Search

The study of social skills through self-report scales has become a topic of interest in academic fields due to its potential to favor interactions. In this article, we analyze the preliminary evidence of validity and reliability of the Goldstein Social Skills Scale, in a sample of young university students from Mexico. Its importance lies in the fact that it is a scale created for its application mainly in school contexts, not finding previous studies on its validity and reliability for the university population in that country. The procedure used was a maximum likelihood exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with Promax oblique rotation with 6 named factors; Planning, Initiative in Interactions, Assertiveness, Interaction with the group, Emotional Regulation and Conflict Management. The total explained variance is 44.96%. Regarding internal consistency, a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of .95 and a McDonald's omega coefficient of .95 were obtained. We concluded that the instrument requires adaptations to measure the social skills of university students; however, it is necessary to continue conducting psychometric studies for the evidence of the instrument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Electrónica de Psicología Iztacala is the property of Facultad de Estudios Superiores Iztacala and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Prosocial behavior refers to altruistic behavior in favor of other people. Prosocial behavior also results in a personal benefit for those who perform it, because it has a positive social effect and plays a transcendental role in the development of young people and their psychosocial adjustment. The present study analyses some social behaviors of adolescents living in poverty, with the aims of determining the predictors of their prosocial behavior and possible differences in prosocial behavior by gender and by type of place of residence. Two hypotheses were tested: that there are gender differences in the prosocial behavior of adolescents and that the social behavior of adolescents predicts their tendency towards prosocial behavior. No hypothesis was established for the type of locality. In this survey participated 1093 adolescents, 55.8% men, 61% from urban localities, average age of 14.92 (sd= 1.29) years, and average schooling 8.33 (sd= 1.71) years. Access to the national registry of the government's poverty reduction program was attained, from which a probabilistic selection of registered households was obtained, with national representativeness for the rural and urban domains. Households with adolescent children were selected from the national sample of households, to visit them in a second survey to interview the children of the heads of these households. Analyses were conducted to determine differences in prosocial behavior by gender and urbanization. Results showed that male and female scores differed significantly, in favor of females. However, the prosocial behavior scores of rural and urban youths did not differ significantly. To identify potential predictors of prosocial behavior, a structural equation modeling was performed. The model included a latent variable called Socialization, which was made up of scales that measure social competence, positive relationships with peers, social support and support from friends. Permissive parental style, oppositional behavior, loneliness, religiosity, and the number of children under 12 in the household were also tested. The resulting model showed that Socialization was the main predictor of the prosocial behavior of adolescents. Permissive parental style and loneliness were also positive predictors of prosocial behavior; while oppositional behavior and the number of children under the age of 12 in the household predicted it negatively. The tested model reached an adequate fit and explained 61% of the total variance of prosocial behavior. The present data supported the hypotheses of the study since we observed gender differences in the prosocial behavior of adolescents; and the structural equations modeling confirmed the relative importance of indicators of social behavior, grouped into Socialization, in the prediction of prosocial behavior. However, prosocial behavior did not differ by type of residence. The findings confirmed the close relationship between interpersonal relationships, social support, and prosocial behavior; since those who were socially more efficient and successful, and received more support tended to reciprocate with greater altruism towards their peers. Additionally, less oppositional behavior was associated with greater altruism. The positive relationship between loneliness and prosocial behavior indicated that the tendency towards social isolation promotes altruistic behavior. Results also suggested that less disciplinary parental control promotes behavior in favor of others; but not the coexistence with young children. No direct relationship between religiosity and prosocial behavior was found. Among the strengths of this study should be mentioned that the results obtained came from a national probabilistic sample of households and the large size of the sample; as well as some caveats like the cross-sectional design of the survey and the use of self-reports. However, we consider that it is possible to use the present results in the planning of intervention strategies with adolescents, with the purpose of stimulating prosocial behavior in future generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research about ED (eating disorder) has shown important advances in the last decades. We have distinguished two main ways of approaching this topic. On the one hand there are several works in the clinical field, focused in studying the symptomatology, psychiatric taxonomy and treatment of those disorders. On the other hand, there is significant research on the epidemiological field, which is more focused towards the understanding of the phenomenon. In fact, this second approach led to the development of the preventive approach in the late 90s. This approach focuses in the population at risk and this work is framed in the preventive approach. The difference between a TCA and a risk factor is that the first one forms a syndrome, a set of symptoms (quantitatively and qualitatively) grouped as diagnostic criteria identified in the DSM-IVTR. On the other hand, risk factors are those isolated manifestations or symptoms that appear with a lesser magnitude and frequency. For example, abnormal eating behavior like following a diet to control weight or excessive concern about personal body weight. One of the most important factors that occurs before the development of an ED is following a restricted diet. Hence, the risk for people on a diet of turning into clinical cases increases eight times. Moreover, such behavior has become a normative practice, specifically in Western societies. Thus, several authors have pointed out that patients show autonomy problems previous to the disorder. Examples include interpersonal problems such as introversion, insecurity, dependency, social anxiety, lack of assertiveness, difficulty to establish relationships with the opposite gender, inefficiency feelings, failure and lack of control in the academic, working and social fields. All these are indicators of a latent discrepancy of social skills. Considering that restricted dieting represents a fundamental risk factor on the development of an ED, and under the assumption that the deficit in social skills is a predisposing factor in such disorders, the aim of this work was to determine if there is a relation between various social skills and abnormal eating behaviors (following a restricted diet or concern about weight and food) in Mexican adolescent women. We worked with a sample of N=700 women, coming from five different public middle schools mixed with ... =12.81 years old and SD=0.73. The data was collected through two instruments: Health and Nourishing Questionnaire, and Pluridimensional Assertive Behavior Scale, adapted to the Mexican population. Among the more relevant results we found a significant correlation between the following two variables: social skills and eating behaviors (dieting r=0.148, p<0.01 and concern about weight and food r=0.081, p< 0.05). Although the correlation was low, it can be interpreted as a tendency in the following way: «the more problems in social skills the person has, the more restricted diets and concerns about weight and food we can observe». In a second analysis, in which extreme groups (high and low social skills) were compared, our results confirmed the theory about relating these two variables. The mean values indicate that in the first group (low social skills) restricted dieting was a greater problem [t (306)=-1.329, p= .002] than in the second group (high social skills). Other results showed that more than half of the participants (56%) have followed a restricted dieting in the past and 65% of them are concerned about their body weight. Additionally, a significant correlation between these two variables was found (r=0.677, p<0.01), confirming that these behaviors have become normative among women at this age and these constitute a latent risk to the development of ED.… [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]