Introducing Copula as a Novel Statistical Method in Psychological Analysis

Dehghani, Elham; Ranjbar, Somayeh Hadad; Atashafrooz, Moharram; Negarestani, Hossein; Mosavi, Amir; Kovacs, Levente

doi:10.3390/ijerph18157972

Open AccessArticle

Introducing Copula as a Novel Statistical Method in Psychological Analysis

by

Elham Dehghani

¹,

Somayeh Hadad Ranjbar

²,

Moharram Atashafrooz

³,

Hossein Negarestani

⁴,

Amir Mosavi

^5,*

and

Levente Kovacs

^6,7,8,*

¹

Department of Psychology, Rafsanjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rafsanjan 7718184483, Iran

²

Department of Theology and General Islamic Courses, Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan, Rafsanjan 7718897111, Iran

³

Imam Khomeini Specialized Center, Islamic Counseling Faculty, Qom 3713755518, Iran

⁴

Department of Statistics, Faculty of Mathematical Sciences, Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan, Rafsanjan 7718897111, Iran

⁵

John von Neumann Faculty of Informatics, Obuda University, 1034 Budapest, Hungary

⁶

Biomatics Institute, John von Neumann Faculty of Informatics, Obuda University, 1034 Budapest, Hungary

⁷

ELKH SZTAKI Institute, P.O. Box 63, 1518 Budapest, Hungary

⁸

Physiological Controls Research Center, University Research and Innovation Center, Obuda University, 1034 Budapest, Hungary

^*

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(15), 7972; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18157972

Submission received: 28 June 2021 / Revised: 21 July 2021 / Accepted: 23 July 2021 / Published: 28 July 2021

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nonparametric Statistics and Machine Learning with Applications in Health Studies)

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Abstract

During the past decades, the relationship between various psychological parameters had been studied in detail. However, the dependency structure of correlated parameters was rarely investigated. Knowing the dependence structure helps in finding the probability matrix of the interaction between the parameters. In this research, a novel approach was introduced in psychological analysis using copula functions. For this purpose, the self-esteem and anxiety of 141 university students in Iran were extracted using the Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory and the Zang Anxiety Scale. Then the dependence structure of self-esteem and anxiety were established using copula functions. The Frank copula achieved the best fit for the joint variables of self-esteem and anxiety. Finally, the probability matrix of different classes of anxiety, taking into account self-esteem classes, was extracted. The results indicated that poor self-esteem leads to severe or very severe anxiety, with more than 98% probability, while strong self-esteem may lead to normal and mild anxiety, with about 80% probability. It can be concluded that the method was promising, and that copula functions can open a window to the dependence structure analysis of psychological parameters.

Keywords: self-esteem; anxiety; psychology; copula; probability matrix; probability theory; statistics; dependence structure; mathematical modeling; social science data

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MDPI and ACS Style

Dehghani, E.; Ranjbar, S.H.; Atashafrooz, M.; Negarestani, H.; Mosavi, A.; Kovacs, L. Introducing Copula as a Novel Statistical Method in Psychological Analysis. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 7972. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18157972

AMA Style

Dehghani E, Ranjbar SH, Atashafrooz M, Negarestani H, Mosavi A, Kovacs L. Introducing Copula as a Novel Statistical Method in Psychological Analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(15):7972. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18157972

Chicago/Turabian Style

Dehghani, Elham, Somayeh Hadad Ranjbar, Moharram Atashafrooz, Hossein Negarestani, Amir Mosavi, and Levente Kovacs. 2021. "Introducing Copula as a Novel Statistical Method in Psychological Analysis" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 15: 7972. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18157972

APA Style

Dehghani, E., Ranjbar, S. H., Atashafrooz, M., Negarestani, H., Mosavi, A., & Kovacs, L. (2021). Introducing Copula as a Novel Statistical Method in Psychological Analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(15), 7972. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18157972

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

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Introducing Copula as a Novel Statistical Method in Psychological Analysis

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