Alexandra Marques-Pinto

Savoring positive events in couple life: Impacts on relationship quality and dyadic adjustment

Savoring is as an emotion regulation process that moderates the effect of positive events on positive feelings and helps people to generate, maintain, and increase their positive emotional experiences. Savoring processes are expected to have an impact on romantic relationships, although no study has yet been conducted. Using self-reported data from 473 adults in a conjugal relationship, this study investigated the predictive value of savoring strategies regarding relationship quality and dyadic adjustment; and whether savoring responses moderate the relationship between positive events in couplehood and the relational outcomes. Counting blessings, feeling relieved, memory building, and kill-joy thinking strategies predict several relational dimensions. Moderation analyses highlight that the behavioral expression, counting blessings, and memory building strategies affect positive events’ impact on several relational outcomes. Given the suggested role of savoring strategies in partners’ relational well-being, we believe that this issue may be targeted in marital counseling or training programs.

Work Engagement among Rescue Workers: Psychometric Properties of the Portuguese UWES

Rescue workers have a stressful and risky occupation where being engaged is crucial to face physical and emotional risks in order to help other persons. This study aims to estimate work engagement levels of rescue workers (namely comparing nurses, firefighters, and police officers) and to assess the validity evidence related to the internal structure of the Portuguese versions of the UWES-17 and UWES-9, namely, dimensionality, measurement invariance between occupational groups, and reliability of the scores. To evaluate the dimensionality, we compared the fit of the three-factor model with the fit of a second-order model. A Portuguese version of the instrument was applied to a convenience sample of 3,887 rescue workers (50% nurses, 39% firefighters, and 11% police officers). Work engagement levels were moderate to high, with firefighters being the highest and nurses being the lowest engaged. Psychometric properties were evaluated in the three-factor original structure revealing acceptable fit to the data in the UWES-17, although the UWES-9 had better psychometric properties. Given the observed statistically significant correlations between the three original factors, we proposed a 2nd hierarchal structure that we named work engagement. The UWES-9 first-order model obtained full uniqueness measurement invariance, and the second-order model obtained partial (metric) second-order invariance.

The retrospective experience of climate in the family-of-origin and dyadic coping in couple relationships: pathways to dyadic adjustment

ABSTRACT This study comprised 467 adults in a conjugal relationship and examined dyadic coping and its moderating role between the family-of-origin retrospective experience and dyadic adjustment. While the contribution of family-of-origin variables to marital behaviors has long been a subject of interest, coping have only recently begun to be acknowledged as a relevant construct within the context of romantic relationships. Path analysis was used to examine both the direct and indirect effects of independent and moderator variables on dependent variables. Dyadic coping was a strong and positive predictor of dyadic adjustment dimensions. Dyadic coping behavior moderated the impact of family-of-origin retrospective experience on actual dyadic consensus and satisfaction, namely for women. Data highlight the significance of dyadic coping behaviors in a couples intervention. Not only does stress have a role in relationship functioning, but also dyadic coping behaviors may serve as a vehicle through which couples may foster their relational adjustment.

Adaptation in the transition to school: perspectives of parents, preschool and primary school teachers

Abstract Background: Transition to school is a highly demanding phase at an intellectual, social and emotional level and is, therefore, an opportunity for growth and development. Despite the greater emphasis given to school transition in Portugal over recent years, namely by means of new educational policies, studies on the adaptation processes involved in the transition to primary school are still scarce. Purpose: The present qualitative study sets out to contribute to the knowledge on the adaptation process of children to school transition (around age 6) in Portugal, by comparing preschool teachers’, primary school teachers’, and parents’ perceptions about success indicators and relevant factors in the transition to school. Design and method: In order to collect data, 14 focus group interviews with different participants were conducted, three with preschool teachers (N = 18), three with primary school teachers (N = 13), four with parents conducted before the child’s transition to primary school (N = 14) and four with parents conducted after the child’s transition to primary school (N = 20). Results: While the preschool and primary school teachers stressed factors of a family nature, such as parental involvement and parental support of children, the parents referred more frequently to the overall running of the school and the characteristics and methodology of the teacher as being relevant to the adaptation process in the first year of primary education. Conclusions: The findings suggest different factors associated with adaptation to school and also offer clues for designing strategies to facilitate such adaptation. New strategies are needed to facilitate the construction of a robust educational family–school partnership.

The Predictive Value of Dyadic Coping in the Explanation of PTSD Symptoms and Subjective Well-Being of Work Accident Victims

Objective: Work accidents may be considered dyadic stressors in so far as they not only affect the worker, but also the couple’s relationship. Dyadic coping, as the process by which couples manage the stress experienced by each partner, can strengthen individual health and well-being as well as couple relationship functioning. Accidents at work have progressively been studied from a perspective that focuses on their negative effects on PTSS, anxiety, and depression. However, to a large extent, the dyadic coping processes and results following a work accident are still to be identified and clarified. In this study, we examined the predictive value of dyadic coping in the explanation of PTSS and subjective well-being of work accident victims. Method: This study comprised a sample of 62 individuals involved in work accidents within the last 24 months (61.3% males) and their partners (N = 124; M = 46.25 years, SD = 11.18). All participants responded to the Dyadic Coping Inventory and the work accident victims also answered the PTSD Checklist – Civilian (PCL-C) and the Mental Health Continuum – Short Form (MHC-SF). Two hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed using two different variable set models: Model 1 comprised the control variables gender and age, and Model 2 included the workers’ and the partners’ dyadic coping variables. Results: Results showed that dyadic coping reported by both workers and their respective partners (Model 2) was a significant predictor of workers’ PTSS (p < 0.01) and subjective well-being (p < 0.001), explaining 31.2% of the variance in PCL-C and 68.7% in MHC-SF results. More specifically, the partners’ supportive dyadic coping (by the self) and delegated dyadic coping (by the partner) were significant predictors of the workers’ lower PTSS and virtually all the dyadic copying strategies of both the workers’ and their partners’ were significant predictors of the workers’ higher subjective well-being. Conclusion: Dyadic coping of both the workers and their partners predicts the workers’ PTSS and subjective well-being. These findings point to the need to work with couples who have experienced a work accident, with a view to improving the workers’ mental health outcomes.

Estudo de Validação do Questionário de Coping Conjugal Prospetivo e do seu Valor Preditivo no Bem-estar Pessoal e no Ajustamento Diádico

espanolEste estudo propos-se examinar algumas propriedades psicometricas do Questionario de Coping Conjugal Prospetivo (QCCP), designadamente a validade preditiva do coping prospetivo na explicacao do bem-estar pessoal e ajustamento diadico. Um total de 451 adultos numa relacao conjugal respondeu ao QCCP, ao Questionario de Bem-Estar Pessoal (Keyes et al., 2008) e a Escala de Ajustamento Diadico (Spanier, 1976). Um modelo unifatorial de coping prospetivo com seis itens mostrou um melhor ajustamento aos dados do que o modelo bifatorial original.Analises de regressao multipla evidenciaram que as estrategias de coping prospetivo explicam uma percentagem significativa de variância em todas as dimensoes de ajustamento diadico e bem-estar pessoal. Os resultados encorajam a prosseguir o estudo deste instrumento no âmbito da conjugalidade, a fim de disponibilizarmos um instrumento valido e util para a avaliacao de como os conjuges assumem um papel ativo na construcao e manutencao da sua relacao de casa EnglishThis study set out to examine some psychometric properties of the Prospective Conjugal Coping Questionnaire (QCCP) , namely the predictive value of the prospective coping in the explanation of personal well - being and dyadic adjustment . A sample of 451 adults in a couple relationship answered the QCCP , the Mental Health Continuum – SF (Keyes et al., 2008) and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1976). A six - items unifactorial p rospective coping model showed a better fit to the data than the original two - factor solution. Multiple regression analyses showed that the prospective coping strategies explained a significant proportion of variance in all dimensions of dyadic adjustment and personal well - being. The results encourage us to pursue the study of this instrument with in the scope of couplehood, in order to pr ovide a valid and useful tool for the assessment of how people take an active role in building and maintaining the marital relationship.