The main purpose of this research was to examine the construct validity of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS-21) in order to determine whether it is able to adequately discriminate between symptoms of depression and anxiety in the Hispanic population in Puerto Rico. This study has an instrumental design. A total of 1073 Hispanics participated in this psychometric study. The results showed that the DASS-21 has serious psychometric deficiencies, especially related to the construct validity, as well as convergent and discriminatory validity. In addition, it was shown that DASS-21 do not replicate the three-dimensional structure of the original instrument in the Hispanic community. Finally, it was confirmed that the DASS-21 have difficulty in properly identifying and discriminating between symptoms associated with depression and anxiety in a Hispanic population.

La presente investigación examinó las demandas tecnológicas, académicas, y psicológicas experimentadas por una muestra de 167 estudiantes universitarios activos de 17 instituciones de educación superior en Puerto Rico durante el periodo de mayo-junio de 2020 durante la pandemia por COVID-19. La muestra estuvo compuesta mayormente por mujeres (81.4%) con edades que fluctuaron entre los 18 a los 61 años (M = 30.36, DE = 11.46). Se utilizó un diseño no experimental transversal exploratorio-descriptivo. Los hallazgos principales indican que los estudiantes tuvieron problemáticas relacionadas a estresores por la sobrecarga de tareas, mala implementación de cursos en línea, falta de orientación de sus universidades, poca flexibilidad de sus profesores, entre otras. Estos hallazgos abren paso al estudio de los cambios de modalidades educativas (presencial a en línea) repentinas y su impacto en los estudiantes.

BY CrossMark click for updates RESUMENEl propósito del estudio fue examinar si el uso frecuente del celular (phubbing) impacta directamente la sa sfacción en las relaciones román cas e indirectamente el bienestar psicológico y la salud mental de los puertorriqueños. El Estudio 1 analiza las propiedades psicométricas de la Escala de Phubbing en la Pareja y de la Escala de Conflictos Relacionados al Uso del Celular. Los análisis demostraron que las escalas son confiables y válidas. El Estudio 2 evaluó el obje vo principal del estudio con una muestra no probabilís ca de 392 puertorriqueñas seleccionados por disponibilidad. Los resultados confirmaron el rol mediador que ene la sa sfacción en la relación de pareja entre el phubbing, el bienestar psicológico y la salud mental. En general, los par cipantes que reportaron mayor phubbing, mostraban menor sa sfacción en la relación de pareja, mayor sintomatología asociada a depresión, ansiedad y estrés, y menor bienestar psicológico. Nuestro estudio aporta evidencia sobre el efecto nega vo que puede tener el uso desmedido del celular en las relaciones román cas, así como en la salud mental de los individuos. PALABRAS CLAVE 82 ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study was to evaluate if frequent cell phone use (phubbing) has a direct impact in the couple's sa sfac on, and an indirect effect on the psychological well-being and mental health of Puerto Rican. Study 1 examines the psychometric proper es of the Partner Phubbing Scale and the Cell Phone Conflict Scale. The scales were found to be highly reliable and valid. Study 2 assessed the study's proposed rela onships among a non-probabilis c sample of 392 Puerto Ricans, selected by availability. The results showed a significant media on of couple's sa sfac on in the rela onship between phubbing, psychological well-being and mental health. Overall, par cipants who rated more phubbing in their rela onships also reported lower couple's sa sfac on, more symptoms related to depression, anxiety and stress, and lower psychological well-being. Our study provides empirical evidence on the nega ve effect of excessive use of cell phones within roman c rela onships, as well on people's mental health.

Depressive disorders may cause significant impairment in social, occupational, and academic areas of functioning. This research aims to analyze the psychometric properties and factor structure of the Spanish version of the eight-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8) in a sample of 494 Puerto Rican adults. We analyzed the Cronbach alpha internal consistency, construct validity, discriminant validity, and factor structure of the instrument. The findings of the study revealed that the PHQ-8 obtained an excellent internal consistency of .92. Pearson’s r correlation analysis showed a high and statistically significant association between PHQ-8 and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) providing evidence of concurrent validity. We conducted confirmatory factor analyses to examine the factor structure of the PHQ-8. The two models (unidimensional and multidimensional) showed an adequate adjustment to the data, but the unidimensional model was recommended. The PHQ-8 is a plausible adaptation of the PHQ-9 that may be used in any study directed to explore depressive symptoms without considering suicidal thoughts.

: The present study evaluates the psychometric properties of the Conflicts in Romantic Relationships Over Facebook Use Scale with a sample of Puerto Rican adults. A total of 300 Puerto Ricans participated in this confirmatory and psychometric study. The results confirmed that the scale has a multidimensional structure. These dimensions are: Partner Facebook intrusion, Conflict over Facebook use, and Jealousy over Facebook use. A total of 18 items complied with the criteria of discrimination and presented appropriate factorial loads (six items per dimension). The Cronbach’s alpha indexes of the dimensions ranged between 0.87–0.95, and the omega coefficients ranged between 0.88–0.95. In summary, the instrument has the appropriate psychometric properties to continue with validation studies, as well as to be implemented in various work areas, both theoretical and applied.