A vivência subjectiva da pessoa transexual: Um olhar focal na experiência da discriminação

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada ao Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada para obtenção de grau de Mestre na especialidade de Psicologia Clínica.

Gender and diversity in the workplace : Introduction to the special issue

Research on gender and diversity has taken longer than usual to develop in Portuguese academia. Different explanations can be provided for the apparent lack of interest in these matters. Comparative cultural studies have depicted Portuguese culture as scoring high on femininity (Hofstede, 1991). «Femininity pertains to societies in which social gender roles overlap» (p. 82) and it may have an influence on people’s attitudes towards ‘the other’ and the role of men and women in the organisation, and in shaping the individual’s behaviour and attitudes towards equality and diversity. On the other hand, Portuguese society likes to portray itself as a homogenous society (Cabral-Cardoso, 2002). Taken together, these factors may partly explain why gender and diversity issues have failed to make it to the top of research agendas in Portuguese academia. The limited number of papers included in this special issue and focusing on the Portuguese context still reflects that state of affairs.

Depression and physical disability in chronic pain: The mediation role of emotional intelligence and acceptance

Emotional intelligence (EI) and acceptance have previously been identified as potential factors in the adjustment to chronic pain (CP). This study examined the associations between CP experiences, depression, and physical disability. It further investigated the mediating effect of EI and acceptance in the relationship between CP experiences, depression, and physical disability and how this changes with the duration of the CP. Method: A cross-sectional design, employing validated questionnaires, was used to measure pain experience, physical disability, depression, EI, and acceptance in 133 CP patients. Results: All variables were found to be significantly associated in theoretically predicted ways. The relationship between CP experiences and depression was mediated by both factors, as high EI and acceptance promoted a decreased influence of pain on depression. By contrast, the relationship between CP experiences and physical disability was mediated by acceptance, but not by EI. Further, the temporal stability analysis of this mediation model showed that long-term CP patients are better able to make use of these factors. Conclusions: The relationship between the experience of pain and depression or physical disability seems to be significantly mediated by factors such as EI and acceptance. This study lends further support to the development of more encompassing models that take both control and non-control variables into account when conceptualising the adjustment to CP. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.

Job-related strain and sexual health difficulties among heterosexual men from three european countries: The role of culture and emotional support

Introduction. Epidemiological evidence for the association between job-related stress and sexual difficulties in men is largely lacking. Little is known about the factors that may mediate or moderate this relationship. Aim. This study analyzes the association between job-related difficulties and men’s sexual difficulties. Main Outcome Measures. Job-related difficulties were measured by 10 yes/no questions that addressed a range of adverse workplace situations. The experience of sexual difficulties in the past 12 months was assessed by using seven dichotomous indicators developed in the National Study of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (NATSAL) 2000. Method. Analyses were carried out using data from a 2011 online study of Portuguese, Croatian, and Norwegian men (N = 2,112). Multivariate logistic regression and mediation analysis were used to test the hypothesized association. Results. Men with job-related concerns reported lower sexual satisfaction than men without such concerns did (F = 7.53, P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis confirmed the association between job-related and sexual health concerns. The odds of experiencing one or more sexual health difficulties in the past 12 months were about 1.8 times higher among men who reported the highest levels of workplace difficulties than among men who experienced no such difficulties. The odds of reporting sexual health difficulties were significantly reduced by a higher income (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.87, P < 0.01), emotional intimacy with one’s partner (AOR = 0.93, P < 0.001), having children (AOR = 0.62–0.66, P < 0.01), and country-specific effects (AOR = 1.98–2.22, P < 0.001). In all three countries, the relationship between job-related and sexual health difficulties was mediated by anxiety and depression. Conclusions. The findings suggest that negative mood is the mechanism behind the association between workplace strain and sexual difficulties. Emotional support, such as couple intimacy and fatherhood, can reduce—independently from sociocultural and socioeconomic factors—the risk of sexual health concerns.

Beyond human and intellectual capital: Profiling the value of knowledge, skills and experience

The concept of human capital is associated mainly with the Nobel Laureate Gary Becker and, in his usage, has a clear conceptual basis as investment in the costs of formal education. By contrast, this paper suggests that ‘intellectual capital’ is a re-branding of knowledge, skills and experience rather than re-conceptualisation of resource based learning. Becker also chose not to include informal knowledge, skills or experience within his concept of human capital, which remains limited by its constrained premises. This paper submits that both human capital and intellectual capital advocates fail to identify or measure the tacit knowledge and implicit learning which increasingly is recognised as a key to the competitive advantage of organisations. It first focuses on the conceptual basis of claims made for human capital and intellectual capital, outlines limits in their methodology, and contrasts these with insights from theories of tacit knowledge and implicit learning and the central role within them of informal or non-formal skill acquisition. It develops and illustrates instances of interfacing tacit and explicit knowledge before introducing a methodology for profiling the acquisition of knowledge, ability and skills. It does so by introducing the concepts of non-formal learningfrom- work (LfW) and informal learning-from-life (LfL), with evidence from a four country EU case study commissioned within the lifelong learning remit of the Lisbon Agenda.

Relationship between subjective wellbeing and weight perception in children and adolescents: Gender and age differences

The relation between weight status (Body Mass Index - BMI), weight perception and subjective wellbeing remains unclear. Several studies conclude that discrepancies can be found between weight status and weight perception, among children and adolescents. The present study aims at investigating the associations between subjective wellbeing and individual characteristics, among children and adolescents. The sample included 1200 children and adolescents (51.7 % girls, aged 9 to 17). Their mean age was 12.55 years (SD = 1.61). The questionnaire was completed in school context, asking about the subjective wellbeing, use of self-regulation, eating behavior awareness/care, weight perception and sociodemographic questions such as age, gender and BMI. The study found a strong association between BMI and weight perception, although subjective wellbeing was better explained by weight perception than by BMI. Eating awareness and self-regulation also played an important role in subjective controlling for age and gender. Age and gender interfere in the relation between subjective wellbeing and other variables. The multiple regression model is more robust and explicative for girls and older children. Psychological factors related to weight, such as weight perception, self-regulation and eating awareness have a stronger explicative impact in subjective wellbeing compared to physical aspects, such as Body Mass Index. The relation between subjective wellbeing and weight is influence by age and gender.

Niche segregation between immature and adult seabirds: Does progressive maturation play a role?

In long-lived species with slow maturation, prebreeders often represent a large percentage of the individuals alive at any moment, but their ecology is still understudied. Recent studies have found prebreeding seabirds to differ in their isotopic (and trophic) niche from adult breeders attending the same nesting colonies. These differences have been hypothesized to be linked to the less-developed foraging performance of younger and less-experienced immatures or perhaps to their inferior competitive abilities. Such differences from adults would wane as individuals mature (“the progressive ontogenetic shift hypothesis”) and could underpin the prolonged breeding deferral until adulthood displayed by those species. This study documents a marked difference in the nitrogen and carbon isotopic ratios measured in the whole blood of immatures and breeders in 2 pelagic seabird species (Cory’s shearwaters, Calonectris borealis, and black-browed albatrosses, Thalassarche melanophris) nesting in contrasting environments. However, blood isotopic values did not present a relationship with prebreeder age, suggesting no gradual ontogenetic shift from an immature toward an adult isotopic niche. Furthermore, isotopic signatures of sabbatical adults could not be separated from those of immatures attending the same colonies, but were clearly segregated from adult breeders. These results suggest that isotopic differentiation between immatures and breeders is mainly linked to a factor unrelated to previous experience and hence probably unrelated to a hypothetical gradual improvement of foraging competence or competitive abilities. Any ecological differentiation between breeders and nonbreeders is more likely related to the severity of the central-place foraging constraints and to the energetic requirements of reproduction (“the reproductive constraint hypothesis”).