Family therapy in Mexico—1978

The status of family therapy in Mexico is described. The Instituto de la Familia was formed in 1974 as a facility to train family therapists by Macias, Estrada, Dersbez, Chagoya and Barragan. In 1975 Barragan formed the Instituto Mexicano de la Familia. Various centers utilizing family therapy are noted.     

The contextual modulation of conditioned taste aversions by the physical environment and time of day is similar

In a pair of experiments, we have compared the ability of changes of place (Exp. 1) and changes of time of day (Exp. 2) to separately modulate learned saline-aversion memory phenomena in rats. Neither a spatial nor a temporal change disrupted latent inhibition using the present behavioral procedure. However, pre-exposure to the taste increased the contextual control of the learned aversion expression. The aversion reappeared in the place or at the time of conditioning after extinction in a different context. The results indicate that environmental and temporal contexts can independently, but similarly modulate taste aversion learning.     

Glance analysis of driver eye movements to evaluate distraction

With the increasing use of in-vehicle devices in cars, an understanding of the safety implications of secondary tasks has become crucial. It is now possible to study the effects of many in-vehicle devices and tasks on driving by using head-mounted eye-tracking devices (HEDs) to collect eye positions and pupil diameters, which have been considered indicators of attentional focus. The collection of eye-position and pupil-diameter data of automobile drivers under on-road conditions and while completing various secondary tasks is described in this paper. Drivers were asked to drive on a preselected two-lane road for a total distance of 22 miles while gaze data were recorded using a HED. Longer off-road fixation durations were observed in radio-tuning and rearview mirror checking tasks, but not in the odometer checking task. In addition, the standard deviations of fixation displacements during a cognitive task involving the computation of a date for a meeting were shorter than those observed during normal driving.     

Sociodemographic, clinical and outcome differences among anxiety disorders

The aims of this paper are to analyze differences in sociodemographic and clinical characteristics among the various anxiety disorders treated in a Psychology Clinic, and the results of treatment in each anxiety disorder. Data from 282 patients of University Psychology Clinic at the Complutense University of Madrid, who had at least one diagnosis of anxiety according to DMS-IV-TR criteria, were analyzed. The most frequent anxiety disorders were nonspecific anxiety disorder (19.1%) and social phobia (18.8%). Significant differences were observed according to sex (in all disorders, the percentage of women was significantly higher than that of men, except for obsessive-compulsive disorder). Unspecific anxiety disorder required a smaller number of assessment and treatment sessions, whereas obsessive-compulsive disorder required a greater number of sessions. There were no significant differences between the percentage of patients who completed treatment and dropout rates in specific phobia, general anxiety disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Differences between epidemiological and clinical data are discussed.     

Factor models of the Beck Depression Inventory-II. Validation with coronary patients and a critique of Ward's model

The objective of this study was to validate in a sample of 205 coronary patients a factor model for the BDI-II, especially a model that would allow for modeling of depressive symptoms after explicitly removing bias related to somatic symptoms of depression that would overlap those of heart disease. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses for ordinal data were conducted. A one-factor model, six correlated two-factor models and, derivatives thereof, seven models with a single General Depression factor and two uncorrelated factors, were analyzed. Exploratory analysis extracted two factors, Somatic-affective and Cognitive. Confirmatory factor analyses showed the worst fit for the one-factor model. Two-factor models were surpassed in goodness of fit by the models of general-factor and group factors. Among these, the General, Somatic-affective and Cognitive (G-Sa-C) model of Beck with students is noteworthy. The reduced General, Somatic and Cognitive (G-S-C) model of Ward showed the worst goodness of fit. Our model surpasses the cutoff criteria of all fit indexes. We conclude that the inclusion of a general-factor and group factors in all the models surpasses the results of G-S-C model and, therefore, questions it. The G-Sa-C model is strengthened.     

Context specificity of latent inhibition in the snail Cornu aspersum

Animal Cognition - The present study was conducted to assess the context specificity of latent inhibition (LI) in the snail Cornu aspersum, using the appetitive Pavlovian Conditioning procedure of...     

Gender Differences in Psychological Well-Being in Emerging Adulthood

Gender is recognized as an important social determinant of health, but past research on gender differences in psychological well-being have not produced conclusive results. This study investigated gender differences in eudaimonic well-being and life satisfaction in emerging adulthood. A cross-sectional study with a sample of 1990 emerging adults (50% males) from the Spanish general population was conducted. Participants were assessed through five questionnaires. Results showed that women scored higher than men in purpose in life and personal growth. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that the most important predictors of emerging adult men’s and women’s eudaimonic well-being and life satisfaction were higher self-confidence and lower negative self-evaluation. Other significant variables in the eudaimonic well-being of both women and men were higher score in the masculine/instrumental trait, higher emotional social support, higher educational level, and higher score in the feminine/expressive trait. Furthermore, higher instrumental social support was associated with eudaimonic well-being in females. Other predictors of women’s and men’s life satisfaction were higher score in the feminine/expressive trait, less age, higher educational level and higher instrumental social support. In addition, higher emotional social support was associated with life satisfaction in males. The results suggest that gender is important in the psychological well-being of people in emerging adulthood, although self-esteem and instrumental social support are, in both emerging adult women and men, the most important predictors of psychological well-being.

     

El constructo ansiedad en Psicología: una revisión

RESUMEN

Se trata en este artículo de dar una visión sucinta y comprensiva del tratamiento que, desde el ámbito de la Psicología científica, ha recibido el tema de la ansiedad. Casi todas las escuelas, tanto clínicas como experimentales, han intentado dar una explicación, cada cual con su método y de sus principios teóricos a este complejo fenómeno. Aquí se analizarán cuatro enfoques: Psicodinámica y humanística; Experimental motivacional; Psicométrico-factorial; Cognitivo-conductual. También se presenta, al final, de modo sintético, un resumen que trata de integrar las diferentes aportaciones que se han producido en el desarrollo del estudio científico del tema ansiedad.     

The effects of aging on the working memory processes of multimodal information

Normal aging is associated with deficits in working memory processes. However, the majority of research has focused on storage or inhibitory processes using unimodal paradigms, without addressing their relationships using different sensory modalities. Hence, we pursued two objectives. First, was to examine the effects of aging on storage and inhibitory processes. Second, was to evaluate aging effects on multisensory integration of visual and auditory stimuli. To this end, young and older participants performed a multimodal task for visual and auditory pairs of stimuli with increasing memory load at encoding and interference during retention. Our results showed an age-related increased vulnerability to interrupting and distracting interference reflecting inhibitory deficits related to the off-line reactivation and on-line suppression of relevant and irrelevant information, respectively. Storage capacity was impaired with increasing task demands in both age groups. Additionally, older adults showed a deficit in multisensory integration, with poorer performance for new visual compared to new auditory information.     

Predictors of Secondary School Completion Among Refugee Youth 8 to 9 Years After Resettlement in Melbourne,Australia

Being able to attend school and achieve an education is one of the most desired opportunities among resettled refugee young people. However, turning educational aspirations into reality is not straightforward. There is a large body of research documenting the barriers associated with educational achievement among refugees who resettle as teenagers, both in Australia and internationally. No studies, however, have identified the factors that predict completion of secondary school among resettled refugee youth over time. This paper reports the predictors of completion of secondary school among a cohort of 47 refugee youth resettled in Melbourne, Australia. Eight to 9 years after resettlement, 29 (62 %) had completed secondary school and 18 (38 %) had left school prior to completing year 12. Age on arrival and experiences of discrimination in Australia were significant predictors of secondary school completion. Older refugee youth (on arrival) and those who reported experiences of discrimination over the first 8 to 9 years in Australia were significantly less likely to complete secondary school. This longitudinal study confirms that, as a group, refugee youth are particularly at risk of not completing secondary school education, which can have an impact on their wellbeing and long-term socio-economic standing in their settlement country. Our study provides further evidence of the negative impact of discrimination on the educational outcomes of disadvantaged young people.