Parenting practices and internalizing and externalizing problems in Spanish adolescents

The goal of this study was to analyze the relationship between parenting practices and internalizing and externalizing problems presented by a group of adolescents according to their gender. Four hundred and sixty-nine secondary school students (aged between 12 and 18) participated in this study. The adolescents presented differences in perception of the educational practices of both parents as a function of their gender. Negative parenting practices were positively related to adolescents' internalizing and externalizing problems, whereas positive practices were negatively related to externalizing problems. Moreover, differences between boys and girls were found in predictor variables of problems, and the predictive power of the variables was higher for externalizing problems.     

General cognitive functioning and psycholinguistic abilities in children with Smith-Magenis Syndrome

This study is a neuropsycholinguistic research of a rare genetic syndrome with microdeletion that co-occurs with intellectual disabilities and relatively good language abilities, the Smith-Magenis Syndrome (SMS). Nevertheless, there are no cognitive and psycholinguistic profile analyses performed with Spanish population. In this sense, we characterized the cognitive and psycholinguistic profile of a sample with 9 participants with SMS (7 to 11 years of age). The cognitive and psychological profile was assessed with diverse standardized tests: Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - IV version, Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities and Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Results suggest a specific cognitive and psychological profile characterized by a low IQ and relative good abilities in integrating information, whereas attention problems and hyperactive behaviors were displayed when interacting with the child during the assessment. This work is the first evidence of the cognitive and psycholinguistic profile characterization in patients with SMS in Spain, and will help to guide a more accurate diagnosis and differential intervention in rare genetic diseases with similar cognitive and psycholinguistic profiles.     

Do adolescents who use stimulants have a different personality?

Stimulant consumption is especially important in our context because its use has greatly increased in recent years. The aim of the present study is to analyze the differences between stimulant users and nonusers (under 18 years old) in personality characteristics assessed with the MACI. The sample comprises 398 youths between 14 and 17 years old who were selected through random sampling in their homes or in recreational night spots. Results show important differences in personality features between stimulant users and nonusers. Stimulant users are characterized by having unruly, forceful, oppositional and borderline-tendency personality prototypes.     

Attitude towards women of gender schematic vs aschematic individuals

After the fourfold gender typology (1970s), a dual model--gender schematic versus aschematic individuals--emerged in the 1980s. In this research, the relationship between gender schemas and attitudes towards women's rights were tested. Two studies were carried out (2001 and 2009) with adolescents (boys and girls) from 12 to 14 years old, with 359 participants in 2001 and 224 in 2009, using two instruments: the Bem Sex Role Inventory and the Attitudes Towards Women Scale. Factor analysis and ANOVAs were carried out. The results of both studies supported the hypothesis that girls maintain more favourable attitudes about themselves than boys do. Both studies supported the hypothesis that feminine and androgynous individuals display similar attitudes towards women, but they differ from the other gender categories. Masculine boys and feminine girls did not show differences in attitudes towards women in comparison to aschematic or cross-gendered adolescents. Inconsistent results were found between studies regarding the hypothesized differences between typical and atypical schematics in attitudes towards women, as well as between undifferentiated and gender schematic individuals. The implications of these results for the instruments used, as well as for theories, are considered.     

A model of the effects of child sexual abuse on post-traumatic stress: the mediating role of attributions of blame and avoidance coping

Employing structural equation modeling, the direct and indirect effects of the severity of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA), attributions of blame for the abuse, and coping strategies on Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptomatology are analyzed. The effects of other types of child maltreatment on PTSD were also controlled. The sample comprised 163 female college students who were victims of CSA. The results suggested that victims of more severe abuse showed higher levels of avoidant coping, self blame, and family blame. Having suffered other kinds of abuse or neglect was also related to higher family blame attributions. Lastly, both attributions of blame scales were indirectly related to PTSD symptomatology through avoidant coping. The strong relationships between attributions of blame, coping strategies, and PTSD suggest that it might be useful to intervene early with children who have suffered CSA in an effort to modify the attributions they make about the abuse and the way they cope with it.     

Consequences of job insecurity. The moderator role of organizational support from a multilevel perspective

Job insecurity is one of the main stressors for many employees. Hence, it is important to identify factors that can ameliorate its detrimental effects. In this respect, the present study examines the moderator role of organizational support, understood as a contextual factor in the relationship between job insecurity and its consequences. The sample comprised 859 employees from 42 Spanish organizations. Results showed that organizational support modulated the relationship between job insecurity and employees' reactions (i.e., job satisfaction, psychological health and intention to leave the organization). These results reveal the need to consider contextual factors such as organizational support in the study and intervention of job insecurity.     

Factor structure analysis of the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scale scores in Spanish population

Social competence and antisocial behavior in children are interesting variables for researchers and educators. Nonetheless, there are few assessment instruments capable of measuring the two constructs in small children. The aim of this study is to verify the structural validity of the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scale for Teachers and Caregivers (PKBS-2), in order to determine the theoretical model that best fits the data from a Spanish sample. 1509 children from preschool education (741 males and 768 females) from 3 to 6 years old (M= 3.78; SD= 0.815) participated in the study. Data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS-15.0) and the Structural Equations Program (EQS 6.1). The resulting models of social skills and behavioral problems show adequate fit indexes, statistically significant loadings, and a high internal consistency index (Cronbach's alpha). Lastly, the structural model confirms a two-factor structure: a first factor of Social Skills, comprising three variables (social cooperation, social interaction, and social independence), and a second factor of Behavior Problems, comprising two variables (externalization and internalization of problems).     

Executive functioning by 18‐24‐month‐old children: effects of inhibition,working memory demands and narrative in a novel detour‐reaching task

Infants can inhibit a prepotent but wrong action towards a goal in order to perform a causal means‐action. It is not clear, however, whether infants can perform an arbitrary means‐action while inhibiting a prepotent response. In four experiments, we explore this executive functioning in 18–24‐month‐old children. The working memory and inhibition demands in a novel means‐end problem were systematically varied in terms of the type and combination of means‐action(s) (causal or arbitrary) contained within the task, the number of means‐actions (1 or 2), the goal visual availability and whether the task was accompanied by a narrative. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that children performed tasks that contained causal as opposed to arbitrary information more accurately; accuracy was also higher in tasks containing only one step. Experiment 2 also demonstrated that performance in the arbitrary task improved significantly when all sources of prepotency were removed. In Experiment 3, task performance improved when the two means‐actions were intelligibly linked to the task goal. Experiment 4 demonstrated that the use of a narrative that provided a meaningful (non‐causal) link between the two means‐actions also improved children's performance by assisting their working memory in the generation of a rationale. Findings provide an initial account of executive functioning in the months that bring the end of infancy. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mind Leaks: A Commentary on Wooffitt’s Poetic Confluence: A Sociological Analysis of an Enigmatic Moment

This commentary on Wooffitt’s lucid article discusses three major implications of the phenomenon of poetic confluences or ESP puns to our understanding of minds and selves. The first reinforces the view of mind as associative and metaphorical, rather than merely computational. The second reviews various strands of evidence, including experimental research on psi phenomena, to reveal that selves and individuals are not sharply distinct or separate from others. The final, epistemological, implication is that poetic confluences add to the irresolvable causal uncertainty about mental events.