Child sexual abuse is a complex issue that can take place in different contexts. Sports settings have specific features which pose increased risk for sexual abuse to occur. Recently, a country-specific roadmap for effective child... more
Child sexual abuse is a complex issue that can take place in different contexts. Sports settings have specific features which pose increased risk for sexual abuse to occur. Recently, a country-specific roadmap for effective child safeguarding in sport was launched. Considering the need to achieve a comprehensive picture of violence against children in sports settings in Portugal, we analyzed the perceptions of the sports community in Portugal regarding child sexual abuse, its victims and perpetrators, and the specific risk factors in sports settings, as studies about this specific topic are scarce at the national level. A descriptive exploratory study was conducted using an online questionnaire with open-ended questions. Three hundred participants, i.e., sports managers, coaches, and athletes over 18 years of age (M = 33.13; SD = 13.062), of which 55.7% were female, answered. A thematic analysis of these data was conducted using NVivo software. Inter-rater agreement was strong for a...
Research Interests:
Considerando a vulnerabilidade da saúde mental dos jovens adultos, e a mudança abrupta das suas rotinas no primeiro confinamento decretado em Portugal, em março de 2020, devido à pandemia provocada pela COVID-19, este estudo analisou 1) o... more
Considerando a vulnerabilidade da saúde mental dos jovens adultos, e a mudança abrupta das suas rotinas no primeiro confinamento decretado em Portugal, em março de 2020, devido à pandemia provocada pela COVID-19, este estudo analisou 1) o estado emocional de uma amostra de estudantes universitários durante o primeiro confinamento, 2) as estratégias de coping reportadas durante esse período, 3) o papel mediador das estratégias de coping no reporte de sintomas de ansiedade, depressão e stress. Os resultados indicam que, à semelhança de outros países, as mulheres reportam maiores níveis de ansiedade, depressão e stress. Também são estas que reportam não só o recurso a estratégias de coping negativo, mas também positivo (suporte social). O retraimento e a recusa medeiam a relação entre o sexo do participante e o estado emocional. Os resultados apontam para um conjunto de reflexões sobre intervenções de promoção de bem-estar em jovens universitários.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Using a social identity perspective as the guiding framework, this article examines how children of minorities use alternative comparisons to achieve positive distinctiveness of their minority group. We conducted a quasi-experimental... more
Using a social identity perspective as the guiding framework, this article examines how children of minorities use alternative comparisons to achieve positive distinctiveness of their minority group. We conducted a quasi-experimental study with 60 Portuguese children (Black, White and Gypsy) who were asked for their group preferences and attributions towards their own and other groups. Majority children showed in-group favoritism on both preference and attribution measures, but members of both minorities showed greater preference for majority members as well as for members of the in-group than for members of the other minority group. We concluded that, as predicted by social identity theory, one creative identity management strategy is that minorities emphasize their similarity with the high status majority while downgrading another minority.
Research Interests:
Katruccy Medeiros (✉ Katruccy_22@yahoo.com.br), Silvana Maciel, & Joana Alexandre 1 Doutoranda em Psicologia Social pela Universidade Federal da Paraíba e bolsista CAPES, Programa Doutorado Sanduíche no Exterior, Brasil; 2 Professora do... more
Katruccy Medeiros (✉ Katruccy_22@yahoo.com.br), Silvana Maciel, & Joana Alexandre 1 Doutoranda em Psicologia Social pela Universidade Federal da Paraíba e bolsista CAPES, Programa Doutorado Sanduíche no Exterior, Brasil; 2 Professora do Departamento de Psicologia da UFPB e da pós-graduação em Psicologia Social da Universidade Federal da Paraíba. Pesquisadora bolsista de produtividade, nível 2 (CNPq), Brasil, 3 Professora auxiliar do Departamento de Psicologia Social e das Organizações, ISCTE-IUL, Portugal
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Often, disadvantaged groups internalize their inferiority. For instance, minorities have been found to agree with majorities that they are less prototypical for superordinate categories (SCs). However, in the current research we identify... more
Often, disadvantaged groups internalize their inferiority. For instance, minorities have been found to agree with majorities that they are less prototypical for superordinate categories (SCs). However, in the current research we identify conditions that allow minorities to claim higher relative prototypicality. In Study 1 (N = 97) we predicted and found that members of a Protestant disadvantaged minority whose identity is based in a strong belief system considered their group as more relatively prototypical of Christians in Portugal (SC) than the Catholic majority did. Moreover, induced accuracy motivation reduced ingroup prototypicality, a pattern usually shown by majorities. In Study 2 (N = 48) we replicated these results and found that they were limited to the belief-relevant SC (Christians in Portugal) as compared to a belief-irrelevant SC (Portuguese). In Study 3 (N = 144) the minority group (Portuguese from Porto) perceived themselves to be more prototypical Portuguese (SC) than the majority (Portuguese from Lisbon) only when the SC was presented as improving on a dimension central to the minorities’ self-stereotype. We conclude that in line with social identity theory, minorities who believe that the future belongs to them, that is, who hold a social change belief system, feel entitled to claim high ingroup prototypicality that is at odds with apparent reality constraints.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The study of subjective well-being is of great importance as it has been related with health and longevity (Diener and Chan 2011), income, productivity, organizational behavior (e.g., performance, absenteeism), educational outcomes... more
The study of subjective well-being is of great importance as it has been related with health and longevity (Diener and Chan 2011), income, productivity, organizational behavior (e.g., performance, absenteeism), educational outcomes (Gutman and Vorhaus 2012) and individual and social behaviors (e.g., increased sociability, reduced risk-taking; De Neve et al. 2013). Subjective well-being is also an important indicator of positive development throughout the whole life course, including early and middle childhood (Park 2004; Pollard and Lee 2003).
Research Interests:
Sexual abuse is a high prevalence problematic that has a very significative and negative impact in a child or young person’s life, its family and the community. Disseminating the usage of universal prevention programs is fundamental. The... more
Sexual abuse is a high prevalence problematic that has a very significative and negative impact in a child or young person’s life, its family and the community. Disseminating the usage of universal prevention programs is fundamental. The aim of this study is to analyze whether the game “Vamos prevenir! As aventuras do Búzio e da Coral” (Agulhas et al., 2016), designed to be played by children between 6 and 10 years old, promotes the acquisition of knowledge to deal with eventual sexual abuse situations. We developed a quantitative study (with pre and post test), with a sample of 101 children from that age group, male and female, which had played the game. The results show that children evaluated the game in a very positive way; statistically significant differences in the number of incorrect and uncertain answers were found from the pre to the post test. Although modest, these results show the importance of increasing children’s understanding about sexual abuse enhancing protection ...
Background: The present study’s main aim was to determine the predictors of movie rewatchability and recommendations. Methods: Using a sample of 318 participants, we first tested the structure of a gratification scale from watching a... more
Background: The present study’s main aim was to determine the predictors of movie rewatchability and recommendations. Methods: Using a sample of 318 participants, we first tested the structure of a gratification scale from watching a movie. Then, we examined the role of age, need for cognition, need for affect, extraversion, and emotional gratifications, in predicting individuals’ interest in rewatching the movie and in making recommendations. Results: As in the original proposal of the emotional gratification scale, the following dimensions were identified: fun, thrill, empathic sadness, release of emotions, social sharing, contemplative experiences, and character engagement, with acceptable model fit and reliability, convergent and divergent validity. Social sharing, contemplate experiences, need for affect and age were significant predictors of movie recommendation; whereas social sharing, thrill, extraversion, and age contributed most to explaining rewatching interest. Conclusio...
Research Interests:
Youth problem gambling has become an emergent public health issue, and adolescents constitute a vulnerable age group for the development of gambling-related problems. Although there is research concerning the risk factors of youth problem... more
Youth problem gambling has become an emergent public health issue, and adolescents constitute a vulnerable age group for the development of gambling-related problems. Although there is research concerning the risk factors of youth problem gambling, rigorous evaluations of the effectiveness of preventive initiatives is still rare. The present study evaluated the efficacy of an integrative intervention to prevent youth problem gambling based on a multidimensional set of factors including gambling-related knowledge, misconceptions, attitudes, gambling frequency, amount of money spent, total hours spent gambling per week, and sensation seeking. A pre- and post-test design was performed with 111 Portuguese high-school students randomly assigned to two groups (experimental and control). The findings demonstrated that the intervention was effective in improving correct knowledge about gambling, reducing misconceptions and attitudes, and in decreasing the total hours spent gambling per week...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Background and aims Recent research suggests that youth problem gambling is associated with several factors, but little is known how these factors might influence or interact each other in predicting this behavior. Consequently, this is... more
Background and aims Recent research suggests that youth problem gambling is associated with several factors, but little is known how these factors might influence or interact each other in predicting this behavior. Consequently, this is the first study to examine the mediation effect of coping styles in the relationship between attachment to parental figures and problem gambling. Methods A total of 988 adolescents and emerging adults were recruited to participate. The first set of analyses tested the adequacy of a model comprising biological, cognitive, and family variables in predicting youth problem gambling. The second set of analyses explored the relationship between family and individual variables in problem gambling behavior. Results The results of the first set of analyses demonstrated that the individual factors of gender, cognitive distortions, and coping styles showed a significant predictive effect on youth problematic gambling, and the family factors of attachment and fa...
Research Interests:
Youth problem gambling is viewed as an emergent public health issue in many countries, and is also an emerging area of public concern in Portugal. However, there is currently no Portuguese instrument that focuses specifically on the... more
Youth problem gambling is viewed as an emergent public health issue in many countries, and is also an emerging area of public concern in Portugal. However, there is currently no Portuguese instrument that focuses specifically on the measurement of problem gambling among young people. Consequently, the present study aimed to validate the DSM-IV-MR-J for use among Portuguese adolescents and to examine its' psychometric properties. A cross-cultural adaption of this instrument to the Portuguese language was performed using the translation and back translation method. The final version of the instrument was administered to 753 Portuguese high school and first year college students. The findings revealed an acceptable internal reliability and replicated the one-factor structure of this scale. Based on these findings, the Portuguese DSM-IV-MR-J appears to be a valid and reliable instrument, and provides a much needed psychometric tool for the development of more research on youth gambl...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy. Universidad de Almería. riptp@ual.es. ISSN (Versión impresa): 1577-7057. ESPAÑA. 2007. Joana Dias Alexandre / Maria B. Monteiro / Sven Waldzus. MORE THAN ...