Analyzing the effects of the Spanish Civil War on biological well-being through new anthropometric indicators.

Numerous studies have demonstrated the negative impact of severe economic shocks (such as those associated with wars) on the growth of children and adolescents. Individuals exposed to these shocks during their developmental years exhibited shorter average heights compared to both previous and subsequent generations. Anthropometric research has highlighted the sensitivity of the height variable in understanding the biological well-being of children and adolescents. However, little attention has been paid to the evolution of other anthropometric variables. This study investigates the impact of the famine following the Spanish Civil War on biological well-being in nine municipalities of the Region of Valencia (with over 120,000 observations of individuals born between 1890 and 1955) using two indicators: chest circumference, and the percentage of individuals of short stature. Our findings confirm that both of these anthropometric indicators were responsive to the economic shock of the Civil War. The well-being levels prior to the war took 20 years to recover.

Height and political activism in rural Aragón (Spain) during the 20th century. A new perspective using individual-level data.

This article explores the relationship between the political leanings of more than 1000 men born in the 1870-1970 s in 11 rural Aragonese villages and their biological well-being during childhood and adolescence, proxied by height. The aim is to test whether an individual was more likely to be left-wing if his level of biological well-being was lower and, therefore, with more incentives to fight against the social inequality that had negatively affected his family. Our results confirm that, for most of the study period, there was a strong relationship between shorter height and political activism1 in left-wing parties and organizations.

The effect of height on family formation in rural Spain, birth-cohorts 1835-1975.

This article examines the relationship between the height of adult males and marital outcomes, including likelihood of marrying, age at marriage, and marital fertility, in rural Spain. For this analysis, a sample of 4,501 men born between 1835 and 1975 living in 14 villages in northeastern Spain was taken. Previous research has shown that shorter individuals are less likely to marry. However, it is still disputed whether differences exist in the timing of marrying based on height, and little attention has been paid to the effect(s) of height on offspring. Family data were obtained from parish records and interviews with individuals and their families, while height data were obtained from military records, with individuals in Spain being conscripted at the age of 21 years. The data were linked according to nominative criteria using family reconstitution methods. The results confirm that shorter individuals were less likely to marry. Individuals of medium and medium-high height were the first to marry, with a small gap between them and shorter individuals. With regard to marital fertility, no difference in terms of average fertility by height were found, but there were small differences in timing of childbirth, possibly as a result of delayed marriage.

Adaptation and evidence of validity of the Corporate Ethical Virtues Scale in Brazil: A measure of ethical culture in organisations / Adaptación y evidencias de validez de la Escala de Virtudes Éticas Corporativas en Brasil: una medida de la cultura ética en las organizaciones

Abstract Introduction: Ethical culture stands out as an important variable in comprehending ethical norms and ethical behaviour at work. The Corporate Ethical Virtues (CEV) Scale is a widely used measure of ethical culture in organisations. This study aimed to adapt and validate the CEV Scale to a Brazilian context. Method: In Study 1 (n = 1.219), the CEV Scale was translated and adapted, the reliability and the internal structure were tested and the discriminant validity of ethical climate measures was demonstrated. In Study 2 (n = 635), measurement invariance in two groups was demonstrated, and there was evidence of validity based on the relationships with related constructs. Results: The results indicated that the Brazilian version of the CEV Scale showed reasonable psychometric properties and provided evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. Conclusion: This measure can be used by managers and consultants to diagnose ethical organisational culture.

Resumen Introducción: La cultura ética se destaca como una variable importante para comprender las normas y el comportamiento éticos en el trabajo. La escala de virtudes éticas corporativas (CEV) es una medida de cultura ética organizacional ampliamente utilizada. El objetivo de este estudio fue adaptar y validar la escala CEV de cultura ética al entorno brasileño. Método: En el estudio 1 (n = 1.219), la Escala CEV fue traducida y adaptada, se probaron la confiabilidad y la estructura interna y se demostró la validez discriminante de las medidas de clima ético. En el estudio 2 (n = 635), se demostró la invariancia de medición en dos grupos y hubo evidencia de validez basada en las relaciones con constructos relacionados. Resultados: Los resultados indicaron que la versión brasileña de la escala CEV mostró propiedades psicométricas razonables y proporcionó evidencia de validez convergente y discriminante. Conclusión: Esta medida puede ser utilizada por gerentes y consultores para diagnosticar la cultura organizacional ética.

Did parental care in early life affect height? Evidence from rural Spain (19th-20th centuries).

This article examines the relationship between childhood mortality experienced within families and the height of surviving male children. Sibling mortality, controlled by different socioeconomic and environmental variables, is used as an approximation of the hygienic and epidemiological context and practices within the family. The analysis is based on a sample of 2783 individuals born between 1835 and 1977 in 14 villages in north-eastern Spain. The mortality data were obtained from the parish archives of the reference villages, and the height data from military service records of conscriptions at 21 years of age. The data were linked according to nominative criteria using family reconstitution methods. The results suggest the existence of a strong negative relationship between height and the childhood mortality experienced within families. Children born in families in which 50% of the children died before the age of five were up to 2.3 cm shorter than those of families with childhood mortality of less than 25%. General socioeconomic, hygienic and health improvements reduced childhood mortality, causing this link to gradually disappear between the 1940s and 1970s.

Rethinking the Fertility Transition in Rural Aragón (Spain) Using Height Data.

Based on an analysis of the life trajectories of 2510 conscripts and their families from a Spanish rural area in the period 1835-1977, this paper studies the development of the fertility transition in relation to height using bivariate analyses. The use of heights is an innovative perspective of delving into the fertility transition and social transformation entailed. The results confirm that the men with a low level of biological well-being (related to low socio-economic groups) were those who started to control their fertility, perhaps due to the effect that increased average family size had on their budget. The children of individuals who controlled their fertility were taller than the children of other families. Therefore, the children of parents who controlled their fertility experienced the largest intergenerational increase in height (approximately 50% higher). This increase could be due to the consequence of a greater investment in children (Becker's hypothesis) or a greater availability of resources for the whole family (resource dilution hypothesis).

The association between male height and lifespan in rural Spain, birth cohorts 1835-1939.

This article analyses the relationship between male height and age at death and its evolution over time among conscripts born in fourteen villages in north-east rural Spain. A total of 1,488 conscripts born between 1835 and 1939 (and who died between 1868 and 2019) have been included in the analysis (based on the study of 3 sub-periods: 1835-1869, 1870-1899, and 1900-1939). The height data have been obtained from military service conscription records and the demographic and socioeconomic information of the deceased was obtained from parish archives and censuses. The data have been linked according to nominative criteria using family reconstitution methods. For the statistical analysis, we have used ordinary least squares (OLS) linear regressions with heteroskedasticity-robust estimation. The results suggest a positive relationship between height and lifespan in the long-term. For the birth cohorts of 1835-1869, conscripts with a height of 170 cm or more lived on average 7.6 years longer than conscripts measuring less than 160 cm. This difference in life expectancy tended to disappear for the birth cohorts of 1900-1939, benefiting especially the short conscripts who had greater possibilities to increase their average lifespan. The reasons that might explain these changes could reside in the improvements experienced by this group in terms of their living conditions, health and nutrition during the twentieth century.

Safety culture and safety performance in high-reliability organizations: a synthesis of IDOCAL’S contributions to the literature / Cultura de segurança e desempenho de segurança em organizações de alta confiabilidade: uma síntese das contribuições do IDOCAL para a literatura / Cultura de seguridad y desempeño de seguridad en organizaciones de alta fiabilidad: una síntesis de las contribuciones de IDOCAL a la literatura

Improving safety culture and safety performance is a constant concern for companies operating in high-risk environments. For almost two decades, IDOCAL (the Research Institute of Personnel Psychology, Organizational Development and Quality of Working Life) has been contributing to advancing our understanding of these important concepts through theoretical development and empirical research. The objective of this article is to synthesize these contributions. Some of the most prominent are (1) the development of a framework for the evaluation of safety culture and its correlates based on the AMIGO model, (2) the establishment of the empowering leadership model as a valuable concept in safety leadership, and (3) the establishment of a three-dimensional safety performance model. In addition, the researchers within IDOCAL have made great progress in understanding the main predictors of safety performance, including empowering leadership and safety culture. Within this paper, IDOCAL's plans to advance this line of research in the coming years, by extending it from the nuclear power sector to other high-risk industries, are also outlined.

Melhorar a cultura de segurança e o desempenho de segurança é uma preocupação constante para empresas que operam em ambientes de alto risco. Há quase duas décadas, o IDOCAL (Instituto de Pesquisa em Psicologia do Pessoal, Desenvolvimento Organizacional e Qualidade de Vida no Trabalho) tem contribuído para o avanço da compreensão desses importantes conceitos por meio do desenvolvimento teórico e da pesquisa empírica. O objetivo deste artigo é sintetizar essas contribuições. Alguns dos mais proeminentes são (1) o desenvolvimento de uma estrutura para a avaliação da cultura de segurança e seus correlatos com base no modelo AMIGO, (2) o estabelecimento do modelo de liderança capacitadora como um conceito valioso em liderança de segurança, e (3) o estabelecimento de um modelo tridimensional de desempenho de segurança. Além disso, os pesquisadores do IDOCAL fizeram um grande progresso no entendimento dos principais preditores de desempenho de segurança, incluindo capacitação de liderança e cultura de segurança. Neste documento, os planos do IDOCAL para avançar esta linha de pesquisa nos próximos anos, estendendo-a do setor de energia nuclear a outras indústrias de alto risco, também são descritos.

Mejorar la cultura de la seguridad y el desempeño de seguridad es una preocupación constante para las empresas que operan en entornos de alto riesgo. Durante casi dos décadas, IDOCAL (el Instituto de Investigación en Psicología de los Recursos Humanos, Desarrollo Organizacional y Calidad de Vida Laboral) ha contribuido a mejorar nuestra comprensión de estos importantes conceptos a través del desarrollo teórico y la investigación empírica. El objetivo de este artículo es sintetizar estos aportes. Algunos de los más destacados son (1) el desarrollo de un marco para la evaluación de la cultura de la seguridad y sus correlatos basado en el modelo AMIGO, (2) el establecimiento del modelo de liderazgo empoderador como un concepto valioso en el liderazgo en seguridad, y (3) el establecimiento de un modelo tridimensional de desempeño de seguridad. Además, los investigadores de IDOCAL han logrado grandes avances en la comprensión de los principales predictores del desempeño en seguridad, incluido el liderazgo de empoderamiento y la cultura de seguridad. En este trabajo también se describen los planes de IDOCAL para avanzar en esta línea de investigación en los próximos años, extendiéndola desde el sector de la energía nuclear a otras industrias de alto riesgo.

Revisiting the effect of time of birth on neonatal, infant, and child mortality in rural Spain, 1830-1929.

OBJECTIVES: This article aims to determine whether different patterns of mortality occurred among children born during the day and the night respectively, between 1830 and 1929. METHODS: The data include the time of birth and death of 9814 individuals from 10 villages in rural Spain between 1830 and 1929, within a context of natural births at home with little medical support. These data were subjected to a comparative analysis relating to the time of birth and the age at death. RESULTS: Neonatal, infant, and child mortality was higher for children born during daytime. The day-to-night mortality pattern diverged until children were at least 5 years old. CONCLUSIONS: The results confirm that the mortality patterns differed according to the time of birth. Possibly some of these children experienced longer or problematic deliveries that, in the absence of good medical assistance, had health consequences during the following days and years of life.

Spanish validation of the mindful organizing scale: A questionnaire for the assessment of collective mindfulness.

INTRODUCTION: Mindful organizing (also known as collective mindfulness) is a team level construct that is said to underpin the principles of high-reliability organizations (HROs), as it has shown to lead to almost error-free performance. While mindful organizing research has proliferated in recent years, studies on how to measure mindful organizing are scarce. Vogus and Sutcliffe (2007) originally validated a nine-item "Mindful Organizing Scale" but few subsequent validation studies of this scale exist. The present study aimed to validate a Spanish version of the Mindful Organizing Scale. METHOD: The sample included 47 teams (comprising of a total of 573 workers with an average team size of 12.19) from a Spanish nuclear power plant. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), reliability analysis, and an analysis of aggregation indices were carried out. A correlation analysis and CFA were used to further validate the scale in terms of its distinctiveness from, and relationship with, other team-related variables such as safety culture, team safety climate, and team learning. Finally, evidence of criterion-related validity was collected by testing the incremental validity of the mindful organizing scale in the association with various workplace safety outcomes (safety compliance and safety participation). RESULTS: The results confirmed a unidimensional structure of the scale and indicated satisfactory internal consistency. Aggregation of the scores to the team level was justified while significant positive correlations between mindful organizing and other team-related variables (safety culture, team safety climate, team learning) were found. Moreover, mindful organizing showed distinctiveness from safety culture, team safety climate and team learning. Finally, incremental validity of the scale was supported, as it shows to be associated with safety compliance and safety participation above and beyond other related constructs. CONCLUSIONS: The Spanish version of the Mindful Organizing Scale has shown to be a valid and reliable scale that can be used to measure mindful organizing. CONTRIBUTIONS: The validation of the unidimensional Spanish version of Vogus and Sutcliffe's (2007) Mindful Organizing Scale provides researchers and practitioners with a reliable and valid tool to use in Spanish speaking organizations to measure mindful organizing, which has been shown to result in more reliable performance. Theoretically, this study offers four contributions. Firstly, it validates a scale that operationalizes the 'mindful organizing' construct in a traditional high-reliability organization (nuclear power plant) which has never been done before. Secondly, it offers evidence that a mindful organizing scale can be validated in a new cultural context and language (Spanish) to any of the previous studies done before it. Thirdly, it adds to our understanding of mindful organizing's nomological network by distinguishing it from other team and safety-related variables. Lastly, it builds on current research showing sound psychometric properties of a one-dimensional, quantitative measure of mindful organizing.

The influence of the lunar cycle on spontaneous deliveries in historical rural environments.

BACKGROUND: Many societies and their medical practitioners throughout the world have historically linked lunar phases to the frequency of births. During more recent decades, academics have discussed this alleged relationship using modern data, obtaining differing results. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to analyse the relationship between the phases of the moon and the frequency of deliveries in a rural historical context without electricity, and among women of low nutritional status. These characteristics are similar to some current rural areas in certain developing countries. The exceptionality of this case will allow us to test several of the existing theories on how the moon could influence births, particularly those related to lunar light. We will also analyse nulliparous and multiparous differences over the very long term. STUDY DESIGN: This study is a retrospective cohort analysis. In total, 23,689 births have been considered for 1484 lunar cycles between 1810 and 1929. Birth registers have been obtained from the Catholic parish archives of 10 rural Spanish agrarian villages. All the deliveries analysed were natural, without any medical follow-up, within the home and with little medical assistance. RESULTS: Using simple descriptive statistical techniques, we can conclude that there is no pattern with which to link lunar phases with the frequency of births. We can also conclude that neither electricity nor the rural environment affects this alleged relationship; neither have we found any relationship related to either the nulliparous or the multiparous and lunar phases. CONCLUSION: The analysis of a 120-year period has shown that there is no predictable influence of the lunar phases on the frequency of births. The myth of such a lunar influence can claim no scientific evidence from a historical perspective. Neither the arrival of the electric light nor the lower number of deliveries per woman have modified birth patterns. Deliveries by rural women of low nutritional status are not linked to the phases of the moon, and consequently the medical services in developing countries should disregard this belief; they do not need to take account of the phases of the moon with respect to their daily organisation.

The Safety Culture Enactment Questionnaire (SCEQ): Theoretical model and empirical validation.

This paper presents the Safety Culture Enactment Questionnaire (SCEQ), designed to assess the degree to which safety is an enacted value in the day-to-day running of nuclear power plants (NPPs). The SCEQ is based on a theoretical safety culture model that is manifested in three fundamental components of the functioning and operation of any organization: strategic decisions, human resources practices, and daily activities and behaviors. The extent to which the importance of safety is enacted in each of these three components provides information about the pervasiveness of the safety culture in the NPP. To validate the SCEQ and the model on which it is based, two separate studies were carried out with data collection in 2008 and 2014, respectively. In Study 1, the SCEQ was administered to the employees of two Spanish NPPs (N=533) belonging to the same company. Participants in Study 2 included 598 employees from the same NPPs, who completed the SCEQ and other questionnaires measuring different safety outcomes (safety climate, safety satisfaction, job satisfaction and risky behaviors). Study 1 comprised item formulation and examination of the factorial structure and reliability of the SCEQ. Study 2 tested internal consistency and provided evidence of factorial validity, validity based on relationships with other variables, and discriminant validity between the SCEQ and safety climate. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) carried out in Study 1 revealed a three-factor solution corresponding to the three components of the theoretical model. Reliability analyses showed strong internal consistency for the three scales of the SCEQ, and each of the 21 items on the questionnaire contributed to the homogeneity of its theoretically developed scale. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) carried out in Study 2 supported the internal structure of the SCEQ; internal consistency of the scales was also supported. Furthermore, the three scales of the SCEQ showed the expected correlation patterns with the measured safety outcomes. Finally, results provided evidence of discriminant validity between the SCEQ and safety climate. We conclude that the SCEQ is a valid, reliable instrument supported by a theoretical framework, and it is useful to measure the enactment of safety culture in NPPs.

Strengthening safety compliance in nuclear power operations: a role-based approach.

Safety compliance is of paramount importance in guaranteeing the safe running of nuclear power plants. However, it depends mostly on procedures that do not always involve the safest outcomes. This article introduces an empirical model based on the organizational role theory to analyze the influence of legitimate sources of expectations (procedures formalization and leadership) on workers' compliance behaviors. The sample was composed of 495 employees from two Spanish nuclear power plants. Structural equation analysis showed that, in spite of some problematic effects of proceduralization (such as role conflict and role ambiguity), procedure formalization along with an empowering leadership style lead to safety compliance by clarifying a worker's role in safety. Implications of these findings for safety research are outlined, as well as their practical implications.

Testing the validity of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safety culture model.

This paper takes the first steps to empirically validate the widely used model of safety culture of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), composed of five dimensions, further specified by 37 attributes. To do so, three independent and complementary studies are presented. First, 290 students serve to collect evidence about the face validity of the model. Second, 48 experts in organizational behavior judge its content validity. And third, 468 workers in a Spanish nuclear power plant help to reveal how closely the theoretical five-dimensional model can be replicated. Our findings suggest that several attributes of the model may not be related to their corresponding dimensions. According to our results, a one-dimensional structure fits the data better than the five dimensions proposed by the IAEA. Moreover, the IAEA model, as it stands, seems to have rather moderate content validity and low face validity. Practical implications for researchers and practitioners are included.

Linking empowering leadership to safety participation in nuclear power plants: a structural equation model.

INTRODUCTION: Safety participation is of paramount importance in guaranteeing the safe running of nuclear power plants. METHOD: The present study examined the effects of empowering leadership on safety participation. RESULTS: Based on a sample of 495 employees from two Spanish nuclear power plants, structural equation modeling showed that empowering leadership has a significant relationship with safety participation, which is mediated by collaborative team learning. In addition, the results revealed that the relationship between empowering leadership and collaborative learning is partially mediated by the promotion of dialogue and open communication. CONCLUSIONS: The implications of these findings for safety research and their practical applications are outlined. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: An empowering leadership style enhances workers' safety performance, particularly safety participation behaviors. Safety participation is recommended to detect possible rule inconsistencies or misunderstood procedures and make workers aware of critical safety information and issues.