There is evidence of decreased academic engagement and psychological well-being in university students, but also little research on the effects of coronavirus anxiety. Accordingly, the aim of the present study was to predict coronavirus anxiety based on the two variables mentioned. The sample included 426 female and male students from a university in Ahvaz, Khuzestan province, Iran, who self-selected voluntarily through the WhatsApp application. The results showed a negative correlation of the two predictor variables with coronavirus anxiety, but through stepwise regression only psychological well-being was able to predict 16% of coronavirus anxiety. Designing psychological interventions to improve academic engagement and psychological well-being and to comprehensively support to reduce coronavirus anxiety in students is one of the present research suggestions.
Establishing psychological profiles considering the type of sexual offense is relevant for development of differentiated psychological treatments. Therefore, differences in demographic, criminal, personality, psychopathological, and psychopathic characteristics between people who have committed sexual offenses against children and people who have committed sexual offenses against adults were examined. Participants were 57 people who had offended children and 30 people who had offended adults, from northeastern Mexico. Instruments were the Personality Assessment Inventory and the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised. Both groups displayed low levels of psychopathology, although participants who had offended adults scored generally higher. Regarding psychopathy, participants who had offended children presented more affective deficits, whereas participants who had offended adults showed a greater tendency toward social deviation, particularly toward antisocial lifestyle.
Drug use and violence are two interconnected problems in violent urban contexts, leading to coercive drug offers. In this study, relationships between drug use, use of violence as a strategy for rejecting drug offers, and exposure to neighborhood violence were analyzed in Mexican students. Data were obtained through a self-report survey and focus groups with lower secondary students in three Mexican metropolitan areas. Both quantitative and qualitative results indicated that students who had used or would use violence as a strategy for rejecting drug offers presented a more problematic psychosocial profile, with exposure to neighborhood violence as the main predictor. These results suggest that Mexican students in violent cities may resort to violence as a strategy for rejecting drug offers.
Honduran migration toward the United States crosses Mexico forming migrant caravans, generating intense sociopolitical debate. However, a psychosocial analysis focused on Mexicans' perceptions and behavioral tendencies has not been performed. Quality of contact between Mexican residents and Honduran migrants and its relationship to Mexicans' (interpersonal and institutional) behavioral tendencies, as well as the mediating role of morality and immorality stereotypes and perceived threat, were analyzed. Participants were 540 Mexicans (64.26% women; age, M = 26.03 years, SD = 8.94) who answered an online form. Results showed an indirect association of higher quality of intergroup contact with more facilitating tendencies through higher morality stereotypes and with fewer harming tendencies through lower perceived threat. Our results may contribute to design migration policies.
There are still few studies to understand the determinants of child psychopathology. Stress is related to children's internalized and externalized problems, and the type of coping could mediate these relationships. The mediating roles of four types of coping (functional, dysfunctional, emotion-focused, and avoidance) in the relationships between stress and internalized and externalized problems were analyzed. Participants were 252 children (146 boys; M = 9.70 years old, SD = 1.26). A mediation model was tested through structural equation analysis. An adequate fit was obtained (root-mean-square error of approximation =.04, comparative fit index =.90, Tucker-Lewis index =.89). Functional coping mediated the relationships between stress and internalized and externalized problems. Promoting functional coping may prevent internalized and externalized problems.
Attitudes toward gender equality in adolescence play a fundamental role in identifying stereotyped roles for women and men, which should be detected at early ages. The School Doing Gender/ Students scale is one of the most complete instruments for such detection in adolescents, but doubts on the scale internal structure remain. In this study, the internal structure and psychometric properties of the scale were analyzed in 1,840 adolescents from Castile-La Mancha. Internal structure was analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and bifactor analysis. Results showed that independently interpreting three factors was limited. All items measured attitudes toward gender equality, yielding acceptable fit indices and reliability coefficients. In conclusion, the scale measures attitudes toward gender equality in adolescents from Castile- La Mancha.
Literature indicates that there is diversity between women and men in moral, political, and social behavior. These results have sparked interest in the study of gender differences in decision making. With the aim of identifying gender differences in decision making and determining whether gender acted as a moderator of five cognitive biases on decision- making judgments, a correlational, cross-sectional, within-individuals study was carried out in a sample of university students (age, M = 25.17 years, SD = 6.69; women, 71.68%). A 10item questionnaire was used to measure base rate, framing, conjunction, outcome, and anchoring biases. There were differences in decision- making judgments: Women were more conservative and less risky in their decisions, whereas men accepted higher risk and uncertainty when making decisions.
The Resilience Scale has shown adequate psychometric properties in the Spanish population. However, a nation-wide sample representative of the general population has been left out. In this study, the psychometric properties of the 18-item Resilience Scale were analyzed in the Spanish general population, and the reliable change index was calculated. The sample included 444 participants from the Spanish general population. Regarding results, two factors (Personal and Future Adjustment, alpha = .89; Active Personal Competence, alpha = .78) were identified with an excellent fit to data. Besides, resilience increased with age, was sex independent, and significantly related to general emotional health. An adaptation of the Resilience Scale to the Spanish general population is provided, as well as its reliable change index.
Healthy organizations have healthy employees, who are defined by five psychosocial strengths: engagement, self-efficacy, resilience, optimism, and hope. They also associate with psychosocial and productivity enhancing benefits. However, the relationship between these strengths and physical activity level practiced is unknown. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between physical activity level and healthy employee's psychosocial strengths. Participants were 287 workers from three companies; 208 were men and 79 were women. Instruments were the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and an adaptation of the Healthy and Resilient Organization questionnaire. Results indicated that workers who practiced vigorous or moderate physical activity had significantly higher rates of healthy employee's psychosocial strengths than those practicing light physical activity. Therefore, companies should implement physical activity programs.
Personality assessment has been one of the most relevant topics in psychology, with the Big Five factors model being mostly used in recent decades. Our aim was to adapt and validate the Big Five Inventory (BFI) in the Chilean university population. After an initial linguistic adaptation, 9 of the 44 original items were slightly modified. Answers from 731 university students allowed to establish the psychometrics. Exploratory structural equation modeling resulted in a final 32-item version that replicated the original five-factor structure. Subsequently, 188 university students answered the bfi and the Mini-International Personality Item Pool once and 1 month later to examine the convergent validity and temporal stability. Results supported an adequate adaptation of the bfi to the Chilean population.
Role commitment is essential to improve the collective functioning in team sports. Thus, the objective was to validate the Role Commitment in Sport Survey in Spanish (RCS2-s) through two studies. In Study 1, 631 players participated (ages 10- 16, M = 13.28, SD = 1.12), whereas in Study 2, 196 did it (ages 10-15, M = 13.20, SD = 1.16). A three-first-order-factor structure was obtained for role commitment bases and another only one-factor for role commitment (both studies). The RCS2-s showed reliability (both studies), with adequate discriminant (both studies), nomological, and predictive validity with group cohesion (Study 2), and invariant across gender and category (Study 1). Therefore, the RCS2-s would be a valid and reliable tool measuring role commitment.
The covid-19 crisis has challenged the well-being of professionals supporting abused children. The effects of some risk (i.e., number of nearby infected people and telecommuting and housework hours per day) and protective (i.e., social support, self-efficacy, and self-care) factors on depression and anxiety symptoms were tested in professionals supporting child-abuse victims in Chile during the covid-19 crisis. Professionals (N = 175) answered self-reports. Having infected people nearby and social support predicted depression. The effect of social support on depression was partially mediated by self-efficacy and self-care. The effect of social support on anxiety was completely mediated by self-care. Results show that social and psychological variables are relevant to understand depression and anxiety symptoms in professionals even during the covid-19 crisis.
Rejection in classrooms is common, especially towards students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This study analyzed the social self-perception of rejected students with adhd-combined subtype (ADHD-C) and without adhd. Moreover, both groups were compared regarding the reasons they argued for acceptance and rejection. Participants were 24 rejected students (12 with ADHD-C and 12 without adhd), selected through nominations from 584 second- and third-grade primary-school students (ages 8-12). Questions about social perception of acceptance and rejection from a sociometric questionnaire were used. Results indicated the existence of significant differences between both groups of rejected students in self-perceptions of a positive social nature. In addition, both groups showed a different profile in the reasons they argued for the rejection towards them.
Neurogenesis occurs in at least two niches of the rodent adult brain: the lateral-ventricles subventricular zone and the dentate-gyrus subgranular zone. In the dentate gyrus, neurogenesis begins with activation of neural stem cells and ends with maturation and functional integration of newly generated granular neurons into the dentate-gyrus granular layer. Neurogenic process is continuously modulated and responds to stimuli leading to its negative regulation (e.g., neuroinflammation), affecting learning and memory. This paper aimed to summarize current knowledge on effects of neuroinflammation upon hippocampal neurogenic process, addressing its impact from the cellular to the behavioral levels. We introduced basic neuroinflammation concepts, analyzed its relationship with some neuropathologies, described lipopolysaccharides administration, and discussed effects of a lipo-polysaccharides-induced proinflammatory context upon neurogenic process.
Maternal anxiety has been shown to be a risk factor for children's anxiety disorders. More evidence is needed on the mediating factors of this relationship. The role of parenting styles (assertive, punitive, overprotective, and inhibited) in the relationship between maternal trait anxiety and social anxiety in preschoolers was examined. Spanish mothers (N = 199) of 3- to 5-year-old children participated completing report measures. Punitive style was the only significant mediator of the relationship between maternal trait anxiety and children's social anxiety. More anxious mothers tended to use punitive and overprotective styles. Children exposed to punitive or inhibited styles tended to present higher social anxiety. More evidence is needed on the role of parenting styles in other anxiety disorders in preschoolers.
How experience with similar stimuli affects performance in target identification tasks is still largely unknown. Thus, four experiments were conducted to evaluate perceptual learning effects in a target identification task by means of same-or-different judgments. Repeated practice with stimuli improved participants' ability to identify the target among 19 similar stimuli (Experiments 1-2), with participants being less accurate with more complex and similar stimuli (Experiment 2). Participants were more accurate when judging each stimulus as same rather than different from the target ( Experiments 3-4), and factors relevant for stimuli differentiation-such as stimuli similarity-only affected accuracy on different trials. These latter findings seemed unrelated to a response bias and not easily explained by associative theories for perceptual learning.
Knowledge of the internal load measured by a method available to coaches is a need for soccer training methodology. Thus, study aims were to analyze the weekly distribution of training and match loads through perceived exertion (PE) declared by elite young soccer players, and to know whether PE in training varies according to the day playing the match. Nineteen soccer players participated in this study during a season. Declared PE was registered during 120 training sessions and 30 official matches. Declared PE was higher during matches than training sessions. Declared PE on Monday and Wednesday in weeks with Saturday match was higher compared to weeks with Sunday match. Monitoring the internal training load according to competition day is suggested.
In this article the Individual Entrepreneurial Orientation scale was adapted. This scale has not been validated in any other language, so the aim was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Spanish version. After exploratory factor analysis, the first sample confirmed a unifactorial 10-item solution. Results of confirmatory factor analysis in a second sample were RMSEA = .05, CFI = .95, and TLI = .95, replicating the exploratory results while maintaining the same number of items. The resulting dimension showed good reliability (.73 and .80). Subsequently, the scale scores related to several external correlates and other scales, exhibiting good convergence and criterion validity. These indicate that the scale is a reliable and valid instrument, and its Spanish adaptation is suitable.
Comorbidity between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and chronic pain is frequent, so a body of knowledge is needed to establish the psychological intervention of choice for joint treatment. Thus, a systematic review of an updated selection of research studies on the psychological treatment of PTSD and chronic pain has been performed. From 751 articles, 7 were finally selected. Results indicated that therapies include techniques such as psychoeducation, cognitive restructuring of catastrophizing thoughts associated with pain, exposure to trauma-related stimuli, behavioral activation, and control of physiological responses. All interventions were shown to be effective in reducing PTSD symptoms (90 %), and most were effective in modifying adaptation and quality of life in chronic pain (90%), but hardly modified pain intensity (20 %).
Depression is one of the most common mental health issues around the world. It has been related to stressful events experience, but some individual variables could buffer this relationship. The current research aimed to explore the moderation effect of both resilience and locus of control (LoC) on this relationship in a sample of 101 participants from the general population of Mexico. Both variables significantly moderated this relationship, so whereas a high level of resilience buffered the impact of stress on depressive symptomatology, both an internal LoC at low levels of stress and an external LoC at high levels of stress predicted lower scores in depression. Clinical procedures to reduce depression by modifying both resilience and LoC should be developed.
