A Multidisciplinary Approach to Sexual Behavior Profiles: The SEX360 Model

The diversity of sexual behaviors is driven by multiple determinants, including physiological, cultural, educational, and sociological factors. However, the definition of sexual behavior profiles has been barely addressed from a comprehensive point of view. We aimed to develop a multidisciplinary questionnaire for defining individual sexual behavior profiles. The questionnaire was developed by a panel of experts with research experience in the fields of urology, gynecology, psychology, anthropology, and sexology. The list of items was defined in a focus group session and was based on four categories—family-oriented, loving, recreational, and functional—resulting from the combination of two axes: traditional versus non-traditional and sexual benefit versus extra-sexual benefit. Real-time Delphi dynamics was used to assign a weight to each question and a bias to the corresponding responses. The final questionnaire included 50 items considered relevant for describing sexual profiles; the final questionnaire was named SEX360. Of the 50 items included in SEX360, 14 were considered essential for computing the final score; 9 of them were associated with 2 categories, 4 of them with 4 categories, and 1 of them with 3. Nine items referred to the category “family-oriented”, 10 to “loving”, 8 to “recreational”, and 9 to “functional”. The weights assigned to each question ranged from 3.00 to 4.33, and the centers of gravity ranged from 1 to 4. The questionnaire proposed shows the existence of a vast diversity of sexual behavior profiles and may serve as a tool for sexual behavior research.     

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.     

The commitment of young soccer players

The main purpose of this study was to test the Sport Commitment Model in young soccer players. Participants' ( N = 437) age ranged from 14 to 16 years. Based on the sport commitment model proposed by Scanlan and colleagues, 6 scales and 28-items constitute the Sport Commitment Questionnaire (SCQ). Results of this study provide some support for the reliability and validity of the SCQ, using a sample of young soccer players. Reliability analysis provided acceptable internal consistency for four scales: Sport Commitment, Sport Enjoyment, Involvement Alternatives and Social Constraints. Sport Enjoyment (Beta= .56, p <.001) and Involvement Alternatives (Beta= -.40, p <.001) were the strongest sport commitment predictors. Further studies with a broader age range, different genders, and other sports or competitive levels are required to continue analyzing the sport commitment model.     

Psychometric evaluation of the Brazelton Scale in a sample of Spanish newborns

This study analyses the data obtained from a sample of 220 healthy full-term neonates evaluated with the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale, NBAS, 3rd edition. Standard scores were obtained for each of the 35 behavioral items and analysis of the main components of all the clusters was performed. Similarly to the original scale, the five following factors were obtained: Autonomic and Motor Systems, Habituation, State Organization, State Regulation, and Social Interactive. The analysis of the reliability of these groupings reveals that it is between moderate and high (the average Cronbach's alpha coefficient was .78).     

Psychometric quality supporting the Spanish adaptation of the Behavioral Regulation in Sport Questionnaire

The goal of this study is to present the Spanish adaptation of the Behavioral Regulation in Sport Questionnaire made up of 24 items that measure the 6 behavioral regulation factors expected by the self-determination theory developed by Deci and Ryan. Supporting evidence of conceptual equivalence and quality of the cultural and linguistic adaptation derive from the conciliation of different terms (experts and target population). Cognitive interviews and the fact that 94% of respondents provided complete answers and without aberrant response patterns support the feasibility of the questionnaire. A model of six correlated factors provided the best fit to the data in the confirmatory factor analysis, and 5 out of 6 subscales have acceptable internal consistency coefficients. The scores of the introjected, identified, and integrated regulation show more variability than the other ones. As expected, the 6 subscales show a graduation of direct correlation with the subjective vitality measure and an inverse correlation with competitive anxiety. The accumulation of evidence leads to the conclusion that the Spanish version is valid for use in sport psychology research.     

Motivational climate and coaches' communication style predict young soccer players' commitment

The purpose of this research was to study the role of coaches' communication style and coach-created motivational climate in young soccer players' enjoyment and commitment. Four hundred and fifteen young soccer players of high competitive level in the age range from 14 to 16 completed the following questionnaires: a) coach-induced perceived motivational climate (PMCSQ-2), b) coaches' behaviour perception (CBAS-PBS), and c) sport commitment (SCQ). Results showed that coach-created motivational climate correlated highly with the perception of coaches' communication style. Moreover, coach-created motivational climate and communication style significantly determines players' sport commitment and enjoyment. Discussion focuses on the importance of seeking and training credible coaches that favours athletes' commitment.     

Orbitofrontal dysfunction in multiple sclerosis: Iowa Gambling Task

Cognitive dysfunction has been widely studied in multiple sclerosis (MS), however decision-making has been less investigated. The current study examined the decision-making processes of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) using a computerized version of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). This task was applied to 18 patients with clinically diagnosed MS and 18 healthy control subjects matched for age, sex, and years of education. The results showed that IGT scores differ significantly between patients with MS and the healthy control subjects: the patients with MS made significantly less advantageous decisions than the controls in the IGT. Possible causes of impaired decision-making in multiple sclerosis are discussed.     

Daily life activity patterns among the elderly: is what they claim to do what they wish to do?

This study is aimed at exploring daily and desired activity patterns in a sample of older people, as well as at examining some influence factors and their relationships to life satisfaction. Our sample was made of 154 retired people living in urban areas and whose age was greater than 60 years old. Data about activities were gathered by means of an interview while life satisfaction scores were obtained by applying LSI scale. Our results show how the pattern of activities that our participants say to have done yesterday is quite similar to an ideal pattern, although in the ideal day time spent with other people is far greater. Factors like gender and economic and educational level have an influence on patters of activity, especially on instrumental and leisure ones. The difference between yesterday and ideal activities was negatively related to life satisfaction. Such a relationship was modest, but reached statistical significance.     

The development and validation of two scales on retribution practices: PRG-13 and PRE-21

The present study outlines the development process of two scales that measure general and specific retribution practices in organisations. Historically, retribution has been the subject of research of other social sciences such as Sociology and Business Administration. In Psychology, and more specifically in Work and Organisational Psychology, there are hardly any studies or inventories designed to evaluate retribution practices. In order to accomplish the objectives, a sample of 237 employees was selected, 42.6% of whom were women and 57.4% were men. We performed and exploratory factorial analysis using principal axis factoring as extraction method and an oblique rotation (oblimin) to analyse the two scales. The former is made up of four factors and the latter is a two-factor scale. The reliability coefficients of the six subscales we obtained ranged between .72 and .89. External validity was analysed using the correlations obtained between the two inventories and the Balanced Scorecard. The two tools were found to be two potentially useful scales to evaluate retribution practices.     

International adoption: assessment of adaptive and maladaptive behavior of adopted minors in Spain

Research on adjustment of internationally adopted children indicates that, although they have adequate development, more emotional and behavioral problems are detected compared with nonadopted children. In this research, emotional and behavioral characteristics of a sample of 52 internationally adopted minors were examined with the BASC (Parent Rating Scales and Self-Report of Personality), comparing the outcomes with 44 nonadopted minors, all of them of ages between 6 and 11 years (mean age = 8.01 years). Results indicate differences between adopted and nonadopted children related to somatization, adopted minors are those that obtain lower scores in the scale, and in the adaptability scale, where nonadopted minors obtain higher scores. Significant differences were found in the adaptive abilities scales, suggesting that nonadopted boys show better abilities than adopted ones, and no differences were found among girls. In general, boys present higher scores in externalizing symptomatology and depression than girls. Among adopted children, time spent in an institution is a variable that has negative impact on the onset of externalizing and internalizing problems. Minors coming from Eastern Europe display more attentional problems, poorer adaptive abilities and poorer interpersonal relations than the rest of the minors. According to the age at placement, attentional problems appear in minors adopted after the age of 3 years.