Introduction: Social distancing and quarantine have proven to have negative effects on the mental health of populations, namely fear, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress symptoms. Resilience emerges as a buffering variable for such impact. The objective of this study was to compare the psychological impact of COVID-19 in several Latin American countries. Method: A sample of 1184 participants from Mexico, Cuba, Chile, Colombia and Guatemala was obtained; whose age ranged from 18 to 83 years old (M = 38.78, SD = 13.81). A survey on medical symptoms associated with COVID-19 and three instruments to evaluate: (1) depression, anxiety and stress, (2) impact of the event and (3) resilience were administered. Results: Younger people, with more symptoms associated with COVID-19 and those who reported higher scores of impact of event tended to present greater depressive, anxious and stress symptomatology. The impact of the event was the most determinant predictor. Resilience was protective against the impact of event, depression, anxiety and stress. Conclusions: The results show the differences in the psychological response to COVID-19 in each country and suggesting the need to develop public policies focused on prevention and promotion of integral health when facing sanitary emergencies.
4 February 2020 in Journal of Family Communication
Family communication is central to adjusted family functioning, which may be of special relevance to limit the impact of divorce on children. The present study aims to examine positive family communication as a facilitator of family adaptation to divorce, its impact on children’s maladjustment, and the role of coparenting. A cross-sectional study was carried out with 309 parents with high interparental-conflict. The expected model was tested using path analysis. We observed that: 1) positive family communication was related to parents’ greater psychological adjustment to the divorce and fewer socioeconomic consequences of the divorce on children and indirectly to children’s lower anxiety/depression and aggressiveness; 2) supportive coparenting was a protective factor against socioeconomic consequences, but a risk factor in situations of high conflict. These results highlight positive family communication in family adaptation and children’s well-being. Furthermore, findings differentiate the divorce conditions in which coparenting may or may not be appropriate.
24 October 2014 in The Spanish Journal of Psychology
Servant Leadership emphasizes employee’s development and growth within a context of moral and social concern. Nowadays, this management change towards workers´ wellbeing is highlighted as an important issue. The aims of this paper are to adapt to Spanish speakers the Servant Leadership Survey (SLS) by van Dierendonck and Nuijten (2011), and to analyze its factorial validity through confirmatory factor analysis and measurement invariance in three countries. A sample of 638 working people from three Spanish-speaking countries (Spain, Argentina and Mexico) participated in the study. In all three countries, confirmatory factor analyses corroborate the eight factor structure (empowerment, accountability, standing back, humility, authenticity, courage, forgiveness and stewardship) with one second order factor (servant leadership) (in all three samples, CFI, IFI > .92, TLI > .91, RMSEA < .70). Also, factor loadings, reliability and convergent validity were acceptable across samples. Furthermore, through measurement invariance analysis, we detected model equivalence in all three countries including structural residual invariance (ΔCFI = .001). Finally, cultural differences in some dimensions were found and discussed, opening the way for future cross-cultural studies.