The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) is a popular screening and research instrument for measuring severity of depression. The instrument was translated to Portuguese for use in Brazil in 1979; however, it was not until recently that its psychometric properties have been tested empirically for the Brazilian population. The purpose of the present study was to explore the BDI's psychometric properties in a northern region of Brazil and to test for possible relationships between certain demographic variables and BDI outcomes. Samples used in this study were from an urban area in Roraima, the northernmost state of Brazil. The BDI showed adequate levels of internal consistency in nonclinical and clinical samples. Female respondents had significantly higher scores than male respondents. Those who had lower levels of education, income, or occupational status had significantly higher scores than those with higher levels of these variables. Adolescents had significantly higher scores than adults from all age groups except those from age 19 to 22. No significant difference was found between those who identified themselves as “indigenous” and those who identified themselves as “non-indigenous.” Regression analysis results showed that the combination of gender, education, and age best accounted for the variance in BDI scores. An ANCOVA …

Based on theoretical reasoning and empirical evidence, the present study examined the unique and shared effects of attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, and acculturation on attitudes toward seeking professional help among Latino college students. The research participants included 149 bilingual Latino college students from a large, public southwestern university. Results of a multiple regression analysis indicated that attachment avoidance was positively associated with both the recognition of need for psychological help and stigma of seeking professional help. Acculturation to American society was found to be statistically insignificant in predicting help-seeking attitudes in this sample of the population. Findings from exploratory questions suggested that Latino individuals would most likely seek help from parents, close friends, and then professionals. This study suggested that Latino individuals with high attachment avoidance acknowledge the potential benefit of professional help-seeking but distrust the process of approaching others for help. Limitations, implications, and future research directions will be discussed.

This study was designed as an attempt to extend Schneider and Shiffrin's (1977) automatic versus controlled processing distinction into the area of visual perception. Hasher and Zacks (1979) proposed a continuum of automatic processes, with processes which encode the fundamental aspects of the flow of information as the anchor of the continuum. They presented evidence that depressed people perform more poorly than nondepressed on effortful (controlled) memory tasks, but not on automatic tasks. Tachistoscopic and free inspection presentation of Piaget's (1961/1969) primary geometric illusions meet two of Hasher and Zack's criteria for automatic and effortful tasks, respectively. Consequently, multiple regression techniques were used to determine the relationship between depression (operationally defined as score on the Beck Depression Inventory) and method of presentation of a Piagetian primary illusion, the Müller-Lyer. Furthermore, correlations were determined between tachistoscopic versus free inspection of the Müller-Lyer illusion and forward versus backward digit span (operationally defined as score on the WAIS Digit Span subtest), since forward and backward digit span have been linked theoretically to automatic and effortful processing, respectively.

Studies addressing racial/ethnic identity development have often overlooked the developmental cultural context. The impact of growing up with contradictory cultures has not been well explored. Immersion in multiple cultures may produce mixed patterns of strengths deficits. This study reviews the literature's currently inconsistent usage of the terms race, ethnicity, and culture; introduces the concept and theoretical framework of Cultural Homelessness; relates CH to multicultural integration; and develops two study-specific measures (included) to examine the construct validity of CH. The sample’s (N = 448, 67% women) racial, ethnic, and cultural mixture was coded back three generations using complex coding criteria. Empirical findings supported the CH-specific pattern of cognitive and social strengths with emotional difficulties: social adaptability and cross-cultural competence but also low self-esteem and shame regarding diff

Guided by attachment theory and principles of positive psychology, a conceptual model was developed depicting the direct and indirect effects of attachment insecurity, state hope, belongingness, and meaning in life on wellness indicators (i.e., life satisfaction, physical health, and depression) of first generation Latino immigrants in the U.S. Specifically, the present study proposed that the effects of attachment insecurity on Latino immigrants' wellness would be mediated by two tiers of factors. The first tier consisted of state hope (i.e., general state hope, spiritual state hope, mastery state hope) and sense of belonging (i.e., general belongingness; connectedness with mainstream/ethnic community), which represented individual-level and relational factors, respectively, salient in Latino culture. Greater attachment insecurity was hypothesized to contribute to a compromised MIL and poorer wellness by decreasing state hope and sense of belongingness. A total of 352 first-generation Latino immigrants from Texas participated in this study. The exploratory factor analysis on the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale revealed a two-factor factor structure that is different from the two factors of adult attachment typically found with American samples (i.e., anxiety and avoidance). The emerged two factors represent anxious-distancing attachment and comfort-seeking attachment. Results from structural equation modeling analysis showed adequate model fit …