Career adaptability and its relation to self-regulation,career construction,and academic engagement among Spanish university students

This study analyzed the psychometric properties of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS) in a Spanish speaking sample and then its relationships with adaptive readiness (i.e., self-regulation), career construction and adapting responses (i.e., vocational coping behaviors), and adaptation results (academic engagement, burnout, and vocational identity). The measures were completed by 577 Spanish university students. The psychometric properties of the newly translated CAAS Spanish Form included internal consistency values ranging from good to excellent for the total score and for the subscales. The results obtained through the confirmatory factor analysis verified the presence of the four CAAS dimensions: concern, control, curiosity, and confidence, which were the same factors observed in other international studies with other languages. The significant correlations obtained between the CAAS and the adaptive readiness, adapting, and adaptation measures confirmed the validity of the CAAS scores. In addition, this study tested a theoretical model of mediation between variables, adding further support to the distinction between the three dimensions leading to adaptation.     

Efficacy of an adaptation of the Best Possible Self intervention implemented through positive technology: a randomized control trial

Best possible Self (BPS) is a positive psychological intervention based on positive future thinking. It has been shown to be effective in improving well-being and depressive symptoms over short periods of time. Positive technology is a scientific approach designed to increase well-being through Information and Communication Technologies. To assess the efficacy of the BPS implemented through a positive technology application in improving optimistic thinking, affect and depressive symptoms, during a one-month period, with two follow-ups one and three months later. Randomized, single-blind control trial. Central randomization was performed by an independent researcher using computer software to generate lists allocating participants to treatments. Recruitment was carried out through advertisements at two universities. Randomized participants were 78 young adults who were assigned to the e-BPS condition (n = 38) or to a control group (n = 40). Participants were asked to visualize their BPS each day using a Positive Technology Application. The Control condition consisted of thinking and writing about daily activities, also through technologies. Affect, future expectations, and depressive symptoms were measured in different time frames. 78 participants were analyzed using intention-to-treat analyses. Results showed that BPS was effective in improving future expectations measures and reducing depressive symptoms until the post-training. However, these effects were not maintained in the three-month follow-up period. This study indicates that BPS can be effectively adapted for implementation through positive technologies. Factors such as the variety of exercises and the instructions can play a role in maintaining the changes in the long term. Trial registration clinicaltrails.gov Identifier: NCT02321605.     

Twenty‐two years of psychological science in Psychological Science

The journal Psychological Science (PS) has undergone various changes over 22 years since its birth in 1990. Analysis of Web of Science's records shows that the publication has increased in volume and collaborations between authors, and has become more international. Keyword analysis suggests the new role of neuroscience in contemporary psychology and indicates that the PS of today is more oriented than in the 1990s towards psychosocial and emotional issues as well as natural situations in our daily lives (ecological validity).     

Evaluating Fund Performance by Compromise Programming with Linear‐Quadratic Composite Metric: An Actual Case on The CaixaBank in Spain

This paper proposes an additive measure on the basis of compromise programming to evaluate fund performance from multiple criteria, of which the most usual are profitability and risk. This proposal is motivated by the fact that compromise programming is a sound decision support model to obtain scores of alternatives by minimizing weighted distances to an ideal point, the weights reflecting the investor's preferences for the criteria. To define the distance objective function, the linear‐quadratic composite metric is used, which combines advantages of linear and non‐linear objective functions. A critical advantage of compromise programming for fund performance evaluation is that the model can be extended to more than two financial criteria while other measures currently used (either ratio‐based or leverage‐based measures) only consider two criteria, say, profitability and risk. In the application, three investor's profiles are defined, which involve different weighting systems and lead to different fund rankings. These rankings are compared with domination relationships, the latter formulating if a fund is dominated or non‐dominated by convex combinations of other funds. Numerical tables are provided with data, computational process and results, which are analysed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ovarian cancer patients' psychological distress: the role of physical impairment, perceived unsupportive family and friend behaviors, perceived control, and self-esteem.

Although research has indicated that illness-related and interpersonal stress are associated with greater psychological distress among cancer patients, little empirical attention has been given to mechanisms that account for these relationships. In the present study, 2 mechanisms for the association between illness-related stress (physical impairment) and interpersonal stress (family and friend unsupportive responses) and psychological distress of 143 ovarian cancer patients were examined cross-sectionally. Separate structural equation models tested whether physical impairment impacted patients' distress via decrements in perceived control over their illness and whether unsupportive behaviors impacted patients' distress via decrements in patients' self-esteem. Results supported the proposed models and suggest that perceived control and self-esteem are 2 mechanisms for explaining how illness-related and interpersonal stress may be associated with psychological distress among women with ovarian cancer.