Magda Sofia Roberto

Job demands, coping, and impacts of occupational stress among journalists: a systematic review

This paper systematically reviews empirical research published from 2002 to July 2015 investigating journalists’ occupational stressors, coping strategies, and the impacts of these variables on the health and well-being of such professionals, whether on their daily work or as special envoys to critical scenarios. A meta-analytic approach was displayed to analyse the association between exposure to traumatic events during work and journalists’ symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Twenty eight articles met the inclusion criteria and revealed that very few studies distinguish (and none compare) the distress of journalists in their daily work from the distress of reporting major disasters, not a single study addressed positive emotional responses and only one research study focused on an in-depth analysis of the most commonly used coping strategies by journalists. The impacts of occupational stress among these professionals were sorely negative (e.g., burnout, PTSD), and no study was found to address the design and assessment of preventive interventions for these impacts on the health and well-being of journalists. Thirteen studies were included in a random-effects model meta-analysis and a small to moderate effect size (r = 0.272) between exposure to traumatic events during assignments and PTSD was found. The article closes with directions for future studies.

Examining the Mechanisms of Therapeutic Change in a Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention for Anxious Children: The Role of Interpretation Bias, Perceived Control, and Coping Strategies

This study examined the role of theoretically meaningful mediators of therapeutic change—interpretation bias, perceived control, and coping strategies—in a cognitive-behavioral intervention for anxious youth. This is one of the few studies that examined the change in potential mediator and outcome variables by means of a longitudinal design that included four assessment points: pretreatment, in-treatment, post-treatment, and at 4-months follow-up. Forty-seven 8- to 12-year-old children with a principal DSM-IV diagnosis of anxiety disorder participated in the study. On each assessment point, questionnaires assessing the mediator variables and a standardized anxiety scale were administered to the children. The results showed that perceived control and interpretation bias (but not coping strategies) accounted for a significant proportion in the variability of various types of anxiety symptoms, providing a preliminary support for the notion that these cognitive dimensions’ act as mechanisms of therapeutic change in cognitive-behavioral therapy for anxious children.

Validation and invariance across gender of the Beliefs About Appearance Scale (BAAS) in a community sample of heterosexual adults in a committed relationship

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Beliefs About Appearance Scale (BAAS) in terms of its factorial structure and invariance, reliability, and validity when applied to adults from the community. METHODS Participants consisted of 810 heterosexual Portuguese individuals in a committed relationship. As a confirmatory factor analysis did not support the original structure of the BAAS, an exploratory factor analysis was performed. RESULTS A 12-item version was extracted comprising two dimensions: one personal and the other social. The factorial model depicting this bidimensional structure revealed an adequate fit following confirmatory factor analysis. Multigroup confirmatory factor analyses indicated invariance across gender. Concurrent and discriminant validities and internal consistency were estimated and observed to be adequate. CONCLUSIONS This shorter measure of the BAAS can accurately assess body appearance beliefs and may be used in different research settings and contexts.

Parenting stress and preschoolers’ socio-emotional adjustment: the mediating role of parenting styles in parent–child dyads

ABSTRACT This study examined the mediating effect of parenting styles in the relationship between parenting stress and children’s socio-emotional adjustment through Structural Equation Modeling. The moderating role of parent and child gender was also examined by means of a multi-group analysis. A sample of 552 mothers and 501 fathers of Portuguese families with preschoolers participated in the study. Mothers and fathers independently completed self-report measures to evaluate parenting stress, parenting styles and the child’s socio-emotional adjustment (children’s social skills, internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems). Results regarding direct effects indicated that mothers’ and fathers’ stress contributed to the child’s social skills. Additionally, results showed indirect effects: fathers’ authoritative parenting mediated the link between fathers’ stress and social skills, regardless of the gender of the child, while for mothers, the corresponding mediation effect was only observed for daughters; fathers’ authoritarian parenting mediated daughters’ externalizing problems while fathers’ permissive parenting mediated daughters’ internalizing problems. Overall, this study emphasizes the importance of both parents for the adjustment of their children, in addition to the need to examine dyadic parent–preschooler relationships, given that the results suggest some specificity in the processes responsible for direct and indirect effects.

Adaptação na Transição para a Escola: Estudo do Questionário de Adaptação Escolar e da Escala de Competência Social do SSBS - 2

portuguesAs qualidades psicometricas de dois instrumentos –o Questionario de Adaptacao Escolar, versoes para criancas e para professores, e a versao portuguesa da escala de Competencia Social do School Social Behavior Scales (SSBS-2) –foram analisadas numa amostr a de 13 educadores e 14 professores e num total de 328 criancas que frequentavam o ultimo ano da educacao pre-escolar e o primeiro ano de escolaridade. Os resultados salientam uma estrutura em dois fatores com boa consistencia interna, fidedignidade teste / reteste e validade de constructo da versao para professores do Questionario de Adaptacao Escolar, uma estrutura unifatorial, boa consistencia interna mas um indice de estabilidade temporal mais fraco da versao para criancas, e validade fatorial e fidedignidade da escala de competencia Social do SSBS-2. Observou-se a invariância dos modelos em relacao ao sexo e nivel de escolaridade dos participantes permitindo a realizacao de analises multi-grupos. EnglishThe psychometric properties of two instruments -the School Adaptation Questionnaire, children and teacher’s versions, and the Portuguese version of the Social Competence Scale of the School Social Behavior Scales (SSBS-2) -were analyzed in a sample of 13 preschool teachers, 14 primary school teachers and a total of 328 children attending the last year of pre -school and first grade. The results highlight a structure on two factors with good interna l consistency, reliability test -re-test, and construct validity of the teacher’s version of the School Adaptation Questionnaire, a one-factor structure, good internal consistency but a weaker temporal stability index of the children’s version, and factorial validity and reliability of the Social Competence Scale of SSBS-2. Invariance was checked regarding sex and educational level, allowing for multi-group analysis.

The “Inventory of Father Involvement–Short Form” among Portuguese fathers: Psychometric properties and contribution to father involvement measurement.

The aim of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the Inventory of Father Involvement–Short Form (IFI-SF) with respect to its factor structure, reliability, and preliminary concurrent and discriminant validity (Study 1), and to confirm the factor structure in a different sample (Study 2). In Study 1, 380 men (M = 42.2, SD = 6.8) completed the IFI-SF translated version, and a subgroup of 92 men also completed the Portuguese versions of the Parenting Stress Index–Short Form, the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire–Short Form, and the Paternal Involvement Scale. In Study 2, 220 men (M = 43.1, SD = 6.1) completed the IFI-SF translated version. The results of confirmatory factor analyses (Study 1) found that the Portuguese IFI-SF had a bifactor structure, dissimilar to that of the original version. More specifically, a model depicting a general factor and 9 first-order factors was confirmed, with omega hierarchical coefficients indicating that only an IFI-SF global score should be calculated/interpreted. This structure was confirmed in Study 2. Cronbach’s alpha reliabilities in Study 1 and 2 were .93 and .95 for the global scale, respectively. Moreover, there was preliminary evidence of the scale’s concurrent and discriminant validity. These results indicate that the measure is suitable for use in the Portuguese context with an interpretable global score, and may be a useful tool for research regarding the positive aspects of men’s parental involvement, as such information may also be relevant in cross-cultural studies.