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Adaptation and Validation of the University Adjustment Scale for Azerbaijani Students

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Title: Adaptation and Validation of the University Adjustment Scale for Azerbaijani Students Authors: Karimova, Malak; Mukhtarov, Mirsadig; Yavuz, Melike Abstract: University adjustment is a multidimensional process involving academic, social, personal–emotional, and institutional adaptation. The assessment of university adjustment using culturally appropriate and psychometrically sound instruments is important for understanding students’ adaptation processes and identifying adjustment-related difficulties. The purpose of this study was to adapt the University Adjustment Scale (UAS) into Azerbaijani and to examine its psychometric properties among Azerbaijani university students. The UAS is a multidimensional instrument designed to assess academic, social, personal–emotional, and institutional adjustment to university life. Following the linguistic and conceptual adaptation procedures, the scale was administered to university students in Azerbaijan. The study sample consisted of 500 students enrolled at Khazar University in Azerbaijan. Construct validity was evaluated using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Internal consistency reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficients and corrected item–total correlations. The reliability analyses demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency for the Azerbaijani version of the UAS, with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranging from .800 to .924 across the subdimensions and the total scale. Preliminary reliability analyses indicated that Item 41 demonstrated weak psychometric performance and was therefore excluded from subsequent analyses, resulting in a final 44-item version of the scale. The EFA findings suggested a four-factor structure broadly corresponding to the original UAS, explaining 38.25% of the total variance. However, the CFA results provided mixed evidence regarding the fit of this structure (χ² = 2773.83, df = 896, p <.001; CFI = .776, TLI = .764, RMSEA = .065, and SRMR = .065). Although the RMSEA and SRMR values were within commonly accepted ranges, the CFI and TLI values indicated inadequate incremental fit. Overall, the Azerbaijani version of the UAS demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency and provided preliminary evidence regarding its multidimensional structure. However, the mixed CFA results suggest that the four-factor structure was not fully supported by the data. These findings represent an initial contribution to the assessment of university adjustment in the Azerbaijani higher education context. Description: Malak Karimova: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9156-962X Mirsadig Mukhtarov: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-4200-0397 Melike Yavuz: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9037-6770 DOI: https://doi.org/10.16986/hunefd.1985397

Associations between lifestyle, genetic liability for severe mental illness and risk of incident somatic illnesses

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Title: Associations between lifestyle, genetic liability for severe mental illness and risk of incident somatic illnesses Authors: Isayeva, Ulker; Guloksuz, Sinan; Lin, Bochao Danae; de Boer, Nini; Rutten, Bart P. F.; Linden, David E. J.; Manchia, Mirko; Luykx, Jurjen J. Abstract: People with severe mental illness (SMI), including schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BD), show elevated risk for somatic conditions and premature mortality. Both genetic liability and modifiable lifestyle factors have been implicated in this comorbidity, yet large-scale studies examining their independent and combined effects across multiple somatic conditions are lacking. We therefore examined whether modifiable lifestyle factors (i.e. smoking, alcohol intake, diet, and exercise) and polygenic risk scores (PRS) for SCZ and BD are associated with the risk of developing somatic illnesses. Data were drawn from 315,313 unrelated individuals in the UK Biobank cohort, with a median follow up of 14 years. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the independent, joint, and interaction effects of PRS-SCZ and PRS-BD and lifestyle factors on the incidence of nine chronic somatic illnesses. Healthy lifestyle was associated with lower risks of type 2 diabetes (T2D), cardiovascular disease (CVD), dementia, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, chronic liver disease (CLD), and cancer (HRs ranging from 0.43 to 0.80). In addition, higher PRS for SCZ was associated with increased risks of asthma and dementia and lower risk of T2D, while higher PRS for BD was associated with increased risk of T2D. Moreover, likelihood ratio tests confirmed that PRS-SCZ and PRS-BD each contribute independent information to the joint Cox model for T2D, indicating that the opposing directions of their associations with T2D risk are not driven by shared genetic variance between the two scores. Finally, individuals with a healthy lifestyle consistently showed lower risks of CLD, T2D, CVD, and dementia across genetic risk strata; however, no significant additive interaction was observed between genetic risk and lifestyle factors. In conclusion, these findings indicate that genetic liabilities for SCZ and BD show outcome-specific associations with somatic illnesses, while a healthy lifestyle is associated with lower somatic illness risk regardless of genetic risk level.

Opinion: A Routine Visit, a Revealing Reaction

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Title: Opinion: A Routine Visit, a Revealing Reaction Authors: Huseynov, Vasif

Sufism And Personalism: Philosophical and Ethical Conceptions of God and The Person

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Title: Sufism And Personalism: Philosophical and Ethical Conceptions of God and The Person Authors: Garayeva, Gunel Aliniyaz; Khalilov, Ruslan Niyaz Abstract: This article compares and analyzes Sufism and American personalist as two distinct intellectual traditions. Although they emerged in distinct historical and cultural contexts, but they conceptualized the human being as a holder of moral value, dignity, creative potential, spiritual embodiment. Tasavvuf expresses union with God and a spiritual journey to divine love, this path constitutes a profound ontological transformation of the Sufi practitioner. In the modern world a crisis of identity, cultural conflict, relativism in morality changed the value of humanity and for this reason the dialogue of sufy and personalist currents is a new highly valued philosophical approach. The coordination of the spiritual depth of Islamic-eastern philosophy and American-western ethics of responsibility as social issue opens new achievements in cultural dialogue and individual self-perfection. The synthesis of Sufism and American personalism creates a new model of “spiritual humanism”, here ethical and anthropological parallels are a new systematic analytical identification. Based on philosophical synthesis it formulates the idea of a “transcultural personalism embedded in spiritual responsibility”. The comparative philosophical ideas produce a spiritual-philosophical framework: from Sufism it adopts the ideas of love, mystical intuition, ontological unity, from Personalism it derives rational justification of responsibility, freedom, human dignity. Through this dialectical integration the human is accepted as a metaphysical reflection of the absolute essence and as an ethical-subjective actor in historical process. Both philosophical schools hold that the human being is responsible toward mankind and God. Sufism sees the implementation of these duties in spiritual perfection, in the same issue personalism realizes it by understanding the importance of social responsibility and ethical consciousness. As a final analysis, the sufi philosophy on “silent journey guiding the human existence toward the Divine” resonates with American personalism in its understanding of God`s manifestation with human being. Each philosophical study evaluates the human as a center of spiritual universe and claims that divine worth of person is the most significant philosophical truth. Overall, this approach provides a productive conceptual foundation not only for interreligious encounter, but also for the evolution of humanism in global philosophical thought. Emerging from the dialogue of Islamic mysticism and American-western personalism in the twenty first century the discussion offers a significant philosophical direction for reconsidering the concepts of the humanity, responsibility, spirituality.