Browsing by Author "Torres, Nuno"
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- Adaptation of the Revised Environmental Identity Scale to Adult Portuguese Native Speakers: A Validity and Reliability StudyPublication . Ferrajão, Paulo; Torres, Nuno; Martins, Amadeu QuelhasEnvironmental identity is a dimension of personal identity that reflects an individual’s sense of connection with nature and personal view of nature as part of her/his identity. There is a need to adapt and validate measures that assess environmental identity, namely in Portuguese. This study analyzed the validity and reliability of the Revised Environmental Identity Scale (Revised EID) in a sample of native speakers of Portuguese from 18 to 83 years old. The survey included the Portuguese translation of the Revised EID, measures of eco-anxiety, adult attachment, affective neurobiological systems, psychological symptoms, and sociodemographic information. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to assess the construct validity of the scale. It was tied to a two-factor solution (Connectedness with Nature and Protection of Nature) found in prior research. The Revised EID was positively related to feelings of anxiety about personal impact on climate change and positive emotional systems (SEEKING, CARE, and PLAY). Older participants reported higher levels in the overall environmental identity score and the Protection of Nature factor. The results indicate that the Revised EID is an appropriate measure to assess environmental identity in adult Portuguese native speakers and should be used to conduct cross-cultural studies to drive environmental and health policies.
- A alvorada e o crepúsculo do homem: A propósito da psicologia evolutiva grupal de Trotter a BionPublication . Torres, NunoÉ proposta uma posição epistemologica segundo a qual as ideias de mente individual e de mente desincorporada representam reducionismos que dificultam radicalmente a compreensão dos fenómenos humanos; esta posição integra as noções de contextos culturais, campos socio-emocionais, pressões sociais, estruturas somáticas da emoção, selecção natural e selecção sexual e extinção de espécies. Argumenta-se que cada mente humana pode ser representada metafóricamente como uma arena na qual a subjectividade individual luta com as pressões do grupo e integra experiências e memórias filogenéticas acumuladas durante milhões de anos de evolução das espécies e que estão registadas no corpo-cérebro. ------ ABSTRACT ------ A radical stance is proposed, according to which the ideas of a) an ‘individual’ mind, as well as of b) a ‘disembodied’ mind, are no more than reductionisms that hinder seriously the understanding of humanity, integrating the notions of cultural contexts, socio-emotional fields, social pressures; about generation of thoughts, and absence of thinking, somatic structures of emotion, natural selection and sexual selection, and thriving and extinction of species. It is argued that every human mind is an arena where our ‘individual’ subjectivity struggles with its own group pressures, and also with the experiences and philogenetic memories accumulated for millions of year of evolution of a whole species, unconsciously imprinted in the body-brain.
- Análise fatorial confirmatória da versão portuguesa da escala preschool play behaviour scale para educadorasPublication . Monteiro, Lígia Maria Santos; Fernandes, Marília; Sousa, Tânia Lobo; Torres, Nuno; Rosado, António Fernando; Santos, António JoséA Preschool Play Behavior Scale é um instrumento constituído por 18 itens que expressam diferentes tipos de comportamentos das crianças, em contexto de brincadeira livre com os pares, procurando diferenciar, em particular, tipos de comportamentos não-sociais. O presente estudo teve como objetivo traduzir e analisar a estrutura fatorial do instrumento e as suas características psicométricas. Sessenta educadoras descreveram os comportamentos de 369 crianças (166 raparigas), com idades compreendidas entre os 36 e os 60 meses, e a frequentar escolas de Ensino Particular com fins lucrativos e Instituições Particulares de Solidariedade Social, do Distrito de Lisboa/Portugal. O modelo final de 4 fatores - Comportamento Reticente, Solitário-Passivo, Solitário-Ativo e Brincadeira Social parece ajustar-se adequadamente aos grupos de idade e sexo considerados.
- Análise fatorial confirmatória do questionário “O Papel do Pai” numa amostra de pais e mães portuguesasPublication . Monteiro, Lígia; Torres, Nuno; Veríssimo, Manuela; Pessoa E Costa, Inês; Freitas, MiguelResumo: O presente estudo visou traduzir para português o questionário “The Father’s Role” e analisar a qualidade do ajustamento do modelo de medida do instrumento para pais e mães, numa amostra de 200 famílias nucleares, com crianças em idade pré-escolar. Os resultados permitem suportar a estrutura uni-fatorial do QPP para as respostas do pai, com índices de ajustamento que sustentam a boa qualidade do modelo. Para as mães apenas um modelo bi-fatorial se mostrou adequado. Os resultados sugerem que as atitudes e crenças sobre a parentalidade de pais e mães portugueses poderão ter estruturas diferentes.
- Attachment security representations in institutionalized children and children living with their families: Links to problem behaviourPublication . Torres, Nuno; Maia, Joana Branco; Veríssimo, Manuela; Fernandes, Marília; Silva, FilipaThe present work analyses differences in the attachment representations of institutionalized children as compared with children from low and high educational level living with their natural families. Participants were 91 Portuguese children, 52% girls, aged 48–96 months. There were three different groups: 19 institutionalized children, 16 low educational level families’ children and 56 from high educational level families’. Attachment representations were assessed for Security of the narratives of the Attachment Story Completion Task (ASCT). Psychopathological symptoms were assessed using the Child Behaviour Checklist for parents and caretakers. Verbal skills were assessed using the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence—Revised. Results show that institutionalized children have signifi cantly lower security of attachment representations, less verbal skills and higher aggressive behaviour than the other two groups. Attachment representations were associated with social/withdrawal and aggression, independently of age, verbal skills and parents’ education. The main effect of institutionalization on externalizing aggressive behaviour was completely mediated by the security of attachment representations.
- Children's representations of attachment and positive teacher–child relationshipsPublication . Veríssimo, Manuela; Torres, Nuno; Silva, Filipa; Fernandes, Carla; Vaughn, Brian E.; Santos, António JoséThis study was designed to explore whether children's representations of attachment contribute to the co-construction of positive teacher-child relationships. An assessment of verbal intelligence was included as a predictor on the assumption that teachers might perceive themselves as having better relationships with more verbally competent children. Participants were 52 children from two pre-schools, in the district of Lisbon. The Attachment Story Completion Task (ASCT) was used to assess children's attachment security. The PCV-P (a scale developed in portuguese language) was used to describe teacher-child relationships through teachers' ratings of child secure base behavior and emotion regulation and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI-R) was used to access verbal skills. Bivariate correlations showed that the teachers' rating of child secure base behavior was significantly associated with both child attachment security and verbal IQ. In a multiple regression analysis, the overall model R2 was significant, as was the interaction term showing a moderating effect of attachment security on the relation between verbal IQ and teachers' ratings of secure base. The results suggest that co-construction of a close attachment-relevant relationship with teachers in early childhood is, in part, a function of the security in the context of parent-child attachment, but also of child verbal development.
- Crenças sobre o papel do pai numa amostra de homens Portugueses: Implicações para uma parentalidade positivaPublication . Amaral, Rita; Monteiro, Lígia Maria Santos; Santos, Carolina; Torres, NunoEste estudo teve como objetivo analisar variáveis explicativas da qualidade da parentalidade na perspetiva do pai, nomeadamente: as crenças sobre o seu papel e variáveis sociodemográficas como a idade, habilitações literárias e trabalho. Participaram 207 pais de famílias nucleares com crianças a frequentar o pré-escolar (105 rapazes). Os resultados indicam que existem associações significativas e positivas entre as habilitações literárias do pai, as suas crenças e a parentalidade positiva; e associações negativas entre a idade do pai e as suas crenças, e entre estas e a parentalidade negativa. Para a parentalidade positiva, as crenças sobre o papel do pai são o único preditor significativo existindo, ainda, um efeito de interação entre as crenças e as habilitações literárias. Os resultados sugerem a importância de se considerar e integrar
- Crianças institucionalizadas e crianças em meio familiar de vida: Representações de vinculação e problemas de comportamento associadoPublication . Pinhel, Joana; Torres, Nuno; Maia, Joana BrancoEsta investigação comparativa incide sobre a representação de vinculação e problemas de comportamento em crianças institucionalizadas. Foram avaliadas 35 crianças portuguesas em idade pré-escolar e escolar, em dois grupos: 19 crianças institucionalizadas e 16 crianças vivendo com as suas famílias de origem. Recorreu-se ao Attachment Story Completion Task (ASCT), avaliando-se, pela construção das narrativas, os valores de Segurança e Coerência das representações de vinculação. Para a avaliação dos problemas de comportamento recorreu-se ao instrumento I.C.C.P (Fonseca et al., 1994), que corresponde à versão portuguesa do “Child Behavior Checklist”, CBCL, de Achenbach (1991). Os resultados indicam que existem correlações negativas entre a qualidade das representações da vinculação e problemas de comportamento agressivo e de isolamento. Conclui-se que o meio de vida da criança foi determinante no tipo de vinculação demonstrada e indirectamente no comportamento de agressividade e isolamento manifestado. ABSTRACT In this study an attempt was made to analyse the attachment and the behaviour of institutionalized children and familiar environment. Construction of narratives, values of security and coherence were studied using the Attachment Story Completion Task (ASCT) (Bretherton, Ridgeway, & Cassidy, 1990) and behaviour was analyzed using Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) (Achenbach, 1991) on a sample of 35 pre-scholar and early school age children. The results show the existence of negative and significant correlations between the ASCT and the CBCL for the Scales of Aggressive Behaviour and Isolation and also a negative but non significant correlation for the Hyperactivity Scale.
- Dependência emocional e consumo de substâncias psicoactivas: Um estudo correlacional a partir da teoria dos grupos de pressuposto básico de W. R. BionPublication . Torres, Nuno; Chagas, Tiago; Ribeiro, João PauloInvestiga-se a relação entre consumo de substâncias e o enviezamento sócio-emocional em atitudes e valores envolvidos nas tomadas de decisão social em grupos de trabalho. Utilizamos um modelo teórico baseado nos trabalhos de Bion e compatível com elaborações recentes de dados das neurociências afectivas e que tenta integrar as noções de défices de processamento emocional e de défices de integração sócio-emocional na compreensão das adicções. Testam- ‑se as hipótese de que sujeitos que consomem regularmente drogas revelam um enviezamento negativo (ou supressão) do sistema básico de Dependência emocional e um enviesamento positivo (ou dominância) nos outros 2 sistemas emocionais básicos. 130 sujeitos voluntários de uma amostra normativa com idade superior a 16 anos e escolaridade igual ou superior a nove anos responderam a um questionário auto-preenchido, construído para medir o constructo de Valência para Pressupostos Básicos composto por três escalas: Valência para Dependência, Valência para Luta-Fuga e Valência para Acasalamento. Verificou-se que o maior nível consumo de todas substâncias apresenta um valor negativo da valência para Dependência e valores positivos das valências para Luta-fuga e Acasalamento. Discutem-se os resultados integrando a interacção entre os níveis neurobiológico, emocional e cognitivo de determinação do comportamento de consumo abusivo de substâncias adictivas. ------ ABSTRACT ------- Studies the relation of substance misuse and socio-emotional bias in the attitudes and values involved in decision taking in work-groups. A theoretical model based in the work of W. Bion and compatible with recent elaborations of affective neurosciences is used, which tries to integrate the notions of emotional processing deficits and socio-emotional deficits in substance addictions. Hypotheses are tested that subjects who regularly use drugs show a negative bias (or suppression) of Dependence emotional basic system and a positive bias (or dominance) of the other two emotional basis systems (Fight- ‑flight and Pairing). 130 voluntary subjects of a normative sample, with age more than 16 years and university educational level answered a self-report questionnaire build to measure the construct of Basic Assumption Valency, composed by three scales: Dependence valency, Fight-flight valency and Pairing valency. Results show that a greater self-reported use of all substances is related with a negative value for Dependence and positive values for Fight-flight and Pairing. Results are discussed integrating the interaction of neurobiological, emotional and cognitive levels of determination of drugs misuse behaviour.
- Disorders of emotional containment and their somatic correlates. The protomental nature of addictions, self-harm and non-communicable diseasesPublication . Torres, NunoThis study is concerned with the emotional nature of determined forms of illness which seem to be largely determined by stressful social conditions rather than as a consequence of primarily biologic and somatic factors, and have been identified with labels such as "diseases of comfort, lifestyle related diseases", "degenerative causes of death". The models we have for understanding the mechanisms by which human subjects are affected by social environment stresses are still tentative, although some of the diversity of the psychosocial factors is reasonably well established. This thesis is an exploration of the theories of Wilfred Bion, which offer an under-researched approach to the nature and origin of such conditions. I have chosen three of these conditions as the subject of this study -drug and alcohol dependence, self-harming behaviours and a certain set of psychosomatic conditions - to test whether predictions formulated from the hypotheses are supported by a set of empirical measures. The hypotheses are that a determined type of emotional containment mechanism can affect certain types of health outcomes via disturbing the natural expression of primitive emotional systems embedded in the human organism. These primitive emotional systems are known as basic assumptions or valencies and are of 3 main types: dependence, fight-flight and pairing A mixed research methodology combining qualitative and quantitative methods was used: A total of 377 participants were assessed, 65,5% of whom were suffering clinical conditions: psychosomatic conditions, addiction disorders and suicide attempts, while the rest of the subjects were non-clinical. The qualitative section comprised life-story interviews. In the quantitative section, two self-administered questionnaire instruments were used: 1) the Work-Group-Function ScaIes-1.02 to measure valencies, and 2) the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 to measure a cognitive deficit of emotional containment. Results are compatible with the hypothesis that the disorders under study are associated with similar emotional containment mechanisms, comprising of two main components in response to stressful interpersonal events: 1) A deficit in translating raw affects into words and symbolic elements 2) Oscillation between fragmented and rigid modes of emotional containment.