Objective assessment of gender roles: Gender Roles Test (GRT-36)

This study was designed to develop a computerized test to assess gender roles. This test is presented as a decision-making task to mask its purpose. Each item displays a picture representing an activity and a brief sentence that describes it. Participants have to choose the most suitable sex to perform each activity: man or woman. The test (Gender Roles Test, GRT-36) consists of 36 items/activities. The program registers both the choices made and their response times (RTs). Responses are considered as stereotyped when the chosen sex fits stereotyped roles and non-stereotyped when the chosen sex does not fit stereotyped roles. Individual means (RTs) were computed for stereotyped and non-stereotyped responses, differentiating between domestic and work spheres. A "D" score, reflecting the strength of association between activities and sex, was calculated for each sphere and sex. The study incorporated 78 participants (69% women and 31% men) ranging from 19 to 59 years old. The results show that: (a) reading speed does not explain the variability in the RTs; (b) RTs show good internal consistency; (c) RTs are shorter for stereotyped than for neutral stimuli; (d) RTs are shorter for stereotyped than for non-stereotyped responses. Intended goals are supported by obtained results. Scores provided by the task facilitate both group and individual detailed analysis of gender role, differentiating the gender role assigned to men from that assigned to women, at the domestic and work spheres. Obtained data fall within the scope of the genderology and their implications are discussed.     

Moderating effects in consumers' perceptions of price unfairness

This study explores the moderating effects of various consumer features – such as price insensitivity and recency of last purchase – on the relationships among perceived value, inferred vendor profit, and perceived price fairness. A proposed model is developed and an empirical study is then conducted among consumers in four contexts: (i) two tangible goods; and (ii) two intangible services. The proposed model and hypotheses are tested using Partial Least Squares (PLS) software SmartPLS 2.0.M3, which provides a component‐based approach for estimation purposes. The influence of these moderating variables (price insensitivity and recency of the last purchase) depends on the context and the nature of the offering. This is a pioneering study of perceived price fairness in a framework of distributive justice utilizing a variety of contexts, products, and services. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Severe intimate partner violence risk prediction scale-revised

The aim of this study was to describe the psychometric properties of the Severe Intimate Partner Violence Risk Prediction Scale and to revise it in order to ponderate the 20 items according to their discriminant capacity and to solve the missing item problem. The sample for this study consisted of 450 male batterers who were reported to the police station. The victims were classified as high-risk (18.2%), moderate-risk (45.8%) and low-risk (36%), depending on the cutoff scores in the original scale. Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha=.72) and interrater reliability (r=.73) were acceptable. The point biserial correlation coefficient between each item and the corrected total score of the 20-item scale was calculated to determine the most discriminative items, which were associated with the context of intimate partner violence in the last month, with the male batterer's profile and with the victim's vulnerability. A revised scale (EPV-R) with new cutoff scores and indications on how to deal with the missing items were proposed in accordance with these results. This easy-to-use tool appears to be suitable to the requirements of criminal justice professionals and is intended for use in safety planning. Implications of these results for further research are discussed.     

Income,Motivation, and Satisfaction with Life: An Empirical Analysis

This paper focuses on how different types of motivations can condition satisfaction with life, studying whether individual heterogeneity in motivations affects the relationship between income and life satisfaction and whether the relationship between motivation and satisfaction differs for people in different income-groups. Data used in this study comes from the World Values Survey and the focus is placed on the relationship between income, motivation and satisfaction with life. Once variables such as gender, age, religion, health or education are controlled for, we find that different motivations significantly affect individual wellbeing. Moreover, our results suggest that moving from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation leads individuals to enjoy greater satisfaction with life. This is so independent of the level of income, but the role of intrinsic motivation is particularly significant for people in the low-income class. Life satisfaction also increases, within extrinsic motivation, when moving from importance placed on a good income to focusing on security and, within intrinsic motivation, when moving from emphasis placed on social relatedness to an increased feeling of accomplishment. Overall, our results suggest that different goals and intended outcomes condition individual’s perceptions of wellbeing, with intrinsic motivations being crucial in attaining greater levels of satisfaction with life.     

Necessity and Language: The Gap Is Still Very Real

In my previous paper “Has the later Wittgenstein accounted for necessity?” I argued against the conventionalist account of necessity proposed by Wittgenstein and his followers. Glock has addressed some of my objections in his paper “Necessity and Language: In Defence of Conventionalism”. This brief rejoinder considers Glock's replies to three of those objections. In the course of doing so, I revisit Wittgenstein's explanation of the special status of necessary propositions, the supposedly arbitrary nature of colour‐grammatical propositions, and the relation between rules and modality.     

A Pilot Study of Culturally Adapted Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Hispanics with Major Depression

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a culturally adapted cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) for major depression among Hispanics in primary care. Cultural adaptations were applied based on a range of cultural considerations described in the literature. Fifteen Hispanic primary care patients with major depression were enrolled. All participants received the 12-session intervention and completed baseline, posttreatment, and 6-month follow-up assessments. Four participants (27%) dropped out of the treatment. Analyses focused on changes from baseline functioning using a Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. Results showed significant reductions in depressive, anxious, and somatic symptoms at posttreatment and 6-month follow-up. Mean reduction of depressive symptoms at posttreatment was 57%. Findings of acceptable treatment retention rates and clinically meaningful reductions in depressive symptoms showed promise for this intervention to treat Hispanics with major depression. Future studies should conduct a more rigorously controlled evaluation of this intervention.     

Reputation, loneliness, satisfaction with life and aggressive behavior in adolescence

The present study analyses the relationship between adolescents' perception of reputation and aggressive behavior among peers. The sample is made up of 1319 adolescents aged 11 to 16-years-old. Statistical analyses with structural equation modeling were carried out to examine the direct and indirect effect of perception of reputation (real and ideal) on aggressive behavior. Results indicate that adolescents' real and ideal reputations are related both directly and indirectly to aggressive behavior. The indirect effects suggest that loneliness and life satisfaction mediate the relationship between adolescents' reputation and their aggressive behavior. These findings and their implications are discussed.     

Comparison of single- and double-stage designs in the prevalence estimation of eating disorders in community samples

The aim of this research was to compare two different case-identification designs: (a) a one-stage anonymous design using the Eating Disorders Examination-Questionnaire (EDE-Q; Fairburn & Beglin, 1994) as diagnostic instrument and (b) a two-stage-non-anonymous design using the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT; Garner & Garfinkel, 1979) and the EDE-Q as screening instruments and the clinical interview Eating Disorders Examination (EDE; Fairbumrn & Cooper, 1993) as diagnostic instrument, in the estimation of eating disorders prevalence in community samples. Both epidemiological designs were compared in: eating disorders prevalence, population at risk, and weekly frequency of associated symptomatology (binge eating episodes, self-vomiting) within a sample of 559 scholars (14 to 18 year-old males and females) studying in the region of Madrid. Eating disorders prevalence estimation using single-stage design was 6.2%, and 3% using the two-stage design; however, these differences were not significant (p = .067). No significant differences between the two procedures were found either in population at risk or in weekly frequency of reported self-vomiting. Reported binge eating episodes were higher in the one-stage design. The use of a two-stage procedure with clinical interview (vs. questionnaire) leads to a better understanding of the items (specially the most ambiguous ones) and thus, to a more accurate prevalence estimation.     

Gender and emotional response induced by imagery

The aim of this study is to explore gender differences in emotional expression: Do men benefit from their stereotyped response pattern to some negative affects such as sadness? Do women benefit less than men from positive affect? We studied sadness and happiness in the laboratory, using imagery induction with some temporal proximity, and registering physiological, facial, and cognitive responses. The results show a complex panorama in which the differences depend on the emotional content and presentation order. The results are in accordance with the educational theories that postulate prototypical emotional education, and indicate a way to reduce the problems related to women's sensitization to sadness, using the beneficial effects of positive experiences.     

Modeling the Developmental Patterning of Finiteness Marking in English, Dutch, German, and Spanish Using MOSAIC

In this study, we apply MOSAIC (model of syntax acquisition in children) to the simulation of the developmental patterning of children's optional infinitive (OI) errors in 4 languages: English, Dutch, German, and Spanish. MOSAIC, which has already simulated this phenomenon in Dutch and English, now implements a learning mechanism that better reflects the theoretical assumptions underlying it, as well as a chunking mechanism that results in frequent phrases being treated as 1 unit. Using 1, identical model that learns from child-directed speech, we obtain a close quantitative fit to the data from all 4 languages despite there being considerable cross-linguistic and developmental variation in the OI phenomenon. MOSAIC successfully simulates the difference between Spanish (a pro-drop language in which OI errors are virtually absent) and obligatory subject languages that do display the OI phenomenon. It also highlights differences in the OI phenomenon across German and Dutch, 2 closely related languages whose grammar is virtually identical with respect to the relation between finiteness and verb placement. Taken together, these results suggest that (a) cross-linguistic differences in the rates at which children produce OIs are graded, quantitative differences that closely reflect the statistical properties of the input they are exposed to and (b) theories of syntax acquisition need to consider more closely the role of input characteristics as determinants of quantitative differences in the cross-linguistic patterning of phenomena in language acquisition.