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Browsing WJCR - William James Center for Research by Field of Science and Technology (FOS) "Ciências Sociais::Psicologia"
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- Celebrating more than 26,000 adult attachment interviews: Mapping the main adult attachment classifications on personal, social, and clinical statusPublication . Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian; Dagan, Or; Cárcamo, Rodrigo A.; van IJzendoorn, Marinus H.Since the development of the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) in 1985, more than 26,000 AAIs have been administered, coded, and reported, representing 170 (wo-)man-years of work. We used multinomial tests and analyses of correspondence to compare the AAI distributions in various cultural and age groups, in mothers, fathers, high-risk, and clinical samples with the combined samples of North American non-clinical, non-risk mothers (22% dismissing, 53% secure, 8% preoccupied, and 17% unresolved loss or other trauma). Males were more often classified as dismissing and less frequently classified as secure compared to females (except adoptive fathers), and females were more frequently classified as unresolved (but not more often preoccupied) compared to males. A combination of high scores on the unresolved and insecure-preoccupied dimensions was shared by borderline personality disorder, autism spectrum disorders, and gender dysphoria, while combined high scores on the unresolved and insecure-dismissing dimensions characterized anxiety problems, obsessive-compulsive and thought disorders.
- Coping and positive body image in young women with breast cancer: The buffering role of social supportPublication . Almeida, Márcia; Griff, Maria Inês; Pais Brandão, Tânia RaquelBackground/Objectives: Considering the unique body image challenges faced by young women with breast cancer, this study aims to deepen our understanding of how coping strategies and perceived social support contribute to fostering positive body image in this population. This is an important issue as body image is capable of influencing women’s self-esteem and psychological adaptation to breast cancer. Methods: A sample of 157 young women with breast cancer (M age = 41.43; SD = 6.05; Min 26 years, Max 50 years), 43% of whom had undergone breast reconstruction, completed an online survey. The survey included measures of coping strategies, positive body image, and perceived social support. Results: No significant differences in coping strategies, perceived social support, or positive body image were observed based on reconstruction status. Moderation analyses revealed that both avoidant and problem-focused coping were significantly associated with positive body image at moderate and high levels of perceived social support, but not at low levels of perceived social support. Perceived social support moderated the relationship between coping strategies and positive body image in women with breast cancer. Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of social support in enhancing the effectiveness of both avoidant and problem-focused coping strategies in promoting positive body image. Future interventions should prioritize strengthening social support networks to optimize psychological outcomes in this population.
- Does time matter? The role of time perspective and ageism in mental health along the lifespanPublication . Miguel, Isabel; von Humboldt, Sofia; Leal, Isabel; Thijssen, SandraTime perspective is a consistent personal viewpoint which evolves with age and may influence mental health across the lifespan. This study aims to: (1) compare time perspective, perceived ageism and mental health indicators, in three age cohorts across the lifespan; (2) examine the influence of time perspective on mental health indicators (depression, anxiety, and stress); and (3) assess whether ageism serves as a moderating factor between time perspective and mental health indicators. 1311 participants from three distinct age groups (18–39, 40–59, and 60+) participated in this cross-sectional study. The following instruments were used: (a) Future Time Perspective Scale (FTPS); (b) Perceived Ageism Questionnaire (PAQ); (c) Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (DASS-21); and (d) a sociodemographic, health and lifestyle questionnaire. MANOVAs and moderated regression analyses were performed on the data. Results indicated the highest levels of stress, anxiety and perceived ageism among younger and older participants. A decrease in FTP-Opportunity and an increase of FTP-Limitation, and the perception of increased positive ageism were found throughout the life cycle. FTP-Opportunity was found to negatively impact stress, anxiety, and depression, whereas FTP-Limitation showed a positive effect. Positive ageism also moderated the effects of FTP-Opportunity on anxiety and depression. This study unveils the intricate relationship between time perspective, mental health, and ageism, indicating that time perspective significantly influences mental health outcomes such as depression, anxiety, and stress. Addressing ageism emerges as a crucial component in enhancing mental health in individuals of all ages.
- Envelhecimento e ajustamento psicossocial de pessoas heterossexuais, homossexuais e bissexuais no contexto português: estigma, saúde e resiliênciaPublication . Gonçalves, José Alberto Ribeiro; Leal, Isabel; Costa, Pedro Alexandre Nunes daO envelhecimento demográfico destaca-se como uma realidade cada vez mais acentuada e com implicações multifatoriais na vida diária das populações. Em particular, o ajustamento psicossocial tem um papel proeminente no processo de envelhecimento ativo e saudável. Contudo, as pessoas seniores Lésbicas, Gays e Bissexuais (LGB) têm desafios psicossociais e de saúde extraordinários aos apresentados às restantes pessoas seniores. Este trabalho teve como principal objetivo avaliar o processo de ajustamento psicossocial das pessoas seniores LGB e o seu impacto em diversos indicadores de saúde mental e bem-estar. Desenvolveu-se um estudo com uma abordagem metodológica mista e transversal, com duas amostras independentes, 648 seniores cisgénero – 368 heterossexuais e 280 LGB - participaram na fase quantitativa através de questionários online e 23 seniores gays e bissexuais participaram na fase qualitativa através de entrevistas individuais. Como outputs principais obtiveram-se um capítulo teórico (capítulo 2) e seis empíricos (capítulos 3-8). Os principais resultados destacam: (1) uma relação negativa e direta entre estigma sexual e os indicadores de saúde mental das pessoas seniores LGB; (2) a existência de duplo estigma (sexual e etário) entre seniores LGB portugueses e a sua importante relação com piores estados de saúde; (3) o duplo impacto negativo da solidão e do idadismo na saúde mental das pessoas seniores heterossexuais e o destacado papel mediador da resiliência nessa relação; (4) a existência de efeitos negativos dos fatores de stress psicossocial na saúde mental das pessoas seniores LGB e heterossexuais para além dos efeitos dos fatores protetores psicossociais; (5) piores níveis nos fatores stressores em seniores LGB e, simultaneamente, melhores níveis nos fatores protetores em seniores heterossexuais; (6) a construção da identidade sexual em seniores LGB portugueses marcada por um contexto psicossocial particularmente violento e estigmatizante; (7) a influencia saliente do contexto psicossocial e da construção identitária na vivência das relações amorosas mais prejudicadas nas pessoas seniores LGB; e (8) a capacidade de ajustamento psicossocial e obtenção de bem-estar em seniores LGB em situações de risco extraordinário (contexto de COVID-19). Estes resultados destacam os efeitos deletérios que o stress minoritário pode ter na saúde, no bem-estar e no ajustamento psicossocial das pessoas seniores LGB, adquirindo um efeito cumulativo de estigmatização ao longo do ciclo de vida e com uma natureza multifatorial – nomeadamente histórica, social, relacional e pessoal. Efeitos estes que refletem-se também em baixos níveis de fatores protetores e elevados níveis de fatores stressores em comparação com seniores heterossexuais. Contudo, revelam também a capacidade excecional de resiliência nas pessoas seniores LGB perante a adversidade ao longo da vida que, apesar de alguns custos psicossociais e de saúde, conseguiram desenvolver competências de gestão de estigma e promoção de bem-estar. Este estudo salienta a importância de futuras intervenções psicossociais e comunitárias que foquem o contexto social comum como um dos fatores de promoção de segurança e envelhecimento saudável em seniores LGB.
- Examining the connection between perceived stress and post-traumatic stress in women who experienced a traumatic childbirthPublication . Brandão, Sónia; Silva, Rosa; Abreu, Wilson; Brandão, Tânia; Prata, Ana Paula; Riklikiene, Olga; Jarasiunaite-Fedosejeva, Gabija; Mesa, Ernesto González; İsbir, Gözde Gökçe; İnci, Figen; Kömürcü-Akik, Burcu; Uriko, Kristiina; Governo, Tatiana; Thomson, GillAim: This study aimed to: (1) explore post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in relation to sociodemographic, obstetric, and childbirth trauma factors; (2) assess the association between perceived stress levels and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms; and (3) analyze how the duration of perceived stress affects post-traumatic stress disorder. Design: A cross-sectional study. Methods: Data were collected via an online survey, including demographic and obstetric information, traumatic childbirth events, post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, and perceived stress levels and duration in the postpartum period. The study was conducted with 202 women who self-identified as having experienced a traumatic childbirth. Results: Post-traumatic stress disorder scores did not differ significantly by most sociodemographic or obstetric factors, but cesarean delivery was linked to higher post-traumatic stress disorder scores compared to vaginal delivery with forceps or vacuum extraction, mediated by increased perceived stress. Perceived stress levels showed a significant positive association with all post-traumatic stress disorder dimensions. Stress duration significantly was related to total post-traumatic stress disorder scores, with longer stress being associated with greater severity of symptoms. Conclusion: Cesarean delivery and prolonged, elevated stress during childbirth are key risk factors for post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, highlighting the need for targeted postpartum mental health interventions.
- Exploring weight management beliefs during the menopausal transition: A qualitative comparative study based on Health Belief ModelPublication . Leitão, Mafalda; Faustino R. Pérez‐López; Marôco, João; Pimenta, FilipaObjectives: While most women experience weight gain during the menopausal transition, a subset successfully maintains a healthy weight. This study explores the determinants influencing different weight experiences during the menopausal transition, using the Health Belief Model (HBM). Qualitative design. individual interviews with 62 Portuguese post‐menopausal women were performed. Among them, 31 women maintained a normal weight from pre‐menopause to post‐menopause, with a variation not exceeding 5% of pre‐menopausal weight, while another 31 women transitioned from normal weight in pre‐menopause to overweight or obesity in post‐menopause, with an increase above 7% of pre‐menopausal weight. Deductive‐dominant content analysis and multiple correspondence analysis were performed. Prominent differences exist between the Unhealthy Weight Gain Group (UWG‐G) and the Healthy Weight Maintenance Group (HWM‐G). The UWG‐G lacks perceived susceptibility in pre‐menopause and perceives obesity as stigmatizing. They prioritize immediate changes as benefits, while the HWM‐G focuses on self‐concept. Both groups face barriers like food cravings and weight loss challenges in middle‐aged. For cues to action, the UWG‐G emphasizes social support and self‐care resources, while the HWM‐G emphasizes age progression and healthy behaviour adherence. The HWM‐G presents higher self‐efficacy. This study confirms the suitability of the HBM in understanding weight management beliefs among post‐menopausal women, highlighting differences between women who maintain a healthy weight and those who experience weight gain during this life phase. This facilitates identifying key determinants (perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, cues to action and self‐efficacy) crucial for future interventions in weight management. Health Belief Model, Menopausal transition, Obesity, Post-menopausal women, Weight gain, Weight management
- “I’m a teenager and i feel lonely”: Towards identifying the multiple facets and trajectories of lonelinessPublication . Ribeiro, Maria Olívia Moreira; Santos, António José dosLoneliness is currently defined as a negative, painful, and distressful feeling that someone experiences when their relations and their social world is perceived as deficient (Peplau & Perlman, 1982). These feelings are especially salient during adolescence due to the changes and challenges that occur during this developmental period. Given the complex nature of this construct, in the present thesis, our focus was on three relevant aspects: (1) analyze factorial structure and the psychometric characteristics of a multidimensional loneliness measure that considers the different facets of loneliness, (2) examine the possibility of the cooccurrence of the different facets of loneliness, and (3) investigate the stability and changes of loneliness during adolescent years considering three consecutive school years. Adopting the perspective that loneliness is multifaceted, our first aim was to analyze the factorial structure of a loneliness measure, which is RPLQ (Relational Provision Loneliness Questionnaire; Hayden-Thomson, 1989). This measure considers two facets of loneliness (social and emotional) and, simultaneously, the two more important social contexts where these feelings could occur (family and peers). Moreover, it was our intent, establish measurement invariance across sex and age, and establishing discriminant validity. Our results showed substantial support for the construct validity and reliability of the RPLQ. Measurement invariance was established across sex and age, and it was also assumed discriminant validity, provided by the contrast with positive and negative social functioning dimensions in peer group. Studies considering simultaneously the different facets of loneliness and different social relations in which loneliness occurs are lacking. So, in second place, our focus was on the different facets of loneliness in the context of family and peers, and the cooccurrence of them in everyone. Adopting a person-centered approach, our aim was to identify distinct groups of adolescents with similar patterns of social and emotional loneliness within peers and family, and to examine if distinct profiles of loneliness were differently associated with positive and negative features of social adjustment to peer group. Our results revealed two clusters with more adaptative profiles (less-lonely and family-related loneliness) in which adolescents were perceived by peers as having more prosocial behaviors. Two other clusters displayed a more maladaptive profile (more-lonely and peer-related loneliness) in which youths were more likely to be perceived as socially withdrawn, excluded and victimized by peers. Sex differences was found with girls from more-lonely profile showing higher social loneliness related to peers, and social and emotional loneliness related to family context. Finally, longitudinal studies are scarce, and all of them assume that the development process of loneliness was a continuum. So, in third place, our focus was on the stability and changes on loneliness profiles across adolescence. Our aim was to analyze the transitions and transition patterns among the loneliness profiles across the three consecutive school years. Our purpose was to examine the stability and changes in membership profile and examine if there were lasting effects. The association between loneliness and some of its strongest correlates completed our third aim. Our results showed that the less-lonely profile was the more stable, and the More-lonely has the lowest stability. Peer- and Family- related loneliness profiles were moderately stable over time. Even adolescents that showed a tendency to transition to other profiles, they tend to change into a profile with lower loneliness, except for Family-related loneliness profile. Our results also suggest there was a lasting effect of adolescent’s loneliness with those who have a history of this feelings were more likely to be a lonely person later.
- Impact of parity and salivary hormonal levels on motivation toward infant emotions.Publication . Sinisalo, Hanneli; Hahn, Amanda C.; Jones, Benedict C.; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J.; Peltola, Mikko J.Infant faces have been shown to be particularly motivating stimuli for women. No studies, however, have compared mothers and nonmothers in whether parity modulates approach motivation toward emotional infant faces. We studied 54 Finnish first-time mothers and 42 nonmothers in a pay-per-view key-press task wheretheparticipants wereshown20infantfaceswithsmilingandcryingexpressions.Participantswere able to adjust the time each face was visible. In addition, salivary testosterone, estradiol, and cortisol levels were measured and their impact on motivation toward infants analyzed. When controlling for the hormonal levels, happy infant faces were viewed longer than crying faces and there was no difference in mean viewing times between mothers and nonmothers. An interaction between parity and emotion emerged: Mothers were more motivated to view happy faces and less motivated to view crying infant faces than nonmothers. Testosterone had a significant effect on viewing times: The higher the testosterone levels were, the shorter amount of time infant faces were viewed. This indicates that testosterone is inversely associated with approach motivation to emotional infant stimuli. This study is the first to compare mothers and nonmothers in a task measuring motivational responses to infant stimuli and indicates that the difference between the approach motivation caused by happy and distressed infant emotions might be more heightened in new mothers.
- Intergenerational transmission of attachment: The role of intelligencePublication . Jana Runze; Van IJzendoorn, Marinus H.; Witte, Annemieke M.; Cecil, Charlotte A. M.; Bakermans‐Kranenburg, Marian J.Background: In their recent paper, Del Giudice and Haltigan argue that attachment in childhood and attachment representations in adulthood are influenced by the cognitive capabilities of children and parents, that would causally link parents' attachment states of mind to children's attachment. In the current pre‐registered study, we empirically explored the idea of an association between attachment and cognition using phenotypic child IQ and parent and child IQ‐related polygenic scores as predictors of children's attachment behavior and attachment representations. Methods: We used data from the Leiden Consortium on Individual Development study (L‐CID, n = 992), a two‐cohort longitudinal twin study, in which attachment representations were measured in parents and their 9‐year‐old children using the Attachment Script Assessment (ASA). Polygenic scores of IQ were computed for parents and their children using PRSice‐2 and phenotypic child IQ was measured as well. We split the twin sample in two groups randomly to prevent non‐independence of data and conducted structural equation models. Results: Neither parental nor child polygenic scores of IQ predicted representations of attachment. In one cohort, phenotypically measured IQ predicted attachment. Conclusions: This preliminary study did not find convincing support for a role of IQ in the intergenerational transmission of attachment.
- Me-wel: Menopause and weight loss – development of model, measure, and interventionPublication . Leitão, Mafalda Rodrigues; Pimenta, Filipa; Marôco, J. P.; Pérez-López, FaustinoABSTRACT: Middle-age significantly impacts a woman´s life, primarily due to menopause and its associated changes, such as weight gain, which poses a complex challenge. Understanding the behaviours and beliefs surrounding this phenomenon is crucial. The ME-WEL (MEnopause and WEight Loss) Project aimed to expand knowledge about weight management in middle-age and menopausal transition, employing both qualitative and quantitative methods and comprising three phases entailing eight distinct objectives. In Phase 1 (cross-sectional), quantitative instruments were developed and validated (n=1,921 middle-aged women aged 45-65 years) to assess cognitive/behavioural weight management strategies based on the Oxford Food and Activity Behaviours (OxFAB) Taxonomy (Objective 1) and weight management based on the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) model (Objective 2). The Three Factor Eating Questionnaire-R21 was also validated (Objective 3). A quantitative study also explored the pandemic´s impact on eating behaviour and psychological symptoms in peri and postmenopausal women (Objective 4). Phase 2 (cross-sectional) used qualitative methods (n=62 postmenopausal women) and highlighted the health beliefs associated with different weight experiences during the menopausal transition (i.e., weight gain or maintenance), based on the Health Belief Model (HBM; Objective 5), the factors contributed to weight gain among women who gained weight during the menopausal transition (Objective 6), and the successful weight management strategies employed by women who maintained a healthy weight during this specific phase (Objective 7). Phase 3 (longitudinal) included the development, implementation, and evaluation of the efficacy of an intervention to promote weight management strategies and subjective well-being among postmenopausal women (BMI≥25kg/m2 ), using a randomised control trial design (nIntervention=13; nControl=14). The intervention drew upon models and taxonomies of behavioural change – HBM, HAPA, Behaviour Change Techniques (BCT), and OxFAB. The ME-WEL findings suggest that i) the HBM is suitable for gaining an in-depth understanding of the weight differences among middleaged women during the menopausal transition, and ii) promoting knowledge and anticipatory strategies regarding menopause and weight management, specifically among premenopausal women, is an important preventive approach (desirably conducted by a multidisciplinary team). Also, iii) strategies like regulation-rule setting or energy compensation can be implemented and maintained over time, and iv) short eHealth group interventions are beneficial to promote weight management (in terms of cognitive and behavioural change) and well-being.