Juana Gómez

The Controversy over Null Hypothesis Significance Testing Revisited

Abstract. Null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) is one of the most widely used methods for testing hypotheses in psychological research. However, it has remained shrouded in controversy throughout the almost seventy years of its existence. The present article reviews both the main criticisms of the method as well as the alternatives which have been put forward to complement or replace it. It focuses basically on those alternatives whose use is recommended by the Task Force on Statistical Inference (TFSI) of the APA (Wilkinson and TFSI, 1999) in the interests of improving the working methods of researchers with respect to statistical analysis and data interpretation. In addition, the arguments used to reject each of the criticisms levelled against NHST are reviewed and the main problems with each of the alternatives are pointed out. It is concluded that rigorous research activity requires use of NHST in the appropriate context, the complementary use of other methods which provide information about as...

Emotional and Behavioral Problems as Measured by the YSR

Summary: The study focuses on the prevalence of emotional and behavioral problems in adolescents from a secondary educational level, and on the changes of such variables according to age and gender...

Psychometric Properties of the Spanish Version of the Moos Coping Response Inventory for Youth

The present study examined the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of Mooss Coping Responses Inventory-Youth form in a sample of 1,401 adolescent secondary students (45% boys and 55% girls) ages 12 and 16 years (M = 14.1, SD = 1.4). Basic information as descriptive data and internal consistency reliabilities were given, and intercorrelations for the coping strategies criterion and factorial validity estimated. As in previous reports, the internal consistency was low to moderate. The correlations between scales ranged from .06 to .40. Exploratory factor analysis performed on the coping strategies, with oblimin rotation yielded two factors accounting for 49.6% of variance, which broadly reproduced the Approach-Avoidance dichotomy, with alpha values of .81 and .64, respectively. Finally, the analysis of criterion validity corroborated the relationship between the use of avoidance strategies and higher psychological symptoms.

The transtheoretical model and obesity: a bibliometric study

The Transtheoretical Model of behaviour change is currently one of the most promising models in terms of understanding and promoting behaviour change related to the acquisition of healthy living habits. By means of a bibliographic search of papers adopting a TTM approach to obesity, the present bibliometric study enables the scientific output in this field to be evaluated. The results obtained reveal a growing interest in applying this model to both the treatment of obesity and its prevention. Otherwise, author and journal outputs fit the models proposed by Lotka and Bradford, respectively.

Dimensionality of three versions of the Eating Disorder Inventory in adolescent girls.

OBJECTIVES To analyze the dimensionality of three versions of the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) in adolescent girls. METHOD The sample comprised 738 participants. The Spanish adaptation of the EDI-2 was used. The EDI-2 contains the 64 items of EDI and has the same items as EDI-3. The dimensional structures hypothesized by Garner for the three EDI versions were assessed via a series of Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFAs). RESULTS The CFA did not confirm Garners proposed structure in any of the three versions. Consequently it was decided to perform Exploratory Factor Analyses (EFA) of the EDI-2 and the EDI-3 to try to identify the underlying structure. The best theoretical and empirical fit was provided by a 7-factor structure. DISCUSSION This article presents a shortened version of the EDI-2 which may prove more suitable for use with adolescent girls in the general population than the original questionnaire. Certain practical suggestions for optimizing the use of the different versions of the EDI are also presented.

Challenges and Applications of the Transtheoretical Model in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus

The transtheoretical model of behavior change has become one of the most influential theoretical models within health psychology. Characterized by treating behavior change as a dynamic process, it has recently been applied to diabetes mellitus. Both interventional and observational studies have applied the transtheoretical model to the care of patients with diabetes in multiple settings; the studies that have been performed have been very heterogeneous in nature. Pooled data from these studies yielded a distribution that describes patients across the stages of change, the main construct of the transtheoretical model. Regarding treatment effectiveness, the empirical data reported in the studies showed that participants did progress through the stages of change when a transtheoretical model-based intervention was applied, and that a higher percentage of participants progressed in the intervention groups than in the control groups. Further research is needed in this field to obtain more information about the constructs of the transtheoretical model and the stages of change. The use of validated questionnaires in the assessment process is also recommended. The studies included in this review show how the transtheoretical model has made a positive contribution to interventions in the field of diabetes.