This is the first study that provides normative, reliability, factor validity and discriminant validity data of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI; Beck, Epstein, Brown, & Steer, 1988) in the Spanish general population. Sanz and Navarro's (2003) Spanish version of the BAI was administered to 249 adults. Factor analyses suggested that the BAI taps a general anxiety dimension comprising two related factors (somatic and affective-cognitive symptoms), but these factors hardly explained any additional variance and, therefore, little information is lost in considering only full-scale scores. Internal consistency estimate for the BAI was high (α = .93). The BAI was correlated .63 with the BDI-II and .32 with the Trait-Anger scale of the STAXI 2, but a factor analysis of their items revealed three factors, suggesting that the correlations between the instruments may be better accounted for by relationships between anxiety, depression, and anger, than by problems of discriminant validity. The mean BAI total score and the distribution of BAI scores were similar to those found in other countries. BAI norm scores for the community sample were provided from the total sample and from the male and female subsamples, as females scored higher than males. The utility of these scores for assessing clinical significance of treatment outcomes for anxiety is discussed.

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...

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.

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.

The main objective of this study was to systematically and meta-analytically review the scientific literature on the prevalence of psychopathy in the general adult population. A search in PsycInfo, MEDLINE, and PSICODOC identified 15 studies published as of June 2021. Altogether, 16 samples of adults totaling 11,497 people were evaluated. Joint prevalence rates were calculated using reverse variance heterogeneity models. Meta-regression analyses were conducted to examine whether the type of instrument, sex, type of sample, and country influenced prevalence. The meta-analytical results obtained allow us to estimate the prevalence rate of psychopathy in the general adult population at 4.5%. That being said, this rate varies depending on the participants' sex (higher in males), the type of sample from the general population (higher in samples from organizations than in community samples or university students), and the type of instrument used to define psychopathy. In fact, using the PCL-R, which is currently considered the “gold standard” for the assessment and definition of psychopathy, the prevalence is only 1.2%. These results are discussed in the context of the different theoretical perspectives and the existing problems when it comes to defining the construct of psychopathy.

No abstract

This study was aimed at determining whether there are differences in emotional personality traits and psychosocial stress between hypertension and normotension. From a large community sample of adults, 14 individuals having hypertension and showing clinic blood pressures (BP) X140/90 mm Hg and self-measured BPs X135/85 mm Hg (sustained hypertensives) were selected and compared with a sex-and age-matched group of 14 individuals with normotension (clinic BPs o140/90 mm Hg and self-measured BPs o135/85 mm Hg) on measures of trait anxiety, trait depression, trait anger and stress derived from standardized questionnaires. There were no significant differences between hypertensives and normotensives on trait anger, but, in line with hypotheses, the sustained hypertensive group showed higher levels of trait anxiety, trait depression and stress than did the normotensive group. A discriminant analysis revealed that trait depression was the most important psychological variable to discriminate between sustained hypertension and normotension. Results provide support to the hypothesized relationship of emotional personality traits and stress with hypertension, and underscore the need to define hypertension on the basis of both clinic and home/ambulatory BP measurements and to simultaneously evaluate all relevant negative emotional constructs, when conducting research on psychological factors in hypertension.

This study was aimed at examining the relationships of the personality dimensions of the five-factor model or Big Five with trait anger and with two specific traits of hostility (mistrust and confrontational attitude), and identifying the similarities and differences between trait anger and hostility in the framework of the Big Five. In a sample of 353 male and female adults, the Big Five explained a significant percentage of individual differences in trait anger and hostility after controlling the effects due to the relationship between both constructs and content overlapping across scales. In addition, trait anger was primarily associated with neuroticism, whereas mistrust and confrontational attitude were principally related to low agreeableness. These findings are discussed in the context of the anger-hostility-aggression syndrome and the capability of the Big Five for organizing and clarifying related personality constructs.