Backgrounds. The high rates of school dropout worldwide and their relevance highlight the need for a close study of its causes and consequences. Literature has suggested that school dropout might be explained by multiple causes at different levels (individual, family, school, and neighborhood). The aim of the current study is to examine the relation between individual (defiant attitude, irresponsibility, alcohol abuse and illegal drugs use), family (educational figure absent and parental monitoring), school factors (truancy and school conflict) and school dropout. Method. Judicial files of all juvenile offenders (218 males and 46 females) with a judicial penal measure in Asturias (Spain) in the year 2012 were examined. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to estimate the relationship between school dropout and individual, family and school variables. Results. As for the individual characteristics, results showed that school dropouts were more irresponsible than non-dropouts. Also they had higher rates of illegal drug use and alcohol abuse. Moreover, lack of parental monitoring emerged as a key predictive factor of school dropout, beyond the type of family structure in terms of the presence of both or only one educational figure. Finally, school factors did not show a significant relationship to school dropout. Conclusions. These findings indicate that school dropout is a multidimensional process. School and family policies that emphasize the role of parental monitoring and prevent alcohol and substance abuse are recommended.
When one-way ANOVA is statistically significant, a multiple comparison problem arises, hence post-hoc tests are needed to elucidate between which groups significant differences are found. Different post-hoc tests have been proposed for each situation regarding heteroscedasticity and sample size groups. This study aims to compare the Type I error (α) rate of 10 post-hoc tests in four different conditions based on heteroscedasticity and balance between-group sample size. A Montecarlo simulation study was carried out on a total of 28 data sets, with 10,000 resamples in each, distributed through four conditions. One-way ANOVA tests and post-hoc tests were conducted to estimate the α rate at a 95% confidence level. The percentage of times the null hypothesis was falsely refused is used to compare the tests. Three out of four conditions demonstrated considerable variability among sample sizes. However, the best post-hoc test in the second condition (heteroscedastic and balance group) did not depend on simple size. In some cases, inappropriate post-hoc tests were more accurate. Homoscedasticity and balance between-group sample size should be considered for appropriate post-hoc test selection.
El uso de pruebas no paramétricas resulta recomendable cuando los datos a analizar no cumplen los supuestos de normalidad y homocedasticidad. Sin embargo, la suposición de la normalidad de los datos o el empleo de pruebas de bondad de ajuste que no son adecuadas para el tamaño muestral empleado son aspectos habituales. Este hecho implica, en muchas ocasiones, el uso de pruebas estadísticas no ajustadas al tipo de distribución real y, consecuentemente, el establecimiento de conclusiones erróneas. Por ello, en el presente estudio se ha analizado el poder de detección de cinco pruebas de bondad de ajuste -Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Kolmogorov-Smirnov-Lilliefors, Shapiro-Wilk, Anderson-Darling y Jarque-Bera- en distribuciones simétricas con seis tamaños muestrales entre 30 y 1.000 participantes generados mediante una simulación Monte Carlo. Los resultados muestran una tendencia conservadora generalizada a medida que se incrementa el tamaño muestral. En cuanto a los tamaños muestrales, las pruebas con un mejor poder detección de la no normalidad son Kolmogorov-Smirnov-Lilliefors y Anderson-Darling para muestra pequeñas, la prueba de Kolmogorov-Smirnov si se emplean tamaños muestrales medios -200 participantes- y la prueba de Shapiro-Wilk cuando se analizan muestras superiores a 500 participantes. Además, la prueba clásica de Kolmogorov-Smirnov se considera absolutamente ineficaz independientemente del tamaño muestral.
15 May 2024 in Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy
Context: Several studies have shown that emotional regulation (ER) is a transdiagnostic construct of emotional disorders. Therefore, if therapy improves ER, it would improve psychological distress.Objective: This review assesses and compares the changes in ER due to psychological treatment in different therapies.Methods: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of RCTs published in the databases PubMed, PsycINFO and Web of Science was performed. It was registered in PROSPERO under the number CRD42023387317. Two independent experts in the field reviewed the articles.Results: A total of 18 articles met the criteria for inclusion in the review. Analysis of these studies suggests that in unified protocol (UP), cognitive behaviour therapy, dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) and mindfulness, there is evidence to support that a moderate effect occurs during treatment. Furthermore, in mindfulness and DBT, the effect was moderate in the follow‐up period, while in UP, it was high.Limitations: Given the heterogeneity of the applied interventions and the methodological limitations found in the reviewed trials, the results should be interpreted with caution.Conclusions: UP, cognitive behaviour therapy, DBT and mindfulness can improve ER after therapy, while UP, DBT and mindfulness in the follow‐up period. Other therapies, such as SKY or Flotation REST, require more research.
10 June 2019 in The European Journal of Psychology Applied to Legal Context
Psychological intimate partner violence (IPV) is the most prevalent form of IPV and is often thought to precede physical IPV. However, psychological IPV often occurs independently of other forms of IPV, and it can often emerge during routine relationship interactions. Using data from imprisoned male offenders we investigate the effect of hostile and benevolent sexist attitudes on psychological IPV and the hypothesized mediating role of positive attitudes toward IPV and this effect when accounting for broader risk factors at the levels of community (social disorder), family-of-origin (conflictive climate in family of origin), and personality (antisocial personality traits) variables. The sample involved 196 male inmates of the Penitentiary Center of Villabona (Asturias, Spain). Structural equation models result showed significant total, direct and indirect effect of hostile sexism on psychological IPV, but not of benevolent sexism. When individual, family-of-origin, and community variables were considered, however, hostile sexism showed only an indirect effect on psychological IPV via positive attitudes toward abuse. These results are discussed in light of the debate of the role of sexist attitudes in the psychological IPV explanation when broader models are considered. La violencia de pareja (VP) psicológica es la forma más prevalente de VP y habitualmente suele preceder a la VP física. Sin embargo, la VP psicológica ocurre a menudo independientemente de otras formas de VP y puede darse en interacciones rutinarias con la pareja. Utilizando datos de hombres recluidos en prisión, hemos investigado el efecto del sexismo hostil y benevolente sobre la VP psicológica, así como el rol mediador de las actitudes positivas hacia el abuso de la pareja. Hemos investigado también ese efecto cuando están presentes otros factores de riesgo de VP psicológica señalados en la literatura reciente están presentes: comunidad (desorden social), familia de origen (clima conflictivo en la familia de origen) y factores individuales (rasgos de personalidad antisocial). Participaron en el estudio 196 hombres internos en el Centro Penitenciario de Villabona (Asturias, España). Los resultados de los modelos de ecuaciones estructurales estimados indican un efecto total, directo e indirecto significativo del sexismo hostil sobre la VP psicológica, pero no del sexismo benevolente. Cuando las variables de la comunidad, la familia de origen y factores individuales se incorporaron al modelo únicamente el efecto indirecto del sexismo hostil a través de las actitudes positivas hacia el abuso siguió siendo significativo. Los resultados se discuten en relación con el debate sobre el rol de las actitudes sexistas sobre la VP psicológica en el marco de modelos más generales de violencia.