Attributional style and depressive symptoms in adolescents: an examination of the role of various indicators of cognitive vulnerability

This study focuses on the hopelessness theory to explain depressive symptoms in adolescents. The aim is to assess which dimensions of the attributional style (causal attribution, attribution of consequences, implications for the self, total score, and weakest link score) better moderate the impact of negative events on the increase of depressive symptoms. For this purpose, 856 Spanish adolescents (449 girls and 407 boys, ages between 14 and 17 years) were assessed at the beginning of the school year and at follow-up 6 months later. They completed measures of depressogenic cognitive style [Hankin, B. L., & Abramson, L. Y. (2002). Measuring cognitive vulnerability to depression in adolescents: Reliability, validity, and gender differences. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 31, 491-504], negative life events, and depressive symptoms. The results show that only the dimension of attribution of stable and global causes moderated the impact of the negative events on the increase of depression at follow-up. The results are discussed in terms of the meaning of the weakest link score and the construct of attributional style from a developmental perspective.     

SA-45: a brief form of the SCL-90

The Symptom Assessment-45 Questionnaire (SA-45) is a 45-item self-report instrument of psychiatric symptomatology derived from the original SCL-90. The SA-45 consists of nine 5-item scales assessing each of the same symptom domains as its parent instrument with no item overlap across domains. This paper provides preliminary validation of the Spanish version of the questionnaire in an undergraduate sample. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a 9-factor structure, which corresponds to the nine proposed scales. Normative data, reliability (internal consistency) and validity were also examined, finding support for sound psychometric properties.     

Gender Differences in Psychological Distress Among Latin American Immigrants to the Canary Islands

We compared gender differences in rates and correlates of psychological distress among Latin American immigrants to the Canary Islands, Spain. Immigrant men (n?=?150) and women (n?=?150) completed questionnaires about demographic and migration characteristics, immigration demands, and psychological distress. Women reported more distress and immigration demands related to loss and occupation than men. For women, not being employed full time and immigration demands related to loss, novelty, occupation, and language were significantly related to distress. For men, living with children/grandchildren and immigration demands related to novelty and not feeling at home were significantly related to distress. Study findings suggest that women are at higher risk for psychological distress and that sources of psychological distress are gender specific.     

Preexposure effects in the spatial domain: Dissociation between latent inhibition and perceptual learning

In 4 experiments, rats were given intermixed or blocked preexposure to an array of landmarks that subsequently defined the location of a hidden goal in a Morris pool task. Previous research has shown that intermixed preexposure to pairs of adjacent landmarks retards learning whereas preexposure to individual landmarks facilitates subsequent learning (J. Prados, V. D. Chamizo, & N. J. Mackintosh, 1999). Accordingly, in Experiment 1, intermixed and blocked preexposure to pairs of adjacent landmarks was found to retard learning. In Experiment 2, however, a scheduling effect was found: Rats given intermixed preexposure to the individual landmarks learned faster than rats given blocked or no preexposure. Experiment 3 showed that intermixed (but not blocked) preexposure to pairs of landmarks resulted in a facilitatory effect when preexposure and test were carried out in different contexts. Experiment 4 replicated within a single experiment the main results observed in Experiments 1 and 3. This pattern of results suggests that intermixed preexposure engages learning processes other than latent inhibition that facilitate subsequent learning of the navigation task.     

Relation between adverse psychosocial risks, assessed by means of the DECORE Multidimensional Questionnaire, and deficient occupational health

This paper describes our search for the possible relationship between workers' health and quality of life and several psychosocial risks: Cognitive demands, Control, Rewards and Organizational support. These psychosocial risks were assessed by means of the DECORE Multidimensional Questionnaire, which provides five scores, one for each factor, plus a global score. Workers' health was assessed with the following variables: job satisfaction, stress perception, fatigue perception, medical leave, occupational accidents, and disease. 614 workers from various business sectors were examined. Results show that workers who feel more fatigued, stressed, and less satisfied perceive their work environment more adversely. Similar results were obtained for workers who went on medical leave, had an occupational accident, or suffered from disease.     

Where do dialectal effects on speech processing come from? Evidence from a cross-dialect investigation

Accented speech has been seen as an additional impediment for speech processing; it usually adds linguistic and cognitive load to the listener's task. In the current study we analyse where the processing costs of regional dialects come from, a question that has not been answered yet. We quantify the proficiency of Basque–Spanish bilinguals who have different native dialects of Basque on many dimensions and test for costs at each of three levels of processing–phonemic discrimination, word recognition, and semantic processing. The ability to discriminate a dialect-specific contrast is affected by a bilingual's linguistic background less than lexical access is, and an individual's difficulty in lexical access is correlated with basic discrimination problems. Once lexical access is achieved, dialectal variation has little impact on semantic processing. The results are discussed in terms of the presence or absence of correlations between different processing levels. The implications of the results are considered for how models of spoken word recognition handle dialectal variation.     

Social Support and Postpartum Depression Revisited: The Traditional Female Role as Moderator among Mexican Women

Women who lack social support tend to have a higher risk of postpartum depression. The present study examined the traditional female role, understood here as the adoption of passive and submissive traits specific to Mexican women, as another risk factor for postpartum depressive symptomatology that interacts with social support. Using two waves of data from a longitudinal study of 210 adult Mexican women (20–44 years-old, M _age = 29.50 years, SD = 6.34), we found that lacking social support during the third trimester of their pregnancy was associated with greater depressive symptoms at 6 months in the postpartum, although this relationship depended on the level of endorsement of the traditional female role during pregnancy. Lower social support during pregnancy predicted greater postpartum depressive symptoms for women with higher endorsement of the traditional female role, even when accounting for prenatal depressive symptoms. These results suggest that Mexican women’s experience of social support may depend on their individual adherence to gender roles. Understanding the association between women’s traditional roles and social support in the risk for postpartum depression can improve prevention and educational programs for women at risk.     

Self-reported emotional intelligence, burnout and engagement among staff in services for people with intellectual disabilities

This study examined the relationship among dimensions of self-reported Emotional Intelligence, Engagement and Burnout, using the Trait Meta-Mood Scale, Maslach Burnout Inventory and Utrecht Work Engagement Scale in a sample of Spanish professionals who work at institutions for people with intellectual disabilities. The results showed that Emotional Clarity was significantly associated with Personal Accomplishment (r=.25) and Dedication (r=.25). Further, Repair to moods was significantly correlated with all Engagement dimensions (.20 Vigor, .30 Dedication, .36 Absorption) and with Personal Accomplishment (.31). These findings extend previous research with college students in which Clarity and Repair to moods subscales were relevant predictors of well-being indexes and interpersonal functioning and suggest that the Trait Meta-Mood Scale subscales also show significant relationships with emotional functioning and work-related variables in a professional sample.     

Brief strategic family therapy: lessons learned in efficacy research and challenges to blending research and practice

In this article, we present key lessons that we have learned from (1) a long program of research on an empirically supported treatment, brief strategic family therapy (BSFT), and (2) our ongoing research and training efforts related to transporting BSFT to the front lines of practice. After briefly presenting the rationale for working with the family when addressing behavior problems and substance abuse in adolescent populations, particularly among Hispanic adolescents, we summarize key findings from our 30-year program of research. The article closes by identifying barriers to the widespread adoption of empirically supported treatments and by presenting current work within the National Institute on Drug Abuse's Clinical Trials Network that attempts to address these barriers and obstacles.     

Social inequalities in suicide mortality: Spain and France, 1980-1982 and 1988-1990

In this study we analyzed the socioeconomic differences in mortality from suicide in the economically active male population aged 25-64 years in Spain and France in 1980-1982 and 1988-1990; in the case of Spain the data came from the Eight Provinces Study (Regidor, Gutierrez-Fisac, & Rodríguez, 1995). Individuals were grouped into four categories: professional/managerial, clerical/sales/ service, agricultural, and manual workers. For 1980-1982, among those aged 25-44, professionals and managers had the lowest risk of mortality in Spain, and clerical/sales/service workers in France. These socioeconomic differences in mortality increased in 1988-1990. In 1980-1982, among those aged 45-64, clerical/ sales/service workers had the lowest risk of mortality from suicide relative to the other occupational groups in both countries, but this difference was not maintained in 1988-1990. Thus, differences in suicide mortality for men by occupational status depended in the present study upon both the nation studied and the time period chosen for study.