August 2018 to January 2019. The four stages were item generation, expert val...

Interpersonal skills play a vital role in the growth and development of adolescents. The current study explored the experience and manifestation of interpersonal skills in Pakistani adolescents. In phase I, using open‐ended phenomenological approach, key components of interpersonal skills were elicited from 32 adolescents (boys = 16; girls = 16) ag...

College students are said to have an increasing trend of mental health problems that lead to various negative academic, personal and social outcomes. The current study aimed to determine the mediating role of interpersonal difficulties between parental rejection and mental health problems of college students. A total of 321 college students selecte...

Background: Infertility is one of the fastest growing concerns when it comes to reproductive health and most often, women get the blame. Consequently, females suffer from major psycho-social and emotional problems that may lead to serious mental health concerns.Methods: To fill the gap in literature, a cross-sectional research design was used to me...

Objective: To determine the relationship between psychosocial stressors and quality of life in females with post-menopausal osteoporosssis. Methodology: A total of 100 females with age from 50-63 years (Mean 56.13±3.16) were selected from two government hospitals and one private clinic through purposive sampling strategy. The patients were given Ps...

Parenting styles are said to have profound impact on child’s development. However, these are largely influenced by culture and its philosophy. The present study aimed to develop a valid and reliable scale for measuring perceived parenting styles for Pakistani culture. In Phase-I of the study, phenomenological approach was used to explore parenting...

It has been amply demonstrated through clinical practice and research that alcoholism not only affects the individual, but the family as well (Olmsted, Crowell, & Waters, 2003). The affects are numerous ranging from nonclinical to clinical problems (Barnard & McKeganey, 2004). Moreover, one of the salient features is that the family members of the...

This study is an attempt to identify and develop a scale that would assess Perceived Psycho-social issues in the wives of emigrants. For this purpose, 20 wives of emigrants were interviewed to extract a list of items related to their psycho-social health issues in the absence of husbands. A list of (23 items) was administered to 150 emigrants' wive...

Temperament is said to be more functionally related to behavior then the structural view of personality. This research describes an attempt to develop a temperament scale for the use of clinical and research with student population. In Phase I, different temperaments were elicited from 40 university students (20 males and 20females). Phase II compr...

Objective: To develop an indigenous self-report measure for borderline personality traits in a clinical sample. Methodology: During the first phase, phenomenology was explored by conducting in-depth interviews of 15 diagnosed patients. The repeated and dubious responses were screened out that resulted in the production of a league table. Five exper...

BACKGROUND: Learning impairments in children consist of a spectrum of disorders that are under diagnosed in Pakistan. Most learning disorders have long term consequences for a child and early detection is thus imperative. Teachers may be able to play a key role in such identification. The objective of our study was to survey knowledge, attitudes an...

The current research explored the expression of intimate relationship in university students in Pakistani cultural context. In the first phase of the study, 20 university students were interviewed individually to generate the item pool. It resulted in the generation of 71 items on intimate relationship as experienced and expressed by university stu...

Objective: The current study was an exploratory study aimed to develop an indigenous tool for assessing coping among university students and to identify the experience, expression and manifestation of coping. Place and duration of study: Study was conducted in a public university of Lahore within the duration of one year from September 2011to Augu...

This study provides a validation of EMBU-C on Pakistani adolescents. 1279 adolescents were selected through multistage sampling with the age range of 12-18 (M 13.93, SD 1.83). The participants were given a modified version of EMBU-C Muris, Meesters, & van Brakel, 2003), School Children Problem Scale (SCPS, Saleem & Mahmood, 2011) and a demographic...

The concept of dyslexia has been with us for nearly 200 years, yet the controversy about its existence has been a debatable issue among Researchers, Educationalists and Psychologist. The scope of dyslexia expanded from Word Blindness to spectrum of Specific Learning Difficulties affecting school children. Dyslexia manifests itself in the area mainl...

The current research explored the patterns of interpersonal difficulties among university students in Pakistani cultural context. In the first phase, 40 university students were interviewed individually to generate item pool of 69 interpersonal difficulties as experienced by them. After excluding duplication and repetition, the list of 61 items was...

This study attempts to explore cultural-specific manifestation and expression of depressive symptomatology in adolescents. 40 school children referred by their teachers to the school counsellors were interviewed to explore the expression of depressive symptomatology. A list of 32 elicited items was given to 10 school counselors for empirical val...

The present research was undertaken to develop and validate the social intelligence scale. Attributes of social intelligence were elicited from 35 university students. After empirical validation, 431 university students were asked to rate themselves on the 98 item on a 4-point scale. Factor analysis revealed five factors namely; Social Manipulation...

A sample of 5053 school children (51% girls and 49% boys) with the age range of 13-17 (M 14.40, SD 1.25) from 43 government schools in the city of Lahore were selected through multistage sampling method. An indigenously developed School Children Problem Scale (SCPS; Saleem & Mahmood, 2011) was used as a self report measure to determine the prevalen...

A survey of mental health problems of university students was carried out on 1850 participants in the age range 19-26 years. An indigenous Student Problem Checklist (SPCL) developed by Mahmood & Saleem, (2011), 45 items is a rating scale, designed to determine the prevalence rate of mental health problem among university students. This scale relate...

The present study aimed to develop a measure of self -esteem for the university students. For this purpose, the expression of self-esteem was explored from 25 university students (15 male; 10 female) using the semi-structured interview based on the Mruk’s definition of self -esteem (1999). A list of 62 items was converted into a self report measure...

Self-esteem is generally construe as an evaluation of ones self-worth; its manifestation however, tend to vary considerably in different cultures. This study attempts to develop a scale for the assessment of self-esteem among school children in Pakistan. A list of 44 items of self-esteem was presented as a self report measure Self-Esteem Scale for...

This study aimed to assess the occurrence and severity level of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms (PTSS) in 165 men who are Rescue 1122 workers of Lahore. A list of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and areas of life affected from Foa's PDS scale (1995) was given to the respondents. Factor analysis of the PTSD symptoms revealed three factors, namely, Re-ex...

To develop a scale to assess emotional and behavioral problems in school children, a list of 109 most frequently occurring problems after validation by 20 experienced school psychologists was administered to 853 school children (grades 8-10) along with Youth Self Report (YSR; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001). Exploratory factor analysis revealed 6 facto...

The objective of the current study was to develop an indigenous scale for the assessment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in Pakistan . The research was conducted in different phases which aimed to generate symptoms, examine factor structure, and establish reliability of the scale. Item-generation was based on symptoms elicited through interv...

This study is an attempt to investigate the phenomenon of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in our culture. Initially, presenting symptoms of OCD were elicited from 20 firmly diagnosed clients through semi structured interviews. The symptoms were validated for their diagnostic relevance by 10 experienced clinicians. A final list of 27 symptoms we...