Spanish validation of the Acceptance of Modern Myths about Sexual Aggression scale (AMMSA)

Two studies were conducted with college students to validate the Spanish-language version of the "Acceptance of Modern Myths about Sexual Aggression" scale (AMMSA) (Gerger, Kley, Bohner & Siebler, 2007). This scale assesses modern myths about sexual aggression in a subtle way. In Study 1, 305 students completed the Spanish AMMSA and other scales with related content. In Study 2, 263 participants completed the Spanish AMMSA and answered questions about a hypothetical sexual assault perpetrated by a young man against a female acquaintance. The Spanish AMMSA showed high internal consistency and adequate evidence of validity in both studies. Compared to traditional scales of rape myth acceptance, mean scores on the AMMSA were higher and their distributions more closely approximated normality. These findings suggest that the Spanish version of the AMMSA scale is a useful instrument to study the social perception of sexual aggression.     

Factors affecting foster care breakdown in Spain

Breakdown of foster care has been defined as the situation in which one of the involved parties terminates the intervention before having achieved the goals established for the case plan. This work presents a study carried out with a Spanish sample of 318 closed cases of children who were placed in foster homes and kinship care. The data were collected through the exhaustive review of the child protection and foster placement files, complemented with interviews of the welfare workers in charge of each case. The rate of breakdown of the entire sample was 26.1%, although it was significantly different in kinship care (19.7%) and foster care (31.2%). The results of this study indicate that the variables related to breakdown depend on the placement modality, either in foster care or kinship care. In the first case, the variables related to the child's characteristics are noteworthy, especially behavior and academic problems, with special relevance in the 9-12-year-old group, and in children who were previously in residential care. In contrast, in kinship care, the parents' problems (prison, mental health) and having some measure of guardianship are the most important. The fact of undergoing foster placement after having lived in various residential homes is transcendental. Lastly, the availability of economic resources and even the foster carers' studies seem to be related to foster breakdown.     

Can angelfish (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Pterophyllum scalare</Emphasis>) count? Discrimination between different shoal sizes follows Weber’s law

The ability to discriminate between larger and smaller quantities has been demonstrated in several mammalian and avian species suggesting the possibility of evolutionary conservation of this characteristic. Preference for the larger of two groups has also been shown in fish species, although this ability has rarely been systematically studied in lower order vertebrates, and thus the mechanisms of such ability are not understood. Here, we exploit the tendency of angelfish to seek protection in an unfamiliar environment by joining a group of conspecifics, a behaviour called shoaling. Test fish were given a simultaneous choice between shoals varying both in terms of numerical ratios and absolute numbers of fish. Our results provide evidence for quantity discrimination in angelfish. In general, experimental subjects chose the larger of two shoals. Furthermore, in agreement with Weber’s law, which holds that discrimination between two quantities depends on their ratio, the discrimination between shoals of different quantities of fish was more difficult when the shoal sizes became more similar. The limit of discrimination ratio was found to be below 2:1. Briefly, angelfish are able to discriminate between different quantities of conspecifics subject to a ratio limit, a finding that implies a fitness component in this behaviour similar to what has been demonstrated in higher order vertebrates.     

Recording online processes in task-oriented reading with Read&;Answer

We present an application to study task-oriented reading processes called Read&Answer. The application mimics paper-and-pencil situations in which a reader interacts with one or more documents to perform a specific task, such as answering questions, writing an essay, or similar activities. Read&Answer presents documents and questions with a mask. The reader unmasks documents and questions so that only a piece of information is available at a time. This way the entire interaction between the reader and the documents on the task is recorded and can be analyzed. We describe Read&Answer and present its applications for research and assessment. Finally, we explain two studies that compare readers’ performance on Read&Answer with students’ reading times and comprehension levels on a paper-and-pencil task, and on a computer task recorded with eye-tracking. The use of Read&Answer produced similar comprehension scores, although it changed the pattern of reading times.     

The effects of interletter spacing in visual-word recognition

Despite the importance of determining the effects of interletter spacing on visual-word recognition, this issue has often been neglected in the literature. The goal of the present study is to shed some light on this topic. The rationale is that a thin increase in interletter spacing, as in c a s i n o, may reduce lateral interference among internal letters without destroying a word's integrity and/or allow a more precise encoding of a word's letter positions. Here we examined whether identification times for word stimuli in a lexical decision task were faster when the target word had a slightly wider than default interletter spacing value relative to the default settings (e.g., c a s i n o vs. casino). In Experiment 1, we examined whether interletter spacing interacted with word-frequency, whereas in Experiment 2, we examined whether interletter spacing interacted with word length. Results showed that responses to words using a thin increase in interletter spacing were faster than the responses to words using the default settings—regardless of word-frequency and word length. Thus, interletter spacing plays an important role at modulating the identification of visually presented words.     

Confirmation of the three-factor model of problematic internet use on off-line adolescent and adult samples

As the Internet became widely used, problems associated with its excessive use became increasingly apparent. Although for the assessment of these problems several models and related questionnaires have been elaborated, there has been little effort made to confirm them. The aim of the present study was to test the three-factor model of the previously created Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire (PIUQ) by data collection methods formerly not applied (off-line group and face-to-face settings), on the one hand, and by testing on different age groups (adolescent and adult representative samples), on the other hand. Data were collected from 438 high-school students (44.5 percent boys; mean age: 16.0 years; standard deviation=0.7 years) and also from 963 adults (49.9 percent males; mean age: 33.6 years; standard deviation=11.8 years). We applied confirmatory factor analysis to confirm the measurement model of problematic Internet use. The results of the analyses carried out inevitably support the original three-factor model over the possible one-factor solution. Using latent profile analysis, we identified 11 percent of adults and 18 percent of adolescent users characterized by problematic use. Based on exploratory factor analysis, we also suggest a short form of the PIUQ consisting of nine items. Both the original 18-item version of PIUQ and its short 9-item form have satisfactory reliability and validity characteristics, and thus, they are suitable for the assessment of problematic Internet use in future studies.     

Prevalence of Internet addiction in Latino adolescents with psychiatric diagnosis

Internet addiction (IA) is particularly relevant in the adolescent population. The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence of IA in a clinical sample of Latino adolescents receiving ambulatory psychiatric treatment. The correlation between their pattern of Internet use and their respective psychiatric diagnosis was also studied. Adolescent patients from the Psychiatric Ambulatory Clinic at the Pediatric University Hospital (N=71) completed the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) and a questionnaire about Internet use. Information regarding demographic and diagnostic data was retrieved from their clinical records. None of the subjects presented severe IA. A total of 71.8% (n=51) of the adolescents obtained scores reflecting no problem related to IA. Only 11.6% (n=5) of subjects have discussed Internet use with their therapist. Mood disorders showed a statistically significant (p=0.044) correlation with a higher score on the IAT. Mental health care practitioners must consider questions on Internet use as an essential part of the patients' evaluation given its significant correlation with diagnosis of a mood disorder.     

Development and validation of a questionnaire about the main variables affecting the individual investor's behavior in the Stock Exchange

Development and validation of a questionnaire about the main variables affecting the individual investor's behavior in the Stock Exchange. There is a considerable lack of information about the methodology usually used in most of the studies about individual investor's behavior. The studies reviewed do not show the method used in the selection of the items or the psychometric properties of the questionnaires. Because of the importance of investment in the Stock Exchange nowadays, it seems relevant to obtain a reliable instrument to understand individual investor's behavior in the Stock Exchange. Therefore, the goal of the present work is to validate a questionnaire about the main variables involved in individual investors' behavior in the Stock Exchange. Based on previous studies, we elaborated a questionnaire using the Delphi methodology with a group of experts. The internal consistency (Cronbach alpha=.934) and validity evidence of the questionnaire show that it may be an effective instrument and can be applied with some assurance.     

In-group Bias Test adapted to the relative acculturation extended model: reliability and validity evidences

In-group favouritism has become a variable of enormous importance in the study of inter-ethnic relations. According to current approaches, it can be understood as a tendency among the members of one group to favour or value the behaviour, attitudes, preferences or perceptions of their own group over those of another group to which they do not belong. The aim of this work is to study the psychometric properties of a new test for measuring inter-ethnic in-group bias, in majority (native) and minority (immigrant) groups. The test is based on the acculturation areas of the Relative Acculturation Extended Model (RAEM). Participants were 992 Spaniards and 975 immigrants (500 Romanians and 475 Ecuadorians). The reliability estimate and validity evidence for these samples show that the psychometric properties of the In-group Bias Test are appropriate for use in multi-ethnic contexts, as it can be used in majority (native) and minority (Romanian and Ecuadorian immigrants) groups.