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Projeto de investigação
Psychology Research Center
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Publicações
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.
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.
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.
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].
Meditation effects on anxiety and resilience of preadolescents and adolescents: a randomized controlled study
Publication . Gomes, Alexandra; Santos, Joana; Vieira, Luís Sérgio
Meditation has been described as having a positive impact on well-being while reducing anxiety and stress among those who practice, mainly working as a resource to cope with everyday difficulties. As a simple and easy to apply meditation technique, transcendental meditation (TM) has shown promising results in adults and in children, although more studies are needed to show the impact on psychological and behavioral dimensions in children and adolescents. This quasi-experimental, pre-test–post-test study, with a control group, aimed to evaluate the impact of TM on the stress and resilience of children and adolescents, with ages between 9 and 16 years old. Participants were selected within schools which implemented the Quiet Time Program (QT), from those who volunteered to participate. They were randomly assigned to an experimental group (immediate TM learning) and to a control group (delayed TM learning). A repeated measures ANOVA showed an interaction of time and group on externalizing behavior, from the strengths and difficulties measure. The experimental group decreased on externalizing less adjusted behaviors, while the control group increased in this aspect, after a twelve-week period. TM failed to reduce anxiety and to contribute to resilience in the TM experimental group. Both groups improved anxiety indicators. The results might suggest students were acting upon their expectation of improvement on practicing TM or solely modifying their behavior along the contextual factors, which affected both groups equally.
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Entidade financiadora
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Programa de financiamento
6817 - DCRRNI ID
Número da atribuição
UIDB/04345/2020