Temperaments arc often regarded as biologically based psychological tendencies with intrinsic paths of development. It is argued that this definition applies to the personality traits of the five-factor model. Evidence for the endogenous nature of traits is summarized from studies of behavior genetics, parentchild relations, personality structure, animal personality, and the longitudinal stability of individual differences. New evidence for intrinsic maturation is offered from analyses of NEO Five-Factor Inventory scores for men and women age 14 and over in German, British, Spanish, Czech, and Turkish samples (N = 5,085). These data support strong conceptual links to child temperament despite modest empirical associations. The intrinsic maturation of personality is complemented by the culturally conditioned development of characteristic adaptations that express personality; interventions in human development are best addressed to these.There are both empirical and conceptual links between child temperaments and adult personality traits. The empirical associations are modest, but the conceptual relations are profound. Explaining how this is so requires a complicated chain of arguments and evidence. For example, we report cross-sectional data showing (among other things) that adolescents are lower in Conscientiousness than are middle-aged and older adults in Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, the Czech Republic, and Turkey. The relevance of such data may not be immediately obvious, but in fact they speak to the transcontextual nature of personality traits and thus to the fundamental issue of nature versus nurture.

The characteristics of homeless people in Europe are almost unknown. The aim of this study was to describe the lifetime and 12-month prevalence of DSM-III-R/CIDI mental disorders among the homeless population of Madrid. A total of 261 homeless subjects, sampled from different sites, participated in the study. In terms of DSM-III-R lifetime rates, 50% of the sample had substance-related disorders and 35% had non-substance-related disorders. In total, 67% of the study subjects had some type of disorder. The lifetime prevalence of schizophrenia (4%) was lower than reported in most previous studies. Although the mental illness pattern is similar to that observed in studies using the same diagnostic methods, the results reported here show a lower prevalence of drug abuse and schizophrenic disorders. The reasons for these cultural differences and their implications for international public health research are discussed.

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Resumen: Este estudio tenía dos objetivos. Primero, analizar el rendimiento diagnóstico de la versión española del Inventario de Depresión de Beck-II (BDI-II) en una muestra de pacientes con trastornos psicológicos y, segundo, examinar si las soluciones unifactoriales y bifactoriales del BDI-II encontradas previamente en muestras similares son replicables y, de ser así, analizar la contribución relativa del factor general y de los dos factores específicos a la varianza del BDI-II. El BDI-II, junto con el módulo de los trastornos del estado de ánimo de la Entrevista Clínica Estructurada para los Trastornos del Eje I del DSM-IV (SCID-I VC) y un listado de cotejo de síntomas depresivos completado por el clínico, fueron aplicados a una muestra española de 322 pacientes adultos ambulatorios con diversos trastornos psicológicos. Tomando como criterio el diagnóstico clínico basado en la SCID-I VC y el listado de cotejo de síntomas depresivos, el BDI-II demostró un rendimiento diagnóstico aceptable para discriminar entre pacientes con trastorno depresivo mayor y pacientes sin depresión. Los análi-sis factoriales indicaron que el BDI-II mide una dimensión general de depresión compuesta por dos factores relacionados (somático y cognitivo), pero estos factores apenas explicaban varianza adicional más allá de la puntuación global. Palabras clave: Depresión; BDI-II; diagnóstico; estructura factorial; pacientes psicopatológicos.Title: Diagnostic performance and factorial structure of the Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition (BDI-II). Abstract: This study had to aims. The first aim was to analyze the diagnostic performance of the Spanish version of the Beck Depression InventorySecond Edition (BDI-II) in a sample of patients with psychological disorders. The second aim was to examine whether the one-and two-factor solutions previously found for the BDI-II in similar samples are replicable, and, if it is so, to analyze the independent contribution of the general factor and the two specific factors to the variance of the BDI-II. The BDI-II, along with the mood disorder module of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I disorders, Clinical Version (SCID-I VC) and a clinicianadministered checklist for depressive symptoms, were administered to a Spanish sample of 322 adult outpatients with a variety of psychological disorders. Taking as a criterion the clinical diagnosis based on the SCID-I VC and the checklist for depressive symptoms, the BDI-II showed an acceptable diagnostic performance to discriminate between patients with major depressive disorder and those without depression. Factor analyses suggested that the BDI-II assess a general depression dimension composed of two related factors (somatic and cognitive symptoms), but these factors hardly explained any additional variance beyond accounted for by the fullscale score. Key words: Depression; BDI-II; diagnosis; factorial structure; psychopathological patients. IntroducciónSegún un estudio reciente sobre una muestra de 3126 psicó-logos españoles, todos ellos mie...

In this paper we compare rates of mental disorders (major depression, dysthymia, cognitive impairment, and schizophrenia) among homeless people in Madrid and Los Angeles (LA) and examine the ordering of the onset of both conditions (i.e., homelessness and mental disorders). In the Madrid study, 262 homeless persons were interviewed using the CIDI. In the LA study, 1563 homeless persons were interviewed with the DIS. To make an item-by-item comparison, we companied the databases from both studies to submit a single database to statistical analyses. Results showed no significant differences in DSM-III-R life-time prevalence rates of mental disorders between both samples. However, the Madrid sample showed higher 12-month prevalence rates of dysthymia and cognitive impairment as compared to the LA sample. Most subjects across both cities first experienced symptoms of their mental disorders before first becoming homeless. The only significant difference was that all of the depressed adults in Madrid experienced depression prior to first becoming homeless, whereas this was the case for only 59.1% of LA depressed homeless people. We discuss the reasons for these cultural differences and their implications for cross-national public health research and intervention.

This article was aimed at systematically reviewing the literature on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among victims of terrorist attacks. Electronic and hand searches of the literature identified 35 studies addressing PTSD prevalence based on validated diagnostic interviews. Overall, in the year after terrorist attacks, 33% to 39% of direct victims developed PTSD, whereas the percentage of indirect victims with PTSD was lower (4% in the affected community, 5%-6% among emergency, rescue, and recovery workers, and 17%-29% among relatives and friends of the injured or killed victims), but nonetheless above the prevalence in the general population. With the passing of time, a significant reduction of PTSD can be expected in the affected community and in the emergency and rescue personnel, but not in the injured victims, in the relatives and friends of the injured or killed victims, and in nontraditional, more vulnerable disaster workers. The implications of these results for the psychological treatment of terrorism victims are discussed.

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Only one-third of patients with hypertension under pharmacological treatment achieve the recommended blood pressure goals. Psychological factors could partially account for poor hypertension control through the existence of personality traits related to treatment compliance (e.g., self-discipline, deliberation, impulsiveness), and the fact that stress and some personality traits (e.g., anxiety, depression, anger expression, Type A) are involved in the etiology of some hypertension cases. This study was aimed at examining the differences in personality and stress between patients taking antihypertensive medications with controlled and uncontrolled hypertension. Results revealed that after controlling sex, age, and traditional variables associated with poor hypertension control, the uncontrolled hypertension group showed higher scores on impulsiveness, depression, anger expression-out, and stress, with differences ranging between medium and large (Hedges' g effect size = 0.77 to 1.08). These results support the hypothesized relationship between psychological factors and poor hypertension control.