Journal of Behavior, Health & Social Issues最新文献

The present study tested associations among difficulties in emotion regulation and driving styles. One-hundred and thirty seven Argentinean drivers completed self-report measures of difficulties in emotion regulation and driving styles. As expected, greater difficulties in different types of emotion regulation abilities were related to anxious, angry, dissociative and risky driving. By contrast, lesser difficulties in regulating emotions were associated with careful driving. Stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed a differential contribution of specific types of emotion regulation abilities to each driving style. Importance of assessing emotional skills in candidates’ examination to obtain/ renewal driving license and emotion regulation based-interventions for drivers with maladaptive driving behaviors is emphasized. Limitations and future directions are also discussed.

The present article attempts to describe the logical geography of the concept of linguistic mode. We first identify its particular uses within the functional domains of the ordinary language and technical language, and then we characterize its pertinence within the domains of analytic and synthetic knowledge. In addition, we try to show that the concept of linguistic mode can be useful for the production of synthetic knowledge, because it can apply to both the levels of analysis of behavioral development and the multi and interdisciplinary levels, which can be evidenced in the context of teaching-learning processes in general, and in the design, development, and application of technological tools in particular, such as the concrete case of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT’s). Studies carried out to assess the effectiveness of the linguistic modes (reading-drawing-writing-talking and seeing-listening) were analyzed and the results consistently showed that: 1) performance is enhanced with a greater the number of linguistic modes, and 2) there is a primacy of the visual mode over the auditory. In addition, we analyzed studies that compared the effectiveness of ICTs as didactical tools and found only comparisons between printed versus multimedia materials. These studies also yield consistent results: performance is similar between media, but participants prefer multimedia texts. Although only one linguistic mode (reading) has been studied extensively and only two types of media (printed versus multimedia) have been compared, these results suggest that ICTs are effective and efficient didactic tools. Further research on other types of linguistic modes and their relationship to multimedia tools and the competencies expected from a student is necessary.

The emergent literacy perspective asserts that preschool children develop a range of pre-academic and language skills that bring on formal literacy learning. It has been proven that parents and teachers can promote these skills through their literacy practices conducted with children during joint activities such as reading stories and playing with puppets. In turn, behavioral psychology provides a set of techniques that enable the implementation of workshops for teachers. The aim of this study was to test the effectiveness of a behavioral program aimed at preschool teachers to train them in the performance of activities and strategies to promote students’ language and pre-academic skills related to early literacy. The participants were four teachers of preschool public schools located in low socio-cultural areas. Three teachers participated in the program and one served as control. There were three testing sessions (pre test, post test and follow up) and seven intervention sessions. The results showed that the program was effective in developing some literacy practices in the teachers. The greatest effects were observed in the shared storybook reading activity. The results and limitations of the study are discussed. Some suggestions are proposed for future programs.

Academic self-concept is the perception that a student has about his/her own academic abilities, constitutes one of the most relevant variables in the academic world, because of its influence on learning and cognitive functioning. Self-concept is a general assessment; nevertheless the current measurement instruments used for this construct are specific rather than general. Thus the purpose of this study was to construct and validate an academic self-concept scale with global dimensions, focused on teenager students. In its first stage, an open questions survey was designed to be applied with the intent of knowing the academic activities inside and outside the school. Afterwards, a closed questions survey was applied to a sampling consisting of 347 students ranging 14 to 18 years old from a public high school, east of México City. After obtaining the internal consistency and the items differentiation, a factorial analysis with orthogonal rotation was developed. The results grouped 16 items in 4 factors: self-regulation, general intellectual abilities, motivation and creativity. The scale shows 44.72% of a varying with a global Cronbach Alpha of .828. The present study contributes with an innovative scale with appropriate psychometric features, which globally assesses the academic self-concept.

Work constitutes a relevant sphere in life: levels of competence, aptness, responsibility and productivity press on the worker in a pursuit of self-improvement. This research attempts to investigate the prevalence of Type A behavior pattern and dysfunctional attitudes, and the possible association between them in a sample of workers in San Luis, Argentina. For this research we set an exploratory level, adopting for data analysis a descriptive and correlational design. The sample was intentional, not random and consisted of 63 workers: 56% were male while 44% were women; being 31.60 the average age with a standard deviation of 6.51. To assess these variables two measuring instruments were used: the Weissman and Beck Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale (1978), (adaptated by Bas-Ramallo and Andrew, 1994) and the Eysenck and Fulker Type A Behavior Pattern Questionnaire (1983) (translated and validated by Romero-Leon, 1989). In statistical procedure Mean and Standard deviation, Pearson correlation and t Test were obtained. Results allowed us to identify in the sample significant levels of Tension, Ambition, Activity and Absence of repression, particular features of the type A behavior pattern. Also, it was observed that the most ambitious and active workers tend to display a set of cognitive distortions related to perfectionism, omnipotence and the belief that other people should respond to their needs, data that confirm the relation between type A behavior pattern and some type of cognitive distortion.

In usual educational practice, it is common to observe a separation between the “academic” curriculum of the students from that of their personal and social development. Nonetheless, an increasing recognition of the value of the students’ personal and social development in the classroom, called “Positive Education”, is now in progress. Based on such efforts we elaborated a Psycho-Educative Intervention (PEI), with the purpose of integrating professional learning with Happiness and Wellbeing (H&W) through the teaching of healthy lifestyles in students of Universidad Veracruzana (UV). The positive effects of PEI upon the students’ H&W were found to be significant. Herein we report the effects of PEI on the students’ “academic” curricula, and on their duration over time, as well as try to explain their effects under the light of Positive Education. The effects of PEI on H&W were higher after PEI, but decreased four months later, although the scores were higher than those before PEI. Also, PEI improved the students’ school performance. One way to explain these effects of PEI is through the perspective of the three points (pleasant life, engaged life and meaningful life) raised by Positive Psychology, which were worked within the 15 Sessions of PEI to promote positive emotions and traits in the students.

The aims of this paper were to calculate internal consistency of the Attitude toward Lesbian and Gay Men (ATLG) scale, to determine its factor structure, and to verify the equivalence of the factor structure pattern by gender. An incidental sample of 452 undergraduate students was collected. Internal consistency of its 20 items was high (alpha = .94). It was defined a solution of three factors nested to one general factor: one factor related to an attitude of rejection toward lesbians (ATL), another factor related to an attitude of open rejection toward gay men (ATG-Open), and a third factor related to an attitude of subtle rejection toward gay men (ATG-Subtle). The three factors had high values of internal consistency (.91, .84, and .79, respectively). This factor model showed an adequate data ft (Chi-square/df = 2.38, RMSEA = .05, GFI = .91, and AGFI = .90), and resulted valid for men and women in the multigroup contrast (Chi-square/df = 1.80, RMSEA = .04, GFI = .87, and AGFI = .83). Nevertheless, the 20-item ATLG scale could be reduced to the 5 items composing the ATG-Subtle factor owing to the extremely strong weights that the general factor had on its three nested factors and the low risk of underestimation of the actual attitudinal rejection that this reduction conveys. It is recommended the use of the ATLG scale with its 20 items in Mexico, and its study in other Spanish-speaking countries.

This investigation analyzes a sample of 332 Spanish teenagers following different academic careers and the relationship among four emergent cognitive concepts in positive psychology: dispositional optimism, hope, self-efficiency and the sense of coherence. The results indicate statistically significant differences between individuals who have pursued successful academic careers, regardless of the direction towards university or professional orientation, and those who have had unsuccessful academic backgrounds. Furthermore, there are interrelationships between all constructs considered, clearly defining a positive development profile in adolescents, which suggest further research and development of different human performance indicators to promote positive development in adolescents.