Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ): An update of the literature and instrumental study with schoolchildren

Introduction: Considering the current controversy regarding the factorial structure of the SDQ, this paper aimed to analyse the dimensionality and reliability of the parents' version for children from 4 to 16 years of age, and to present descriptive data according to sociodemographic variables. Method: The factor structure of the original five- and three-factor models, and the reliability of the SDQ were examined among a sample of 621 parents of Uruguayan children between 7 and 12 years of age (52% girls) from different socioeconomic levels. Results: Confirmatory factor analyses did not provide support for the five- and three-factor models. Data adjusted to three factors (prosociality, externalising symptoms, internalising symptoms) in an exploratory analysis with adequate reliability indices. Conclusions: The results of this study show the relevance of continued investigation of the SDQ internal structure, and further analysis of the behaviour of several of its items.

Introducción: Considerando la controversia vigente respecto a la estructura factorial del SDQ, este trabajo tuvo como objetivo analizar la validez de constructo y fiabilidad de la versión para padres de niños de 4 a 16 años y presentar datos descriptivos según variables sociodemográficas. Método: Se examinó la estructura factorial de los modelos originales de cinco y tres factores y la fiabilidad del SDQ en una muestra de 621 padres de niños uruguayos entre 7 y 12 años (52 % niñas) de distintos niveles socioeconómicos. Resultados: Los análisis factoriales confirmatorios no pudieron dar apoyo a los modelos de cinco y tres factores. Los datos se ajustaron a tres factores (prosocialidad, síntomas externalizantes y síntomas internalizantes) en un análisis exploratorio con adecuados índices de fiabilidad. Conclusiones: Los resultados de este estudio muestran la pertinencia de continuar investigando la estructura interna del SDQ y analizar con mayor profundidad el comportamiento de algunos de sus ítems.

Improving the reporting quality of reliability generalization meta-analyses: The REGEMA checklist.

Reliability generalization (RG) is a meta-analytic approach that aims to characterize how reliability estimates from the same test vary across different applications of the instrument. With this purpose RG meta-analyses typically focus on a particular test and intend to obtain an overall reliability of test scores and to investigate how the composition and variability of the samples affect reliability. Although several guidelines have been proposed in the meta-analytic literature to help authors improve the reporting quality of meta-analyses, none of them were devised for RG meta-analyses. The purpose of this investigation was to develop REGEMA (REliability GEneralization Meta-Analysis), a 30-item checklist (plus a flow chart) adapted to the specific issues that the reporting of an RG meta-analysis must take into account. Based on previous checklists and guidelines proposed in the meta-analytic arena, a first version was elaborated by applying the nominal group methodology. The resulting instrument was submitted to a list of independent meta-analysis experts and, after discussion, the final version of the REGEMA checklist was reached. In a pilot study, four pairs of coders applied REGEMA to a random sample of 40 RG meta-analyses in Psychology, and results showed satisfactory inter-coder reliability. REGEMA can be used by: (a) meta-analysts conducting or reporting an RG meta-analysis and aiming to improve its reporting quality; (b) consumers of RG meta-analyses who want to make informed critical appraisals of their reporting quality, and (c) reviewers and editors of journals who are considering submissions where an RG meta-analysis was reported for potential publication.

Social contact as a strategy for self-stigma reduction in young adults and adolescents with mental health problems.

This study assessed the effectiveness of a social contact program between young adults and adolescents with and without mental health problems. It was evaluated if the development of a social contact program in a non-segregated space and respecting criteria of contact hypothesis reduced Self-Stigma and Public Stigma and, increased Self-Esteem. A pre-post intervention design was used with a sample of 47 subjects, 25 with different mental health diagnoses (Psychotic Disorder, Anxiety Disorder, Depression, Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and 22 without mental health problems, aged between 15 and 35 years. Five workshops of social contact and creativity were carried out during five months with a 2-h weekly meeting. The results analysis revealed a significant reduction in Self-Stigma for participants with mental health problems and may suggest a slight reduction in Public Stigma as well as a slight increase in the level of Self-Esteem of all participants. These findings suggest that programs of this nature reduce Self-Stigma and facilitate social inclusion in young adults and adolescents with and without mental health problems.

Effect of the dietary intake of melatonin- and hydroxytyrosol-rich wines by healthy female volunteers on the systemic lipidomic-related oxylipins.

Oxylipins are lipid mediators involved in the physiopathology of all organs. Moreover, isoprostanes have been established as general and reliable in vivo oxidative stress biomarkers. Red wine has proved to exert several benefits through the maintenance of the oxidative balance of the organism. Antiradical scavenging capacity has been mainly attributed to polyphenols. However, melatonin and hydroxytyrosol should be taken into account as potent antiradical agents. The present research aimed to clarify the situation of enzymatic and oxidative injury and eicosanoid urinary excretion related to the intake of three kinds of red wines and their primary musts. Judging by the reduction in the excretion of isoprostanes, red wine consumption exhibited the highest antioxidant protection against oxidative stress, attributed to its OHTyr content (p < 0.05), and to a lesser extent to its MEL content. Similarly, the intake of red wine leads to the cardioprotective effect due to the reduction in the urinary excretion of the pro-inflammatory prostaglandin 2,3-dinor-11-ß-PGF2α, besides the increase in the vasodilator prostaglandin PGE1, mediated by the melatonin (p < 0.05) and hydroxytyrosol (p < 0.05) contents. In conclusion, red wine (especially non-aged wine) exerts a higher in vivo antioxidant capacity than must or alcohol.

[Post-traumatic stress disorder in schoolchildren after the 2011 earthquake in Lorca (Spain)]. / Trastorno de estrés postraumático en escolares tras el terremoto de Lorca (España) en 2011.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children after the 2011 earthquake in Lorca (Spain). METHODS: By using a cross-sequential design, children aged from 8 to 12 years (495 students at 1 month and 374 at 1 year) were assessed for full and partial PTSD using the Post-traumatic Children's Symptoms Stress Disorder Scale. RESULTS: The percentage of children with PTSD was 55.4% (65.6% of girls and 46.9% of boys) at 1 month and 40.1% (44.5% girls and 35.9% children) at 1 year. One in two young girls (8-10 years) had PTSD 1 year after the earthquake. DISCUSSION: A differential effect was observed due to gender and age, in which younger children, especially girls, were particularly at risk, even 1 year after the earthquake.

[A mixture model-based rater bias index]. / Un índice de sesgo entre observadores basado en modelos mixtura.

Mixture models are outstanding procedures to evaluate rater agreement that assume that the objects to be classified by two observers are extracted from a population that is a mixture of two finite subpopulations, the first one representing systematic agreement and the second one random agreement and disagreement. A generalization of the basic mixture model to include four subpopulations representing two latent variables with two classes allows us to preserve its nature (the fit of the model and the systematic subpopulation are the same) and to distinguish a subpopulation for random agreement and two subpopulations for disagreement (one for the upper triangle and the other for the lower triangle of contingency table). In this context, it is possible to define a new rater bias measure based on a mixture model, which is similar to the descriptive index proposed by Ludbrook.

Sociodemographic, psychological and health-related factors associated with poor mental health in Spanish women and men in midlife.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this work was to examine the sociodemographic, psychological, and health-related factors (considered jointly) associated with poor mental health in midlife and to analyze whether risk and protective factors differed in men and women. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted with a middle-class sample of 252 women and 189 men between 45 and 65 years of age from Spanish rural areas. Mental health status was measured with the 12-Item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12; Goldberg & Williams, 1988). Multiple logistic regression models were used to calculate odds ratios with confidence intervals of 95%, adjusting for confounding variables. RESULTS: The percentage of women (14.3%) with poor mental health was twice that of the men (7.4%). In women, the following variables were significantly and positively related to poor mental health: consumption of psychoactive drugs, physiological and cognitive anxiety; self-esteem and family satisfaction were protective factors. For men, physical complaints and cognitive anxiety were significant risk factors, and job satisfaction was a protective factor. CONCLUSIONS: In general, the psychological variables were more clearly related to poor mental health. Women had a more unfavorable profile, and the variables related to poor mental health differed for men and women, perhaps due to social roles associated with gender. To facilitate diagnosis and take preventive measures, men's and women's risk factors for poor mental health should be differentiated.

[The Small Worlds and Floyd's algorithms: a way to study scientific collaboration]. / Los "Small Worlds" y el algoritmo de Floyd: una manera de estudiar la colaboración científica.

Many proposals from the analysis of social networks focused on the study of scientific collaboration have been made recently. The Small Worlds theory seems to be the most efficient to study the inner features of the scientific community. Those researches have demonstrated that small communities are based on some key individuals who connect some groups which, on the contrary, would be disconnected. One of the disadvantages from the perspective of the analysis of networks is the lack of researches of particular nodes. With the implementation of a pseudocode algorithm of Floyd, we try to avoid this. To study how a small community is formed and, as a research of one case, we observe the invisible college which is formed when connecting the fifteen most productive authors of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology .