Sociometric typologies during adolescence: contrasting different scoring techniques and formulas

Our aim in this work is to compare the different sociometric classification formulae and to analyze possible connections between each type of formula and each behaviour assessed by peers during adolescence. We classified a total of 1,009 Spanish fourth-grade secondary education students (15-year-olds) using four different systems: two were based on a nomination technique by Coie and Dodge, Newcomb and Bukowski, the third system was a modified version of the latter based on the revision of the neglected status, and a fourth system was based on the qualification scale by Maassen and Laandsheer. Results show a significant relation between all four classifications, but there are also differences among them. The classifications proceeding from the nomination technique share more similarities and also offer a better behavioural characterization of sociometric categories.     

The concept of love in a Spanish representative sample

The model of romantic love and the acceptance of related myths have been granted wide relevance in our context. It has also been suggested that the concept of love can play a role in the origin and maintenance of gender violence. As an initial step towards researching this relationship, the objective of this article is to study the prevailing concept of love in the Spanish population, as well as to analyze any differences that gender and age may introduce in this conception. A reduced version of the Love Attitudes Scale was administered to a representative sample of 1,351 people. Results show that both men and women widely accept the love styles Eros, Agape, Storge and Pragma, reject the Ludus style, and are indifferent to the Mania style. However, the order of preference for love styles is different for men and women and for different age groups. These results are analyzed and discussed.     

Physical self-concept, anxiety, depression, and self-esteem in children with cancer and healthy children without cancer history

The main purpose of this study is to test if children with cancer receiving chemotherapy show a poorer physical self-concept, less self-esteem and more anxiety and depression than healthy children (with no cancer history) within the same age range (9-16 years old) and social condition. Furthermore, the capacity of self-concept and self-esteem to predict emotional distress is analyzed. The Spanish versions of PSDQ, CDI and STAIC were administered to 30 children with cancer and 90 healthy children. Except for the health and flexibility dimensions in the PSDQ, no significant differences between groups were found. Self-esteem was the best predictor of depression, whereas health and self-concept predicted anxiety.     

Development of a telephone-based intervention for support persons to help smokers quit

This study represents the first step toward systematic behavioral treatment development and pilot testing of a novel approach to smoking cessation that utilizes adults interested in helping someone to stop smoking (i.e., support persons) as the agent of change. The counselor manual for a telephone-based intervention for support persons was developed based on a previous clinic-based intervention. Social cognitive theory served as the conceptual basis for the intervention. Ten adult non-smoking females completed the treatment protocol, consisting of six 20 - 30-min sessions and written materials. The support person was the sole recipient of the professional intervention. Feedback was obtained from 8 of the 10 participants and all 4 telephone counselors 1 week post-treatment (week 10). Results indicate that the telephone-based intervention was feasible and acceptable to participants. The intervention was refined based on participant and counselor feedback and will be subsequently tested in a randomized pilot trial.     

'People-work': emotion management, stress and coping

Workers involved in 'people-work' are expected to engage in a great deal of emotion management as they attempt to convey the appropriate emotions (which they may not genuinely feel) to their clients or customers whilst perhaps suppressing inappropriate ones. Should this emotion management be unsuccessful within some industries, a customer may be lost as they choose to take their business to a competitor; however, within the 'caring' business, such as the counselling and guidance professions, a failure to display the appropriate emotion (e.g. sympathy) or a leakage of an inappropriate one (e.g. boredom) can have much more serious implications for the well-being of the client and their continued relationship with the professional. This paper will thus argue that emotion management or 'emotional labour' is a vital skill within the counselling and guidance professions, but one that can also be a significant source of work stress. Strategies for coping with the stress of performing emotional labour are suggested.     

Addressing Culture,Gender, and Power with Asian American Couples: Application of Socio‐Emotional Relationship Therapy

Asian Americans juggle the intersections of multiple social identities and societal discourses as they respond to experiences of immigration, marginalization, and patriarchy, integrate collectivist and individualistic family values, and form families and intimate relationships. In this study we examine what we have learned as we apply Socio‐Emotional Relationship Therapy (SERT) with heterosexual couples of Asian heritage. SERT begins with sociocultural attunement and the assumption that relationships should mutually support each partner. Drawing on case examples, we illustrate how we practice sociocultural attunement as couples respond to the relational processes that comprise the Circle of Care (mutual influence, vulnerability, attunement, and shared relational responsibility). We emphasize three key socioemotional themes that intersect with gender: (1) intangible loss; (2) quiet fortitude/not burdening others; and (3) duty to the family.     

On Enhancing the Cross‐Cultural Comparability of Likert‐Scale Personality and Value Measures: A Comparison of Common Procedures

This study aims to evaluate a number of procedures that have been proposed to enhance cross‐cultural comparability of personality and value data. A priori procedures (anchoring vignettes and direct measures of response styles (i.e. acquiescence, extremity, midpoint responding, and social desirability), a posteriori procedures focusing on data transformations prior to analysis (ipsatization and item parcelling), and two data modelling procedures (treating data as continuous vs as ordered categories) were compared using data collected from university students in 16 countries. We found that (i) anchoring vignettes showed lack of invariance, so they were not bias‐free; (ii) anchoring vignettes showed higher internal consistencies than raw scores where all other correction procedures, notably ipsatization, showed lower internal consistencies; (iii) in measurement invariance testing, no procedure yielded scalar invariance; anchoring vignettes and item parcelling slightly improved comparability, response style correction did not affect it, and ipsatization resulted in lower comparability; (iv) treating Likert‐scale data as categorical resulted in higher levels of comparability; (v) factor scores of scales extracted from different procedures showed similar correlational patterning; and (vi) response style correction was the only procedure that suggested improvement in external validity of country‐level conscientiousness. We conclude that, although no procedure resolves all comparability issues, anchoring vignettes, parcelling, and treating data as ordered categories seem promising to alleviate incomparability. We advise caution in uncritically applying any of these procedures. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Predictive Genetic Testing of Children for Adult-Onset Conditions: Negotiating Requests with Parents

Healthcare professionals (HCPs) regularly face requests from parents for predictive genetic testing of children for adult-onset conditions. Little is known about how HCPs handle these test requests, given that guidelines recommend such testing is deferred to adulthood unless there is medical benefit to testing before that time. Our study explored the process of decision-making between HCPs and parents. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 34 HCPs in 8 regional genetic services across the UK, and data were thematically analysed. We found that instead of saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to such requests, many HCPs framed the consultation as an opportunity to negotiate the optimal time of testing. This, they argued, facilitates parents’ considered decision-making, since parents’ eventual decisions after requesting a test was often to defer testing their child. In cases where parents’ requests remained a sustained wish, most HCPs said they would agree to test, concluding that not testing would not serve the child’s wider best interest. As a strategy for determining the child’s best interest and for facilitating shared decision-making, we recommend that HCPs re-frame requests for testing from parents as a discussion about the optimal time of testing for adult-onset disease.     

Inventory of Overburden in Alzheimer's Patient Family Caregivers with no Specialized Training

Background/Objective: Alzheimer-type dementia is one of the most frequent causes of dependence in an aging population, which combines with a considerable demand for care. Furthermore, when the caregiver is a family member or person without specialized training, such care impacts on that person's health. The Inventory of Overburden in Alzheimer's Patient Family Caregivers with no Specialized Training (IPSO-CA24) was designed to find out the needs of these caregivers and evaluate the caregiver's burden or distress. Method: The psychometric properties of the questionnaire were analyzed (in a reliability analysis, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory analysis) based on the responses of 255 caregivers. Results: The factor analyses showed a six-factor structure (Reaction to diagnosis, Physical health, Psychological symptomatology (caretaker), Behavioral symptomatology (patient), Knowledge of the illness, and Level of dependence) explaining 66.52% of the total variance with a reliability of .75 to .93. Support was also found for its convergent validity. Conclusions: The IPSO-CA24 responds to the need for an instrument enabling multidimensional evaluation of the burden on the family caregiver without specialized training.     

Extreme Values of Maternal Serum Analytes in Second Trimester Screening: Looking Beyond Trisomy and NTD’s

Second trimester maternal serum screening can identify high risk pregnancies and fetuses at risk for birth defects (in addition to those in the standard interpretation). The purpose of this study was to quantify such risks to improve counseling. We compared outcomes of 692 pregnancies that had abnormal levels of at least one analyte with a cohort of 713 pregnancies with normal analytes. Increased risks include: demise with high AFP and low uE3; intrauterine growth restriction with high AFP, high and low hCG, and low uE3; placental abnormalities with high AFP; fetal stress with high AFP and high hCG. Birth defects are increased with high AFP, high hCG, and low hCG. When two or more analytes are abnormal, 46% have a poor outcome. Abnormal levels of maternal serum analytes provide information in addition to the risks for neural tube defects, Down syndrome, and trisomy 18. This information is important for counseling and pregnancy management.