Evaluación de la serenidad infantil: Alternativas de autoinforme y reporte de observador / Assessment of child serenity: Self-report and observer report alternatives

Resumen Las emociones positivas constituyen una de las principales vías de acceso al bienestar psicológico, ya que favorecen el desarrollo de recursos que robustecen la capacidad de sobreponerse a la adversidad y de manejar con éxito diferentes situaciones de la vida. El presente trabajo aborda la medición de una emoción positiva de gran relevancia para el campo de la salud mental y la educación. El propósito principal fue construir y analizar el funcionamiento psicométrico de dos escalas independientes para evaluar la serenidad en niños argentinos: una técnica de autoinforme y un reporte de observador externo. Se llevó a cabo un estudio de tipo instrumental, con diferentes muestras de niños, seleccionadas para la autoevaluación y la heteroevaluación, a fin de analizar el poder discriminativo de los ítems, la consistencia interna, la validez de constructo y la validez nomológica de las escalas. En ambos casos, los resultados indicaron que los ítems tienen una adecuada capacidad discriminante, una consistencia interna alta, y se agrupan de manera clara en un único factor general. Asimismo, muestran evidencias de validez nomológica, ya que los niños con altas puntuaciones de serenidad tendrían menor probabilidad de mostrar comportamientos agresivos cuando se relacionan con sus compañeros, mostrarían menos hiperactividad y un menor número de reacciones impulsivas. A partir de los resultados, se concluye que las nuevas escalas de serenidad infantil constituyen un aporte interesante para el campo de la evaluación psicológica, ya que proveen datos confiables y válidos sobre una emoción positiva que ha sido escasamente estudiada en el período de la niñez.

Resumen Las emociones positivas constituyen una de las principales vías de acceso al bienestar psicológico, ya que favorecen el desarrollo de recursos que robustecen la capacidad de sobreponerse a la adversidad y de manejar con éxito diferentes situaciones de la vida. El presente trabajo aborda la medición de una emoción positiva de gran relevancia para el campo de la salud mental y la educación. El propósito principal fue construir y analizar el funcionamiento psicométrico de dos escalas independientes para evaluar la serenidad en niños argentinos: una técnica de autoinforme y un reporte de observador externo. Se llevó a cabo un estudio de tipo instrumental, con diferentes muestras de niños, seleccionadas para la autoevaluación y la heteroevaluación, a fin de analizar el poder discriminativo de los ítems, la consistencia interna, la validez de constructo y la validez nomológica de las escalas. En ambos casos, los resultados indicaron que los ítems tienen una adecuada capacidad discriminante, una consistencia interna alta, y se agrupan de manera clara en un único factor general. Asimismo, muestran evidencias de validez nomológica, ya que los niños con altas puntuaciones de serenidad tendrían menor probabilidad de mostrar comportamientos agresivos cuando se relacionan con sus compañeros, mostrarían menos hiperactividad y un menor número de reacciones impulsivas. A partir de los resultados, se concluye que las nuevas escalas de serenidad infantil constituyen un aporte interesante para el campo de la evaluación psicológica, ya que proveen datos confiables y válidos sobre una emoción positiva que ha sido escasamente estudiada en el período de la niñez.

Abstract The present research focuses on the measurement of a positive emotion of great relevance for the field of mental health and education. The main purpose was to develop and validate two independent scales to assess serenity in children: a self-report instrument and an external observer report. In Study 1, we evaluated the psychometric properties of a self-report instrument. The participants of this study were 613 children aged between 9 and 12 years old (44.70 % boys and 55.30 % girls), that attended public schools in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The scale consists of 11 items with three response options on a Likert scale (Yes, Sometimes, and No), and presents a comprehensible language for school-age children. It includes both general statements (e. g., "I am relaxed most of the time", "Most days I feel at peace"), as well as statements that refer to the search for serenity in threatening or stressful situations (e. g., "When someone bothers me I try to stay calm", "When things go wrong I try to calm down"). Study 2 was carried out to assess the psychometric properties of a serenity scale that takes into account the perspective of an external observer close to the child, such as parents or educators. This scale is appropriate for obtaining information from young children without the ability to read and write, from four years old and up. In addition, due to its short extension, it is ideal to work in the school context, when the teacher is required to complete the information for large groups of students. The non-randomized sample was composed of 365 children (51.4 % boys and 48.6 % girls), between 4 and 12 years of age, that attended the initial levels (.age = 4.60; SD = .50) and primary schools (.age = 8.13; SD = 1.68), from the province of Entre Ríos, Argentina. Teachers were responsible of answering the scale, in reference to each of their students. The report contains six items, with three response options on a Likert scale (Yes, More or less, and No). The items were formulated as questions that made reference to a threatening situation in which the child could exhibit or not the ability to calm down (e. g., "When the child encounters a problem, does he/she make an effort to stay calm?", "Can the child stay calm even if he/she is in a noisy or exciting environment?"). In both cases, an instrumental study was carried out to analyze the items' discriminative power, the internal consistency, the construct validity and the nomological validity of the scales. In both studies, the results indicated that the items have an adequate discriminant capacity, a high internal consistency, and are clearly grouped in a single general factor. They also provide evidence for nomological validity, since they correlate negatively and significantly with measures of aggression, hyperactivity and impulsivity. It is concluded that these new measures of serenity constitute an interesting contribution for the field of psychological evaluation, providing reliable and valid data on a positive emotion that has been scarcely studied in childhood. This study also revealed that serene children are less likely to show aggressive behaviors, such as hitting, kicking or insulting, when they relate to their peers; and that, in addition, they would show less hyperactivity and a smaller number of impulsive reactions. It would be advisable then that schools and parents could have a more active role in the teaching of exercises to encourage inner calm, in order to help their children to respond more responsively to the stressful situations in their environment.

Programa de fortalecimiento parental en contextos de vulnerabilidad social: Una propuesta desde el ámbito escolar / Program of parental strengthening in contexts of social vulnerability: A proposal from the school environment

El trabajo que se informa destaca el rol relevante de la familia y del ejercicio adecuado de la parentalidad para el desarrollo humano. Dado que las competencias parentales estarían relacionadas con el contexto social, se describen las características de las familias en vulnerabilidad social, teniendo en cuenta los riesgos psicosociales a los que muchas veces están expuestas, las consideraciones culturales de lo que significa ser buenos padres y las propias experiencias de los progenitores o cuidadores en sus familias de origen. Se revisan diversas modalidades de programas de intervención familiar y parental, destacando la importancia del diseño, implementación y evaluación de estos programas en contextos de vulnerabilidad social. En este marco, y considerando que en Argentina existe un escaso desarrollo de programas de apoyo a las familias socialmente vulnerables, se presenta una propuesta de intervención aplicable en el ámbito escolar y dirigida a fortalecer las competencias parentales. El programa propuesto, basado en el enfoque de la parentalidad positiva, integra elementos de los modelos de intervención educativo y comunitario, ya que se implementa en forma grupal, mediante encuentros expositivo-participativos y en coordinación con la escuela a la que asisten los hijos de los beneficiarios. Como conclusión y en función de la experiencia obtenida por las interventoras y la observada en las madres participantes, se presenta una reflexión sobre las contribuciones de la intervención propuesta y los desafíos pendientes para futuras aplicaciones del programa.

This study stresses the significant role of the family and a proper parenting performance for human development. Parenting in itself is very complex, since it demands a balanced combination of several essential factors such as affection, communication, discipline, and the autonomy granted to children. Given the fact that parental skills would be related to a specific social context, a description of the characteristics of families in situations of social vulnerability is provided. Likewise, it is noteworthy that parenting development would depend on those cultural considerations implicated in the concept of being good parents, and the parents or caregivers’ own experiences of upbringing, temperament and resilience. Subsequently, the main modalities of family intervention programs are reviewed, highlighting the importance of design, implementation and evaluation of the former in contexts of social vulnerability. Within this frame work, and considering that in Argentine there are very few programs supporting families in social vulnerability, the main aim of this research is to present an intervention proposal to strengthen parenting skills applicable in the school setting. The proposed program, which is based in the approach of positive parenting, integrates elements from educational and community intervention models, since it is performed in groups, by means of participative and expositive meetings and in coordination with the school attended by the children of the project participants. The proposed intervention was based on two basic areas: (a) direct intervention for parents: the promotion of parenting skills (i.e., attachment, parental empathy, parenting style, positive communication and support networks) and (b) indirect intervention for children: training parents in strategies to promote children’s development of socio-emotional resources (e.g., positive emotions, prosocial behavior, etc.). The intervention was carried out in a school within a context of social vulnerability in the province of Entre Ríos (Argentina). The organization of the meetings was conducted by an interdisciplinary team (i.e., psychologists and educational psychologists). The topics addressed were agreed with the participants based on their interests and needs; a total amount of 30 meetings of 60 to 90 minutes each were carried out. The themes were as follows: parental and child self-esteem, appropriate expression of affection, positive communication and conflict resolution, positive emotions, the strengthening of cognitive resources, prosocial behavior, social skills, family, parental and child resilience, social support networks to families and family-school relationships. The main approach techniques used were: (a) information exposure, (b) peers' feedback and co-reflection, (c) modeling of attitudes and alternative behaviors, (d) task assignments and proposals for action, and (e) interviews after workshops. The research findings are related to those found by other intervention programs made with parents and caregivers in other countries. These preliminary results show that parenting skills, the type of relationship and even the attachment with the children could be modified through the implementation of programs of parental strengthening. Furthermore, the results showed that the program could also help to improve family-school relationships. In some cases, the intervention implemented aroused the interest of the participants in the schooling situation of their children, and at the same time it improved the communication among parents, teachers, and the people in charge of the school. The exploratory results of this proposal of intervention clearly show the need to support and implement these specific kinds of programs, which aim to strengthen the resources of parenting skills and encourage a healthy development of children. Based on the experience got from interventionists and participating mothers, a final consideration about the contributions of the proposed intervention and the possible future challenges observed after the implementation of the program is presented.

Validación del Cuestionario de Conciencia Emocional en Adolescentes Españoles / Validation of Emotional Awareness Questionnaire in Spanish Adolescent

La regulación de la emoción es un proceso complejo que implica la iniciación, inhibición o modulación del propio estado o comportamiento en una situación dada (Cole, Michel & Teti, 1994). La regulación emocional tiene una función altamente significativa en la vida humana ya que reacciones emocionales inapropiadas, extremas o incontroladas pueden impedir un ajuste funcional a la sociedad (Koole, 2009). Sin embargo para una adecuada regulación emocional es necesaria una buena comprensión emocional y, a su vez, para una comprensión eficaz se requiere una apropiada percepción emocional. En este estudio se analizan las propiedades psicométricas de la versión española del Cuestionario de Conciencia Emocional revisado (Emotional Awareness Questionnaire, EAQ30) desarrollado por Rieffe, Oosterveld, Miers, Terwogt y Ly (2008). La versión española del EAQ30 fue administrada a 1.316 adolescentes españoles de 14 a 16 años. Los datos confirman la estructura original de la escala de seis factores: Distinción de las emociones, Intercambio verbal de las emociones, No ocultamiento de las emociones, Conciencia corporal, Análisis de las emociones y Atención a las emociones de los otros. Los coeficientes de consistencia interna de las subescalas del EAQ30 fueron satisfactorios y equivalentes a los obtenidos en la escala original. Por otra parte, el estudio también confirmó la invariancia de la estructura factorial del instrumento cuando se considera el sexo, en la adolescencia media. Estos resultados permitirían sostener que la adaptación al español aquí presentada puede ser utilizada para evaluar el constructo conciencia emocional en adolescentes de lengua española de un modo válido y confiable en ambos sexos.

Emotional awareness is an attentional process that enables us to monitor our emotions and to differentiate between various emotions in a qualitative sense, to locate their antecedents, and to acknowledge the physiological correlates of the emotion experience (Rieffe, Oosterveld, Miers, Terwogt, & Ly, 2008). Rieffe and colaborators (2008) consider that emotional awareness also includes attitudinal aspects such as positive or negative appreciation of the own emotions, consideration of them as aspects of oneself, or on the contrary, that they must be communicated to the others. Emotional awareness would be a cognitive skill that would enable the opportunity to regulate the most primitive emotional reactions and find patterns that are more appropriate reaction to a particular context (Rieffe, Terwogt, Petrides, Cowan, Miers, & Tolland, 2007). It is necessary to have a good emotional awareness to adequately cope a particular situation. Since there were no scales to measure emotional awareness but often alexithymia scales were used to evaluate it as its opposed emotional state, Rieffe and colleagues (2007) developed the Emotional Awareness Questionnaire (EAQ). Different analyses carried out by Rieffe and collaborators led to the Revised Emotional Awareness Questionnaire (EAQ Revised - Rieffe et al., 2008). Subsequent studies developed by Lahaye, Luminet, Broeck, Bodart, and Mikolajczak (2010) using the revised Emotional Awareness Questionnaire, found a positive correlation of the questionnaire’s six dimensions with emotional intelligence. The same study showed a negative correlation between emotional awareness and the three dimensions - difficulty in identifying feelings, difficulty in describing feelings, and oriented to an external thinking - that make up Alexithymia Questionnaire for Children developed by Rieffe, Oosterveld, and Meerum Terwogt (2006). Given the importance of emotional awareness to the emotional development of children and adolescents and that there are no instruments published in Spanish that validly measure this construct, in this study, we investigated the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Emotional Awareness Questionnaire (EAQ 30; Rieffe et al., 2008). The EAQ30 is a self-report questionnaire comprising 30 items rated on a 3-point scale (1 = Not true, 2 = Sometimes true, 3 = True). It includes six subscales or dimensions: (1) Differentiating emotions or ability to differentiate and understand the causes of emotions; (2) Bodily awareness or identification of the physical aspects of emotional experience; (3) Verbal sharing or verbal communication’s own emotional state; (4) Acting out emotions or impulsive tendency to show emotions of oneself in a way non- functional; (5) Analyses of emotionsor ability to deal voluntarily to one’s emotions; and finally, and (6) Attending to others’ emotions or the voluntary decision to deal with the emotions of others. The EAQ30 was administered to 1316 children aged 14 to 16 years old (age: M = 14.95; SD = .72), from Valencia (Spain), of middle socioeconomic level. The translation of this questionnaire was performed according to the International Test Commission guidelines for test adaptation (Hambleton, 2001). Asix-factor model was tested using AMOS Program; the results have shown that the original 6-factor structure was replicated in our data. The internal consistency coefficients of the EAQ30 subscales were satisfactory -Cronbach’s estimates between .68 and .70- and equivalent to those obtained in the original scale. A multiple group analysis was used to test whether the six-factor model was invariant across the gender by examining the change in model ji square and comparative fit index (CFI) values. We found the model of 6-factor has metric invariant through gender. These results allow us to claim that the Spanish version presented here can be used to evaluate the construct emotional awareness in Spanish adolescents of a valid and reliable way. It would be interesting to do further studies with different Spanish-speaking populations to see if the stability of the structure is preserved after making appropriate adjustments to the specific language in the use of Spanish for each of the populations involved.

Adaptación y validación en población española de la Escala de Expectativa de los hijos adolescentes sobre la reacción de sus padres frente al comportamiento prosocial y antisocial / Adaptation and Validation in Spanish Sample of Adolescents' Expected Parental Reactions to Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviors

El objetivo de esta investigación es presentar una adaptación y validación en población española de la Escala de Expectativa de los hijos adolescentes sobre la reacción de sus padres frente al comportamiento prosocial y antisocial, desarrollada por Wyatt y Carlo (2002). La muestra estuvo compuesta por 631 adolescentes españoles de entre 15 a 18 años de edad, de clase media, de ambos sexos. Se realizó un análisis factorial confirmatorio para estudiar la validez de constructo de la escala y se analizó la consistencia interna a través del cálculo del alpha de Cronbach. Los resultados indican que la escala posee buenos índices de ajuste al modelo teórico propuesto por los autores en su versión original. Asimismo, se realizó un análisis multigrupo con la intención de mostrar la invarianza del modelo en función del sexo. El modelo se mantuvo invariante, lo que confirma la estructura bifactorial de la escala que mide la expectativa de los adolescentes de la reacción de sus padres frente a las conductas adaptativas y desadaptativas.

The aim of this study is to carry out an adaptation and validation of Adolescents' Expected Parental Reactions Scale in Spanish sample. This original scale was developed by Wyatt and Carlo (2002). The sample was composed by 631 adolescents, between 15 and 18 years, middle-class and both sexes. A confirmatory factor analysis was carried out to study construct validity and with Cronbach's alpha was studied internal consistence. The results showed that scale has good fit indexes to theoretical model proposed by original authors. On the other hand, a multigroup analysis was carried out to study the invariance of model through both sexes. The model was invariant, this supports the bifactiral structure of the scale that assessments adolescents' expected parental reactions on prosocial and antisocial behaviors.

Construcción de una escala para evaluar el contexto familiar desde la perspectiva de los padres / Construction of a scale for assessing family context from the perspective of parents

Se presenta la construcción y validación de una escala que mide el contexto familiar desde la perspectiva de los padres, teniendo en cuenta la estimulación temprana que recibe el niño, y que Galvez (2007) define como la actividad de contacto con el bebé, que propicie sus potencialidades. Dentro de la línea ecológica sistémica de Bronfenbrenner (1987), Rodrigo y Palacios (1998) proponen tres aspectos del contexto familiar que afectan el desarrollo del niño: ideas y cogniciones de los padres con respecto al desarrollo, estilo de socialización y escenario e interacción educativa. Una versión preliminar con 73 ítemes fue administrada a una muestra de 229 sujetos para estudiar sus propiedades psicométricas. Se examinó el poder discriminativo de los ítemes, mediante la prueba t de diferencias de medias, resultando discriminativos 59 ítemes. Estos últimos fueron analizados factorialmente para determinar el número y la naturaleza de las dimensiones subyacentes. El análisis factorial exploratorio indicó la presencia de cuatro factores: ambiente familiar en relación a la estimulación personal, ambiente familiar con objetos estimulantes, ideas y creencias y prácticas de crianza. Los ítemes se agruparon guardando coherencia teórica con el planteo inicial. Se estudió la confiabilidad como consistencia interna, mediante el coeficiente Alpha de Cronbach obteniéndose un valor satisfactorio igual a .838. A partir de los cuatro factores hallados se seleccionaron los 16 ítemes (cuatro por factor) con mayor pesaje, que conformaron la escala definitiva de tipo Likert que presentó buenos indicadores de fiabilidad, poder discriminativo de los ítemes y validez de constructo.

The purpose of this work is to present the construction and validation of a scale about ideas and beliefs that parents have respect the cognitive development of their children, the kind of breed adopted and the quality of the family context. Among the different aspects that can be considered in what we call early relations, it is found the early stimulation that Galvez (2007) defines as the contact activity or play with a baby or child that propitiates, strengthens and develops appropriately its potentialities. The family plays a fundamental role in the evolutional development of the child. Different models of family organization agreed in the recognition of its importance (Richaud de Minzi, 2005). It also greatly influences the organization of structural and material processes of the home, the planning of activities taking place there and how parents interact with the child (Muñoz Silva, 2005). This organization is determined in part by the parents´ ideas and beliefs on the process of development of children and on the breeding practices (Siegel, McGillicuddy-Delisi & Goodnow, 1992). Taking into account an ecological systemic perspective, Bronfenbrenner's model (1987) shows the individual experience as a set of nearby structures, each inside the next, being the family the closest to the individual and which will offer the first stimulation experiences. From the point of view of the ecological theory of the individual's development, Rodrigo and Palacios (1998) have defined three family context aspects that will affect the child's development and have been taken as indicators for the construction of this instrument. These are the parents' ideas and beliefs regarding their children's cognitive development, the parenting style adopted by them and the quality of the family context. The items proposed by the authors were selected and reformulated taking into account the direct observation of Argentine parents and presented in a Likert format. The preliminary scale remained constituted by 73 items presented in a Likert scale of three points. No agreement, Moderately agree, and Highly agree. Questions referred to the level of education of the parents, age, and quantity of offspring was also incorporated. The preliminary scale was administered to 229 families of children attending four schools in the city of Buenos Aires (Argentina). To study the psychometric fitness of the scale it was first examine the discriminative capacity of the items using t test of mean differences or the contrasting group's method. The test was performed for the original 73 items, founding that 14 of them were no discriminatory. The preliminary scale was then reduced to 59 items. Factorial analysis of these 59 items was done, as a exploratory mode, to determine the number and nature of the dimensions present in the instrument. This test indicated the presence of four factors: (a) family environment related to personal stimulation, (b) family environment which includes stimulating objects, (c) ideas and beliefs, and (d) breeding practices. The items were grouped in coherence with the initial theoretical hypothesis. Based on factorial analysis the four heavier items in each factor (> .40) that they were not factorially complex were taken into account to constitute the final version of the scale. The factorization of the final 16 items clearly showed the items grouping in the four factors observed before (see Figure 2). These four factors explain 60.39% of variance (see Table 1). Reliability as internal consistence of the scale of 16 reactive through the Cronbach Alpha was analyzed and a coefficient of .738 was obtained. The scale here presented enables us to evaluate ideas and beliefs that parents have with respect to the evolving development of the child and how these materialize in its conduct related to the style of breeding as well as to the patterns of action and their interaction. The scale presents good psychometric properties, specially referring to the factorial structure being its reliability as its internal moderate consistency.

Función ejecutiva y uso de estrategias semánticas en niños / Executive function and use of semantic strategies in children

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar el uso de estrategias semánticas en población infantil y el efecto del funcionamiento ejecutivo sobre la frecuencia de uso de estas estrategias. Se trabajó con una muestra de 185 niños escolarizados de escuelas de gestión privada divididos en 4 grupos en función del curso. Los niños realizaron 4 ensayos de aprendizaje analizándose la cantidad de estrategias utilizadas a lo largo de los ensayos así como las diferencias de ensayo a ensayo. Además, se utilizaron diferentes tareas e índices de evaluación de la función ejecutiva. En primer lugar, los resultados muestran que, en la medida que se incrementa el nivel de escolaridad, los niños tienden a implementar un número mayor de estrategias semánticas en tareas de aprendizaje y recuerdo. En segundo lugar, se realizó un análisis discriminado por curso de las curvas de aprendizaje de las estrategias semánticas. Se encontró que, cuando se controlan las variables de funcionamiento ejecutivo, sólo se obtiene un efecto significativo para el factor ensayos, y desaparece la significación estadística tanto en la adquisición y uso de estrategias entre los ensayos en los distintos cursos, como en las diferencias en el total de estrategias empleadas entre los cursos. De este modo, los resultados indican que el funcionamiento ejecutivo puede jugar un rol de importancia en el uso de estrategias de codificación de información en niños.

The aim of this study is to analyze the use of semantic strategies on child population as well as the effect of executive function on frequency use of these strategies. A sample of 185 schooled children in private schools divided in 4 groups according to the level participated in this study. Children performed 4 learning attempts, so the quantity of used strategies along assays as well as differences from assay to assay were analyzed. Moreover, different tasks and assessment indexes about executive function were used. First, results showed that as the school level increases children tend to apply a major number of semantic strategies in learning and memory tasks. Secondly, a discriminate analysis by course of the learning curves of semantic strategies was carried out. It was possible to find that when the executive function' variable is controlled, what is obtained is a significant effect for the assay factor, and the statistic significance disappears on both acquisition and used of strategies between assays in different courses, and on differences in all the strategies used between courses. As a matter of fact, results indicate that executive function can play a roll of importance in use of strategies of coding information in children.

Estilos parentales y estrategias de afrontamiento en niños / Parental styles and coping strategies in children

El objetivo del presente trabajo era estudiar la influencia de los estilos de relación parental percibidos por el niño, sobre el desarrollo de las estrategias de afrontamiento de la amenaza y las emociones asociadas a los afrontamientos desadaptativos, la depresión y la soledad. Se administró la escala argentina de percepción de la relación con los padres para niños de 8 a 12 años, el cuestionario argentino de afrontamiento para niños y las versiones argentinas de la escala de depresión de Harter y Nowakowski y de la escala de soledad de Lovaina para niños y adolescentes, a 1.010 niños, de uno y otro sexo, entre 8 y 12 años. Los resultados indican que las familias democráticas promueven afrontamientos adaptativos de la amenaza y defienden a los niños de la depresión y la soledad. Por el contrario, las familias rechazantes promueven afrontamientos desadaptativos, soledad frente a los pares y depresión. Por su parte, las familias autoritarias determinan frente a la amenaza la búsqueda de apoyo en personas ajenas a ella y aparente inseguridad, ya que estos niños no utilizan la acción sobre el problema. Con respecto a los sentimientos asociados a los afrontamientos desadaptativos, la depresión y la afinidad por la soledad de los niños aparecen principalmente asociadas al rechazo y al desinterés de los padres, mientras que la aversión a la soledad se relaciona principalmente con el control normal y patológico

Desarrollos del análisis factorial para el estudio de ítem dicotómicos y ordinales / Factor analysis developments to the study of item-level data

Los ítem de evaluación cualitativa (dicotómicos u ordinales) presentan problemas específicos para la utilización del análisis factorial en las pruebas de personalidad.En el presente trabajo se revisan algunos desarrollos recientes en análisis factorial que resultan apropiados para este tipo de ítem. Estos desarrollos se han realizado en el contexto de dos modelos estadísticos: la Teoría de la Respuesta al Item y el modelo de las ecuaciones estructurales. También se verá la relevancia del escalamiento de ítem en el contexto de estos dos modelos. Se presentan algunos ejemplos de la utilidad de estos modelos para resolver cuestiones básicas, tales como la dimensionalidad de la escala y las propiedades generales de los ítem, la adecuación de las respuestas observadas y el funcionamiento diferencial del ítem a través de diferentes submuestras