Introduction. Distress tolerance is a transdiagnostic factor for a broad range of psychological disorders. The evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Distress Tolerance Scale (DTS) and its brief version for Spanish-speaking South American individuals is limited. Method. We examined the psychometric properties of the full and brief forms of the Spanish version of the DTS in a sample of 514 (70.6% female) Argentinian college students who completed an online survey. We examined evidence of structure validity and measurement invariance by sex. We estimated Cronbach Alpha and McDonald Omega indexes to analyse internal consistency and bivariate correlations to examine evidence of concurrent validity. Results. The hierarchical four-factor model showed the best fit to the data for the full version. The brief form (four items with the highest factor loading within each dimension of the full version) also showed an acceptable fit to the data. Measurement invariance across sex was established and both versions exhibited adequate values of internal consistency and evidence of concurrent validity. Conclusions. The full and brief form of the DTS is valid and reliable for Argentinian populations and it may be helpful in identifying those at risk (i.e., low DTS scores) for developing mental health problems.
Introduction: Energy drink consumption among medical students is high and has been associated with cardiovascular disturbances, sleep problems, and risk behaviors. Valid psychometric instruments adapted to the university context are therefore needed. This study aimed to assess the dimensionality and psychometric properties of the General Addiction Questionnaire (EAG), adapted to energy drink consumption. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 257 medical students. The main variable was energy drink addiction, assessed using 11 dichotomous items (true/false). Multiple Correspondence Analysis was performed to explore the internal structure, and Confirmatory Factor Analysis within a structural equation modelling framework was used to corroborate the validity of the model. Results: The questionnaire showed a two-dimensional structure that explained 47.8% of the total variance. The first dimension, associated with loss of control and compulsive use, showed adequate internal consistency (? = .799), whereas the second dimension, related to self-control and withdrawal, showed lower reliability (? = .614). The fit indices confirmed good model performance (RMSEA = .039; CFI = .989; TLI = .986). Conclusions: The adapted questionnaire showed acceptable validity and internal consistency, supporting its use as a brief and useful tool for detecting problematic energy drink consumption among medical students.
Objective: We examined whether rearranging the order of items and response options in the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) could improve its psychometric properties. Method: We conducted a 2x2 factorial experiment with an Argentinian general population sample (n=1128; M=37.29 years, SD=11.93; 75.9% cis-women). We randomly assigned participants to one of four AUDIT versions, varying the order of item presentation (alcohol consumption first vs. alcohol-related problems first) and response options ("never" to "daily/almost daily" vs. reverse order). Results: Versions presenting alcohol-related problems first showed higher reliability. The version with alcohol-related problems first and response options in reverse order had the highest internal consistency (?=.88). Endorsement for alcohol-related problems was also higher in these versions, regardless of response option order. The versions presenting items about alcohol-related problems first also showed better item performance, regardless of the response options' order. Conclusions: the order of response options seems irrelevant, but presenting items about alcohol-related problems first appears to enhance the AUDIT's performance. This change could facilitate the adequate identification of people needing assistance from health services, which future studies should further explore.
This study aims to contribute to the ongoing debates relating to the general efficacy of the African Union (hereafter AU), which is deliberately pushing to advance the indispensable vital issues of socioeconomic development. This paper advances a narrative aimed at identifying legal factors in Africa that hinder attaining solidarity through concerted efforts to enable unified peace among countries across the African continent. This analysis is also of particular interest to African countries, especially those in the central and eastern regions. Thus, the research justifies a need to promote better synergies with the sense of Afrocentric cooperation and development to facilitate the advancement of free trade between member states of Africa. Increasing opportunities in an Afrocentric setting is another thoughtful way of solving disputes or conflicts. The resolution of such conflicts is critical to Africa's economic development and equally beneficial for the lasting peace of the entire continent. Threats pose potential prevention measures for destructive factors to peace, unity, and greater cooperation. This paper advances a rhetoric that the eventual attainment of development between member states of the AU can be attained by facilitating the advancement of free trade among themselves. It should be recalled that Africa remains one of the most prominently discussed continents in terms of issues of development. The analysis shall seek to identify and, where possible, recommend strategies that are worthwhile pointing out in promoting and protecting free trade between member states of the AU.
International bodies such as the United Nations and the African Union firmly reject the unconstitutional change of governments (UCG). Despite this commitment to preserve the rule of law, post-independence Africa has seen more than 70 military coups. The trend is not abating, as is demonstrated by the successive military coups in West Africa, which were witnessed in Mali (2021), Guinea (2021), and Burkina Faso (2022). The economic consequences of military coups on international law and trade law in West African countries' aspirations to implement a rules-based economic community through the African Continental Free Trade Area are rarely directly addressed in scholarship. Traditional explanations of military coups implicate ethnic politics and the use of military coups to continue politics in another form. While acknowledging the validity of these understandings of why military coups occur, this study seeks to take a different path, focusing as it does on the contradictions in international law and how this has been used to advance individual and sectarian socio-economic and political interests of a few through military means. International law and the responsibility to protect have remained Eurocentric, unreformed, and not responsive to the economic realities of ordinary African people who suffer the most in all military coups that have occurred in (2021), and Burkina Faso (2022), this article contributes to questioning the failure to decolonise and then apply international law in African crises critically. The article demonstrates how this scholarly gap impacts the development of an Afro-centric international law usable in anticipating and curbing military coups that break the effective implementation of AfCFTA in Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso.
