Francisco José Batista de Albuquerque

Human values and social identities: A study in two collectivist cultures

The current study examines the value correlates of social identities (identification with in-groups and geospatial units) in two collectivist cultures (Brazil, n = 471; Spain, n = 476). According to previous research, it was expected that subjects who score higher on social values would be more identified with the various traditional in-groups and with the local geospatial units and that social identities would be predicted by different values among Brazilians and Spaniards. Subjects were undergraduate students (228 males; 719 females), with age ranging from 16 to 55 years (M = 21.9; SD = 4.57), from three states in Brazil (Paraiba, Distrito Federal, and Sao Paulo) and Spain (Pontevedra, Madrid, and Barcelona). They were administered the Individualism-Collectivism Questionnaire, the Basic Value Survey,the In-group Identification Scale, the Geospatial Identification Scale, and a questionnaire with demographic questions (e.g., gender, age, religious affiliation). Results confirm that importance attributed t...

Relação do bem-estar subjetivo, estratégias de enfrentamento e apoio social em idosos

Subjective well-being was studied in a sample of the elderly by analyzing the relationship among coping strategies, social support, and social-demographic variables. Well-being was defined by life satisfaction and positive and negative affect. There were 123 elderly participants (mean=67.1; standard deviation=6.1) who were residents in Joao Pessoa, Brazil. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that (a) life satisfaction is higher in: women, people who receive pensions, people who are satisfied with the support they receive, people who give support to others, and people who cope with problems directly and by re-appraising the situation in a positive way; (b) positive affect increases with the satisfaction of the support received, with direct and re-appraisal coping, and with the decrease of coping by avoidance, and (c) negative affect decreases with giving support and increases with coping by avoidance. The results show the differences of the cognitive and affective components of well-being and identify the need to investigate the functional autonomy of the elderly.

Psicologia social e formas de vida rural no Brasil

Psychology is mainly concerned about the study of urban social phenoma. In Brazil, where about a quarter of its population lives in towns with less than 20.000 (twenty thousand) inhabitants, it would be important to include this dimension in the Brazilian psychological research. There are several reasons to do this such as the increasing importance of the industrial and the services sector in detriment of the agrarian economy. Another reason is to attract attention to the need of understanding the differences between the rural and the agrarian, and also to enlarge the scope of the studies that can be done.

Locus de controle em uma populacao do Nordeste brasileiro

The principal goal of this study was to examine within and between group differences in relation to locus of control in the Northeast of Brazil (Paraiba), and compare these results with those found in Mexico (Sonara desert). For this purpose an analysis of the psychometric properties of an instrument designed to evaluate the locus of control was carried out. The study is based on a sample of 600 subjects, distributed according to age and gender quotas, forming three age groups (each group containing 100 women and 100 men): 14-22; 23-35 and 36-70 years of age. Descriptive statistics for each item, Student t test to analyse the descriptive power of each item, factor analysis, and internal consistency indexes were calculated. Reyes scale (1995) was used; this instrument was validated for the Mexican population, and consists of 78 items with seven optional answers using a Likert pictorial scale. Factor analysis indicated the existence of four factors that accounted for 36.2% of the total variance. Afer the deletion of seven items the scale of the remaining 71 items showed a coefficient alpha of .93. From these results one derives the accuracy of the scale, whose utility is guaranteed in situations to which it has been validated.

Coping em jovens frente à expectativa de inserção ocupacional e indicadores de depressão

The purpose of the present research was to investigate the role of constructive thinking and the coping strategy of facing the expectation of job insertion, and their consequences regarding depression indicators in a non-clinical student population. Four hundred and thirteen students participated in this study: 35.7% of them were in the last year of high school and 24.4% were university students from the city of Areia (rural area), and 14.4% were in the last year of high school and 25.4% were university students from the city of Joao Pessoa (urban area). According to the results, students who use coping resources such as behavioral and emotional coping (constructive thinking dimensions) and direct coping (coping strategies dimension) are those ones who best face transition pressures from school/university to the workplace with lower levels of depression and better expectations of job insertion.

As políticas públicas e os projetos de assentamento

Para analisar a relacao existente entre as politicas publicas e os projetos de assentamento para a reforma agraria, investigaram-se as crencas e as expectativas de assentados, bem como de tecnicos do INCRA da Paraiba, sobre as politicas publicas direcionadas para o desenvolvimento rural, especificamente para os projetos de assentamento. Participaram deste estudo 4 agentes de desenvolvimento rural do INCRA e 52 assentados, compondo um total de 56 participantes. Os resultados indicaram que assentados e tecnicos apresentaram crencas de que a organizacao do assentamento em forma de parcela e mais adequada para o seu bom funcionamento do que em forma de agrovila. Os assentados opinaram que mantem pouca relacao com os pequenos produtores seus vizinhos, descrevendo-os como preconceituosos. Os dois grupos de participantes creem que o PRONAF traz poucos beneficios, maior dificuldade na forma de pagamento, morosidade na aprovacao dos projetos e na liberacao do fomento, em comparacao com o programa de credito anterior, o PROCERA. Assentados e tecnicos convergem no sentido de atribuir um papel de assistencia tecnica aos agentes de desenvolvimento rural do INCRA, no que diz respeito a organizacao das atividades agropecuarias, implementacao de associacao e cooperativa no assentamento, bem como na sua estrutura social. Nao obstante, os participantes apresentam a crenca de que o Estado deve assumir o papel de gerenciador das condicoes necessarias para o bom funcionamento do assentamento.

Análise das repercussões psicossociais decorrentes da concessão de benefícios rurais

This work is a discussion on the matter of retiring, analyzing the performance of rural elderly people, and the psychosocial conditions that differ them from...

Avaliação da Síndrome de Burnout em Profissionais da Estratégia Saúde da Família da Capital Paraibana

This study evaluated whether the professionals who work at the Family Health Strategy Service in Joao Pessoa, Paraiba have burnout syndrome. It was used a random sample of 337 servers using the Burnout Characterization Scale which investigates the following factors: (a) Emotional exhaustion (α= .94); (b) Dehumanization (α= .70); and (c) Deception (α= .70). In data processing, descriptive statistics, factor analysis, clusters analysis and sample comparison tests were performed. The results showed that 37.09% of the professionals scored high and medium rates (developed burnout), and 70.45% of the professionals who have other jobs do not have the syndrome. It is concluded the need for mental health care to those who work in the front of the Brazilian Single Health System.

Análise psicossocial do assentamento e seu entorno

We hereby aim at comparing the beliefs and the existing expectations between small-settled growers and their neighbours, who either purchased or inherited small-properties, by taking into account that the settling process only gets completed when there is an effective integration between settlers and the community. Five-two settlers and 53 small-property owners took part in focus groups and individual interviews were carried out concerning the history of their community, expectations and so on. The results showed that settlers describes their neighbours as non-fighting-for-life disorganized people, while small-property owners see settlers as government-benefited land invaders. Both of them describe the social contact with the exogenous group as negative due to the existing prejudices on both sides. We are there led to conclude that although settling aims at integrating its members with the community, such target is not attained. This points to the need for an integrating policy- so as to contemplate a homogeneous

Bem-estar subjetivo emocional e coping em adultos de baixa renda de ambientes urbano e rural

This study aimed to evaluate subjective, emotional well-being and to identify the main coping strategy used by middle-aged low earners (between 40 and 55 years old), in both the urban and rural environments of Paraiba. Non-probability quota sampling was used, distributed by environment (rural and urban) and by gender. 280 individuals took part, with an average age of 46. The instruments used were: an adaptation of the General Health Questionnaire, bio-demographic data and the Coping Scale. It was observed that the participants tended more towards subjective, emotional well-being than to distress, and that in the rural environment this tendency is greater than in the urban one. The main source of distress is the economic question; the coping strategy most used is, in general, the one which is focused on the problem. As for gender, it was ascertained that women use religious practices more than men. More results will be discussed throughout the article.