Psychology Research Center

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Publications

Emotional availability in mother-child and father-child interactions as predictors of child’s attachment representations in adoptive families

Publication . Almeida, Ana Susana; Giger, Jean-Christophe; Mendonça, Sandra; Fuertes, Marina; Nunes, Cristina

Emotional availability (EA) in parent-child interactions is associated with positive child outcomes, including attachment security. However, little is known about EA in adoptive families. This study investigated the associations between secure representations of attachment in adopted children and the adoptive parents’ EA. The participants (n = 75) included 26 mothers, 23 fathers, and 26 children who were aged 3 to 9 years. Children completed the Attachment Story Completion Task. Adult-child dyadic relationships were assessed using the EA^® System. The results showed that the children’s and parents’ EA, age when adopted, and time elapsed since adoption were associated with more secure children’s attachment representations. Implications for family support and public policy are discussed.

2022-04-13Journal article

Open Access

The psychometric properties of the positive and negative suicidal ideation scale among portuguese young adults

Publication . Brás, Marta; Antunes, João; Carmo, Cláudia

Preventing suicide has been a worldwide imperative for the last decade. Accurately assessing suicide risk is the first step towards prevention, and access to reliable tools that measure risk factors is essential to achieve this goal. The Positive And Negative Suicidal Ideation (PANSI) scale is a validated brief suicidal ideation scale that could prove useful to this goal due to its ability to measure both suicide risk and protective factors. The PANSI scale has been adapted to various languages and cultures across various clinical and non-clinical populations. Despite this, no Portuguese has been produced yet. The present study aimed to validate a Portuguese version of PANSI by evaluating its psychometric properties in a sample of 259 young adults. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the PANSI showed good psychometric properties (TLI = 0.95), good reliability for positive ideation (α = 0.84), and excellent reliability for negative ideation (α = 0.96). The scale also showed good discriminative ability through prediction of a previous suicide attempt and good construct validity in both subscales. The Portuguese adaptation of the PANSI scale is a reliable measure of positive and negative suicidal ideation that could prove useful in both clinical and research settings.

2024-04-04Journal article

Open Access

The volunteer functions inventory (VFI): Adaptation and psychometric properties among a portuguese sample of volunteers

Publication . Martins, Cátia; da Silva, José Tomás; Jesus, Saúl; Ribeiro, Conceição; Estêvão, M. Dulce; Baptista, Ricardo; Carmo, Cláudia; Brás, Marta; Santos, Rita; Nunes, C.

: The Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI) is an instrument widely used to assess volunteers’ motivation based on the Functionalist Model of Omoto and Snyder. It assesses six factors that reflect several motivational functions. The VFI has been translated into various languages and validated in different cultural contexts, but some studies have reported different factor structures (e.g., five or four factors). In the Portuguese context, previous studies have also shown inconsistent results. The aim of this study was to adapt and validate the VFI for Portuguese volunteers, testing several alternative models (nine models) using confirmatory factor analysis. The sample comprised 468 volunteers (76.3% women), aged from 13 to 81 years (M = 36.66, SD = 14.93). The results support the original interrelated six-factor model as the best-fitting one. The VFI showed good internal consistency and convergent validity. Significant correlations were found between the VFI factors, organizational commitment, and volunteers’ satisfaction. Overall, the six-factor VFI is a valid and reliable tool for measuring the motivational functions of Portuguese volunteers, with implications for practice and research in the volunteering field.

2024-03-25Journal article

Open Access

On crocodiles and turtles. Stereotypes, emotional tendencies and implications for conservation

Publication . Neves, João; Giger, Jean-Christophe

Even with the increasing global threat, reptiles have not been a preferential group for animal conservation due to a set of factors affecting attitudes and emotions. This research extends the current knowledge of crocodiles and turtles to stereotypes and emotional dispositions people have. Through the Stereotype Content Model, crocodiles were found to belong to the threatening-awe stereotype, generating feelings of respect and fear but also holding our attention and admiration. This stereotype is also associated with passive facilitation and active harm. Even though participants showed mild positive attitudes toward crocodile conservation and expressed intent to help a crocodile conservation trust, crocodiles ranked last in the donation preference. Turtles, on the other hand, were found to fit the protective stereotype, represented as affectionate and competent and were viewed as belonging to the in-group. These emotions reflected the participants' predisposition for active and passive facilitation with regard to conservation attitudes and intentions.

2022Journal article

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Parenting sense of competence: Psychometrics and invariance among a community and an At-Risk Samples of Portuguese Parents

Publication . Nunes, Cristina; Ayala-Nunes, Lara; Ferreira, Laura Inês; Pechorro, Pedro; Freitas, Délia; Martins, Cátia; Santos, Rita

Parenting sense of competence (PSC) is a cognitive and emotional construct that refers to the judgments that parents hold about their abilities as caregivers. It also includes parents’ beliefs about their capacity to positively influence their children’s development and their satisfaction with the parenting role [1–3]. This construct has been widely studied and is a relevant dimension for the assessment and understanding of family dynamics. Parenting sense of competence has been associated to several family dimensions, such as marital relationship and family functioning [2,4,5]. For instance, mothers’ sense of competence has been positively linked to coparenting support [6], and a reciprocal relationship between perceived parental competence and marital stress over a 6-year interval has been reported for both mothers and fathers [7]. It is especially important to assess this construct in families who are at psychosocial risk [8–12]—i.e., families that have difficulties in adequately meeting children’s needs but not severely enough to require children’s placement in foster care [13]. This is because research has suggested indirect relationships between PSC and potential for child abuse [14] and maltreatment [15]. Similarly, PSC is thought to be a protective factor for negative outcomes, buffering the impact of risk factors such as maternal depression, children’s difficult temperament, and disadvantaged environments [16,17].

2022-12-21Journal article

Open Access