RESUMEN
Specific classes of cyberspaces emphasize different types of digital transactions given the user's context, thus making it essential to take into account what these environments can afford. In this way, we can portray the niches of technological use as ecologies of particular possibilities and compare how they differ between distinct spheres of human life. The present research is focused on describing the conceptual integration of a taxonomic crossover between Virtual Learning Environments and Educational Affordances of Technology, while also performing empirical testing and determining the psychometric properties in a scale regarding the aforementioned taxonomy. The study sample consisted of 320 students in the departments of foreign languages from three different universities in Sonora (northwestern region of Mexico). Students were given a questionnaire of 21 items organized into four subscales with a Likert-type response option to measure the notions concerning their usage of Virtual Learning Environments. Internal consistency procedures and confirmatory factor analysis by means of Cronbach's alpha and Structural modeling support the derived factorial structure, which contains Cyber-Communications, Virtual Behavior Settings, Virtual Communities, and Availability and Access to Connectivity. This structure traces the environmental properties perceived by learners in a virtual environment. Results sustain the initial conceptual construction regarding the proposed taxonomy, conclude that the 'Virtual Learning Environments Questionnaire' demonstrates adequate psychometric properties, and validate it as a fitting measure to assess the perceived psychological experience of students in a digital educational setting.
RESUMEN
Abstract Emotion regulation refers to all the processes involved in adapting to relatively strong emotional episodes, and specifically to identifying, differentiating and monitoring intense emotional states in order to cope with stressful situations. Difficulties in regulating emotions are associated with problems such as depression, anxiety and maladaptive behaviors. The DERS (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale) is the most complete tool for measuring difficulties with emotion regulation. Several brief versions of this scale in English are described in the literature, but no a brief Spanish version has been found. The purpose of this study is to validate a brief version of the DERS in Spanish. The DERS tool was used with a Spanish speaking population (n=351, inhabitants of Cartagena, Colombia, 56% were woman, Mage 39 years, SD = 14.98) who responded the 5-point Likert scale. The brief version (18 items) was validated using confirmatory factor analysis (X2 / df = 1.19, CFI= .99, TLI = .99, RMSEA=.02). However, neither the reliability nor the stability of the awareness dimension was confirmed. This point and other results are examined on the light of extant literature.
Resumen La regulación de las emociones se refiere a todos los procesos involucrados en la adaptación a episodios emocionales relativamente fuertes y, específicamente, en la identificación, diferenciación y seguimiento de estados emocionales intensos para hacer frente a situaciones estresantes. Las dificultades para regular las emociones están asociadas con problemas como la depresión, la ansiedad y los comportamientos desadaptativos. La Escala de Dificultades en la Regulación de las Emociones (DERS) es la herramienta más completa para medir las dificultades con la regulación de las emociones. En la literatura se describen varias versiones breves de esta escala en inglés, pero no se ha encontrado una versión breve en español. El propósito de este estudio es validar una versión breve del DERS en español. Se utilizó la herramienta DERS con una población hispanohablante (n = 351, habitantes de Cartagena, Colombia, 56% eran mujeres, Medad 39 años, DE = 14,98) que respondió la escala Likert de 5 puntos. La versión breve (18 ítems) se validó mediante análisis factorial confirmatorio (X2 / df = 1.19, CFI= .99, TLI = .99, RMSEA=.02). Sin embargo, no se confirmó ni la fiabilidad ni la estabilidad de la dimensión de conciencia. Este punto y otros resultados se examinan a la luz de la literatura existente.