Lya Feldman

The Short-EMBU in Australia, Spain, and Venezuela: Factorial invariance, and associations with sex roles, self-esteem, and Eysenckian personality dimensions

The short(s)-EMBU (Swedish acronym for Egna Minnen Betraffande Uppfostran [My memories of upbringing]) consists of 23 items, is based on the early 81-item EMBU, and was developed out of the necessity of having a brief measure of perceived parental rearing practices when the clinical and/or research context does not adequately permit application of time-consuming test batteries. The s-EMBU comprises three subscales: Rejection., Emotional Warmth, and (Over)Protection. The factorial and/or construct validity and reliability of the s-EMBU were examined in samples comprising a total of 1950 students from Australia, Spain, and Venezuela. The data were presented for the three national groups separately. Findings confirmed the cross-national validity of the factorial structure underlying the s-EMBU. Rejection by fathers and mothers was consistently associated with high trait-neuroticism and low self-esteem in recipients of both sexes in each nation, as was high parental emotional warmth with high femininity (humility). The findings on factorial validity are in keeping with previous ones obtained in East Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, and Sweden. The s-EMBU is again recommended for use in several different countries as. a reliable, functional equivalent to the original 81-item EMBU.

Phobic anxiety in 11 nations. Part I: Dimensional constancy of the five-factor model

The Fear Survey Schedule-III (FSS-III) was administered to a total of 5491 students in Australia, East Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, and Venezuela, and submitted to the multiple group method of confirmatory analysis (MGM) in order to determine the cross-national dimensional constancy of the five-factor model of self-assessed fears originally established in Dutch, British, and Canadian samples. The model comprises fears of bodily injury-illness-death, agoraphobic fears, social fears, fears of sexual and aggressive scenes, and harmless animals fears. Close correspondence between the factors was demonstrated across national samples. In each country, the corresponding scales were internally consistent, were intercorrelated at magnitudes comparable to those yielded in the original samples, and yielded (in 93% of the total number of 55 comparisons) sex differences in line with the usual finding (higher scores for females). In each country, the relatively largest sex differences were obtained on harmless animals fears. The organization of self-assessed fears is sufficiently similar across nations to warrant the use of the same weight matrix (scoring key) for the FSS-III in the different countries and to make cross-national comparisons feasible. This opens the way to further studies that attempt to predict (on an a priori basis) cross-national variations in fear levels with dimensions of national cultures.

Masculinity-femininity as a national characteristic and its relationship with national agoraphobic fear levels: Fodor's sex role hypothesis revitalized

Hofstedes dimension of national culture termed Masculinity-Femininity [. Cultures and organizations: software of the mind. London: McGraw-Hill] is proposed to be of relevance for understanding national-level differences in self-assessed agoraphobic fears. This prediction is based on the classical work of Fodor [. In: V. Franks & V. Burtle (Eds.), Women in therapy: new psychotherapies for a changing society. New York: Brunner/Mazel]. A unique data set comprising 11 countries (total N=5491 students) provided the opportunity of scrutinizing this issue. It was hypothesized and found that national Masculinity (the degree to which cultures delineate sex roles, with masculine or tough societies making clearer differentiations between the sexes than feminine or modest societies do) would correlate positively with national agoraphobic fear levels (as assessed with the Fear Survey Schedule-III). Following the correction for sex and age differences across national samples, a significant and large effect-sized national-level (ecological) r=+0.67 (P=0.01) was found. A highly feminine society such as Sweden had the lowest, whereas the champion among the masculine societies, Japan, had the highest national Agoraphobic fear score.

Characteristics of Venezuelan school refusers. Toward the development of a high-risk profile.

Parent, teacher, and child reports were used to identify situational and personal factors associated with school refusal in 114 3- to 13-year-old Venezuelan children. The sample consisted of 57 school refusers and 57 nonrefusers matched on age, school, and sex. As compared with nonrefusers, the refusers had changed schools more often, were rated as more dependent, had more school-related fears, and were perceived by their parents as more difficult to manage. Stepwise multiple regression analyses revealed that school refusal status could be predicted by both situational and personality variables including the childs fear level, dependency, depression, frequency of school changes, history of refusal in the family, and other variables. Refusal onset frequently coincided with situational stress (e.g., the beginning of the school year, a new school or teacher, or trouble with a teacher or peers). Categories of refusal resembled those of other studies and included adjustment reaction, school phobia, and emotional disturbance. In the future, these risk factors can be used to identify and treat potential school refusers

La satisfacción del paciente hospitalario: una propuesta de evaluación

Resumen Objetivo Disenar y validar un instrumento para medir la satisfaccion del paciente hospitalizado hacia la atencion recibida. Material y metodo A partir de dos fases de estudio, se construyo el cuestionario Cuidado de su Salud durante la Hospitalizacion (CSH). Se aplico en una muestra piloto de 31 pacientes hospitalizados y luego se valido en una segunda muestra de 394 pacientes hospitalizados en el Hospital Universitario de Caracas-Venezuela, entre 2002 y 2004. Se realizo un analisis estadistico para la seleccion de los reactivos, un analisis factorial exploratorio de componentes principales con rotacion varimax para la validez de constructo y el calculo de consistencia interna (coeficiente alfa de Cronbach); se empleo el programa SPSS 10 para Windows. Resultados Se seleccionaron 43 reactivos dicotomicos que miden elementos asociados a la satisfaccion de los usuarios. El cuestionario (CSH) consta ademas de un reactivo final dicotomico que mide la satisfaccion general de los pacientes y un apartado de datos sociodemograficos de 6 items. A partir del analisis factorial exploratorio se identificaron 6 aspectos asociados a la satisfaccion del paciente hospitalizado hacia la atencion recibida que explican un 38,0% de la varianza: evaluacion de la labor y actitud del personal de enfermeria, la labor y actitud del personal medico, las condiciones ambientales de la hospitalizacion, la mejoria fisica percibida, informacion medica proporcionada y valoracion del rendimiento del servicio. Conclusiones El cuestionario elaborado (CSH) se presenta como una herramienta promisoria para la medicion valida y confiable de la satisfaccion del paciente. Se plantea un conjunto de recomendaciones con la finalidad de fortalecer el instrumento en investigaciones futuras.

Phobic anxiety in 11 nations.

The Fear Survey Schedule-III (FSS-III) was administered to a total of 5491 students in Australia, East Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, and Venezuela, and submitted to the multiple group method of confirmatory analysis (MGM) in order to determine the cross-national dimensional constancy of the five-factor model of self-assessed fears originally established in Dutch, British, and Canadian samples. The model comprises fears of bodily injury-illness-death, agoraphobic fears, social fears, fears of sexual and aggressive scenes, and harmless animals fears. Close correspondence between the factors was demonstrated across national samples. In each country, the corresponding scales were internally consistent, were intercorrelated at magnitudes comparable to those yielded in the original samples, and yielded (in 93% of the total number of 55 comparisons) sex differences in line with the usual finding (higher scores for females). In each country, the relatively largest sex differences were obtained on harmless animals fears. The organization of self-assessed fears is sufficiently similar across nations to warrant the use of the same weight matrix (scoring key) for the FSS-III in the different countries and to make cross-national comparisons feasible. This opens the way to further studies that attempt to predict (on an a priori basis) cross-national variations in fear levels with dimensions of national cultures.

Responsabilidades en el hogar y salud de la mujer trabajadora

Objective. To analyze the relationship between the distribution of home-making responsibilities and perceived mental and physical health in working women. Material and methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted between September 1994 and Octuber 1995, in Caracas, Venezuela. A total of 260 university teachers were surveyed on homemaking management and activities. Statistical analysis consisted of central tendency measures, analysis of variance and hierarchical multiple regression. Results. Considering the distribution of home-making responsibilities, it was found that women participated more in home-making management and planning and that they received support from their partner in those tasks related to home-making. Those women who perceived higher overload in hometasks reported also higher levels of anxiety, depression and a lower self-esteem. Conclusions.These results indicate the negative effects of household labor on mental health in working women.

Relaciones trabajo-familia y salud en mujeres trabajadoras

Objective. To study the relationship between gratifications and interferences generated in the work-family relationship and its impact on working women’s health. Material and Methods. A non-experimental, correlational design was used. A group of 402 working women between 27 and 71 years of age were tested in Caracas, Venezuela during 2006, to measure work-family relationship, self-esteem, anxiety, depression, wellbeing, health perception and number of symptoms. Results. It was found that the gratifications in the work-family relationship are related to better wellbeing and self-esteem, less depression, anxiety and symptom report. Presence of more interferences was associated with more depression, anxiety and number of symptoms. Conclusions. These results give an indication of protective and risk factors for multiple-role women’s health and could provide some guidelines for intervention programs.

Phobic anxiety in 11 nations - Part I

The Fear Survey Schedule-III (FSS-III) was administered to a total of 5491 students in Australia, East Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, and Venezuela, and submitted to the multiple group method of confirmatory analysis (MGM) in order to determine the cross-national dimensional constancy of the five-factor model of self-assessed fears originally established in Dutch, British, and Canadian samples. The model comprises fears of bodily injury-illness-death, agoraphobic fears, social fears, fears of sexual and aggressive scenes, and harmless animals fears. Close correspondence between the factors was demonstrated across national samples. In each country, the corresponding scales were internally consistent, were intercorrelated at magnitudes comparable to those yielded in the original samples, and yielded (in 93% of the total number of 55 comparisons) sex differences in line with the usual finding (higher scores for females). In each country, the relatively largest sex differences were obtained on harmless animals fears. The organization of self-assessed fears is sufficiently similar across nations to warrant the use of the same weight matrix (scoring key) for the FSS-III in the different countries and to make cross-national comparisons feasible. This opens the way to further studies that attempt to predict (on an a priori basis) cross-national variations in fear levels with dimensions of national cultures.