Prevalence of depression during the COVID-19 outbreak: A meta-analysis of community-based studies

Introduction: COVID-19 pandemic, declared on March 11, 2020, constitute an extraordinary health, social and economic global challenge. The impact on people's mental health is expected to be high. This paper sought to systematically review community-based studies on depression conducted during the COVID-19 and estimate the pooled prevalence of depression. Method: We searched for cross-sectional, community-based studies listed on PubMed or Web of Science from January 1, 2020 to May 8, 2020 that reported prevalence of depression. A random effect model was used to estimate the pooled proportion of depression. Results: A total of 12 studies were included in the meta-analysis, with prevalence rates of depression ranging from 7.45% to 48.30%. The pooled prevalence of depression was 25% (95% CI: 18% ? 33%), with significant heterogeneity between studies (I² = 99.60%, p < .001). Conclusions: Compared with a global estimated prevalence of depression of 3.44% in 2017, our pooled prevalence of 25% appears to be 7 times higher, thus suggesting an important impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on people's mental health. Addressing mental health during and after this global health crisis should be placed into the international and national public health agenda to improve citizens’ wellbeing.     

Aprendiendo a regular la acción conjunta: el formato de dar-y-tomar

Resumen

El desarrollo de mecanismos para regular la acción conjunta es uno de los objetivos comunicativos más tempranos que el niño debe conseguir a lo largo de sus dos primeros años de vida. El contexto de dar-y-tomar aparece como una de las situaciones naturales en las que el niño conoce y aprende el dominio del curso de la acción. La interacción en dicha situación cumple una doble función, semántica y prágmatica, a la vez que permite la adquisición de las primeras distinciones gramaticales. En este sentido, el estudio del dar-y-tomar muestra el comienzo y desarrollo de las técnicas de requerimiento, la elaboración lingüística y conceptual de los términos asociados a sus segmentos de acción y el uso de los primeros pares deícticos. El artículo estudia el inicio y el desarrollo de este formato en dos niños y una niña durante sus dos primeros años de vida en situaciones interactivas con sus madres.     

Entrevista con J. Watson

RESUMEN

Esta entrevista comienza planteando las diferencias entre los experimentos de J. Watson sobre percepción de contingencias en niños pequeños y los de la tradición conductista. El autor afirma seguir manteniendo sus concepciones iniciales acerca del reconocimiento de una configuración estimular como “objeto social” en niños de tres-cuatro meses: explica que el niño posee algún esquema o estrategia para descubrir miembros de la propia especie y un paquete de respuestas aplicable a estos miembros que busca estimulaciones que sean altamente contingentes con la propia conducta. También aborda las modificaciones parciales que ha sufrido su modelo desde entonces, finalizando con algunas reflexiones en torno a la producción de estimulaciones propioceptivas, visuales, táctiles y auditivas contingentes con la propia conducta.     

How Do Educational Attainment and Occupational and Wage-Earner Statuses Affect Life Satisfaction? A Gender Perspective Study

The main objective of this paper is to analyze the impact of education on life satisfaction once indirect effects through income, health, participation in the workforce or professional status are controlled for. The focus is placed on gender differences, thus studying whether the effects of education on life satisfaction differ for women and men and whether occupational variables and the individual’s role in the household may mediate this relationship. Among the results, we find that gender differences in life satisfaction tend to disappear when account is taken of the individuals’ role as primary wage earner in the household. Regarding education, our results suggest that its impact on satisfaction with life differs for women and men: both direct and indirect effects of education are found for women whereas no direct effects of education appear in the case of men, but only indirect effects through enhanced job opportunities and professional status.     

Entrevista con Heiner Ellgring

RESUMEN

En esta entrevista con el psicólogo Heiner Ellgring, investigador del Instituto Max Planck de Munich, se habla, entre otros temas, de las investigaciones del profesor Ellging dentro de la psicología social y la psicología clínica desde el punto de vista de la aplicación de conceptos de la etología, la psicología cognitiva y la psicología social en el estudio de las emociones y el análisis conductual no-verbal. La interpretación de este “lenguaje silencioso” de gestos, miradas y posturas, como fuente de conocimiento para la aplicación de las investigaciones de la Psicología básica en la interpretación y práctica clínica.     

Plasma BDNF is reduced among middle-aged and elderly women with impaired insulin function: Evidence of a compensatory mechanism

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays a regulatory role in neuronal differentiation and synaptic plasticity and has been linked to glucose regulation and cognition. Associations among plasma BDNF, cognition, and insulin function were explored. Forty-one participants with impaired insulin function (IIF), ranging from insulin resistance to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), were matched with 41 healthy controls on gender, age, education, and IQ. Participants received complete medical, neurological, psychiatric, and neuropsychological evaluations. IIF individuals had significantly lower plasma BDNF levels than controls, particularly females, and higher BDNF levels were associated with poorer explicit memory in IIF females, suggesting that higher levels within this group may reflect the body’s efforts to respond to damage. After accounting for age, education, and HbA1c, BDNF significantly predicted 13.1–23.5% of the variance in explicit memory in IIF women. These findings suggest that BDNF elevations within diseased groups may not always be a marker of health.     

Ethical Issues in Psychologists' Professional Practice: Agreement Over Problematic Professional Behaviors Among Spanish Psychologists

A sample of 703 Spanish psychologists completed an online survey containing 114 behaviors related to professional practice in different areas. The aim of the study was to learn which professional behaviors create ethical dilemmas most often for psychologists and how they respond to these issues. Findings suggest that psychologists who have actually faced a particular dilemma are less strict on judging the inappropriateness of a possible ethical transgression than those psychologists who have not experienced it. Also, four clusters can be identified according to the attitude of respondents toward the dilemmas, namely “rejection,” “aprioristic,” “utilitarian,” and “no conflict.”     

Spanish drivers' beliefs about speed. Speeding is a major issue of road safety

Extending and updating our knowledge concerning drivers' motivational and cognitive processes is of essential importance if we are to apply policies with long-lasting effects. This study presents data from a representative national survey analyzing the Spanish drivers' beliefs about speed, the risks of speeding, the degree of violation of speed-limits and the reasons for speeding. Results indicate that Spanish drivers rate speeding as a serious offence, yet not among the most dangerous ones. All in all, they claim to comply mostly with the speed limits. However, some interesting violation patterns emerge: observance is lower for generic speed limits according to road type (vs. specific limits shown by certain road signs), and particularly in motorways (vs. single carriageways and urban areas). Risk perception and reasons for speeding emerge as the main factors predicting the levels of speed violations reported. Results suggest that any effective intervention strategy should consider such factors, namely the link between speed, road safety, and drivers' specific reasons for speeding.     

Observational analysis of the free throw shot made by grassroots basketball players

This article represents an approach to the free throw from the perspective of observational methodology. Faced with the obvious difficulty of transferring quantitative data resulting from the habitual biomechanical studies to everyday sports intervention, an easily accessible observational tool has been produced which, as a main contribution, allows the detection of T-patterns in free-throw shots. As the endorsement of the usefulness of the designed observational tool, an example is presented of the results obtained in a research design that studies a selection of grassroots basketball players (11-12 years).     

Personality disorders and psychopathy in men convicted for severe intimate partner violence

In this paper, a study of personality disorders and psychopathy in imprisoned male batterers is carried out. A sample of 76 batterers sentenced for a severe offence of violence against their intimate partner was selected. All the participants were assessed with the MCMI-II before beginning a treatment program in prison for gender violence. Likewise, all participants were assessed with the PCL-R in order to identify psychopathic symptoms. According to the results, 86.8% of the sample showed at least one personality disorder. The most prevalent one was the Obsessive-compulsive Personality Disorder (57.8% of cases), followed by the Dependent Personality Disorder (34.2% of cases) and Paranoid Personality Disorder (25%). Regarding psychopathy, the results of PCL-R showed that there were 11 people (14.4% of the sample) who met the criteria for psychopathy or probable psychopathy. Finally, implications of this study for clinical practice and future research in this field are commented upon.