Fifty-two men who had suffered a first episode ischemic heart disease reported their degree of life satisfaction, the strategies they used to adjust to the illness, and the symptoms of anxiety and depression they felt. The multiple regression analyses carried out indicated that emotional distress was associated with a lower level of life satisfaction. In the analyses of anxiety symptoms, the use of negative adjustment strategies was also a significant predictor. Lastly, a significant Life Satisfaction x Type of Adjustment interaction was obtained. According to this, the patients who felt more satisfaction with their lives used more positive strategies to adjust to the illness and fewer negative ones, than the group of patients who were less satisfied. In conclusion, life satisfaction predicts emotional well-being of patients with ischemic heart disease and it enhances the implementation of appropriate strategies to cope with the disease. Moreover, although life satisfaction has been considered a stable measure, we suggest it may change as the experience of illness limits individuals' important goals.

The Grammatical Structures Comprehension Test (CEG) was used to analyze grammatical comprehension problems in native Spanish-speaking children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). The test is divided into 20 blocks containing the most common grammatical structures in Spanish. Our objective was to establish whether the CEG was sensitive in detecting these problems and whether there were differential patterns in grammatical comprehension between children with SLI (14 participants) and two control groups: a chronological control group (CC) with 14 participants and a linguistic control group (LC) also with 14 participants. We found significant differences between the SLI group and the chronological control participants (Box’s M = 63.080, F = 1, 159, p = .238), with a correct classification rate of 85.7 % in the discriminant function analysis. These differences did not occur in all the blocks, in which we identified a range of different performance patterns that varied according to the structures being analyzed. This work helps to clarify certain questions about grammatical comprehension in children with SLI and contributes to the debate on delay vs. “delay within the delay”.

This study had the following goals: (1) to analyze the differences between participants with and without risk of eating disorders (ED) in self-esteem, happiness, depression, anxiety, anger, and psychological variables related to ED; (2) to determine possible differences in the group at risk of ED on these variables as a function of sex; and (3) to determine which variables explain the risk of ED. Eight assessment instruments were administered to 1.075 participants (74.6% without risk of ED and 25.4% at risk). The results confirmed: (1) Significant differences such that the without-risk group scored higher on self-esteem and happiness, and lower on depression, anxiety, anger, ED-related variables, and perceived weight (large effect size: η2 = .49; r = .70); (2) Within the at-risk group, males scored higher on body self-esteem, general self-esteem, and anger-state, while females scored higher on perceived weight, state-trait depression, state-trait anxiety, inefficiency, interoceptive awareness, and asceticism (large effect size: η2 = .31; r = .56); and (3) The explanatory variables in both sexes were: for drive for thinness – perceived weight, inefficiency, and impulsivity; for bulimia – body self-esteem; and for body dissatisfaction – inefficiency, perceived weight, anxiety-trait, and happiness. The study provides relevant variables for designing ED prevention and/or treatment programs.

Negative life events are one of the major threats to well-being. Some adolescents are more vulnerable, namely adolescents with special needs that face special challenges for growing up healthy and happy. Nevertheless, internal assets can act as protective factors. The aim of this study is to analyze the factors that moderate the impact of negative life events, among adolescents with special needs, on well-being. The sample included 472 adolescents with special needs, mean age 14 years old. Pupils attended 77 public schools in Portugal. Sample was collected within the HBSC (Health Behavior in School aged Children) Portuguese survey. Questions used in this study, covered well-being, internal assets and life events. Results showed that the well-being of adolescents with special needs who had a set of internal assets (personal and social competences) was protected, even when they faced negative life events. However when several negative life events were present, the assets that continued to be protective were problem solving, F(4, 383) = 3.79, p = .005, η2 = .04, and self-efficacy, F(4, 377) = 3.39, p = .010, η2 = .04, suggesting the resilience properties of these factors.

Illusory conjunctions in the time domain are errors made in binding stimulus features presented In the same spatial position in Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) conditions. Botella, Barriopedro, and Suero (2001) devised a model to explain how the distribution of responses originating from stimuli around the target in the series is generated. They proposed two routes consisting of two sequential attempts to make a response. The second attempt (sophisticated guessing) is only employed if the first one (focal attention) fails in producing an integrated perception. This general outline enables specific predictions to be made and tested related to the efficiency of focal attention in generating responses in the first attempt. Participants had to report the single letter in an RSVP stream of letters that was presented in a previously specified color (first target, T1) and then report whether an X (second target, T2) was or was not presented. Performance on T2 showed the typical U-shaped function across the T1-T2 lag that reflects the attentional blink phenomenon. However, as was predicted by Botella, Barriopedro, and Suero's model, the time-course of the interference was shorter for trials with a correct response to T1 than for trials with a T1 error. Furthermore, longer time-courses of interference associated with pre-target and post-target errors to the first target were indistinguishable.

People can be classified as attracted to both sexes, to men, to women, or to neither sex, and also as instrumental-expressive, instrumental, expressive, or non-instrumental-expressive. The two hypotheses tested herein are, on the one hand, the relative independence between these two typologies and, on the other, the close relation between sexual dimorphism and sexual attraction, in contrast to the relative independence between sexual dimorphism and the instrumental and expressive domains. A total of 503 university students (284 women and 219 men) completed two assessment instruments: The Sexual Attraction Questionnaire (SAQ) and the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI, 12 items). Analysis of contingency tables was performed. The results provide empirical support for the hypothesis of independence of the two typologies, solid support for the relation between sexual dimorphism and sexual attraction, and clear support for the independence between the gender domains and sexual dimorphism. The implications of these data for the different outlooks concerning the relations between sex and gender are established.

Although dating violence takes place within the context of a couple, there are few studies exploring how the prevalence data change when violence is reported by one partner or both, and to what extent partners agree about the existence of violence. The aim of this study is therefore to analyze and compare the reports about the prevalence of violence obtained from participants and their partners, together with interpartner agreement concerning victimization and perpetration of threats, physical, verbal-emotional and sexual violence. A total of 105 young heterosexual couples answered a questionnaire about victimization and the perpetration of violence in their relationship during the previous year. The results indicated that prevalence rates varied, depending on who reported the violence -the man, the woman or the couple- perhaps because interpartner agreement was low, except for the occurrence of verbal-emotional violence and the absence of physical violence. These findings suggest the need to develop more systematic research, especially through the use of reports from both members of the couple.

This study was conducted toward the objective of analyzing certain factors that influence physical activity in Spanish adolescent students using self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985; 2000) as a framework. Participants included 698 physical education students whose perception of the autonomy support provided by their teachers was assessed in and out of the class context. Also assessed were social goals of responsibility and relationship with others, basic psychological needs, and intrinsic motivation, which is part of self-determination theory (SDT). Finally, the “intention” factor posited by the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and students’ rate of exercise in the last twelve months were considered. The results of structural equations modeling suggest autonomy education, autonomy support, and social goals positively predicted certain psychological mediators, which in turn positively predicted students’ intrinsic motivation, which was a positive predictor of intention, and that of rate of exercise. The results also highlight the benefit of promoting autonomy to enhance students’ physical exercise practice.

We examined the comprehension of different types of conditionals. We measured the reading time of sentences primed by different types of conditionals (Experiments 1 and 2). We found that the participants read not-p and not-q faster when it was primed by the conditional form p if q and they were slower to read p and q when it was primed by the conditional form p only if q. This effect disappeared in the second experiment, where the order of the elements was reversed (q and p and not-q and not-p). These results suggest that the conditional form p if q elicits an initial representation “from p to q” with two possibilities, while the conditional form p only if q elicits a reverse representation with only one possibility. The third experiment showed that there were effects of the order only for the conditional if p then q, which confirms the reverse representation hypothesis. We discuss the implications of these results for different theories of conditional comprehension.

Although several brief sensitive screening tools are available to detect executive dysfunction, few have been developed to quickly assess executive functioning. The INECO Frontal Screening (IFS) is a brief tool which has proved be useful for the assessment of the executive functions in patients with dementia. The aim of this study was to explore whether the IFS is as sensitive and specific as the BADS, a battery designed to assess the dysexecutive syndrome, in schizophrenia. Our sample comprised a group of 34 schizophrenic patients (Mean age = 39.59, DP = 10.697) and 31 healthy controls (Mean age = 35.52, DP = 10.211). To all groups were administered the BADS, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and IFS. The results suggest that schizophrenic patients performed significantly worse than the control group in all tests (p < .05). The IFS total score was 13.29 for the experimental group and 26.21 for the control group (p < .001). Considering a cut-off of 14 points, the IFS sensitivity was 100% and specificity 56% in detection of executive dysfunction in schizophrenia, compared with the BADS, that if we consider a cut-off of 11 points, was a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 50%. Thus, IFS is a brief, sensitive and specific tool for the detection of executive dysfunction in schizophrenia.

This study examined the role of sex and intelligence in the relationship between field dependence-independence and second language acquisition for a sample of 383 students (187 girls and 196 boys) aged between 13 and 16. The Portable Rod and Frame Test (PRFT) and the Embedded Figures Test (EFT) were used to evaluate cognitive style. A two-way covariance analysis, with intelligence as the covariate, was employed to investigate differences in second language achievement between students classified as either field-dependent or field-independent. A cluster analysis using z scores was examined to study the performance of subjects classified as either field-dependent or field-independent according to scores obtained on the EFT and the PRFT (“coincident” subjects) and those classified as field-dependent in one test and field-independent in the other (“non-coincident” subjects). No statistically significant differences between the two groups were obtained when cognitive style was defined by scores on the PRFT. When field dependence-independence was measured by scores on the EFT, field-independent girls performed better than field-dependent girls (p < .005), but this outcome was not observed for boys. These results suggest a differential contribution of the “perceptive” and “cognitive” components of field dependence-independence and a modulating role by sex.

Men's discourse about the paternal role is changing significantly. Despite the fact that men still perceive themselves as being responsible for the family's economical protection and the children's discipline, they face increasing demands for more involvement in childcare. From this perspective, this work analyzes the traditional view of gender roles and the perception of inequality in a sample of 95 employed fathers, as well as the various levels of satisfaction with other life roles and their relevance as a function of some gender and sociodemographic variables. The results show that men do not maintain a very traditional gender ideology with regard to role distribution and they still consider the paternal role and feelings as the most important thing in their lives. However, the couple relationship gives them the most satisfaction. Level of traditionalism and age were the two significant predicting variables of perception of inequality of men and women.

Visual motion is used to control direction and speed of self-motion and time-to-contact with an obstacle. In earlier work, we found that human subjects can discriminate between the distances of different visually simulated self-motions in a virtual scene. Distance indication in terms of an exocentric interval adjustment task, however, revealed linear correlation between perceived and indicated distances but with a profound distance underestimation. One possible explanation for this underestimation is the perception of visual space in virtual environments. Humans perceive visual space in natural scenes as curved, and distances are increasingly underestimated with increasing distance from the observer. Such spatial compression may also exist in our virtual environment. We therefore surveyed perceived visual space in a static virtual scene. We asked observers to compare two horizontal depth intervals, similar to experiments performed in natural space. Subjects had to indicate the size of one depth interval relative to a second interval. Our observers perceived visual space in the virtual environment as compressed, similar to the perception found in natural scenes. However, the nonlinear depth function we found can not explain the observed distance underestimation of visual simulated self-motions in the same environment.

Almost six decades of research have consistently demonstrated that intergroup contact is one of the most powerful ways of improving intergroup attitudes. At least two important limitations, however, still compel researchers to continue work in this area: the issue of long-term effects of contact, and the processes underlying such effects. This report makes a theoretical and empirical contribution with regard to these two aspects introducing a new mediator of the effects of contact: verification of qualities of typical ingroup members that may or may not characterize individual group members (e.g. verification of ingroup identities). One hundred and forty-two high school students participated in a two-wave longitudinal study with 12 weeks’ lag in Spain. Cross-sectional and longitudinal mediational analyses using multiple imputation data showed that intergroup contact improves general outgroup evaluation through increasing verification of ingroup identities. This research demonstrates the relevance of considering verification of ingroup identity as a mediator for the positive effects of intergroup contact.

The purpose of this study was to examine differences in the performance of creativity tasks regarding different levels of bilingualism and school grade. The sample consisted of 224 preadolescent children from fifth and sixth grades resident in the Basque Country (Spain). Evaluation included verbal and figural creativity tasks, and a linguistic proficiency questionnaire. The sample was divided into three groups depending on the bilingualism level (low, medium, and high). Results showed on the one hand, a better performance in figural creativity in the high-level group compared to medium and low-level groups, F(2, 218) = 7.22, p = .001, Ƞ2p = .062. On the other hand, the high-level group performed better in verbal creativity compared to the medium level group, F(2, 218) = 4.22, p = .016, Ƞ2p = .037. Differences in creativity between the three levels of bilingualism were different depending on the school grade. Moreover, children from fifth grade had better results in figural creativity tasks, F(1, 218) = 6.75, p = .010, Ƞ2p = .030. These results suggest that level of bilingualism is related to performance in creativity, and concretely, that a high level of bilingualism is associated with a greater creativity, while a medium level of bilingualism is related to a worse creativity performance. These are relevant results for the educational field that point out the importance of acquiring good competence in both languages.

Emotional intelligence (EI) and its measures have been widespread across several countries and cultures and the need for valid and robust measures that could expand research on international settings is on the current agenda. This study aimed to assess the measurement invariance of a widely used self-report EI measure, Emotional Skills and Competence Questionnaire (ESCQ), in two cultural contexts (Portugal vs. Croatia). The ESCQ, a 42-item self-report EI scale which comprises three dimensions – Perceive and Understand Emotion, Express and Label Emotion and Manage and Regulate Emotion - was administered to 1,188 Portuguese and Croatian secondary students. The results showed that the ESCQ had satisfactory reliability and the three-factor structure was replicated on both country samples. Configural (χ2 = 308.71, df = 220, p < .01; RMSEA = .030, CFI = .956, TLI = .948) and partial metric (Δχ2 = 9.102, Δdf = 10, p = .522; ΔCFI = −.01, ΔRMSEA = .002) and scalar (Δχ2 = 15.290, Δdf = 21, p = .083; ΔCFI = .001, ΔRMSEA = .006) invariances were supported across groups. This EI measure invariance cross-cultural study highlighted cultural particularities related to emotional competence in Portugal and Croatia contexts and contributed to bring awareness to the validity of cross-cultural studies in the emotional abilities field.

In this article, three important issues in organizational multilevel research are discussed and clarified, namely: (a) The interpretation of “cross-level direct effects” in theoretical and research multilevel models, (b) the specification of the emergence processes involved in higher-level constructs, and (c) the sample size recommendations for using multilevel statistical methods. By doing so, this article hopes to contribute to the improvement of organizational multilevel research.

The present study aims to analyze the dimensionality of physical self-concept through confirmatory factor analysis of the AFI questionnaire (Esnaola, 2005; Esnaola & Goñi, 2006) and to compare two models: a) a quadri-dimensional model in which physical self-concept is made up of the sub-domains ability, condition, attractiveness and strength, and, b) a three-factor model in which the items corresponding to ability and condition are grouped together as one factor. The sample consists of 1,259 participants ranging in age from 12 to 84 years old (700 women and 556 men) who were divided into four groups as a function of age: 627 adolescents (12-18 years old), 272 young people (19-30 years old), 248 middle-aged adults (31-49 years old) and 112 people over 55, all living in the Basque Autonomous Region of Spain. The results indicate that the quadri-dimensional model of physical self-concept fits the data better than the three-dimensional model (which showed poor goodness of fit) for the study's total sample, as well as within the male and female sub-samples. Furthermore, the four-factor model was found to be stable throughout adolescence, youth and middle-age, but not for the group of adults over 55.

Temporal psychology constructs are an individual difference variable related to behavioral outcomes. Recent research has shown that there are different time attitude profiles based on different configurations of the six Adolescent and Adult Time Inventory-Time Attitude (AATI-TA) subscales. The objective of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of AATI-TA scores in Uruguay and determine the existence of temporal profiles in this context. Participants were a convenience sample of 446 (36.5% males) adults in Uruguay with a mean age of 34.53 years (SD = 13.17, range 18–75 years). Participants completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, the AATI-TA, and questionnaires on intentions, behaviors, and attitudes towards healthy food consumption and physical activity. AATI-TA scores had good reliabilities (> .70). The six-factor solution was supported and invariance by gender and age group was established. We identified five profiles – Resilients, High Positives, Negatives, Present Negatives, and Moderate Positives – which were associated differently with healthy food consumption patterns. Negative profiles were related to higher levels of unhealthy food consumption.

The present study aimed to clarify the nature and dimensions of achievement goals and to examine structural differences in students’ goals across school levels. Participants were 134 students from 5th and 6th grades, and 423 students from 7th to 9th grades. A variety of achievement goals were assessed, including mastery goals and several performance-related goals representing three main dimensions: competition, self-presentation, and valence.

Two alternative models were tested, using confirmatory factor analysis. For middle-school students a three factor model with presentation, competition, and simple evaluation/mastery goals, was found χ²(132, N = 134) = 160.9, p < .001; CFI = .94; RMSEA = .04, 95%CI [.02 – .06]. In the junior-high sample, one avoidance factor, one competition factor, and a simple evaluation/mastery factor, best fitted the data χ²(114, N = 423) = 269.8638 p < .001; CFI = .93; RMSEA = .06, 95%CI [.05 - .07] thus suggesting that distinct dimensions organize younger and older students’ motivation. However, common to both grade levels was the existence of (a) separate but low incidence competition goals, and (b) simple evaluation goals, which encompass neither self-presentation nor competition, and are closely linked to mastery goals. Moreover, significant differences were found in the relative importance attached by students to the different types of goals (p < .001 for all comparisons), both at middle-school F(2, 266) = 220.98; p < .001; η2 = .624) and at junior-high school F(2, 820) = 464.4; p < .001; η2 = .531.