Spanish adaptation of the EAS Temperament Survey for the assessment of child temperament

Better understanding of child temperament is essential, as it may predict subsequent development of psychopathology. Questionnaires which have been adapted to Spanish population include a rather restricted age range. The Emotionality Sociability and Activity (EAS) Temperament Survey has been widely used in child temperament genetic research. A Spanish version of the scale was administered to a sample of 229 mothers and to their children at 18 and 42 months of age. Its psychometric features were examined. Results showed accuracy indices akin to that obtained in prior studies. Findings suggest a three-factor structure for the assessment of temperament.     

Psychoanalysts Working With Patients Who Have Been Subjected to Torture Due to Socio-Political Circumstances: Possible or Impossible Challenge?

This paper presents some comments about the clinical case treated by two Chilean psychoanalysts in the period of violation of human rights, Isidora and her son Martín. We should recognize the pain of listening as psychoanalysts to this kind of story reopens our own wounds, which reappear again, showing some of the toughest realities in the curtailment of personal freedoms like torture, abuse, and violence, which strip away the subject’s identity and any consideration of their selfhood. All therapists or analysts who work in such a situation, whether or not they have been through similar traumas, will be included, affected, and pierced by the social and cultural context. In these cases, it is not only the patient and her internal world that is being treated, but the analysts as well, as they are not outsiders to the conflict. Analyze patients like this case or similar cases could be a possible or sometimes an impossible challenge?     

Psychometric Properties of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire-Preschool Revision (APQ-Pr) in 3 Year-Old Spanish Preschoolers

Parenting practices should be assessed and taken into account at an early age, since it is well documented that they are strongly related to children’s development. This study provides data on the psychometric properties of a Spanish version of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire for Preschool children (APQ-Pr). A community sample of 622 (310 boys and 312 girls) 3 year-old children and their parents, participated in the study. Data were obtained from parents’ reports and correspond to a semi-structured diagnostic interview and self-report questionnaires evaluating parenting and children’s psychological states. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a three-factor solution: positive parenting, inconsistent parenting and punitive parenting. These scales scores showed moderate to good internal consistence (omega values ranged from .54 to .86). Inconsistent parenting scores achieved the strongest associations with external measures of psychopathology, especially for externalizing and conduct problems, as well as for functional impairment, the poorest associations being for the positive parenting scores. Results support the validity of the Spanish APQ-Pr, which is potentially a useful measure for the study of parenting practices regarding preschool children and their relation to conduct problems.     

Assessment of Needs in Residential Care: Perspectives of Youth and Professionals

The evaluation and identification of needs profiles for youth in residential care, through qualitative and quantitative methodologies involving different stakeholders, are still relatively uncommon, even though they are essential in developing specific and effective services. This article will present two studies, one with youth and another with professionals. To assess needs from the standpoint of youth, four focus groups were held with youth in residential care (n = 21). To identify needs profiles of youth from the standpoint of professionals, 47 professionals evaluated a sample of youth in residential care (n = 110) using the RCYNA questionnaire. The results of the study with youth point to needs in three main areas: living situation, social and family relationships, and education. The results of the study with professionals reveal three needs profiles with distinct risk levels: low risk, without emerging needs; intermediate risk, with needs in terms of the economic and living situation; and high risk, with needs in terms of relationships, behavioural, psychological and emotional skills, and education and employment.     

Social Capital and Individual Happiness in Europe

This paper explores the relationship between social capital and happiness both in Europe as a whole, as well as in its four main geographical macro-regions—North, South, East and West—separately. We test the hypothesis of whether social capital, in its three-fold definition established by Coleman (Am J Sociol 94:S95–S120 1988)—trust, social interaction, and norms and sanctions—influences individual happiness across European countries and regions. The concept of social capital is further enriched by incorporating Putnam (Making democracy work—civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1993) and Olson (The rise and decline of nations—economic growth, stagflation, and social rigidities. Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1982) type variables on associational activity. Using ordinal logistic regression analysis on data for 48,583 individuals from 25 European countries, we reach three main findings. First, social capital matters for happiness across the three dimensions considered. Second, the main drivers of the effects of social capital on happiness appear to be informal social interaction and general social, as well as institutional trust. And third, there are significant differences in how social capital interacts with happiness across different areas of Europe, with the connection being at is weakest in the Nordic countries.     

Subjective and Objective Aspects of Free Time: The Italian Case

This study investigates two distinct but interrelated phenomena—that of experienced leisure and that of perceived leisure—in order to determine empirically whether and how the perception and use of free time affects an individual’s level of satisfaction. The analysis was conducted on a sample of approximately 50,000 individuals, representative of the Italian population. It focused on the person-centred sphere of leisure: both the objective aspect—that is, participation in leisure activities—and the subjective aspects—that is, the different meanings of leisure and levels of satisfaction or dissatisfaction expressed by the subjects—were investigated. By applying multivariate analytical techniques (Multiple Correspondence Analysis and Cluster Analysis), synthetic indices were calculated and subject typologies were developed. Logistic regression models were also used to investigate the relationship between perception, activity and satisfaction. The results confirmed that the objective and subjective aspects are interrelated: there are specific activities related to the type of perception of leisure activities which contribute significantly to making a person happy. There are other aspects, however, such as relational activities and sports, which are important for the satisfaction of those whose conception of leisure seems discordant with respect to such activities.     

Interparental Conflict Appraisals and Adolescents’ Maladaptation in Siblings: An Actor-Partner Interdependence Model

Journal of Child and Family Studies - The aim of this study was to evaluate dyadic effects among siblings by testing an actor–partner interdependence model of associations between...     

Author Correction: Assessing Adolescents’ Information Management with Mothers and Fathers: A Brief Report

Journal of Child and Family Studies -