0000000000393791
AUTHOR
Angela Beleña
Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Questionnaire: Factor structure, psychometric properties and gender differences
Abstract The evolutionary psychological approach links evolved mechanisms of disease-avoidance to prejudices against individuals perceived as a threat to health. Perceived vulnerability to disease works as an adaptive strategy which explains why individuals perceived as a source of contagion are avoided. The self-report Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Questionnaire, PVDQ, is one of the most widely used to measure subjective vulnerability to disease, however, neither test–retest reliability has been studied nor has factor structure been confirmed so far in this questionnaire. In the present study, a sample of 878 participants completed the PVDQ. Subsamples also completed different scales …
Ex post-facto study of long-term stress in a sample of adoptees
In this work we study the impact of relinquishment and the adoption process in posttraumatic symptoms and stressful life events in a group of 55 adults that were adopted as children after the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). The effects of institutionalization, maltreatment and traumatic revelation of the adopted status have also been studied. No significant differences were found between institutionalized and non-institutionalized adoptees in posttraumatic symptomatology and stressful life events frequency. However, maltreated adoptees scored significantly higher in intrusion, arousal and stressful life events frequency than non-maltreated. Similar differences were found in the comparison be…
The Role of Age and Gender in Perceived Vulnerability to Infectious Diseases
Background: The study of the immune system has been approached using two separate paths, the biological immune system and the behavioral immune system. Recently, Gangestad and Grebe proposed a unique integrated compensatory immune system, where both systems work together and one of them could compensate for the other when necessary. However, few studies have confirmed the existence of this integrated compensatory immune system. Our study represents an attempt to explore the existence of this unique immune system, investigating if the behavioral immune system variables increase when the biological immune system weakens with age. Material and Methods. The cross-sectional design study was made…
Evaluation of the Effects of a Bullying at Work Intervention for Middle Managers.
The aim of the study is to evaluate the effects of a workplace bullying intervention based on the training of middle managers regarding bullying awareness, the consequences of bullying, strategies in conflict resolution and mediation/negotiation abilities. Overall, 142 randomly selected middle managers participated in the study. First, participants completed an information record and two scales assessing bullying strategies, role conflict and role ambiguity. The last two scales were completed again in a second phase three months after the intervention had finished. The intervention produced a decrease in the following bullying strategies: effects on self-expression and communication, effect…
Optimism as a key to improving mental health in family caregivers of people living with Alzheimer’s disease
Objective: The aim of the present work was to study the serial multiple mediating role of optimism, perceived social support and subjective burden in the relationship between objective burden and psychological distress in caregivers of people with Alzheimer´s Disease (AD).Method: One hundred and forty family caregivers of people living with AD were recruited from randomly selected Alzheimer Association Centres. They answered the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R), the Functional Social Support Questionnaire (DUKE.UNC), the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) and questions relating to gender, age and the amount of time spent on daily caregiving.Results: Re…