Jealousy, sexism, and romantic love myths: the role of beliefs in online dating violence.

With the massification of the Internet and social networks, a new form of dating violence called cyber-violence has emerged, which involves behaviors of control, humiliation, intimidation and threats towards the partner or ex-partner. Using a non-probabilistic sample of 1,001 participants aged 18 to 25 years, the present study used an ex post facto, retrospective, cross-sectional, single-group design to analyze the joint effects that beliefs associated with dating violence such as romantic love myths, jealousy, and sexism have on the victimization and perpetration of cyber-violence. The results evidenced that jealousy is involved in both Cyber-victimization and Cyber-harassment perpetrated, while sexist beliefs are only involved in perpetration. In the discussion section, it is postulated that cyber-violence is a phenomenon that is more related to the probability of aggression, but not to the probability of being a victim. Finally, limitations and implications for future research are discussed.

Defining recovery in schizophrenia: A review of outcome studies.

Schizophrenia is a chronic disorder with a heterogenous course and different ways in which recovery is measured or perceived. Recovery in schizophrenia is a complex process that it can be defined either from a clinical perspective focused on sustained symptom and functional remission, or from a patient-focused one, as a self-broadening process aimed at living a meaningful life beyond mental illness. Until now, studies analysed these domains separately, without examining their mutual relations and changes over time. Therefore, this meta-analysis aimed to examine the relationship of global measures of subjective recovery with each of the components of clinical recovery such as symptom severity and functioning, in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. The results showed that the association between different indicators of personal recovery and remission are weak and inverse (dIG+ = -0.18, z = -2.71, p < 0.01), however, this finding is not substantial according to the sensitivity indicators. With respect to functionality and personal recovery, there was a moderate relationship (dIG+ = 0.26, z = 7.894, p < 0.01) with adequate sensitivity indices. In addition, a low consensus exists between subjective measures that are more related to the patient's perspective and clinical measures based on experts and clinician's viewpoint.

Pre and Post Pandemic Depressive and Anxious Symptoms in Children and Adolescents in Northern Chile.

The psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic still represent a focus of concern, especially in children and adolescents who are a group particularly vulnerable to the psychological consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, mainly due to the loss of socialization and leisure spaces. The aim of the study is to determine the variation in the levels of depressive and anxious symptomatology in children and adolescents in the North of Chile. METHODS: A Repeated cross-sectional design (RCS) was used. The sample consisted of a total of 475 students aged 12 to 18 years (high school) from educational establishments in the city of Arica. To evaluate the changes in the mental health of students associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the same mental health measures applied to students were compared in two waves (2018-2021). RESULTS: An increase in the symptomatology levels of depression, anxiety, social anxiety, and problems with the family, while a decrease in problems with school and peers was observed. CONCLUSIONS: The results show that there is an increase in mental health problems associated with the periods of time in which the COVID-19 pandemic transformed the social relation spaces and classrooms of secondary school students. The observed changes point to future challenges, which include that it may be important to improve the coordination and integration of mental health professionals in educational centers and schools.

Effectiveness of Self-Affirmation Interventions in Educational Settings: A Meta-Analysis.

School and university can be stressful contexts that can become an important source of identity threats when social prejudices or stereotypes come into play. Self-affirmation interventions are key strategies for mitigating the negative consequences of identity threat. This meta-analysis aims to provide an overview of the effectiveness of self-affirmation interventions in educational settings. A peer-reviewed article search was conducted in January 2023. A total of 144 experimental studies that tested the effect of self-affirmation interventions in educational contexts among high school and university students from different social and cultural backgrounds were considered. The average effect of self-affirmation interventions was of low magnitude (dIG+ = 0.41, z = 16.01, p < 0.00), with a 95% confidence interval whose values tended to lie between 0.36 and 0.45 (SE = 0.0253). In addition, moderators such as identity threat, participants' age, and intervention procedure were found. Through a meta-analysis of the impact of self-affirmation interventions in educational contexts, this study suggests that interventions are effective, resulting in a small mean effect size. Thus, self-affirmation interventions can be considered useful, brief, and inexpensive strategies to improve general well-being and performance in educational settings.

Latent Profiles of Premorbid Adjustment in Schizophrenia and Their Correlation with Measures of Recovery.

Premorbid adjustment (PA) has classically been defined as psychosocial functioning in the areas of education, occupation, social and interpersonal relationships prior to evidence of characteristic positive symptomatology. It is a concept which possesses ample evidence regarding its predictive nature for the course of Schizophrenia. The study aimed to analyze the latent profiles of premorbid adjustment and their relationship with symptomatology, functionality, subjective recovery, stigma resistance and years of untreated psychosis. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to elaborate a solution of three premorbid adjustment profiles in a sample of 217 patients diagnosed with Schizophrenia from Public Mental Health Centers in the city of Arica, Chile. The results show that premorbid adjustment was significantly correlated with recovery indicators and that latent profiles of better premorbid adjustment predict better outcomes in subjective recovery and stigma resistance. The results show that premorbid adjustment not only has implications for the severity of the disorder, but that psychosocial functioning prior to psychosis affects the patient's subjectivity, the representation of the disorder and the recovery process.

Predictors of Internalized Stigma in Patients with Schizophrenia in Northern Chile: A Longitudinal Study.

The study aim was to longitudinally assess internalized stigma in a sample of patients from Northern Chile with a diagnosis of schizophrenia along with indicators of patient recovery, including quality of life, psychotic symptomatology, social cognition, premorbid adjustment, and years of untreated psychosis. The 10-year follow-up of stigma measures and predictors were assessed at public outpatient mental health centers in the city of Arica, Chile, during the months of March-July 2012. A total of 26 patients successfully completed the evaluation. The results revealed that, with the exception of the self-stigma subdimension, no clinically significant changes were seen in the trajectories of internalized stigma ratings between baseline and 10-year follow-up, underscoring the importance of assessing global components such as quality of life and premorbid adjustment during the process of internalizing stigma.

Psychosocial Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Patients With Schizophrenia and Their Caregivers.

The aim of this study was to analyze the psychosocial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on 120 patients with schizophrenia, and their caregivers (control group), in the city of Arica, northern Chile. The hypotheses of this study hold that (1) self-reports of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among patients and caregivers would be positively correlated, (2) caregivers would self-report a greater impact of the pandemic on their daily lives, and (3) patients infected with COVID-19 would experience lower levels of mental health improvement and higher levels of psychological distress. Hypotheses were tested using correlations, mean differences, and effect sizes (Cohen's d). The results showed that patients with schizophrenia who had been in quarantine for almost a year showed similar levels of concern as their caregivers in the domains of health and social life. However, caregivers showed significant differences from patients in the areas of income, concern, and employment status. In addition, patients who were infected with COVID-19 showed lower levels of well-being and worse psychological recovery. The implications of the findings highlight the need to incorporate mental health interventions in the pandemic health context for caregivers of people with schizophrenia. Finally, the results suggest that Covid-19 infection has a significant effect on the recovery and psychological well-being of patients with schizophrenia.

Necesidad de apoyo psicológico y etnicidad en personas diagnosticadas con Esquizofrenia: La importancia del componente subjetivo en el abordaje del estigma internalizado / Need for psychological support and ethnicity in people diagnosed with Schizophrenia: The importance of the subjective component in addressing internalized stigma

Objetivo Comparar las características socio-demográficas, la calidad de vida, el malestar psicológico y los niveles de estigma internalizado en una muestra de pacientes con Esquizofrenia pertenecientes a la región de Arica y Parinacota que reciben tratamiento en el mismo sistema de salud mental. Método Participaron 209 pacientes con un diagnóstico de Esquizofrenia usuarios de los servicios públicos ambulatorios de salud mental. Resultados La pertenencia a la etnia Aymara no determinó diferencias en las características sociodemográficas. Por otra parte, el grupo de pacientes Aymara presentó mayores niveles de Alienación en la escala de Estigma Internalizado en comparación al grupo de pacientes No-Aymara. La necesidad de apoyo psicológico es convergente a los niveles de malestar psicológico, la calidad de vida y el estigma internalizado. Conclusiones Los hallazgos refuerzan la adecuada capacidad de los usuarios con Esquizofrenia para valorar sus necesidades de apoyo psicológico durante el tratamiento en función de sus niveles de calidad de vida y malestar psicológico.

Objective The aim of this study was to compare the socio-demographic characteristics, quality of life, psychological distress and levels of internalized stigma in a sample of patients with Schizophrenia belonging to the region of Arica and Parinacota who receive treatment in the same mental health system. Methods 209 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, users of public outpatient mental health services, participated in the study. Results Aymara ethnicity did not determine differences in sociodemographic characteristics. On the other hand, the group of Aymara patients had higher levels of Alienation on the Internalized Stigma Scale compared to the group of Non-Aymara patients. Need for psychological support are convergent to levels of psychological distress, quality of life and internalized stigma. Conclusions The findings emphasize the adequate capacity of users with schizophrenia to assess their psychological support needs during treatment based on their levels of quality of life and psychological distress.