Phubbing, comunicación y calidad en la relación de pareja / Phubbing, communication and quality couples relationship

El uso del teléfono celular puede desarrollar la conducta conocida como phubbing. Un fenómeno de la era digital que se define como el acto de ignorar a una persona por brindar atención al celular. El phubbing puede causar malestar en la relación de pareja que provoca conflictos y contribuye a la insatisfacción relacional. No obstante, es un tema escasamente estudiado en la cultura latinoamericana. Por esto, se propuso desde la perspectiva cuantitativa un estudio no experimental transversal con el propósito de analizar la relación entre la conducta de phubbing, la comunicación tecnológica y la calidad de la relación en la cultura puertorriqueña. La muestra se compuso de 215 participantes en algún tipo de relación de pareja (noviazgo, matrimonio o en convivencia) con promedio de edad de 33 años. Se aplicaron tres escalas para medir las variables propuestas: comunicación tecnológica, phubbing y calidad diádica. Los datos fueron sometidos a diversos análisis estadísticos: análisis factorial confirmatorio, modelo estructural y análisis post-hoc. Los resultados obtenidos indican que el phubbing está presente en la pareja puertorriqueña. Los hallazgos muestran que el phubbing está relacionado positivamente con la comunicación tecnológica, mientras que tiene un efecto negativo en la calidad de la relación de pareja. En contraste, la comunicación tecnológica no evidenció un efecto en la calidad de la relación. Los resultados indicaron la existencia de diferencias generacionales. Se concluye que la comunicación mediada por un celular cumple un rol significativo en el contexto de la pareja puertorriqueña que amerita continuar su estudio en futuras investigaciones.

Cell phone use can lead to the behavior known as phubbing. It is a phenomenon of the digital age that is defined as the act of ignoring a person while providing attention to the cell phone. Phubbing can cause discomfort in the relationship which can cause conflict and contribute to relational dissatisfaction. It is however a subject scarcely studied in Latin American culture. Therefore, the purpose of this non-experimental cross-sectional study was to analyze from a quantitative perspective the relationship between phubbing behavior, technological communication, and the quality of the relationship in Puerto Rican culture. The sample was made up of 215 participants in some type of couple relationship (dating, marriage or living together) with an average age of 33 years. Three scales were applied to measure the proposed variables: technological communication, phubbing and dyadic quality. The data were subjected to various statistical analyses, confirmatory factor analysis, structural model and post-hoc analysis. The results obtained indicate that phubbing is present in the Puerto Rican couple. The findings show that phubbing is positively related to technological communication, while it has a negative effect on the quality of the couple relationship. In contrast, technological communication did not show an effect on the quality of the relationship. The results indicated the existence of generational differences. It is concluded that communication mediated by a cell phone plays a significant role in the context of the Puerto Rican couple, and is an area that is deserving of study in future research.

Validación de la Age Universal I-E Scale en sujetos mexicanos / Validation of the Age Universal I-E Scale in Mexican Subjects

Se evalúan las propiedades psicométricas de la Escala I-E-12 en tres muestras de sujetos mexicanos: religiosos (N = 78), no religiosos (N = 148) y una muestra mixta (N = 226). Mediante análisis factorial exploratorio se obtuvo una estructura compuesta por tres factores, siendo la estructura de grupos religiosos la que explicó el 63.5 % de la varianza con una consistencia interna alfa de entre 0.70 y 0.88 para la escala total y sus diferentes factores. La escala evaluada en sujetos mexicanos muestra resultados consistentes en buena medida con lo reportado por Simkin y Etchezahar (2013) en la exploración de la I-E 12, en el contexto argentino.

The work evaluates the psychometric properties of the scale I-E-12 in three Mexican samples: religious (N = 78), non religious (N = 148) and composite sample (N = 226). After the exploratory factor analysis applied to each of the samples, there was a structure composed of three factors being the structure of religious groups which he explained the 63.5 % of the variance with an alpha internal consistency between 0.7 and 0.88 for the full scale and its various factors. The scale assessed in Mexican subjects shows consistent results in good measure to those reported by Simkin and Etchezahar (2013), in the exploration of the I-E-12 in the argentine context.

Ajuste psicológico y vida religiosa en adultos mayores / Psychological Adjustment and Religious Life in Elderly People

La presente investigación explora la relación entre la vida religiosa de las personas y el ajuste psicológico, con base en una muestra de 193 adultos mayores evangélicos de la comunidad de la Ciudad de México. El objetivo fue aportar evidencia empírica basada en una muestra latinoamericana, en relación con los controvertidos resultados en muestras anglosajonas, con respecto al papel de la vida religiosa como recurso adaptativo. Los resultados permiten concluir un papel marginal de la vida espiritual con respecto al desajuste psicológico, cuando es medido a través del establecimiento de una relación satisfactoria con Dios. Por otro lado, la presente investigación logró obtener fuertes asociaciones inversas, cuando la vida espiritual es asumida como satisfacción existencial o vital. Parece prevalecer una contribución marginal de la espiritualidad divina, en contraste con el importante papel que juega la espiritualidad vital o existencial en el desajuste psicológico de sujetos de la comunidad.

This research explores the relationship between the religious life of the people and psychological adjustment based on a sample of 193 evangelical elderly living in the community of Mexico City. The aim was to provide empirical evidence based on Latin American sample, in relation to the disputed results in Anglo samples regarding the role of religious life as adaptive resource. The results show a marginal role in the spiritual life with respect to psychological maladjustment when measured through the establishment of a satisfactory relationship with God. Furthermore, this research was able to obtain strong inverse associations when the spiritual life is assumed as vital existential satisfaction. A marginal contribution of divine spirituality seems to prevail, in contrast to the important role that vital and existential spirituality plays in the psychological maladjustment in community subjects.

Restauración psicológica y naturaleza urbana: algunas implicaciones para la salud mental / Psychological restoration and urban nature: some mental health implications

En las temáticas de promoción de salud mental existe una carencia sistemática de investigaciones que documenten la importancia de las cualidades del ambiente físico en el desarrollo de políticas públicas de salud. Actualmente existen varias líneas emergentes de investigación sobre ambientes restauradores (AR) y restauración psicológica (RP) que pueden contribuir a la definición conceptual y operativa de las cualidades del ambiente que pueden ser relevantes para promover la salud mental. La RP se relaciona con la recuperación de los recursos cognitivos y de la capacidad de respuesta psicofisiológica que experimentan las personas ante la exposición a ambientes con cualidades restauradoras. En el presente estudio se documenta la aplicación de un modelo ecológico social del impacto de la naturaleza urbana en la RP considerando un contexto de vivienda. Se planteó como objetivo documentar los posibles efectos restauradores de variables relacionadas con la presencia de Naturaleza Urbana-NU (e.g. vistas de naturaleza en las ventanas de las viviendas, plantas y jardines interiores, proximidad de áreas verdes exteriores), Procesos Psicológicos de Transacción con el Medio Ambiente - PPTRAMA (actividades con la naturaleza y percepción de restauración ambiental de la vivienda) sobre indicadores emotivos y cognitivos de la RP. Para conseguir tal objetivo se ha llevado a cabo un estudio en el que se entrevistaron en sus domicilios a 120 personas (edad media 45.73 años, 63 hombres y 57 mujeres) de la Zona Metropolitana de la Ciudad de México. Por medio de un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales se comprobó que la NU tiene efectos directos e indirectos en la dimensión emotiva y cognitiva de la RP. Del abordaje teórico, conceptual y metodológico se desprende una plataforma conceptual a partir de la cual es posible desarrollar investigación innovadora con implicaciones empíricas relevantes para la promoción de la salud mental.

Topics relating to mental health promotion systematically lack research that documents the importance of physical environment qualities in the development of public health policies. At the present time, several emerging research lines regarding restorative environments (RE) and psychological restoration (PR) may contribute to the conceptual and operational definition of relevant environmental qualities promoting mental health. PR relates to the recovery of people's cognitive resources and psychophysiological responses when exposed to environments with restorative qualities. The present study documents the application of an ecological social model regarding the impact of urban nature on PR in a housing context. We posed the objective to document possible restoration effects of variables related to Urban Nature-UN (for example, views of nature from housing windows, indoor plants and gardens, proximity to outdoor green areas) and Psychological Transaction Processes with the Environment - PTRAPE (activities in nature and perception of environmental restoration of housing) on emotional and cognitive indicators of PR. To achieve this goal, we carried out a study with 120 individual home interviews (mean age of 45.73 years, 63 men and 57 women) in the metropolitan area of Mexico City. The structural equations model showed that UN has both direct and indirect effects on emotional and cognitive dimension of PR. This theoretical, conceptual, and methodological approach provides a conceptual platform to carry out innovative research with relevant empirical implications for mental health promotion.

Escala de soporte social de Tagaya, Okuno, Tamura y Davis: propiedades psicométricas en adultos mayores / The Social Support Scale of Tagaya, Okuno, Tamura and Davis: Psychometric Properties in the Elderly

La presente investigación propone la adaptación al español y validación de la Escala de Soporte Social (ESS-AM) de Tagaya, Okuno, Tamura y Davis (2000), conducida en cuatro muestras independientes de adultos mayores de la Ciudad de México. La escala, de ocho reactivos, mide la percepción de apoyo social mediante un solo factor que explica el 60,7% de la varianza, con una consistencia interna a de 0,84 y correlaciones negativas significativas con la variable soledad. Con base en ello, se concluye que la ESS-AM es un instrumento confiable, útil y sencillo en funciones de tamizaje para evaluar si el adulto mayor cuenta con adecuados niveles de apoyo social percibido.

This research presents the Spanish adaptation and validation of the Social Support Scale (ESS-AM) from Tagaya, Okuno, Tamura and Davis (2000), conducted in four independent samples of elderly people from Mexico City. The scale, with eight reactive measures about perceived social support, with a single factor that explained the 60.7% of the variance with an internal consistency alpha of .84 and significant negative correlations with the Loneliness. ESS-AM is a reliable, useful and simple, which can be used to assess if elderly people have adequate levels of perceived social support in terms of screening.

SCL-90 R: Distrés psicológico, género y conductas de riesgo / SCL-90 R: Psychological Distress, Gender and Risky Behaviors

Con base en una muestra probabilística de 466 estudiantes universitarios mexicanos, se explora la relación entre distrés psicológico y conductas de riesgo (consumo de sustancias, conductas sexuales, y ambas), en hombres y mujeres. Los resultados indican que el distrés psicológico presenta diferencias con mayor frecuencia en el caso de las mujeres que presentan consumo de drogas, tabaco y alcohol, o conductas que mezclan sexo y alcohol, y sexo y consumo de drogas, que en el caso de los hombres. Los hombres con actividad sexual ocasional presentan mayor distrés que aquellos que no presentan esta conducta. Como punto de partida, se explora la estructura factorial del SCL-90-R, coincidiendo en los resultados con los obtenidos por investigadores de otras latitudes; al parecer, el análisis factorial no soporta la estructura propuesta por los autores del instrumento.

Based on a probability sample of 466 Mexican college students, we want to find out if there is a relationship between psychological distress and risky behavior (drug-consuming, sexual behavior or both) between men and women. Results show that psychological distress presents more differences with women who consume drugs, tobacco and alcohol and who present behaviors which combine sex and alcohol more than men. Men with occasional sexual activity preset more distress than those who don't show this behavior. To begin, we explore the factorial structure of SCL-90-R observing the same results of those obtained by other researchers. It seems that the factor analysis doesn't support the structure proposed by the authors of the instrument.

Desajuste psicológico, calidad de vida y afrontamiento en pacientes diabéticos con insuficiencia renal crónica en diálisis peritoneal / Psychological maladjustment, quality of life and coping in diabetic patients with chronic renal failure in peritoneal dialysis

It has been reported that the impact of the continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) procedure in the patient's quality of life has profound psychosocial consequences for him and his family. This replacement of renal function supports survival but not a complete physical, emotional and social development. These aspects may be crucial to the success of treatment with CAPD for its positive or negative influence on patient adherence to this procedure. This study evaluated the degree of psychological maladjustment in CAPD patients, psychosocial variables, coping strategies and the impact on their quality of life. We interviewed 83 patients on CAPD (43 women and 40 men, mean age, 53.5 years, SD, 15.3), chosen for availability in a dialysis unit of a general hospital. Quality of life was inversely and significantly associated with depression, anxiety and loneliness. Spirituality based on a full relationship with life is inversely associated with depression, hopelessness, suicidal ideation, loneliness and death anxiety. Depression, hopelessness and loneliness were associated with a cognitive-dysfunctional coping style. The loneliness and suicidal ideation are associated with a emotional-aggressive coping style the perceived ability of giving and spirituality based on life are associated with positive cognitive coping. When comparing subjects with a high degree of psychological maladjustment, against a norm group, the subjects showed higher mean depression and hopelessness. The results are consistent with findings reported in other latitudes, demonstrating the need to implement intervention strategies aimed at reducing the risk of suicide and to create a better psychological adjustment to the situation of CAPD.

Se ha reportado que el impacto del procedimiento de diálisis peritoneal continua ambulatoria (DPCA) en la calidad de vida del paciente suele presentar profundas consecuencias psicosociales para él y su familia; dicha sustitución de la función renal promueve la supervivencia pero no un completo bienestar físico, emocional y social. Estos últimos aspectos pueden ser determinantes para el éxito del tratamiento con DPCA por su influencia positiva o negativa en la adherencia del paciente al mismo. El presente trabajo evaluó el grado de desajuste psicológico en pacientes bajo DPCA, variables psicosociales, las estrategias de afrontamiento empleadas por ellos y el impacto en su calidad de vida. Se entrevistó a 83 pacientes en DPCA (43 mujeres y 40 hombres; media de edad, 53.5 años; DE, 15.3), elegidos por disponibilidad de la Unidad de Diálisis de un Hospital General. La calidad de vida se asoció inversa y significativamente a depresión, ansiedad y soledad. La espiritualidad basada en una relación plena con la vida se asoció de manera inversa con depresión, desesperanza, ideación suicida, soledad y ansiedad ante la muerte. La depresión, la desesperanza y la soledad se asociaron con un estilo de afrontamiento cognitivo-disfuncional. La soledad e ideación suicida están asociadas a un estilo de afrontamiento emotivo-agresivo; la capacidad percibida de dar y la espiritualidad basada en la vida están asociadas a un estilo de afrontamiento cognitivo-positivo. Al compararse contra un grupo normativo, los sujetos con un alto grado de desajuste psicológico obtuvieron medias más altas de depresión y desesperanza. Los resultados son consistentes con hallazgos reportados en otras latitudes, evidenciándose la necesidad de instrumentar estrategias de intervención tendientes a disminuir el riesgo de suicidio y a generar un mejor ajuste psicológico a la situación de DPCA.

Propiedades psicométricas de la escala de ansiedad ante la muerte de Templer en sujetos mexicanos: mexican psychometric properties / Templers death anxiety scale

La presente investigación adaptó la Escala de Ansiedad ante la Muerte de Templer (1970) al español mexicano y obtuvo sus propiedades psicométricas para dos muestras de adultos mexicanos radicados en la ciudad de México. Se entrevistaron 314 sujetos: 165 fueron adultos mayores (97 mujeres y 68 hombres con una edad media de 61.7 y 62.7 respectivamente) y 149 estudiantes universitarios (132 mujeres y 17 hombres con una edad media de 19.4 y 19.9 años). La escala de respuesta se cambió por una escala Likert de cuatro puntos. La estructura del instrumento fue evaluada mediante análisis factorial de componentes principales con rotación varimax en ambas muestras, logrando tres factores para cada grupo. La estructura factorial obtenida de las respuestas de los estudiantes universitarios sólo concordó ligeramente con lo reportado por Tomás-Sábado & Gómez-Benito (2002) en una muestra española equivalente. La consistencia interna del instrumento, medida con el alfa de Cronbach, en cada muestra indica para adultos mayores (.86) y para estudiantes (.83). Se obtuvieron propiedades psicométricas que la hacen recomendable para su uso en adultos mayores mexicanos. Finalmente, los resultados aportan nuevas evidencias sobre los efectos psicométricos derivados del posible impacto cultural de diferentes naciones de habla hispana y, entre generaciones.

This research adapted Templer's Death Anxiety Scale (1970) for Mexican Spanish and obtained psychometric properties for two samples of Mexican adults. A total of 314 subjects were interviewed, 165 of whom were elderly adults (97 women, average age 61.7, SD = 9.7 and 68 men, average age 62.7, SD = 8.3) and 149 undergraduate students (132 women, average age 19.4, SD = 1.3 and 17 men, average age 19.9, SD = 1.3. The scale was changed to a four point Likert scale. The principal component analysis with varimax rotation, applied to the data from both samples (elderly adults and undergraduate students), yielded 3 factors for each group. The factor structure obtained from the responses provided by the undergraduate students only slightly agreed with that reported by Tomás-Sábado and Gómez-Benito (2002) for an equivalent Spanish sample. Internal consistence for elderly adults was a=.86, and a=.83 for undergraduate students. Discriminant validity was documented. The version of Templer's Death Anxiety Scale presented would seem to have adequate psychometric properties for its use with elderly Mexican adults. Finally, the results provide evidence of the possible impact the cultural differences between Spanish-speaking nations and generations have on the psychometric properties of the scale.

Estructura de pérdidas en la adultez mayor: una propuesta de medida / Loss structure in elderly adults: A measurement proposal

The term <> in this article refers to the lack of a significant adaptive resource that is a central part of the affective world of the subject. The absence of such resource can generate psychological distress. Old age is seen as a time in which numerous changes occur that are associated with losses in important areas of life and which, as a whole, constitute a major source of stress. These losses involve a series of physical, social and psychological changes that affect and define old age and that require the subject to develop a process of adaptation to many intense stressors. Loss structure can be defined as a set of significant objects (that can be grouped under different loss categories), perceived as being under threat of being lost, effectively lost, or whose existence is uncertain or ambiguous (conceived of as types of loss), and whose influence continues to define cognitions, affection and behaviors. The unprecedented loss structure found in elderly adults could set up different routes of maladjustment. Maladjustment appear in three fundamental areas: psychological, physical and social. Hence, frustration can lead to depression. Successive losses seen as a series of failures can generate feelings of despair; losses related to sources of affection can produce loneliness, etc. The Loss Structure Scale (LSS), proposed here is an instrument for exploring losses that usually occur in old age. It also allows a systematic exploration of a wide range of losses previously validated in the Mexican context as a first approach to possible psychosocial causes of psychological maladjustment in old age. Method The project was divided into two phases. The first corresponded to the design of the LSS, and the second to a psychometric evaluation. Four samples were used with subjects chosen by availability in Mexico City. One model of the scale was explored that consisted of 60 items linked to experiences of loss with three reply options for each item: No loss, Ambiguous loss, and Definite loss in a final sample of 193 subjects (69.34% women, N = 134). The following instruments were used: The Center of Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale; Beck's Anxiety Inventory; Hunter Opinions and Personal Expectations Scale; the perceived disease subscale of WHOQoL- Brief; The World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment, Brief; the Lack of Emotional Wellbeing subscale of the Multifaceted Loneliness Inventory and the Anxiety About Aging Scale. Results Factor structure. A factor analysis was carried out using the principal components method with varimax rotation and eigen values greater than one. The final factor structure showed nine well defined factors covering 36 items with an internal alpha consistence of .91 explaining 67.4% of the variance. Alpha values for the internal consistence of the 9 factors fluctuated between .74 and .83. Construct validity. 1) Moderately high correlations were obtained between total score on the Loss Structure Scale and all psychological maladjustment variables (between r=.50 and r = .66; p<.01), with the exception of aging anxiety, which seems to point to the important pathogenic role of losses suffered in most of the maladjustment variables, 2) a negative association was found between the frequency of no losses and the afore mentioned variables, with depression (r = -.70, p<.01) and loneliness (r = -.68, p<.01), 3) ambiguous loss frequency correlated positively with depression (r=.54, p<.01), loneliness (r = .47, p<.01), anxiety (r = .42, p<.01) and aging anxiety (r = .40, p< .01), 4) the frequency of definite losses correlated strongly with loneliness (r = .53, p<.01), depression (r = .50, p<.01) and perceived disease (r=.47, p<.01). Predictive ability. In order to determine the degree to which the loss categories can predict psychological maladjustment, a multiple regression analysis was carried out taking these categories as independent variables. The better predicted variables were depression (R²adjusted=.487, gl=9, F = 21.22, p<.000), perceived disease (R²adjusted =.443, gl=9, F = 17.97, p<.000), loneliness (R²adjusted = .423, gl=9, F = 16.62, p<.000), anxiety (R²adjusted =.347, gl=9, F=12.33, p<.000) and despair (R²adjusted =.311, gl = 9, F=10.61, p<.000). Discriminant validity. The scale's ability to discriminate subjects with high and low levels of psychological maladjustment was analyzed. The scale proved to be useful for significantly discriminating the subjects in each type of loss in each maladjustment category. Normalization. Standard deviation ranges were calculated for the total natural scores on the LSS. Subjects with a natural score equal to or greater than 66, could be considered as having a higher loss structure than the majority of elderly adults that could, very well, be associated with high levels of psychological maladjustment. In regard to the empirical evidence reported here, the LSS provide a theoretical definition of a multivariable loss structure with stressor effects for the elderly adult that is closely linked to psychological maladjustment and can vary from subject to subject. This is a useful contribution to empirical knowledge of old age in Mexico and to research about health psychology, because it could contribute to evaluate the impact of losses in models that explore the effects of stress in elderly adults. The Loss Structure construct developed for the purpose of this research was the result of an analysis of the experience generated by losses suffered in old age. Elderly persons have to face losses which, as they accumulate, will demand constant readjustment of life conditions. The nine areas resulting from the Loss Structure Scale attempt to cover a broad spectrum of possible losses that can occur in old age.

La estructura de pérdidas puede ser definida como el conjunto de objetos significativos (susceptibles de ser agrupados en diferentes clases de pérdidas), percibidos bajo amenaza de ser perdidos, efectivamente perdidos, o cuya pertenencia es insegura o ambigua (concebibles como tipos de pérdidas), en una etapa determinada de la vida, y cuya influencia define cogniciones, afectos y conductas ante ella. La estructura de pérdidas presente en la adultez mayor, sin precedente en la vida del sujeto, podría definir diferentes rutas de desajuste. La Escala de Estructura de Pérdidas (EEP) propuesta aquí, es un instrumento cuyo propósito es permitir la exploración de las pérdidas que suelen ocurrir en la adultez mayor. La EEP permite la exploración sistemática de un abanico de pérdidas previamente validadas en un contexto latinoamericano, mexicano, como una primera aproximación a las posibles causas psicosociales del desajuste psicológico en la adultez mayor. La EEP propuesta aquí, obtuvo una estructura factorial compuesta de nueve factores bien definidos que en conjunto incluyeron 36 reactivos, con una consistencia interna alfa de .91 que explicó 67.4% de la varianza. La consistencia interna de los nueve factores fluctuó entre valores alfa de .74 y .83. Además, se obtuvieron correlaciones moderadamente altas entre el total del puntaje de la EEP con todas las variables de desajuste psicológico (entre r = .50 y r = .66; p<.01), excepto con la ansiedad ante el envejecimiento. Así, se encontró una asociación negativa entre la frecuencia de no pérdidas y dichas variables, destacando la depresión (r = -.70, p<.01) y la soledad (r = -.68, p<.01). La frecuencia de pérdidas ambiguas se correlacionó positivamente con Depresión (r=.54, p<.01), Soledad (r = .47, p<.01), Ansiedad (r = .42, p<.01) y Ansiedad ante el envejecimiento (r = .40, p<.01). La frecuencia de pérdidas consumadas se correlacionó de manera importante con soledad (r=.53, p<.01), depresión (r = .50, p<.01) y enfermedad percibida (r = .47, p<.01). La escala fue útil para discriminar sujetos con altos y bajos niveles de desajuste psicológico. Adicionalmente, se incluyeron valores normalizados de los distintos puntajes de la Escala de Estructura de Pérdidas. Asimismo, la EEP permitió definir teóricamente, a partir de la evidencia empírica reportada aquí, la existencia de una estructura multivariable de pérdidas, con efectos estresores para el adulto mayor, íntimamente ligada al desajuste psicológico y que puede variar de sujeto a sujeto. Esta es una aportación útil al conocimiento empírico de la vejez en nuestro país, y a la investigación en psicología de la salud, porque permite evaluar el impacto de las pérdidas en modelos de exploración de los efectos del estrés en adultos mayores. El constructo de Estructura de Pérdidas, desarrollado para esta investigación, fue resultado del análisis de la experiencia generada por las pérdidas sufridas en la adultez mayor. El viejo se enfrenta a pérdidas (a una estructura de pérdidas) que de manera acumulada exigirá de él un reajuste constante a sus condiciones de vida. Por lo tanto, las nueve áreas resultantes de la Escala de Estructura de Pérdidas pretenden cubrir un amplio espectro de las posibles pérdidas susceptibles de ocurrir en la adultez mayor.

Escala de ansiedad ante el envejecimiento de Lasher y Faulkender: propiedades psicométricas en adultos mayores mexicanos

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Summary: Lifshitz has documented that conceptualization of old age is influenced by stereotypes. Milligan, Powell, Harley and Furchtgott, made evident that elderly people with poor health have a tendency to see themselves as the stereotype of an "old person", whereas those with better health tend to see themselves as younger people. Lasher and Faulkender have stressed the importance of anxiety in the process of getting old as an important factor adjusting to themselves. Lack of adjustment may manifest in four main dimensions: physical, psychological and social, and transpersonal or spiritual. These four dimensions are synthesized in three specific fears: 1. Fear of the process of aging, 2. fear of the state of being old, and 3. fear or anxiety facing old people. Based on this theoretical frame, the authors developed the Anxiety about Aging Scale, and Watkins, Coates and Ferroni pointed out the need to adapt it in order to apply it on elderly people. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the psychometric properties of the original Lasher and Faulkender scale, as well as presenting an adapted version for Mexican elderly people. Method. Two independent samples of elder adults were used (n=234 and n=151) selected by availability within a government health clinic; on average, they were 63 years old. The original Lasher and Faulkender scale was translated into Spanish following a double blind procedure, using Likert type answer options with four alternatives. Two questionnaires were used, which included the original scale (EAE-O), in one, and the adapted scale (EAE-A) in the other, as well as the sub-scale of attitude facing one's own aging of the Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale, APE (2), and the Suicidal Ideational Scale (EIS), designed by Roberts (3). Additionally, interviewees were asked: «If you should have to set an age, forgetting a little about what doctors and people say, at what age would you consider that you really start to be "Old"? ¼ and at what age do you think one would get "very old"? The scales were applied to subjects who agreed voluntarily to participate in an anonymous and informed way. Resulting data were analyzed with the system SPSS, v. 11.0. Factorial structure. A factorial analysis with varimax rotation and eigen values greater than 1 produced the following results: EAE-O: The structure obtained was compounded by three factors that explained 53.1% of the variance with Cronbach's alpha of .74 (Fear facing one's own aging, Positive attitude towards old people and Optimism facing one's own aging). EAE-A: The analysis shed a factorial structure compounded by four factors that explained 60.8% of the variance with a general internal alpha consistency of .76 (Positive attitude towards old people, Fear of physical changes, Age and satisfaction with the self and life, and Age and dissatisfaction with the self and life). Concurrent validity. EAE-O. The correlation among the total punctuations of the EAE-O and APE was moderate and significant (r=.481, p<.000). The factors Fear facing one's own aging and Optimism facing one's own aging of the EAE-O, calculated here, obtained a moderate association with the total punctuation of the APE (r=.423, p<.000; r=.333, p<.000, respectively), and the factor of Positive attitude facing old people reported a very low association and no significant (r=.075, p=.252). As expected, the two factors of the APE that seem to evaluate positive and negative attitudes facing aging obtained moderate associations and significant with the two scales of the EAE-O that seem to evaluate the same attitudes (Optimism facing one's own aging, r=.415, p<.000; and Fear facing one's own aging, r=.424, p<.000, respectively). Consequently, a very low association was obtained when relating it with the opposite factor (v.gr. negative vs. positive). EAE-A. Associations between the factors Age and dissatisfaction and Age and satisfaction (similar to the factors of Fear facing one's own aging and Optimism facing one's own aging) and the total score of the APE were moderately high (r =.499, p<.000, and r =.383, p<.000, respectively), as long as the other two factors of the EAE-A presented associations moderately low. As it was to be expected, again were associated in an important way the EAE-A scales with a positive nuance (aging and satisfaction, Positive attitude before old people) with the scale of the APE's Positive attitude, and vice versa. The factors of aging and dissatisfaction and Fear to physical changes were significantly associated with the negative attitude of the APE. The relationship between perceived aging (when is one old?, and when is one too old?) and anxiety before aging; with a marginal meaning, it was found that those people with low levels of anxiety tend to refer an age but remote ( X - =68.2 years, DE= 9.8), than those with high levels of anxiety ( X - =64.47, DE=11.7; t=1.74, gl=57.9, p=.08), to the question of the age that one is "old". Concerning the question when is one too old?, the same tendency it was observed, but this time in a meaningful way (Low Anxiety: X - =80.9 years; DE=9.1; High Anxiety: X - =76.4 years; DE=9.1; t=2.51, gl=128, p=.01). Regarding suicidal ideation, it was found that subjects who score low levels of anxiety before aging according to EAE-A also had lower levels of anxiety of suicidal ideation ( X - = 1.25, DE=1.47), than those with high levels of anxiety ( X - =2.35, DE=2.51; t=2.84, gl=64.45, p=.006). Results contributed by the psicometric analysis of both versions of the EAE have allowed to confirm their utility in Mexican samples. Together, the EAE-O seems to investigate the anxiety before aging as a stage of life; as a state of being, and perhaps could be specially useful on people who are not necessarily elders (old people caretakers, adults between 50 and 60 years old in a frank transition towards the socially conceived old Adulthood, etc.). However, it could be worthwhile to focus on the singular situation of a subject regarding his own aging process (physical or psychosocial), when this is precisely the objective to be investigated; the EAE-A could be useful to this effect. Elderly adults seem to conceptualize "being old" as an event that occurs approximately at 70, and "very old" around 80; this chronological approach seems to obey, at least in part, to the level of anxiety before the aging process; the higher the anxiety, the earlier the beginning of old age. Results allowed to highlight the anxiety facing aging like a variable importantly linked to the psychological imbalance in the old adult, as it was possible to evidence in broadly significant terms with the EAE-A as with the APE, starting from their relationship with the suicidal ideational, and more, when this relationship is found in fellows without current marital commitment and of low educational level. This should be considered in programs of attention to this age sector where these factors of risk are evaluated with a view toward preventing the incidence of suicides. Different studies have highlighted the importance of developing a positive attitude before one's own aging and that of the other ones, in order to achieve a successful aging. This suggests the need to identify methods to promote positive attitudes in young adults toward the elders and the aging process.

Medidas de afrontamiento religioso y espiritualidad en adultos mayores mexicanos

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Summary: Spiritual life seems to play an important role in coping with stress in older adults. Spiritual life has been documented to have a positive effect on the sense of personal wellbeing in seniors and it has been inversely related to depression, to low levels of loneliness and psychopathology measured by MMPI-2. It has been documented that, when spirituality forms part of the subject's personality it tends to be expressed in his/her religious coping strategies and to have a positive impact on his/her health when these strategies are effectively used against stress during hospitalization and illness and against losses common in older age that are associated with depression. Two general approaches to the study of religious coping have been emphasized: a) the specific ways of coping, in which religious coping is a multidimensional phenomenon, which may include forgiveness, purification and confession, spiritual support, etc.; b) the study of coping patterns. The second approach includes religious coping methods and the patterns of interrelation they involve. Pargament et al. have distinguished between positive religious coping and negative religious coping; the former leads the individual towards productive and efficient spiritual coping associated with better health indicators than the negative coping strategy. According to the authors above mentioned, positive religious coping includes methods such as benevolent religious appraisal, collaborative religious coping and seeking spiritual support, seeking the support of clergy and church members, religious help and religious forgiveness. Negative religious coping includes methods such as punishing religious reappraisal, demonic religious appraisal, the reappraisal of the power of God, spiritual discontent, self directed religious coping, and interpersonal religious discontent. Pargament et al. have included these coping patterns in the Scale of Positive and Negative Patterns of Religious Coping Methods (Brief-RCOPE). Our research was aimed at identifying the validity and reliability of the religious coping scale (Brief-RCOPE) proposed by Pargament et al. in two samples of older adults living in Mexico City and selected according to availability in two health clinics. Additionally, with the objective of gaining greater knowledge of the characteristics of religious coping and the spiritual life of older Mexican adults, our research explored the possible existence of significant differences in the above mentioned variables regarding sex, age, education and religious denomination, marital and employment status. The subjects answered a questionnaire containing 37 questions with dichotomic multiple choice answers (likert type) which included: 1) demographic information; 2) the Positive and Negative Methods of Religious Coping Scale, Brief- RCOPE, with two subscales (positive religious coping and negative religious coping); 3) the subscale of Religious Coping when Confronting Loneliness, ARS, from the Loneliness Multiphase Inventory, IMSOL; and 4) the subscale of the Relationship with God from the Spiritual Wellbeing Scale, EBE. The results obtained allowed us to conclude that the tools that were used have adequate internal consistency which we obtained by calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient; however, the negative religious coping subscale gave conservative results that may indicate the need for further investigation. A significant association between the positive Brief-RCOPE, Religious Coping when confronted with loneliness and the subscale of Relationship with God was found, which supports the convergent validity of the first subscale. On the contrary, and in a way consistent with the results of the authors negative Brief-RCOPE was not significantly associated with the other scales, but had a conservative association with regard to a measurement consisting of two items in the Relationship with God subscale. These items seem to specifically evaluate the dissatisfaction of the individual in his/her relationship with God. We calculated the factorial structure of the tools through the analysis of major components with varimax rotation of eigenvalues greater than 1: For Brief-RCOPE it was only possible to confirm a well defined structure representing 49.5% of the variance explained with an internal consistency of α=.82 and which corresponded to positive religious coping. The Scale of Religious Coping when confronted with loneliness maintained a solid structure based on only one component which explained the 70.2% variance, according to the expectations of the author, with an internal consistency of α=.91. The EBE subscale of the Relationship with God presented two clearly defined components, which explained the 59.3% variance. The first component seems to evaluate a satisfactory relationship with God, whereas the second one seems to indicate an unsatisfactory one. In analyzing the socio-demographic variables, we found that the tendency to cope with feelings of loneliness through greater closeness with God was more frequent among women ( X=18.46) than among men ( X=16.47; t=2.04, p=.04). On the other hand, Religious Coping, when confronted with loneliness, seems so show a relationship that changes with the number of years of schooling: the higher the educational level, the less this coping strategy was used (elementary school, =18.66; middle school, X=17.71; high school, X=17.55; college, X=14.61; F=3.252, p=.024). Meanwhile, those subjects who were in a relationship (either married or living with their partner) tended to resort to religious coping to a lesser extent (Positive Brief-RCOPE, =19.29, ARS, X=16.72), than single people (single, widowed, separated or divorced) did (Positive Brief-RCOPE, =21.44, t=2.203, p=.030; ARS, =18.85, t=2.249, p=.026.) Finally, we compared the largest religious groups -Catholics and Christians- and we found that the latter turn more frequently to religious coping when confronted with loneliness ( X=20.45) than Catholics do ( X=17.30; t=2.667, p=.017). On the other hand, traditional christian denominations relate to God more frequently ( X=40.27) than Catholics do ( X=37.35; t=2.345, p=.032). Results reported here significantly attest to the psychometric qualities of the tools utilized. However, the negative coping subscale appears to call for further research. The IMSOL Religious Coping subscale proved to have the best psychometric properties, as regards internal consistency, validity and factorial structure for its use in research protocols dealing with older Mexican adults. Although EBE's Relationship with God subscale resulted in two clearly defined components instead of one, it was also shown to have psychometric qualities that make it useful for research. The analysis of the significant differences that exist in sociodemographic variables shows findings that are consistent with other research carried out in the Mexican context. The results obtained give empirical evidence on the way older Mexican adults live their spiritual life. Although the results described herein cannot be generalized, since they are not based on a random sample they contribute data that is consistent with other research.