The quality of infant-mother attachment has been linked to competence in different domains of child development. Research indicates that early intervention can enhance the quality of infant-mother attachment, though its efficacy in a group format has yet to be evaluated. The current study is aimed at examining the usefulness of a group intervention in enhancing infant-mother attachment. An intervention aimed at addressing aspects such as maternal responsivity, sensitivity and childrearing behaviour was developed by the researchers and experienced psychologists. The intervention spanned a period of 14 months starting from the third quarter of pregnancy. The intervention was evaluated among 24 mothers from the Basque region of Spain. The sample consisted of children of both genders in a similar proportion: 45.8% were boys and 54.2% were girls. The children in this sample were full-term born and did not present symptoms of any serious pre- or postnatal complications. The intervention had a statistically non-significant medium effect. Infants whose mothers had received the intervention showed higher rates of secure attachment compared to children from the control group, as assessed by the Strange Situation observation procedure. A potentially significant confounding variable, maternal attachment, was balanced across the intervention and comparison groups. We can tentatively point out that a group intervention may enhance the quality of infant-mother attachment. Nevertheless, because the study design was not randomized, the results of this study remain preliminary and need replication in a full randomized controlled trial designed study.

There is a small, but growing, body of research investigating peer-victimisation between preschoolers, an age which has been identified as being important both theoretically and practically for the development of interventions. This study compares aggressive and defending behaviour and victim status of preschoolers in three European countries; England, Spain and Italy. The results provide further confirmation that some children behave aggressively towards their peers during preschool in each of the countries studied. There are similarities between preschool children involved in peer-victimisation in the three countries in terms of the roles taken, sex differences and the types of aggressive behaviours used and experienced by the children. There were differences in the profiles of children identified as taking the roles by teachers and peers. Overall, it was found that those children identified by peers or teachers as being aggressive were more likely to be male, rated as physically strong and more likely to be rejected by classmates. Also, in general, the targets of peer-victimisation differed depending on the reporter. Peer-nominated victims were not identifiable in terms of gender, popularity or physical strength. Teacher-nominated victims were more likely to be socially rejected and physically weak. There are several subtle differences between the countries which deserve further investigation. The findings are discussed in relation to furthering our understanding of the development of peer-victimisation in preschools and the need for interventions which address this phenomenon.

We use the term Quixoteism to refer to a new social motive. The characterization of this motive deals with two aspects: the definition of the ultimate goal (i.e., to increase the welfare of the world) and the proposal of a process that activates it (i.e., a transcendental-change orientation). Three studies were conducted to test this characterization. In Study 1 we developed an empirical measure of the transcendental-change orientation. The participants in Studies 2 and 3 were presented with a need situation. Results showed that the centrality of such an orientation was directly related to an interpretation consistent with the ultimate goal of Quixoteism (Study 2), and that its salience increases the likelihood of performing a high-cost prosocial behavior (Study 3).

Research into the process of becoming mother or father shows very conclusively that this important life transition is accompanied by both a decrease in marital quality and a more traditional division of labour. In this paper these changes are analyzed with special emphasis on the relationships between them and exploring the role played in this process by the mother's work status. Results showed a significant link between the development of marital quality and violated expectations regarding father involvement on childrearing. Dual-earner families were characterized by a specific pattern of changes, with greater stability than single-earner families in marital and parental roles during transition to parenthood and a significant role played by spouse support as a partner, but not as a parent.

Recently a psychological mechanism has been proposed between bodily purity and moral purity: the “Macbeth effect”. The act of washing their hands seems to free individuals of their guilt. However, the universality of this psychological mechanism is an empirical question that should be studied. In four studies we replicated the original Zhong & Liljenquist's experiments with Spanish samples. We were unsuccessful in replicating the Zhong & Liljenquist's results that supported cleansing as a psychological mechanism for compensating guilty: results couldn't confirm an increased mental accessibility of cleansing-related concepts or even a greater desire for cleansing products, neither a greater likelihood of taking antiseptic wipes. In addition we didn't find that physical cleansing alleviates the upsetting consequences of unethical behaviour. Spanish samples showed sensibility to morality and helping behaviour but not with cleansing as a way to reduce their threatened morality.

The aim of this work is to examine the pentafactorial validity of the AF5 Self-Concept Questionnaire in Spanish and Chilean young adults. From the responses of a total of 4,383 young adults aged 17 to 22 years (1,918 Spanish, 44%, and 2,465 Chilean, 56%) it was analyzed the reliability of the instrument, the compared validity of the 5 oblique factor model proposed by the authors versus the unifactorial and the orthogonal alternative models, and was studied the invariance of one Chilean sample. The results of confirmatory factor analyses supported the authors' pentafactorial model. The multi-group factorial invariance showed that Chilean sample of the AF5 does not change neither the Spanish factor weights, nor the variances and covariances of the factors, or the error variances of items. Finally, the internal consistency of the five scales was good in the samples of both countries.

In the present study we examine feelings of group-based guilt among Portuguese people in relation to the Portuguese colonial war, and their consequences for social behaviour. Specifically, we focus on the way Portuguese university students identify with their national group and the outgroup and their feelings of group-based guilt regarding their group's past misdeeds during the colonial period. The consequences of group-based guilt are also analyzed. 130 Portuguese university students answered a questionnaire and results show that students feel low levels of group-based guilt in relation to this period. Our results show that ingroup glorification is positively related with the use of cognitions to justify the ingroup's behaviour, presumably to avoid responsibility for the harm committed by the ingroup. Outgroup identification correlates with compensatory behavioural intentions and openness to negative information about the colonial war. As expected, feelings of group-based guilt show a significant correlation with compensatory behavioural intentions. Links between political orientation, ingroup attachment and glorification, exonerating cognitions and group-based guilt are analyzed and their implications for intergroup relations are discussed.

The present study tests the relationships between the three frequently used personality models evaluated by the Temperament Character Inventory-Revised (TCI-R), Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Five Factor Inventory – Revised (NEO-FFI-R) and Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire-50- Cross-Cultural (ZKPQ-50-CC). The results were obtained with a sample of 928 volunteer subjects from the general population aged between 17 and 28 years old. Frequency distributions and alpha reliabilities with the three instruments were acceptable. Correlational and factorial analyses showed that several scales in the three instruments share an appreciable amount of common variance. Five factors emerged from principal components analysis. The first factor was integrated by A (Agreeableness), Co (Cooperativeness) and Agg-Host (Aggressiveness- Hostility), with secondary loadings in C (Conscientiousness) and SD (Self-directiveness) from other factors. The second factor was composed by N (Neuroticism), N-Anx (Neuroticism-Anxiety), HA (Harm Avoidance) and SD (Self-directiveness). The third factor was integrated by Sy (Sociability), E (Extraversion), RD (Reward Dependence), ImpSS (Impulsive Sensation Seeking) and NS (novelty Seeking). The fourth factor was integrated by Ps (Persistence), Act (Activity), and C, whereas the fifth and last factor was composed by O (Openness) and ST (Self- Transcendence). Confirmatory factor analyses indicate that the scales in each model are highly interrelated and define the specified latent dimension well. Similarities and differences between these three instruments are further discussed.

This paper delimits and analyzes the effects of the harassment perpetrated by ETA's terrorist network in the Basque Country. The aim was to provide a taxonomy of the consequences of psychological violence and to validate this taxonomy, by means of a content analysis of 37 testimonies of victims of terrorist violence. The taxonomy of consequences of psychological violence is made up by four components: 1. the effects on the context of the persons affected, 2. on their emotional state, 3. on cognition and 4. on behavior. Results show a predominance of contextual consequences and negative cognitions. Intra-observer and inter-observer reliability analysis showed high stability and reproducibility coefficients. This study shows that harassment and psychological violence have major consequences not only for victims but also for family members, threatened collectives and even the society as a whole.

The impact of personality and job characteristics on parental rearing styles was compared in 353 employees. Hypotheses concerning the relationships between personality and job variables were formulated in accordance with findings in past research and the Belsky's model (1984). Structural equation nested models showed that Aggression-hostility, Sociability and job Demand were predictive of Rejection and Emotional Warmth parenting styles, providing support for some of the hypothesized relationships. The findings suggest a well-balanced association of personality variables with both parenting styles: Aggression-Hostility was positively related to Rejection and negatively to Emotional Warmth, whereas Sociability was positively related to Emotional Warmth and negatively related to Rejection. Personality dimensions explained a higher amount of variance in observed parenting styles. However, a model that considered both, personality and job dimensions as antecedent variables of parenting was the best representation of observed data, as both systems play a role in the prediction of parenting behavior.

General Factor of Personality (GFP) research is an emergent field in personality research. This paper uses a theoretical mathematical model to predict the short-term effects of a dose of a stimulant drug on GFP and reports the results of an experiment showing how caffeine achieves this. This study considers the General Factor of Personality Questionnaire (GFPQ) a good psychometric approach to assess GFP. The GFP dynamic mechanism of change is based on the Unique Trait Personality Theory (UTPT). This theory proposes the existence of GFP which occupies the apex of the hierarchy of personality, and extends from an impulsiveness-and-aggressiveness pole (approach tendency) to an anxiety-andintroversion pole (avoidance tendency). An experiment with 25 volunteers was performed. All the participants completed the GFPQ and the Sensation-Seeking Scale list of adjectives from the trait version of MAACL-R (Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist Revised) on an empty stomach. The participants in the experimental group (20) received 330 mg of caffeine. All the participants filled in a state version form with the sensation-seeking adjectives every 4.5 minutes. This study considers that the Sensation-Seeking Scale list of adjectives from the MAACL-R, available in both trait and state versions, is a good psychometric approach to assess GFP. The results show that GFP is modified by a single dose of caffeine in the direction predicted by the UTPT.

The aim of this study was to create an explanatory model that allows analyzing the predictive power of a set of variables related to political knowledge; more specifically, to analyze the relationship between the education level of young adults and the variables, interest in politics and internal political efficacy. We also analyzed the combined relationship between these variables, together with age, and political knowledge. We worked with a sample group of 280 young adults between the ages of 18-30 from the city of Córdoba (Argentina). The data was subjected to a structural equation modelling SEM analysis, which allowed for the corroboration of the following hypotheses: the higher the education level, the more the interest in politics; the higher the education level, the better the perception of internal political efficacy; the higher the education level, the more the political knowledge; the more the interest in politics, the more the political knowledge; and the better the perception of internal political efficacy, the more interest in politics. Moreover, the following hypotheses could not be verified: the older an individual, the more the political knowledge; and the better the perception of internal political efficacy, the more the political knowledge. The model obtained allows for discussion of the explanatory value of these socio-cognitive variables.

In the present study, an attempt has been made to investigate the complete ‘pattern’ of a suicide attempter (SA) within the set of Big Five traits. Two models were used: M1, which includes the five main dimensions of Big Five in the analysis; and M2, which includes facets of those dimensions which were identified as important in M1. The study consisted of a group of SA (men – 326, women – 299) and a group of healthy volunteers (HV) (men – 143, women – 190) with a similar age range. Discriminant analysis (DA) showed that the factors most significant in discriminating the personality pattern of a male SA are (in decreasing order): (E) Extraversion, (N) Neuroticism, (C) Conscientiousness and (O) Openness; and for a female SA these factors were (E) Extraversion, (C) Conscientiousness and (A) Agreeableness. In M2 for men, the largest contribution to pattern recognition is (N3) Depression. Moreover, in M2 for men significant characteristics were (in descending order): (E6) Positive Emotions, (O1) Fantasy, (E4) Activity, and also (N2) Angry Hostility, (C3) Dutifulness, (C4) Achievement Striving, (C2) Order and (O6) Values; and for women: (E4) Activity, (C6) Deliberation, (C2) Order, (A6) Tender-Mindedness, (E5) Excitement Seeking, (E6) Positive Emotions, (C4) Achievement Striving, (A2) Straightforwardness, (C5) Self-Discipline and (E1) Warmth. Analysis of the obtained data demonstrates that suicide attempts amongst males, can largely be associated with personality variables reflecting negative emotions; while female suicide attempts are primarily associated with variables regarding activity and self-regulation.

The existence of domestic violence is closely linked to several ideological factors that include sexism and other beliefs about society in general, namely the belief in a just world. In this study, which involved 485 people of both sexes aged between 18 and 70 years, we analyzed the influence of these ideological variables of the perceivers and characteristics of the situation on judgments of a gender aggression – blaming the victim and exonerating the perpetrator. Results showed differences in the reactions of observers depending on the cause that triggered the aggression. Participants blamed the victim and exonerated the aggressor more when no cause of the aggression was mentioned than when a cause was mentioned (the woman wanted to separate, to see an old male friend, or simply to take a trip with her female friends). We also found clear effects of hostile sexism and just world beliefs on the dependent variables. Results showed that the influence of just world beliefs depended on the fact of mention or not a cause for the aggression.

The present paper aimed to examine questionnaire response patterns and objective task-based test behavioral patterns in order to analyze the differences people show in consistency. It is hypothesized that people tend to be more consistent when talking about themselves (when describing themselves through verbal statements) that when they solve a task (when behaving). Consistency is computed using the π* statistic (Hernandez, Rubio, Revuelta, & Santacreu, 2006). According to this procedure, consistency is defined as the value and the dimensionality of the latent trait of an individual (θ) remaining invariant through out the test of. Participants who are consistent must show a constant θ and follow a given response pattern during the entire course of the test. A sample of 3,972 participants was used. Results reveal that 68% of participants showed a consistent response pattern when completing the questionnaire. When tackling the task-based test, the percentage was 66%. 45% of individuals showed a consistent pattern in both tests. Implications for personality and individual differences assessment are discussed.

Though violence at school is by no means a new phenomenon, there has been growing social and scientific concern about this issue in recent years. The present study builds on prior analysis of the roles adolescents play in peer harassment, and the relationship between violence occurring at school and during free time. A representative sample of students between the ages of 14 and 18 was selected in the Community of Madrid (N = 1622) through random cluster sampling (school was the unit of analysis). Participants completed the C.E.V.E.O. questionnaire, which presents fifteen situations involving peer violence. The results reveal a relationship between violent situations occurring at school and during free time, and between the roles of aggressor and victim during free time. A profile analysis yielded three different categories: the “minimal violence exposure” type (1126 adolescents), the “psychological violence exposure” type (413 adolescents), and the “high risk of violence” type (83 adolescents). Judging from these results, we posit that interventions must be designed which tailor to each group and their respective risk situations.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the differences between adolescents with a high or low risk of developing an eating disorder (ED) in different health behaviors (eating habits, physical activity and the consumption of substances) per gender. The EAT-40 and the Inventory of Behavioral Health in Scholars were applied to 2142 middle school students from Alicante (Spain), of whom 52.8% were girls and 47.2% were boys, with an average age of 13.92 years old (Sd = 1.34). Results indicated that girls with a high risk of developing an ED consumed fewer meals, ate fewer unhealthy foods, followed more diets and paid more attention to nutritional components. Furthermore, they also performed more physical activity with the objective of losing weight, and consumed more tobacco, alcohol and medicines. Boys at high risk of developing an ED followed more diets and paid more attention to nutritional components. For boys, no more differences were found. These results suggest that any program directed at the prevention of ED should not only include nutritional education, but should also seek to promote regular physical activity with objectives other than weight loss or the burning of calories.

In two experiments, we analyzed cross-cultural differences in understanding and recalling information about medical risks in two countries—Germany and Spain—whose students differ substantially in their quantitative literacy according to the 2003 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA; OECD, 2003, 2010). We further investigated whether risk understanding can be enhanced by using visual aids (Experiment 1), and whether different ways of describing risks affect recall (Experiment 2). Results showed that Spanish students are more vulnerable to misunderstanding and forgetting the risk information than their German counterparts. Spanish students, however, benefit more than German students from representing the risk information using ecologically rational formats—which exploit the way information is represented in the human mind. We concluded that our results can have important implications for clinical practice.

The aim of this paper was to develop an instrument to assess levels of stress experienced by Latin-American immigrants in their acculturative process in Spain. A sample of 692 immigrants from Latin America, aged 20 to 63 years, took part on this study (54.9% males and 45.1% females). A 24-item questionnaire with high reliability (.92) was elaborated. Six factors related to acculturative stress were found: 1) discrimination and rejection; 2) differences with the out-group (native Spaniards); 3) citizenship problems and legality; 4) problems concerning social relationships with other immigrants; 5) nostalgia and longing; and 6) family break-up. Our findings show that participants have a high level of stress related to nostalgia and longing, family break-up, and the perception of discrimination and rejection by natives. The usefulness of the instrument and its applications and restrictions are discussed.

One of the procedures used most recently with longitudinal data is linear mixed models. In the context of health research the increasing number of studies that now use these models bears witness to the growing interest in this type of analysis. This paper describes the application of linear mixed models to a longitudinal study of a sample of Spanish adolescents attending a mental health service, the aim being to investigate their knowledge about the consumption of alcohol and other drugs. More specifically, the main objective was to compare the efficacy of a motivational interviewing programme with a standard approach to drug awareness. The models used to analyse the overall indicator of drug awareness were as follows: (a) unconditional linear growth curve model; (b) growth model with subject-associated variables; and (c) individual curve model with predictive variables. The results showed that awareness increased over time and that the variable ‘schooling years’ explained part of the between-subjects variation. The effect of motivational interviewing was also significant.