Alejandro Castro Solano

Conflicting Preferences of Parents and Offspring Over Criteria for a Mate: A Study in Argentina

Current evolutionary research on human mating has largely ignored the fact that mating decisions may be heavily influenced by parents. Recent research, however, shows that parents and children may have conflicting mate preferences. Specifically, parents tend to have a relatively stronger preference for children to pair with mates with characteristics signaling high parental investment and cooperation with the in-group, whereas children tend to have a relatively stronger preference to pair with mates with characteristics signaling genetic quality. The present research among 242 young adults from Argentina showed that in this country the same parent-offspring conflict was observed as had been found previously in North America, the Netherlands, Uruguay, and Kurdistan. This result provides additional support for the universal character of this type of conflict. In addition, the present research expanded previous work by showing that the two conflict dimensions were indeed psychometrically independent, and that more conflict was reported by older and married participants. In addition, more conflict was reported among women who were more in favor of parental control over mate choice and among men who were higher in social comparison orientation.

Gender Differences in the Jealousy-Evoking Effect of Rival Characteristics: A Study in Spain and Argentina

This study examines gender differences in the jealousy-evoking nature of rival characteristics in two Spanish-speaking countries (Argentina and Spain). A total of 388 Spanish students and 444 Argentinean students participated in the study. First, the cross-cultural validity of a Dutch scale containing 56 rival characteristics was examined. A factor analysis distinguished four dimensions (i.e., social power and dominance, physical attractiveness, physical dominance, and social-communal attributes). After the analysis, the final scale contained in total 24 items. Results showed that in Argentina and Spain combined, men experienced more jealousy than women when their rival was more physically dominant. In contrast, women experienced more jealousy than men when their rival was more physically attractive, had more social-communal attributes, and had more social power and dominance. In both genders, social-communal attributes was the most jealousy-evoking characteristic, followed by physical attractiveness in women and by social power and dominance in men. In addition, in Argentinean participants but not in Spanish participants, those high in social comparison orientation found the rival characteristics more jealousy evoking.These results provide strong support for the evolutionary hypothesis of gender differences in the rival characteristics that may evoke jealousy. Small size effect differences were found between the two countries and only regarding social-communal attributes.

Predictores Para la Selección de Cadetes en Instituciones Militares

En el marco de una investigacion mas amplia sobre predictores de exito en el entrenamiento de cadetes militares argentinos, se presentan dos estudios. El primero analiza seis cohortes de egresados de una institucion militar (1997-2003), atendiendo a la variabilidad en el rendimiento en su educacion superior, relacionandolo con variables sociodemograficas (educacion y ocupacion parentales y estatus de pariente de militar). Los resultados indican que los promedios generales de carrera observan una tendencia descendente en el tiempo. El rendimiento militar muestra menor variabilidad, en tanto que los rendimientos academico y militar aparecen ligados al nivel educativo parental. En el segundo estudio se analiza la cohorte de ingresantes 2003, incluyendose predictores tales como datos biograficos, valores, rasgos de personalidad y motivacion. Cinco de las categorias consideradas discriminaban entre los grupos de cadetes con alto y bajo rendimiento: factores cognitivos relacionados con el rendimiento previo, la orientacion vocacional y ciertos rasgos de liderazgo. Por otra parte, quienes obtenian calificaciones bajas en su primer ano de estudios militares exhibian mayor motivacion extrinseca, menor motivacion intrinseca, estaban menos orientados al logro y su valor hegemonico era el poder.

Intrasexual competition at work: Sex differences in the jealousy-evoking effect of rival characteristics in work settings

Sex differences in jealousy-evoking rival characteristics in the relationship with a supervisor at work were examined in a community sample of 188 individuals from Argentina. Among men, the rivals’ social dominance and communal attributes evoked the most jealousy, followed by physical dominance. Among women, the rival’s communal attributes evoked the most jealousy, followed by social dominance and physical attractiveness. For men physical dominance of the rival and for women physical attractiveness of the rival evoked relatively more jealousy, especially among those high in intrasexual competition and confronted with a same-sex supervisor. When confronted with an opposite-sex supervisor, social comparison orientation was associated with more jealousy in response to rivals with communal attributes.

The Mental Health Continuum–Short Form (MHC–SF) in the Argentinean Context: Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Measurement Invariance

The present research aimed at studying the psychometric properties of the Mental Health Continuum–Short Form (MHC–SF; Keyes, 2005) in a sample of 1,300 Argentinean adults (50% males; 50% females). Their mean age was 40.28 years old (SD = 13.59). The MHC–SF is a 14 item test that assesses three components (i.e., emotional, social, and psychological) of well-being. Convergent and divergent evidence of construct validity was assessed by conducting confirmatory factor analysis, cross-validation, factorial invariance, and correlations with external criteria. Internal consistency was studied using Cronbach’s alphas. Results indicated an adequate fit of a three-dimensional model. This structure was also confirmed, and was invariant throughout sex and age. The emotional well-being scores converged with life satisfaction and positive affect measures; the psychological well-being scale had a positive association with the presence of meaning in life; and the social well-being scores showed a positive and strong correlation with an external measure of well-being. Also, all scores were negatively associated with negative affect, search of meaning in life, and presence of depression symptoms. Internal consistency was .89 for the MHC–SF. Furthermore, the findings supported the two - continua model of mental health.

Personality Assessment Inventory: Psychometric Analyses of its Argentinean Version

This psychometric analysis of the Argentinean version of the Personality Assessment Inventory employed a convenience sample of 998 non-clinical adults from Buenos Aires, Argentina, stratified by sex and age (50% men; M age = 40.4 yr., SD = 16.8; 50% women; M age = 40.7 yr., SD = 17.4; 69% were employed). For a criterion validity study, a second sample of 394 students at the University of Buenos Aires was selected (47% men; M age = 24 yr., SD = 3.7; 53% women; M age = 23.6 yr., SD = 3.4). Cronbachs αs ranged from .60 to .86, indicating adequate internal consistency. Following American, German, and Spanish studies, a first analysis on the 22 scales obtained a five-factor solution (65.3% of total variance), and a second analysis on 11 clinical scales isolated a two-factor solution (69.3% of total variance). Correlations with the Symptom Checklist-90-R provided support for criterion validity. Most of the scales and subscales showed sex differences and differences between American and Argentinean samples. Future research must add other psychometric indicators.

Pathological Personality Traits (DSM-5), Risk Factors, and Mental Health:

This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the brief version of the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5-BF) in a community sample of Argentine adult population, to establish its relationship with the Big Five normal personality traits, and to examine the association of pathological traits with mental and physical maladaptiveness assessed through the level of mental health and World Health Organization (WHO) health risk factors. The sample consisted of 1,032 subjects from the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires. The PID-5-BF, the Big Five Inventory, the Mental Health Continuum–Short Form, and the Survey on risk factors for noncommunicable diseases were used. A five-factorial structure that explained 59.48% of the variance was found, with reliability values higher than α = .86 for each factor. Convergences among pathological personality traits and the five-factor personality model were found, except for Psychoticism and Openness to experience. The severity of personality traits was associated with low levels of mental health and higher number of WHO health risk factors. Nevertheless, the associations among these variables were low to moderate.

The High Five: Associations of the Five Positive Factors with the Big Five and Well-being

The study of individual differences in positive characteristics has mainly focused on moral traits. The objectives of this research were to study individual differences in positive characteristics from the point of view of the layperson, including non-moral individual characteristics, and to generate a replicable model of positive factors. Three studies based on a lexical approach were conducted. The first study generated a corpus of words which resulted in a refined list of socially shared positive characteristics. The second study produced a five-factor model of positive characteristics: erudition, peace, cheerfulness, honesty, and tenacity. The third study confirmed the model with a different sample. The five-positive-factor model not only showed positive associations with emotional, psychological and social well-being, but it also accounted for the variance beyond that accounted for by the Big Five factors in predicting these well-being dimensions. In addition, the presence of convergent and divergent validity of the five positive factors is shown with relation to the Values-in-Action (VIA) classification of character strengths proposed by Peterson and Seligman (2004).

Well-being and life satisfaction in Argentinean adolescents

Seligman proposes that well-being can be achieved by three main pathways: the pleasant life or positive emotions, the engaged life, and the meaningful life. The aims of this study are to investigate the three pathways to well-being in Argentinean adolescents and analyze their relationship to life satisfaction. A sample of 255 Argentinean adolescent students (110 boys and 145 girls) who were between 13 and 18 years of age was used in this study. Participants completed the Three Pathways to Well-being Scale and the Satisfaction with Life Scale. Argentinean adolescents scored highest in the pleasant life, second highest on the engaged life and lowest on the meaningful life. The results showed that among the three pathways, only the engaged life was a significant predictor of life satisfaction; however, this was found only in a small proportion of variance (8%). In consonance with well-being theory, those adolescents who can make use of the three pathways at a high level reported the highest level of life satisfaction. Results were similar to previous findings in adult population.

Latin-American Studies on Well-Being

This chapter aims to describe Latin-American studies on well-being from two different perspectives: the hedonic (life satisfaction, positive and negative emotions) and the eudaimonic (psychological well-being) traditions. An analysis of research articles published between 1998 and 2012 was conducted. The introduced key words were: happiness, life satisfaction and well-being and the search was limited by language of publication restricted to Spanish and Portuguese. Results were analyzed by country of origin, type of well-being study and the inclusion of cultural variables. Those studies focused on what people understood about psychological well-being and the meaning assigned to it are described. Additionally, research studies conducted in Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and Peru from an emic perspective are reviewed. In general terms, Latin American people perceived themselves as happy or very happy. However, as cross-cultural research is rarely conducted in the region and most studies on this topic have used an etic imposed approach, findings cannot be generalized.