COVID-19 anxiety scale (CAS): Development and psychometric properties.

The objective of the present research is to develop and validate the COVID-19 Anxiety Scale (CAS). We conducted three studies to gather evidence regarding content and construct validity, as well to evaluate the reliability of the measure. Study 1 is subdivided into two studies. In Study 1a, we analyze the content validity of the new measure through content expert analysis (N = 10 expert raters). In Study 1b (N = 30), we perform a pilot study with a sample from the target population. In Study 2 (N = 352), we explored the unifactorial structure of the measure, and analyzed its internal consistency verified. Finally, in Study 3 (N = 200), we assess the adequacy of the factor structure and gather evidence on convergent-discriminant validity and gender-scale invariance. In summary, our results demonstrate that CAS is a reliable and adequate instrument to assess COVID-19 related anxiety.

Anxiety associated with COVID-19 and concerns about death: Impacts on psychological well-being.

Situations of public calamity, such as that caused by COVID-19 pandemic, strongly impact mental health, especially among people who feel most anxious about the imminence of death, as highlighted by the Terror Management Theory. In this research, we investigated how and under which conditions concerns about death itself and anxiety are related to psychological well-being. Specifically, we assessed the role of fear caused by the prominence of death (contextual and dispositional) in anxiety and well-being during the pandemic. Participants were 352 Brazilians, who answered a measurement of fear of death and read a news story about COVID-19. The manipulated news brought the idea of death to prominence (vs. non-prominence). After reading the news, the participants answered scales of anxiety and psychological well-being. The results showed that individual differences in fear of death related to well-being, and that this relationship was mediated by anxiety in face of COVID-19. Contrastingly, the manipulation of the salience of death in the news did not affect this relationship. These results contribute to the understanding of a psychological process related with fluctuations in individuals' well-being during the pandemic, offering insights for future studies that can promote better coping conditions during this period of world crisis.

Justifying treatment bias: The legitimizing role of threat perception and immigrant-provider contact in healthcare.

OBJECTIVE: Immigrants tend to receive a lower quality of healthcare, which can be a sign of healthcare bias. We examined whether this bias in medical care is associated with a legitimizing process involving two psychosocial factors: threat perception and level of intergroup contact. METHOD: One hundred eighty six Portuguese health professionals (55.6% clinicians; 44.4% nurses; 78.5% female; Mage = 45.83, range = 23 and 71) completed a questionnaire on prejudiced attitudes toward immigrants, perceptions of health-specific threats, bias in medical practice and level of contact with immigrant patients. RESULTS: For healthcare providers who have more contact with immigrant patients, the perceived health threat mediated the relationship between prejudiced attitudes and treatment bias. In contrast, for healthcare providers with less contact with immigrant patients, the perceived threat was not associated with treatment bias. CONCLUSIONS: These findings help to understand the persistence of lower quality medical treatment among immigrants, providing guidelines for future research. In particular, they suggest that perceiving immigrants as a threat to public health is indicative of the providers' engagement in a legitimizing process of self-reported biased treatment, making this engagement necessary only for providers with greater levels of contact with immigrant patients. (PsycINFO Database Record

Development and Initial Validation of the Beliefs About Sexual Functioning Scale: A Gender Invariant Measure.

BACKGROUND: Past research on cognitive models of sexual functioning has focused on sexual beliefs as an important vulnerability factor for sexual dysfunction. However, the existing measurements of sexual beliefs are lengthy and entangle beliefs about sexual functioning with moral beliefs and ideas about sexuality. Furthermore, they have female and male versions, which does not allow for sex comparisons or dyadic research with heterosexual couples. AIM: To describe the development and validation of the Beliefs About Sexual Functioning Scale (BASEF), which assesses beliefs about sexual functioning in men and women. METHODS: This study included two cross-sectional online studies with adults in heterosexual dyadic committed and exclusive relationships. In study 1 (sample A, n = 274, mean age = 32.27 years; sample B, n = 114, mean age = 30.6 years), the factorial validity of the BASEF was analyzed through an exploratory factor analysis with an initial poll of 51 items, followed by a test of its structure in a confirmatory factor analysis. In study 2 (n = 426, mean age = 31.5 years), the factorial equivalence of the BASEF was tested across sexes and its association with total scores of sexual functioning was analyzed. OUTCOME: The main outcome was a new instrument for measurement of beliefs about sexual functioning. RESULTS: In study 1, 15 items indicating 5 factors were retained. The structure was confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis, establishing its factorial validity with the five factors aggregated in a second-order latent variable. In study 2, the equivalence of the BASEF was demonstrated across sexes and its association with theoretically related measurements, the International Index of Erectile Function and the Female Sexual Function Index, was supported. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: This new measurement could be useful to evaluate clients and design interventions that take into account similarity and discrepancy in sexual beliefs in couples, such as those interventions framed in cognitive and systemic clinical models. STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS: This study presents a new measurement of beliefs about sexual functioning suited to address an equivalent set of beliefs for men and women. In future studies, the scale will be useful to compare the unique role of these same beliefs in the sexual outcomes of men and women. One major limitation is the lack of examination of the BASEF criterion validity with a clinical sample. CONCLUSIONS: Results are indicative of a brief, valid, and reliable sex-invariant measurement of beliefs about sexual functioning that enables testing of cognitive models of sexual functioning in men and women in clinical and research settings. Pascoal PM, Alvarez M-J, Pereira CR, Nobre P. Development and Initial Validation of the Beliefs About Sexual Functioning Scale: A Gender Invariant Measure. J Sex Med 2017;14:613-623.

Partners' Similarity in Differentiation of Self is Associated With Higher Sexual Desire: A Quantitative Dyadic Study.

The relationship between sexual desire and differentiation of self in couples has been frequently discussed in clinical literature but lacks empirical support. This exploratory study investigates the associations between individual and dyadic levels of sexual desire, differentiation of self, and couple satisfaction. Similarities and discrepancies in sexual desire and differentiation of self between partners were especially targeted. Partners were expected to have a lower discrepancy of differentiation of self than unrelated individuals (Bowen's similarity hypothesis). Partners' discrepancy in differentiation of self was expected to be negatively associated with sexual desire, and higher levels of sexual desire and differentiation in the dyad were expected be positively associated with couple satisfaction. Results suggest that partners' similarity regarding differentiation of self predicted individual sexual desire. Other findings suggest that couple satisfaction was positively associated with both sexual desire and differentiation of self. Limitations and clinical implications are discussed.

Categorisation salience and ingroup bias: the buffering role of a multicultural ideology.

The current work sought to test the moderating role of a multicultural ideology on the relationship between categorisation salience and ingroup bias. Accordingly, in one experimental study, we manipulated categorisation salience and the accessibility of a multicultural ideology, and measured intergroup attitudes. Results show that categorisation salience only leads to ingroup bias when a multiculturalism (MC) ideology is not made salient. Thus, MC ideology attenuates the negative effects of categorisation salience on ingroup bias. These results pertain to social psychology in general showing that the cognitive processes should be construed within the framework of ideological contexts.

Distributive justice criteria and social categorization processes predict healthcare allocation bias.

OBJECTIVES: Drawing on theories of distributive justice and intergroup discrimination, we examined how much distributive justice criterion and racial group membership contribute to bias in healthcare allocation decisions, by testing a theoretical model that specifies perceived stereotypicality and individual responsibility as a serial mediation process in the relationship between disease's contraction controllability (controllable vs. non-controllable) and bias in medical decision-making. METHOD: White Portuguese medical students (N = 213) participated in an online experimental study conducted in two phases. In phase 1, we manipulated the cause of disease contagion and the salience of patient's racial categorization, and measured the stereotypicality of behaviour. In phase 2, we assessed perceived responsibility and likelihood of recommending medical treatment. RESULTS: Controllable (vs. non-controllable) contraction behaviours in phase 1 were perceived as more stereotypic. As a spillover effect, more stereotypical behaviours in phase 1 predicted more patient's responsibility for their disease in phase 2. Importantly, controllable behaviours of disease contraction in phase 1 negatively affected recommendations for medical treatment in phase 2; and this negative effect was serially mediated by the stereotypicality of behaviour and patient responsibility. Furthermore, patients' skin colour moderated this process, meaning that perceptions of controllable behaviour as more stereotypic were stronger for Black than for White patients. CONCLUSIONS: This research shows how stereotyping and social categorization bias allocation decisions through the patient's level of responsibility in decision-making processes. The findings are discussed in light of principles of distributive justice and the literature on intergroup relations with respect to racial disparities in health care.

Intergroup time bias and aversive racism in the medical context.

Time is fundamental to organizing all aspects of human life. When invested in relationships, it has a psychological meaning as it indicates how much individuals value others and their interest in maintaining social relationships. Previous research has identified an intergroup time bias (ITB) in racialized social relations, defined as a discriminatory behavior in which White individuals invest more time in evaluating White than Black individuals. This research proposes an aversive racism explanation for the ITB effect and examines its consequences in the medical context. In four experimental studies (N = 434), we found that White medical trainees invested more time in forming impressions of White (vs. Black) male patients. Study 5 (N = 193) further revealed more time investment in diagnosing, assessing pain, and prescribing opioids for White than Black male patients. This biased time effect mediated the impact of patients' skin color on health care outcomes, leading to greater diagnostic accuracy and pain perception, and lower opioid prescriptions. A meta-analytical integration of the results (Study 6) confirmed the ITB effect reliability across experiments and that it is stronger in participants with an aversive racist profile (vs. consistently prejudiced or nonprejudiced). These findings provide the first evidence that bias in time investment favoring White (vs. Black) patients is associated with aversive racism and impacts medical health care outcomes. Furthermore, these results offer insights into the sociopsychological meaning of time investment in health care and provide a theoretical explanation for an understudied insidious form of discrimination that is critical to comprehending the persistency of racial health care disparities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Measuring the General and Specific Domains of Self-Esteem: The Short-form of the State Self-Esteem Scale.

Self-esteem is a crucial human nature feature for understanding the social dimensions of individuals' self-concept. One of its characteristics is peoples' malleability to adapt to social contexts, that is, the state self-esteem (SSE). Individuals express SES in three different factors: performance; social success; and physical appearance. Along with three studies, we present evidence of validity of the Short-Form of State Self-Esteem Scale (SSES-S) that measures contextual fluctuations in individuals' self-esteem. In Study 1 (N = 300), we found that the structure of the SSES-S was organized into three correlated factors that exhibited convergent-discriminant validity with measures of trait self-esteem and human values. In Study 2 (N = 281), confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a bifactor measurement model better fit the description of the factorial structure of the SSES-S, which also showed incremental validity concerning trait self-esteem for predicting one criterion. In Study 3 (N = 160), we experimentally manipulated contextual information about self-achievement and showed that the SSES-S is sensitive enough to detect transient fluctuations in self-esteem, especially in the achievement factor. We discussed the limitations and scope of the SSES-S, as its specific focus on measuring undergraduate students' state self-esteem and its implications distinguishing the general and particular domains of this construct.

From conservatism to support for gay conversion therapy: the role of prejudice and beliefs about same-sex sexuality.

Support for Gay Conversion Therapy may be motivated by homophobic prejudice driven by conservative groups. We propose that Support for Gay Conversion Therapy (SGCT) is motivated by conservatism and that this relationship is mediated by prejudice against gay individuals. We tested these hypotheses in three studies. In Study 1 (N = 249), we found that conservative values predict SGCT, and that this effect is partly mediated by prejudice. In Study 2 (N = 247), we replicated this mediation and found that ethical-religious and psychological essentialist beliefs differently moderated it. Study 3 (N = 210) went further by experimentally showing the political consequences of SGCT. We showed that more conservative individuals tend to absolve psychologists who practice sexual conversion, and that both prejudice and conservative-motivated SGCT mediated this effect. We discussed these results by emphasizing the psychosocial process that motivates SGCT.

Predictors of Health-Protective and Helping Behaviors during the Covid-19 Pandemic: The Role of Social Support and Resilience.

The COVID -19 pandemic dramatically affected people's lives. In this study, we explored the role of social and personal factors underlying individuals' adaptive responses during the critical onset period of the outbreak. In particular, we tested two models on the mediating role of health-protective behaviors in the relationship between social support, resilience, and helping behavior. A sample of 1085 participants from Portugal and Brazil took part in an online survey during the first wave of the pandemic. First, through an Exploratory Factor Analysis of the health-protective behaviors to prevent contagion by the coronavirus, we identified two distinct dimensions, one aggregating active protective behaviors and the other as avoidant behaviors. Secondly, we found that resilience and active protective behavior sequentially mediated the relationship between social support and willingness to help. In addition, a multigroup analysis showed that this mediational process was similar in both countries. Given the wide range of social and individual factors that may predict prosocial behaviors, we highlight the role of social support on the intention to help through resilience and active protective behaviors.

Neuroticism, stress, and rumination in anxiety and depression of people with Vitiligo: An explanatory model.

Psychological impacts of Vitiligo have been demonstrated, and associations of the skin disease with anxiety and depression disorders have already been shown. However, it is still unclear the role of individuals' personality factors, such as neuroticism, stress, and rumination, as well as sociodemographic characteristics of people with Vitiligo in such disorders. We conducted a study in a community sample of individuals with Vitiligo (N = 324) aiming to test the hypothesis that neuroticism, stress, and rumination are subjacent to these individuals' anxiety and depression symptomatology. We also explored whether individuals' gender might favor the onset or worsening of the psychological consequences of such disorders. Results showed that the relationship between neuroticism, anxiety and depression was mediated by stress and rumination (brooding), being this effect moderated by the participants' gender. Specifically, women's reflection and stress seemed to be important mechanisms to predict their anxiety and depression symptoms, whereas brooding predicts such disorders' symptomatology in men with Vitiligo. These findings may guide future research and clinical interventions for this population, for which it is necessary to consider the psychological consequences of the disease and not just its physiological aspects.

The global impact of adverse childhood experiences on criminal behavior: A cross-continental study.

BACKGROUND: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have been associated with a greater risk of later criminal offending. However, existing research in this area has been primarily conducted in Western developed countries and cross-cultural studies are rare. OBJECTIVES: This study examined the relationship between ACEs and criminal behaviors in young adults living in 10 countries located across five continents, after accounting for sex, age, and cross-national differences. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: In total, 3797 young adults aged between 18 and 20 years (M = 18.97; DP = 0.81) were assessed locally in community settings within the 10 countries. METHOD: The ACE Questionnaire was used to assess maltreatment and household dysfunction during childhood and a subset of questions derived from the Deviant Behavior Variety Scale (DBVS) was used to determine past-year criminal variety pertaining to 10 acts considered crime across participating countries. RESULTS: Physical and sexual abuse, physical neglect, and household substance abuse were related to criminal variety, globally, and independently across sexes and countries ranked differently in the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI). In addition, three out of five experiences of household dysfunction were related to criminal variety, but subsequent analyses indicate that some forms of household dysfunction only hold statistical significance among males or females, or in countries ranking lower in the HDI. CONCLUSIONS: This research strengthens the finding that there are cross-cultural mechanisms perpetuating the cycle of violence. It also indicates that forms of household dysfunction have an impact on criminal behavior that is shaped by gender and the country's levels of social well-being.

The effect of gender and male distinctiveness threat on prejudice against homosexuals.

Positive distinctiveness threat is central for understanding ingroup bias, but its role in gender differences in the expression of sexual prejudice is not yet satisfactorily elucidated. We analyzed this issue by proposing that sexual prejudice is a defensive reaction to ensure intergroup distinctiveness, so that heterosexual men are more prejudiced against homosexuals than heterosexual women because they strive more for positive distinctiveness. In Study 1 (N = 232), we found that men exhibited more prejudice against gay men than lesbians, while women did not significantly differentiate their prejudice against these target groups. In Study 2, we manipulated the target group of prejudice (gay men vs. lesbians) in a sample of heterosexual men (N = 79) and confirmed that they differentiated more between heterosexual men and gay men than between heterosexual women and lesbians. In Study 3 (N = 177), we manipulated the threat to the distinctiveness between the ingroup (i.e., heterosexual men and heterosexual women) and the outgroup (i.e., gay men and lesbians) and demonstrated that the perceived distinctiveness mediates the relationship between gender and sexual prejudice in men but not in women. Finally, in Study 4 (N = 75), we manipulated the distinctiveness threat for men and women and measured sexual prejudice by using an implicit measure. The results showed more implicit prejudice in men than in women when intergroup distinctiveness was threatened (vs. affirmed). Our results have important implications for understanding sexual prejudice by shedding light on the role played by the distinctiveness threat of gender differences in expressing homophobia. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Unemployment, Self-esteem, and Depression: Differences between Men and Women.

Although there is a vast bibliography on the negative consequences of unemployment for mental health, there are no studies that analyze the differences between men and women in relation to the consequences that unemployment could have simultaneously on self-esteem and depression. The main objective of this study was to analyze whether, unemployment is differentially associated with the self-esteem of men and women, and to test whether this circumstance can be considered a psychological mechanism by which we could explain differences in depression for men and women. Results show that self-esteem is a mediating variable (indirect effect = .11; 90% CI [.04, .19]), considering its differential impact on depression, but this mediation is moderated by the gender of the respondents (b = .21, 90% IC [.01, .40]. In summary, unemployment is associated with lower self-esteem, which in turn is related to greater depressive symptoms. This relationship is only observed for men and not for women.

Black people are convicted more for being black than for being poor: The role of social norms and cultural prejudice on biased racial judgments.

Black and poor people are more frequently convicted of committing crimes. However, the specific role played by skin color and social class in convicting a person has yet to be clarified. This article aims to elucidate this issue by proposing that belonging to a lower social class facilitates the conviction of black targets and that this phenomenon is because information about social class dissimulates racial bias. Study 1 (N = 160) demonstrated that information about belonging to the lower classes increases agreement with a criminal suspect being sentenced to prison only when described as being black. Furthermore, Studies 2 (N = 170) and 3 (N = 174) show that the anti-prejudice norm inhibits discrimination against the black target when participants were asked to express individual racial prejudice, but not when they expressed cultural racial prejudice. Finally, Study 4 (N = 134) demonstrated that lower-class black targets were discriminated against to a greater degree when participants expressed either individual or cultural prejudice and showed that this occurs when racial and class anti-prejudice norms are salient. The results suggest that social class negatively affects judgments of black targets because judgment based on lower class mitigates the racist motivation of discrimination.

The Ego-Defensive Role of Legitimacy: How Threat-Based Justifications Protect the Self-Esteem of Discriminators.

This article analyzes the ego-defensive role played by legitimation, by examining the hypothesis that threat-based justifications attenuate the negative effect on an individual's self-esteem caused by his or her becoming aware of his or her own discriminatory behavior. Across three studies (including a pilot experiment), participants who were led to believe that they had acted in a discriminatory way experienced a decrease in their self-esteem. In Study 1 ( N = 116), this effect was nullified when discrimination was justified by either symbolic or realistic threat perceptions. Study 2 ( N = 250) replicated this pattern of results and went further by showing that discrimination affects self-esteem only in more egalitarian individuals, whereas for those less egalitarian, it affects their social image. According to the ego-defensive role of legitimation, a meta-analytical integration of the results confirmed that the influence of discrimination in depressing self-esteem is moderated by threat-based justifications.

Facebook: Risks and Opportunities in Brazilian and Portuguese Youths with Different Levels of Psychosocial Adjustment.

This study aimed to assess the risks and opportunities associated with Facebook usage and to explore the moderating role of psychosocial (mal)adjustment, nationality and age in these relationships. This correlational study involved a sample of 452 Brazilian and 500 Portuguese youths, aged between 14 and 20 years. Results showed that these youths spent a daily average of 61-120 minutes on Facebook, three to four times per week, displaying a positive attitude towards its use. These characteristics were most notable in the Brazilian youths [t(950) = 5.64, p < .001; t(950) = -5.07, p < .001; and t(950) = - 6.85, p < .001, respectively]. The Portuguese youths ran more risks than the Brazilians [t(950) = 6.36, p < .001], but both youths equally enjoyed the opportunities. In the case of the Portuguese youths, the risks and opportunities were moderated by the frequency of use, in other words "the higher the usage, the more risks and opportunities" (ß = -.235 p < .001and ß = -.167, p < .001, respectively). The psychosocial adjustment indicators did not moderate the effects of Facebook usage habits in risks and opportunities. The less psychosocially adjusted youths were those who ran more risks and also made the most of the opportunities. The results are discussed in light of the role of psychological, socio-cultural and developmental factors.

Just World, Trust in Institutions and Socioeconomic and Political Moderations / Mundo Justo, Confiança nas Instituições e Moderações Socioeconômicas e Políticas

Abstract This study investigates the system justifying role through belief in a just world (BJW), testing whether institutional trust is related to this belief and whether this relationship depends on specific socioeconomic and political factors. A research with 381 university students, aged 18 to 64 years (M = 22.4, SD = 6.25), explored their BJW and their degree of institutional trust. Regression and moderation analyses revealed that BJW relates to institutional trust only in left-wing and with lower income participants. We believe this occurs because they need more an ideology that justifies the system to trust the institutions. This phenomenon can prevent these people from pursuing structural social changes since the system is now seen as fair.

Resumo Este estudo investiga o papel justificador do sistema através da crença no mundo justo (CMJ), testando se a confiança institucional está relacionada com essa crença e se esta relação depende de fatores socioeconômicos e políticos específicos. Uma pesquisa com 381 universitários, com idades de 18 a 64 anos (M = 22,4, DP = 6,25), explorou seus graus de CMJ e confiança institucional. Análises de regressão e moderação revelaram que a CMJ se relaciona com a confiança institucional apenas naqueles de esquerda e menores rendimentos. Acreditamos que isso ocorra porque estas pessoas precisam mais de uma ideologia justificadora do sistema para poder confiar nas instituições. Este fenômeno pode lhes indispor a buscar mudanças sociais estruturais, já que o sistema passa a ser visto como justo.

A Dyadic Approach to Understanding the Link Between Sexual Functioning and Sexual Satisfaction in Heterosexual Couples.

Researchers have demonstrated that several dimensions of sexual functioning (e.g., sexual desire, arousal, orgasm) are associated with the sexual satisfaction of individuals in a committed mixed-sex (male-female) relationship. We extended this research by comparing a dyadic model that included both own (i.e., actor effect) and partner (i.e., partner effect) domains of sexual functioning to an individual model that included only actor effects. Participants were 124 mixed-sex couples who completed online measures of sexual functioning and sexual satisfaction. Data analysis using the actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) and structural equation modeling (SEM) indicated that the dyadic model had a better fit than the individual model. Women's sexual desire and orgasm and men's erectile functioning were significant positive predictors of both own and partner's sexual satisfaction. These results are discussed in terms of the importance of taking a dyadic approach to research and clinical work related to sexual satisfaction.