Social determinants of self-perceived discrimination in Spain

Objectives: To analyse the association between self-perceived discrimination and social determinants (social class, gender, country of origin) in Spain, and further to describe contextual factors which contribute to self-perceived discrimination. Methods: Cross-sectional design using data from the Spanish National Health Survey (2006). The dependent variable was self-perceived discrimination, and independent and stratifying variables were sociodemographic characteristics (e.g. sex, social class, country of origin, educational level). Logistic regression was used. Results: The prevalence of self-perceived discrimination was 4.2% for men and 6.3% for women. The likelihood of self-perceived discrimination was higher in people who originated from low-income countries: men, odds ratio (OR) 5.59 [95% confidence interval (CI) 4.55–6.87]; women, OR 4.06 (95% CI 3.42–4.83). Women were more likely to report self-perceived discrimination by their partner at home than men [OR 8.35 (95% CI 4.70–14.84)]. The likelihood of self-perceived discrimination when seeking work was higher among people who originated from low-income countries than their Spanish counterparts: men, OR 13.65 (95% CI 9.62–19.35); women, OR 10.64 (95% CI 8.31–13.62). In comparison with Spaniards, male white-collar workers who originated from low-income countries [OR 11.93 (95% CI 8.26–17.23)] and female blue-collar workers who originated from low-income countries (OR 1.6 (95% CI 1.08–2.39)] reported higher levels of self-perceived discrimination. Conclusions: Self-perceived discrimination is distributed unevenly in Spain and interacts with social inequalities. This particularly affects women and immigrants.

Perceived emotional intelligence, general intelligence and early professional success: predictive and incremental validity

Although the study of factors affecting career success has shown connections between biographical and other aspects related to ability, knowledge and personality, few studies have examined the relationship be-tween emotional intelligence and professional success at the initial career stage. When these studies were carried out, the results showed significant relationships between the dimensions of emotional intelligence (emotional self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness or social skills) and the level of professional competence. In this paper, we analyze the relationship between perceived emotional intelligence, measured by the Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS-24) questionnaire, general intelligence assessed by the Cattell factor "g" test, scale 3, and extrinsic indicators of career success, in a sample of 130 graduates at the beginning of their careers. Results from hierarchical regression analysis indicate that emotional intelligence makes a specific contribution to the prediction of salary, after controlling the general intelligence effect. The perceived emotional intelligence dimensions of TMMS repair, TMMS attention and sex show a higher correlation and make a greater contribution to professional success than general intelligence. The implications of these results for the development of socio-emotional skills among University graduates are discussed.

Racism, Other Discriminations and Effects on Health

We study the probability of perceived racism/other forms of discrimination on immigrant and Spanish populations within different public spheres and show their effect on the health of immigrants using a cross-sectional design (ENS-06). Variables: perceived racism/other forms of discrimination (exposure), socio-demographic (explicative), health indicators (dependent). Frequencies, prevalences, and bivariate/multivariate analysis were conducted separately for men (M) and women (W). We estimated the health problems attributable to racism through the population attributable proportion (PAP). Immigrants perceived more racism than Spaniards in workplace (ORM = 48.1; 95 % CI 28.2–82.2), and receiving health care (ORW = 48.3; 95 % CI 24.7–94.4). Racism and other forms of discrimination were associated with poor mental health (ORM = 5.6; 95 % CI 3.9–8.2; ORW = 7.3; 95 % CI 4.1–13.0) and injury (ORW = 30.6; 95 % CI 13.6–68.7). It is attributed to perceived racism the 80.1 % of consumption of psychotropics (M), and to racism with other forms of discrimination the 52.3 % of cases of injury (W). Racism plays a role as a health determinant.