Spanish Journal of Psychology最新文献

A recent report revealed that 21.7% of women in Spain who went on a Tinder date were raped. These findings suggest that the incidence of sexual violence on Tinder dates in Spain may be higher than in other social contexts. This study explores the experiences of Tinder users in Spain to understand the factors contributing to this phenomenon and to propose measures for enhancing user safety. We conducted four focus groups separated by sociodemographic characteristics that replicated the typical victims' and perpetrators' profile (age and gender). Male participants initially expressed disbelief and attributed the phenomenon to Tinder's environment, pathological behavior, pornography, and women's actions. In contrast, female participants accepted the statistic as reflective of real-world issues, dismissing pathological explanations and highlighting systemic victim-blaming, fear-induced paralysis, and the impact of pornography as key factors. The findings underscore a significant disparity in perceptions between genders, with males often minimizing or misattributing the problem, while females recognizing deeper systemic issues. These insights suggest a need for targeted interventions and policies that address both the behavioral and perceptual factors contributing to sexual violence on dating platforms.

The rise of stress studies has led to the existence of multiple stress induction protocols. However, cultural differences in stress reactivity are often overlooked. Therefore, this study aims to validate the Maastricht Acute Stress Test (MAST) in the Spanish population. A sample of 96 young adult participants was divided into an experimental group and a control group based on whether they were exposed to the MAST or a non-stressful control task. State anxiety and positive and negative affects were measured before and immediately after the protocol, while physiological stress (blood pressure and heart rate) was monitored throughout the experiment. The experimental group exhibited an increase in state anxiety, negative affect, and systolic and diastolic blood pressures after the MAST protocol. Participants with higher psychopathological risk presented higher scores of psychological stress than those with lower risk. Finally, it was found that participants with higher mathematical performance exhibited lower anxious reactivity following stressor exposure. Our results confirm the efficacy of the MAST and its validation for use in the Spanish population.

Breast cancer patients and survivors deal with physical and psychological challenges due to oncological treatments. The existing literature highlights the importance of compassion in reducing the main cancer-related effects in terms of emotions, quality of life, and dysfunctional coping skills. Over the past few years, compassion-based interventions (CBIs) have been considered an interesting approach to reduce anxiety and depression symptoms and improve quality of life and well-being. However, there have not been many studies that show the benefits of these interventions in breast cancer patients and survivors. The primary objective of this systematic review is to provide evidence of the impact of CBIs on specific variables identified in the literature as affected by this pathology. The variables that will be studied are (a) emotional issues (e.g., anxiety, stress, and depression symptoms); (b) quality of life; and (c) positive coping skills. A systematic search during the previous 10 years up to November 2023 was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines across multiple databases, such as PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and Scopus. Nine eligible randomized controlled trials were included in this article, with a total of 813 breast cancer patients and survivors. Findings show that CBIs increased compassion, mindful observation, and acting with awareness skills, leading to a significant reduction of anxiety and stress levels, depression, and negative affect. Additionally, less body image distress and greater body appreciation were reported as a consequence of the interventions. This review shows the CBI's efficacy on emotions, positive coping skills, and quality of life in breast cancer patients and survivors. Guidelines for future studies are listed to promote CBIs as a clinically useful intervention for breast cancer patients and survivors.

The Suicide Cognitions Scale (SCS) has demonstrated considerable promise as a risk screening tool, although it has yet to be validated for use with adolescents or in Spanish-speaking populations. The aim of this study was to develop a Spanish version of the 16-item SCS-Revised (SCS-R) and to examine its psychometric properties in a sample of adolescents. Participants were 172 adolescents aged between 12 and 18 years (M = 15.32, SD = 1.57) and currently in residential care. They completed the Spanish SCS-R and a series of other psychological measures. The psychometric properties of the SCS-R were examined through factor analyses and testing of convergent/discriminant validity and construct validity. Factor analyses supported a bifactor structure, indicating that SCS-R items were primarily measuring a common underlying latent variable. SCS-R scores were positively correlated with multiple indicators of psychopathology and other suicide risk factors (e.g., depression, hopelessness) but negatively correlated with protective factors (e.g., believing that one's mental pain will eventually end). Importantly, SCS-R scores differentiated adolescents in residential care who had previously attempted suicide from those who had only thought about suicide. Scores also differentiated adolescents who had previously attempted suicide from those who had previously only engaged in non-suicidal self-injury. This constitutes further evidence that the SCS-R measures a construct that distinguishes suicidal thought from action and is specific to suicidal forms of self-harm. Overall, the results suggest that the Spanish SCS-R is a potentially useful tool for identifying adolescents at risk of attempting suicide in residential care.

Cognitive biases affect how people perceive social class mobility. Previous studies suggest that people find it difficult to estimate actual economic social mobility accurately. These results have also noted differences between regions. While in the United States people overestimate actual economic social mobility, in Europe people tend to underestimate it. Across two independent cross-sectional studies, we examined whether cognitive biases operate in the Spanish context and, if so, whether they depend on the type of social mobility. In Study 1 (N = 480), we tested whether people in Spain have an accurate estimation of actual upward economic societal mobility. The results showed that people in Spain have a pessimistic view of upward societal mobility. In Study 2 (N = 274), we analyzed whether people in Spain are more or less optimistic according to the type of social mobility: Personal vs. societal. We found that Spaniards are more optimistic when estimating their own mobility (i.e., personal mobility) than when estimating the mobility of the Spanish society (i.e., societal mobility). Contrary to our predictions, we found that meritocratic beliefs do not play a relevant role in determining any type of social mobility. These results extend previous research on social mobility and its psychosocial consequences. Furthermore, they are well aligned with a new psychosocial perspective suggesting that social mobility is a multidimensional construct. We also discussed the psychosocial implications of this optimistic bias for personal mobility.

Gender is a socially constructed concept influenced by social practices, norms, and expectations. The impact of gender differences on mental health has been long recognized, with consequences such as over-diagnosis and pathologization or under-diagnosis of some disorders depending on gender. This also has implications for the treatments that each gender receives. In this narrative review, we will analyze (a) the gender differences in the prevalence of mental disorders, (b) the explanations for gender differences in mental health, including biological, social constructionist, and sociocultural risk factors, and (c) the gender differences in the treatment of mental disorders, including differences in health-seeking behavior and treatment outcomes. Overall, there is a consistent pattern of differences in prevalence, with women more likely to have internalizing disorders (e.g., anxiety or depression) and men more likely to have externalizing disorders (e.g., antisocial personality or substance use). The explanations aimed at disentangling the reasons for these gender differences are complex, and several approaches should be considered to achieve a comprehensive explanation. In addition to biological factors (e.g., hormonal changes), social constructionist factors (e.g., biased diagnostic criteria and clinicians' gender bias) and sociocultural factors (e.g., feminization of poverty, gender discrimination, violence against women, and prescriptive beauty standards) should be considered. Future studies in the field of mental health should consider gender differences and explore the bio-psycho-socio-cultural factors that may underlie these differences.

Anxiety and depression are highly prevalent and comorbid problems in childhood, which deserve greater understanding for effective prevention and treatment. The main aim of the present study was to explore the comorbidity between anxiety and depression symptoms using a novel and valuable approach to study comorbidity, such as network analysis. Specifically, the connectivity between symptoms and possible relevant symptoms was examined through comorbidity estimation and shortest pathway networks, as well as bridge symptoms. This study comprised 281 Spanish-speaking children aged 8-12 years (45.2% girls), whose anxiety and depression symptoms were assessed through specific brief parent-report measures. Analyses revealed that in the comorbidity network, the most central symptoms were related to depression ("No good anymore," "Could never be as good," "Hated self," "Did everything wrong," "Nobody loved him/her") or anxiety ("Suddenly feels really scared"). Furthermore, it was found that the most central bridge symptoms, whose activation would play a key role in the activation of other domain symptoms, were anxiety symptoms such as "Trouble going to school" and "Suddenly feels really scared" and depression symptoms, such as "Could never be as good" and "Hated self." Additionally, the shortest path network suggested the existence of different possible pathways of connection between anxiety and depression symptoms. Overall, these findings help to understand the complexity of the anxiety-depression comorbidity. It suggests the existence of central and bridge symptoms that complement previous studies, which may be potential targets for interventions to prevent and treat childhood anxiety and depression.

Previous literature suggests that in masculinized domains, a stereotypical portrayal of women has a negative impact on society's perception of them. However, the influence of media representation on people's perceptions of athletes depending on their gender, as well as its possible consequences for both men and women, remains unexplored in the sports sphere. Through two experimental studies employing a scenario methodology, we aimed to address this gap in the literature: In Study 1 (N = 190), we tested the influence of the media's representation (focused on the professional field vs. extraprofessional field) and the athlete's gender (man vs. woman) on perceptions, and in Study 2 (N = 625), we examined the effect of gender for an athlete receiving media coverage focused on the extraprofessional field. Study 1's results showed that when media representation was based on the professional (vs. extraprofessional) field, participants perceived the news as more credible, believed that the media valued the athlete's capacity to a greater extent, and attributed more merit to the athlete. Moreover, Study 2, focused on an extraprofessional field, indicated that when a man athlete (vs. woman athlete) was portrayed, participants were more likely to consider the news content accurate, which, in turn, was associated with a higher attribution of competence to the athlete and a higher intention to consume sports media in the future. The study will hopefully help reduce beliefs about existing stereotypes as well as discrimination against women, whether in sports or in any other field (e.g., professionally or in education).

Modern careers are enacted in turbulent and stressful environments and workers face increasing uncertainty in navigating their careers. Therefore, it is essential to support workers in coping with stress by enhancing their resilience. We propose that strengths-based leaders help their workers to find their own unique pathway to developing resilience by building upon their pre-existing strengths. In turn, we propose that resilience allows workers to transform the support and opportunities provided by their strengths-based leader into the active state of work engagement. We conducted a two-wave time-lagged survey among a representative sample of 1,095 Dutch employees. Results of our structural equation modelling indicated that T1 strengths-based leadership was positively related to T2 employee work engagement and that T2 employee resilience mediated the relationship between strengths-based leadership (T1) and employee work engagement (T2). We conclude that strengths-based leadership might be a tool to develop a resilient and engaged workforce and make suggestions for developing strengths-based leadership.

Compared to traditional psychosocial interventions, the transdiagnostic approach focuses on common processes or factors that contribute to the development and maintenance of emotional problems. In Spain, the Super Skills Program has proven its effectiveness, but issues with displacement or scheduling for families can hinder access to the intervention. This study aims to examine the program's effectiveness in preventing children's psychosocial problems through learning socio-emotional skills when self-administered via the Internet. Participants were 283 Spanish children between the ages of 8 and 12. The children and their parents completed anxiety and depression scales before and after receiving the intervention and 12 months later. The program consisted of 8 self-applied sessions, at a rate of two per week, which included emotional education, cognitive restructuring, self-regulation techniques, training in social skills, problem-solving, and video feedback with cognitive preparation. Significant differences in anxiety and depression symptoms were found after the intervention. A significant reduction in anxiety scores and a marginally significant decrease in depression scores was observed at the long-term follow-up. The "intention to treat" analysis revealed a tendency for children who improved to drop out of the program, completing the intervention children with more symptomathology. Learning socio-emotional skills through a self-applied intervention via the Internet effectively reduced emotional symptoms in school children and is a valuable resource to improve child well-being and prevent future psychological problems.