An abridged Spanish version of Sexual Double Standard Scale: Factorial structure,reliability and validity evidence

Background/Objective

Sexual double standard (SDS) has long been associated to several dimensions of sexual health. Therefore the assessment of SDS is relevant and requires self-reported measures with adequate psychometric properties. This study aims to adapt the Sexual Double Standard Scale (SDSS) into heterosexual Spanish population and examine its psychometric properties. Method: Using quota incidental sampling, we recruited a sample of 1,206 individuals (50% women), distributed across three groups based on their age (18-34, 35-49 and 50 years old and older). Results: We performed both, Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis. An abridged version was yielded, consisting of 16 items distributed into two factors (Acceptance for sexual freedom and Acceptance for sexual shyness). A second-order factor structure was also adequate, which facilitates the use of a global index for SDS. Reliability, based on internal consistency and temporal stability was good for the factors. Evidence of validity is also shown and reported. Conclusions: This adapted version of the SDSS is reliable and valid. The importance for its use to estimate the prevalence of both traditional and modern forms of this phenomenon is discussed.     

工具主义伦理气氛对员工沉默行为的影响——犬儒主义和传统性的作用

基于社会控制理论,运用问卷调查法,通过分析308组配对数据,探讨工具主义伦理气氛对员工沉默行为的影响机制。结果发现:工具主义伦理气氛对沉默行为有正向作用;工具主义伦理气氛对犬儒主义有正向作用;犬儒主义在工具主义伦理气氛与沉默行为之间起部分中介作用;传统性调节了犬儒主义与沉默行为的关系,也调节了犬儒主义在工具主义伦理气氛与沉默行为关系的中介作用。     

Instrumental and vocal music effects on EEG and EKG in neonates of depressed and non-depressed mothers

Neonates (M age = 16 days) born to depressed and non-depressed mothers were randomly assigned to hear an audiotaped lullaby of instrumental music with vocals or without vocals. Neonatal EEG and EKG were recorded for 2 min (baseline) of silence and for 2 min of one or the other music presentation. Neonates of non-depressed mothers showed greater relative right frontal EEG asymmetry to both types of music, suggesting a withdrawal response. Neonates of depressed mothers on the other hand showed greater relative left frontal EEG asymmetry to the instrumental without vocal segment, suggesting an approach response, and greater relative right frontal EEG asymmetry to the instrumental with vocal segment, suggesting a withdrawal response. Heart rate decelerations occurred following the music onset for both groups of infants, however, compared to infants of non-depressed mothers, infants of depressed mothers showed a delayed heart rate deceleration, suggesting slower processing and/or delayed attention. These findings suggest that neonates of depressed and non-depressed mothers show different EKG and EEG responses to instrumental music with versus without vocals.     

A laboratory analogue of mirrored-self misidentification delusion: The role of hypnosis,suggestion, and demand characteristics

Mirrored-self misidentification is the delusional belief that one’s own reflection in the mirror is a stranger. In two experiments, we tested the ability of hypnotic suggestion to model this condition. In Experiment 1, we compared two suggestions based on either the delusion’s surface features (seeing a stranger in the mirror) or underlying processes (impaired face processing). Fifty-two high hypnotisable participants received one of these suggestions either with hypnosis or without in a wake control. In Experiment 2, we examined the extent to which social cues and role-playing could account for participants’ behaviour by comparing the responses of 14 hypnotised participants to the suggestion for impaired face processing (reals) with those of 14 nonhypnotised participants instructed to fake their responses (simulators). Overall, results from both experiments confirm that we can use hypnotic suggestion to produce a compelling analogue of mirrored-self misidentification that cannot simply be attributed to social cues or role-playing.     

Psychometric properties of a revised Spanish 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale adaptation in multiple sclerosis patients

There have been a small number of investigations of alexithymia in multiple sclerosis (MS) using the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). However, the TAS-20 factor structure has not yet been evaluated in a MS patient sample, and earlier Spanish translations of this instrument require some improvement. We aimed to evaluate the factorial validity and reliability of an improved Spanish translation of the TAS-20 (the TAS-20-S). The TAS-20-S was completed by 221 MS patients. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to compare the fit of six different factor models. Internal consistency and retest reliability coefficients were also computed. The correlated three-factor model and the higher-order factor model made up of Difficulty Identifying Feelings, Difficulty Describing Feelings, and Externally Oriented Thinking achieved the best fit. Alpha coefficients ranged between .87 and .67; mean inter-item correlations ranged between .48 and .20; and retest correlations after 6 months ranged between .61 and .52. A high degree of alexithymia was present in 18.1% of the sample. Reliability and the traditional three-factor structure were demonstrated for the TAS-20-S, which can now be recommended for assessing an aspect of emotional processing in MS patients.     

Factor structure of the construct of adaptive behavior in children with and without intellectual disability

Although the presence of significant limitations in adaptive behavior constitutes one of the three necessary criteria for diagnosing intellectual disability, adaptive behavior structure has always been the subject of considerable controversy among researchers. The main goal of this study is to extend previous research results that provide further support to a multidimensional structure of conceptual, social, and practical skills compared to the unidimensional structure. One-factor and 3-correlated factors models as measured by 15 observable indicators were analyzed by means of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), as well as their relationships with one second-order factor (i.e., adaptive behavior). To that end, 388 children with and without intellectual disabilities were assessed with the Diagnostic Adaptive Behavior Scale (DABS). Results of CFA indicated that the 3 first-order factors solution provides the best fit to the data. Reliability and validity of the multidimensional model were also analyzed through different methods such as the composite reliability and the average variance extracted. Finally, implications of these findings and possible directions for future research are discussed.     

Evidence for an expectancy-based theory of avoidance behaviour

In most studies on avoidance learning, participants receive an aversive unconditioned stimulus after a warning signal is presented, unless the participant performs a particular response. Lovibond (2006) recently proposed a cognitive theory of avoidance learning, according to which avoidance behaviour is a function of both Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning. In line with this theory, we found that avoidance behaviour was based on an integration of acquired knowledge about, on the one hand, the relation between stimuli and, on the other hand, the relation between behaviour and stimuli.     

Factorial invariance,differential item functioning,and norms of the Orgasm Rating Scale

Background/Objective: Orgasm Rating Scale (ORS) assess the subjective orgasm experience in context of sexual relationship. It is composed of four dimensions attributed to the orgasm (Affective, Sensory, Intimacy, and Rewards). The purpose is to analyse the factorial invariance of the ORS across groups, to examine the metric equivalence across sex, and to present the standard scores. Method: A total of 1,472 Spanish adults (715 men and 757 women) were evaluated. They were distributed across age groups (18-34, 35-49 and 50 years old and older). Factorial invariance across different groups and the differential functioning of the items across sex were analyzed, internal consistency was examined, and the standard scores were developed. Results: The structure of the ORS showed strict measurement invariance across sex, relationship status, sexual orientation and education level. It also reached a scalar measurement invariance across age range and duration of the relationship. Some items showed a differential functioning between sexes. Conclusions: The Spanish version of the ORS is invariant across different groups at a factorial level, and it shows equivalence across sex in most of its items at a metric level. The standard scores allow a more accurate assessment of the subjective orgasm experience in context of sexual relationship.