Attentional Orienting to Emotional Faces Moderates the Association Between Callous-Unemotional Traits and Peer-Nominated Aggression in Young Adolescent School Children

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are associated with aggressive behavior but preliminary research suggests this relationship is modified by patterns of emotional processing. This study examined whether attentional orienting to emotional faces moderated the association between CU traits and peer-nominated aggression in 251 middle school students (53% females, mean age = 13.24 years, SD = 0.73). Attentional orienting was assessed using an emotional faces (i.e., angry, fearful, happy, sad, and neutral) variant of the dot-probe task. Students also completed a self-report measure of CU traits and their classmates made peer nominations of aggression. Logistic regression analyses showed that peer-nominated aggression was positively related to CU traits at low levels of attentional orienting to angry faces, whereas aggression was unrelated to CU traits at high levels of attentional orienting to angry faces. That is, peer-nominated aggression was greatest for youth high on CU traits who were not engaged by angry faces. These findings support the importance of considering different patterns of emotional responding when studying the association between CU traits and aggressive behavior in youth.     

Profiles of emotional intelligence and demotivation to attend school in Chilean adolescents

The aim of this study was twofold: to identify different emotional intelligence (EI) profiles and to verify possible statistically significant differences in school refusal factors that result in a demotivation to attend school. Participants were 2362 Chilean adolescents aged from 13 to 17 (M?=?15.25; SD?=?1.33), who completed the Trait Meta-Mood Scale-24 (TMMS-24) and the School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised (SRAS-R). Cluster analysis identified four EI profiles: high scores in repair and low in attention, high scores in attention and low in clarity and repair, low EI and high EI. Students with high scores in attention and low in repair scored higher in the first three factors of the SRAS-R, whereas in the fourth factor of the SRAS-R, students with high EI had significantly higher scores. Emotional regulation seems to be one of the determinant factors to prevent the appearance of school refusal. Based on these findings, we recommend that EI training be a part of future programs to overcome school attendance demotivation issues.     

How does a vacation from work affect employee health and well-being?

Health and well-being (H&W) improve during vacation. However, it is unclear whether this general development applies to all employees, while also little is known about the underlying processes causing such an improvement. Our research questions were: (1) Does every worker experience a positive effect of vacation on H&W? and (2) Can vacation activities and experiences explain changes in H&W during vacation? In a 7-week longitudinal field study, 96 workers reported their H&W 2 weeks before, during, 1 week, 2 and 4 weeks after a winter sports vacation on 6 indicators (health status, mood, fatigue, tension, energy level and satisfaction). Sixty percent of the sample experienced substantial improvement of H&W during and after vacation. Yet, a small group experienced no (23%) or a negative effect of vacation (17%). Spending limited time on passive activities, pleasure derived from vacation activities, and the absence of negative incidents during vacation explained 38% of the variance in the vacation effect. Although vacation has a positive, longer lasting effect for many, it is not invariably positive for all employees. Choosing especially pleasant vacation activities and avoiding negative incidents as well as passive activities during active vacations apparently contributes to the positive effect of vacation on H&W.     

Evaluación de la escala de control de la acción

Resumen

El objetivo ele la investigación fue determinar las propiedades psicométricas básicas de la Escala de Control de la Acción de Kuhl en una muesta de estudiantes mexicanos. La escala fue traducida y sometida a varias revisiones por los autores, después de lo cual se aplicó a una muestra de 180 estudiantes universitarios. La confiabilidad alfa de Cronbach de las diferentes subescalas fue baja. Un análisis de componentes principales con rotación ortogonal mostró que el porcentaje de varianza explicada por el primer factor de cada subescala fue muy pequeño. Se intenta explicar los resultados con base en la deficiente caracterización que hace Kubl de las diferentes clases de orientación hacia el estado y factores de tipo cultural.     

Perversion – structure or organization?

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss perversion, its implications in the clinical setting, and some of the key concepts around it. First, the etymology of the words “perversion”, “structure”, and “organization” is analyzed. Next follows a discussion on the sexual organization of instincts – from the Unconscious to the Oedipus complex in Freud and Lacan – setting the ground for a disavowal-based theory of perversion. An instructive approach has been chosen so as better to organize the various points presented.

Laender NR et al. Perversion – Struktur oder Organisation?

Der Aufsatz diskutiert die Perversion, ihre Auswirkungen im klinischen Setting und einige Schlüsselkonzepte. Zuerst wird die Herkunft der Wörter Perversion, Struktur und Organisation analysiert. Dann folgt eine Diskussion über die Organisation der Sexualität bzw. der Instinkte – vom Unbewussten bis zum Ödipuskomplex bei Freud und Lacan – wodurch eine Theorie der Perversion auf der Basis von Ablehnung begründet wird. Ein instruktiver Zugang, bei dem die verschiedenen Punkte von Interesse gut strukturiert sind, wurde gewählt.

Laender NR et al . Perversion – organización o estructura?

Este trabajo intenta discutir la perversión, sus implicaciones en la clínica y algunos de los conceptos clave alrededor de la perversión.

Primero, es analizada la etimología de las palabras Perversión, Estructura y Organización. Despúes sigue una discusión sobre la organización sexual de los instintos- desde lo Inconsciente hasta el complejo de Edipo en Freud y Lacan- planteando las bases para una teoría de la negación-desaprobación de la perversión.

Para organizar mejor los varios aspectos presentados se escogió una aproximación instructiva.     

Hope and athlete burnout: Stress and affect as mediators

ObjectiveIn this study we examined the relationship between trait hope and burnout in elite junior soccer players and whether stress and positive and negative affect mediated this relationship.MethodsParticipants were 238 Swedish soccer players (166 males, 71 females; one did not indicate gender) aged 15–19 years who completed questionnaires measuring trait hope, perceived stress, positive and negative affect, and athlete burnout (i.e., emotional/physical exhaustion, a reduced sense of accomplishment, and sport devaluation).ResultsBivariate correlations were consistent with hope theory contentions indicating significant negative relationships between hope and all three burnout dimensions. The relationship between hope and emotional/physical exhaustion was fully mediated by stress and positive affect. For sport devaluation and reduced sense of accomplishment, stress and positive affect partially mediated the relationship with hope. In contrast, negative affect did not mediate the relationship between hope and any of the burnout dimensions.ConclusionThe results support earlier findings that hope is negatively related to athlete burnout. Support was also found for the hypothesis that high hope individuals would experience less stress and therefore less burnout. Promoting hope may be relevant in reducing the likelihood of this detrimental syndrome.     

JEWISH CINEMATIC SELF‐REPRESENTATIONS IN CONTEMPORARY ARGENTINE AND BRAZILIAN FILMS

In recent years, young Latin American‐Jewish film directors have produced films that portray the Jewish communities in both Argentina and Brazil. While Argentine‐Jewish filmmakers have been prominent since the beginning of the film industry in Argentina, it is the first time a group of contemporary directors share the depiction of Jewish life and culture. For his part, Brazilian‐Jewish director Cao Hamburger also chooses to present the Jewish community of São Paulo in his award‐nominated film, O ano em que meus pais saíram de férias [The year my parents went on vacation (2007)]. This article explores what this self‐representation entails for Argentine‐Jewish and Brazilian‐Jewish filmmakers, as well as on the commonalities of Jewish characters presented in the films of Daniel Burman, Gabriel Lichtmann, Ariel Winograd and Cao Hamburger.     

Familism, family environment, and suicide attempts among Latina youth

In this study, we examined the relationship between familism and family environment type as well as the relationship between family environment type and suicide attempts among Latina youth. Latina teen attempters (n = 109) and nonattempters (n = 107) were recruited from the New York City area. Latent class analysis revealed three family environment types: tight-knit, intermediate-knit, and loose-knit. Tight-knit families (high cohesion and low conflict) were significantly less likely to have teens who attempted suicide as compared with intermediate-knit families or loose-knit families. Moreover, familism increased the odds of being in a tight-knit family versus a loose-knit family and the odds of being in a tight-knit family versus a intermediate-knit. The results suggest that familism may protect against suicide behavior among Latinas via its influence on family environment.     

Tolerance towards dating violence in Spanish adolescents

The study of intimate partner violence among adolescent and young couples in Spain remains unattended, although such abuses are well known and more frequent than in adulthood. The aim of this study is, on the one hand, to provide epidemiological information on dating relationships, and on the other hand, to identify attitudes towards violence. 2205 women enrolled in schools in diverse provinces of Spain, participated in the study. Average age was near 19 years (SD= 2.25). The Dating Violence Questionnaire (DVQ, in Spanish, CUVINO), a questionnaire that assesses both frequency and distress associated with violent behavior, was used. The DVQ allowed differentiating between groups of women self-labeled as abused and not abused on the basis of the frequency of sustained violence, although the levels of distress in the face of violence were statistically similar in both groups. Implications for future research and prevention programs are discussed.     

Spanish adaptation of the Perceived Acceptance Scale (PAS) in university students

The main objective of the present study was to adapt the Perceived Acceptance Scale (PAS), developed by Brock, Sarason, Sanghvi and Gurung to evaluate the cognitive component of perceived social support, to the Spanish language. In a sample of 855 university students registered for the first time in different degree courses, the reliability, dimensionality and external validity of the scale scores were analyzed. The results show adequate internal consistency in both the subscales (friends, family, father and mother) and in the overall scale. The factorial structure, derived from a confirmatory factorial analysis, fitted the theoretical model proposed by the authors of the scale. The scale scores showed evidence of convergent and discriminant validity from the observed relationships with the measures of perceived social support. The psychometric properties of the adapted scale provide an adequate measuring instrument for evaluating perceived acceptance in Spanish university students.