Social support,self-esteem and depression: Relationship with risk for sexually transmitted infections/HIV transmission

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV are important health problems that affect adolescents. The aim of the present study was to analyze the relationship between 1) depression, self-esteem and perceived social support and 2) sexual risk behaviors according to gender. The sample used in this ex post facto study was composed of 1,005 adolescents of both sexes aged between 14 and 18 years. Participants completed several questionnaires in the classrooms of their secondary education schools. The questionnaires assessed depression, self-esteem and perceived social support and recorded information on sexual behavior and socio-demographic issues. Results showed that, among males, self-esteem predicted higher vaginal risk, depression was related to higher vaginal, anal and oral sexual risk, and perceived support from the family predicted lower vaginal and anal sexual risk. Among females, self-esteem was found to be associated with lower anal sexual risk and perceived support from friends predicted lower anal and oral sexual risk. The study highlights the importance of considering family and friends as well as gender differences in the prevention of STIs/HIV.     

Emotional eating and cognitive conflicts as predictors of binge eating disorder in patients with obesity

Background/Objectives: Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is often associated with obesity. In order to identify the variables that allow to better detect the presence of BED, people with overnutrition were compared with and without BED in the presence of cognitive conflicts, eating symptoms and anxious-depressive symptoms. The inclusion of cognitive conflicts had been relevant in bulimia studies but had not been investigated with respect to BED. Method: Two groups with obesity were evaluated, one without BED (OB, n = 54) and the other with BED (OB-BED, n = 48), using a social-demographic questionnaire as well as a semi-structured interview to assess BED, questionnaires (DASS-21, EDE-Q, EEQ) and the Repertory Grid Technique. Results: Overall, the OB-BED group presented more conflicts and more symptoms. The model that best differentiated between the groups included emotional eating and level of cognitive conflicts, correctly classifying 91.4% of the sample. Conclusion: These results highlight the role played by cognitive conflicts and emotional eating as differentiating elements between OB and OB-BED, with a high level of predictive accuracy.     

Humor as a protective factor against anxiety and depression

Background/ObjectivesEven though humor its part of everyday life, only in the last 40 years has Psychology begun to discern its impact on mental health. The aim of this paper is to explore the role that humor styles may have as protectors against anxiety and depression and their relationship with optimism.MethodA sample of 804 participants (M = 39.28; SD = 14.71) was used to analyze the uses of humor, optimism and clinical symptoms of anxiety and depression. In addition, the influence of sociodemographic variables such as sex, geographic location, age and educational level on different uses of humor was studied. Through an analysis of structural equations, the variables that had a protective or facilitating role in depression and anxiety were analyzed.ResultsMen and women differ in the use of a more aggressive humor style, and the use of affiliative humor styles decreases with age. The structural equation model indicated a good fit to the proposed theoretical model.ConclusionsHumor is a tool of everyday life and it can act for or against an individual’s mental health.     

Social status and friendship in peer victimization trajectories

Background/Objective: Most studies have evaluated victimization at a single time point, making it difficult to determine the impact of the time during which an individual is victimized. This longitudinal study aims to examine the differences in the levels of social status (social preference and perceived popularity) and friendship in peer victimization trajectories, and to analyse if there were changes over time in the levels of social status and friendship in each trajectory. Method: The final sample was composed of 1,239 students (49% girls) with ages between 9 and 18 (M = 12.23, SD = 1.73), from 22 schools in southern Spain. Peer nominations were collected. Results: The General Linear Model results associated the highest levels of social preference, perceived popularity and friendship with the sporadic victimization profile and the lowest levels of these dimensions with the stable profile. Conclusions:The results are discussed based on important personal aspects of stable victimization that confirms social rejection, unpopularity, and the low social support that victimization causes. This contribution is discussed in terms of health and social welfare in adolescence.     

Psychological and socio-demographic variables associated with sexual risk behavior for sexually transmitted infections/HIV

New diagnoses of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV are rising in the adult population. The main objective of this study was to analyze whether knowledge of STIs/HIV, worry about STIs/HIV and pregnancy, and self-efficacy to refuse sex are predictors of sexual risk behaviors among Spanish young and adults. The study sample was composed of 1,106 young and adults of both sexes aged between 17 and 55 years. Results showed that being single, homosexual, having been tested for HIV, having previously contracted an STI, having a college education and earning a monthly income of €900 or more were the characteristics associated with higher scores in knowledge of STIs/HIV. Self-efficacy to refuse sex predicted most vaginal and anal sexual behaviors (i.e., age at vaginal and anal sex initiation and the number of couples that have remained vaginal sex). We also found that participants with greater knowledge of STIs/HIV reported older age at vaginal sex initiation and higher condom use in the first vaginal sexual contact. We consider that these findings can be useful for the development of STI/HIV prevention programs.     

Interrater agreement on behavioral executive function measures in adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Background/ObjectiveThough most children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) show difficulties in behavioral measures of executive functions (EF), few studies have examined interrater agreement in these measures.Objective: To analyze the agreement between parents, teachers and self-reports of behavioral EF in adolescents with ADHD and controls. Method: A sample of 118 adolescents (75 with ADHD and 43 controls) was rated by parents, teachers and the adolescents themselves using the Comprehensive Executive Function Inventory. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Bland and Altman methods were used to evaluate agreement. Results: The ICC between parents, teachers and self-report was poor or moderate in the group with ADHD; in the control group the agreement was fair to good. The Bland and Altman graphs show that, in the control group, most of the scores are below to the clinical cut-off point, while in the group with ADHD they are above. Conclusions: Agreement between all raters was low. Parents, teachers and adolescents agreed on the absence of deficits in behavioral EF in the control group, and on the presence of deficits in the group with ADHD, although they did not agree on the frequency of these deficits.     

Cyberbullying victimization and somatic complaints: A prospective examination of cognitive emotion regulation strategies as mediators

Background/Objective: The main purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among cybervictimization, maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and somatic complaints in a 4-month follow-up study. Method: A total of 1,024 high school students (456 male and 568 female, M (SD) = 13.69 years (1.3 years), range 12–18 years, voluntarily participated in this study. Measures of cybervictimization and cognitive strategies were obtained at Time 1. Four months later (Time 2), measures of somatic complaints were obtained. Results: Multiple mediation analyses were conducted to determine the mediating roles of maladaptive strategies in the link between cybervictimization and somatic complaints. As expected, path-analytic results showed that cybervictimization predicted somatic symptoms. Furthermore, some maladaptive regulation strategies, namely self-blame and rumination, partially mediated the link between cybervictimization and somatic symptoms evaluated 4-months later. Conclusions: The findings are discussed in terms of the role that maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies might play with regards to physical health in cyberbullying episodes. In general, these findings have important implications for developing an understanding about the affective determinants of somatic health problem initiation and maintenance after a victimization and for developing intervention programs specifically for cybervictimized adolescents.     

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder,differential diagnosis with blood oxygenation,beta/theta ratio,and attention measures

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the disorders causing the greatest impact, conditioning academic learning, quality of concentration, and capacity for self-regulation and control. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV (DSM-IV-TR) establishes the most commonly accepted criteria for diagnosis (Inattentive: ADHD-I, Hyperactive/impulsive: ADHD-HI, and Combined: ADHD-C), but currently, diverse studies disagree about whether to address it as a continuum with different degrees of intensity (subtype structure) or as specific disorders (counterposed profiles). Prior research has tested the hypothesis of differential categories with performance measures and cortical activation. The goal proposed herein is to confirm these results, incorporating a new measure, near-infrared hemoencefalography (nir-HEG), in order to control cortical activation through levels of blood oxygenation. For this purpose, we used a sample of 205 children between 8 and 13 years (105 control group, 28 with ADHD-I, 35 with ADHD-HI, and 37 with ADHD-C), administering a continuous performance test (TOVA), quantified electroencephalogram (Q-EEG), and nir-HEG. Results reflect the counterposed profiles hypothesis instead of the degrees of intensity, although the latter is more habitual and generalized.     

Cognitive flexibility and response inhibition in patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Background/ObjectiveThe main aim of this study was to analyze differences in inhibition and cognitive flexibility, taking into account some variables that may influence results (non verbal reasoning, depression, anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty, comorbidity, medication consumption).MethodThe participants were 95 adults aged 17-61 years old (M = 33.48, SD = 11.13), primary (most severe) Generalized Anxiety Disorder or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and a healthy control group. Neuropsychological neasures were completed using computerized Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Stroop Color Word Test and Go/NoGo Task.ResultsClinical groups presented worse results in cognitive flexibility to the control group. The obsessive-compulsive group showed worse scores in flexibility than the generalized anxiety group, once non-verbal reasoning and tolerance to uncertainty were controlled. Comorbidity and medication use did not affect results in the obsessive compulsive group but did however influence the generalized anxiety group.ConclusionsCognitive flexibility could be included treatment in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder.