Gonzalo Martínez-Zelaya

El estudio examina la relación entre la percepción de amenaza exogrupal y la sensibilidad intercultural en las actitudes hacia el multiculturalismo en trabajadores de la región de Valparaíso, Chile. Dado que la mayoría de los inmigrantes está en edad laboral, pueden ser percibidos como competidores, influyendo en las actitudes de los nacionales. Con un diseño cuantitativo, no experimental y transversal, se encuestó a 217 trabajadores (59.4% mujeres, edad promedio de 37.6 años). Los resultados muestran que las amenazas simbólicas y realistas se asocian negativamente con el multiculturalismo, mientras que la sensibilidad intercultural se relaciona positivamente. El contacto intergrupal predice actitudes favorables, pero su efecto desaparece al incluir la sensibilidad intercultural. Se concluye que la calidad de las interacciones es más relevante que la cantidad de contacto para promover actitudes positivas.

Introduction: Sports practice, has been traditionally perceived as a protective factor for mental health, however, in high-performance athletes, significant mental health issues are consistently reported, which appear with a prevalence comparable to that of the general population and are more common among female athletes than male athletes. Although specific tools such as the Baron Depression Screener for Athletes (BDSA) exist, their lack of validation in Spanish-speaking contexts limits their applicability. The aim of this study was to validate the Spanish version of the BDSA, a brief screening instrument for depressive symptoms specifically designed for athletes, by psychometrically comparing it with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), previously validated in Chile and Latin America. Methods: An online survey was administered between November 2024 and April 2025 to Chilean adult federated athletes, following translation–cultural adaptation and back-translation approved by the original author. Descriptive analyses, subgroup comparisons, and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with Diagonally Weighted Least Squares (DWLS) estimation were conducted, along with a correlation analysis with the PHQ-9 to assess convergent validity. Results: A total of 197 athletes participated (54.3% men, 47.5% women), with a mean age of 24.98 years (SD = 7.17). The CFA showed good fit (CFI = 0.997; RMSEA = 0.021), and the scale demonstrated high reliability (α = 0.878; ω = 0.776). The correlation with the PHQ-9 was strong (r = 0.69), indicating adequate convergent validity. Conclusion: In conclusion, the Spanish version of the BDSA is a valid and reliable instrument for screening depressive symptoms in Chilean adult federated athletes.

Chile has been facing socio-cognitive, affective and cultural tensions and changes due to the constant increase of the migrant population in Chile over the last two decades. This means that local public policy workers must interact and achieve effective communication with migrant users living in their territories. Intercultural sensitivity is understood as the affective dimension of intercultural communication. This dimension facilitates the awareness that people differ in their behaviors, perceptions and feelings during intercultural communication processes, promoting acceptance and respect towards these differences. The aim of this paper was to analyze the factor structure, psychometric properties and invariance of the Intercultural Sensitivity scale (Chen & Starosta, 2000) in a sample of Chilean workers. The sample consists of 337 workers from five municipalities in two regions of Chile. The sample has a mean age of 42.8 years (SD = 10.4), and 62.9% report being female. To determine the factor structure, an unweighted least squares (ULS) parameter estimation method was used, which is recommended for relatively small sample sizes, as is the case in this study. The overall structure of the original scale, although showing adequate indicators in a confirmatory factor analysis, presented serious conflicts in the covariance matrix used. Therefore, the 5-factor structure seen in other studies is disconfirmed. Because of this, it was decided to construct an abbreviated version, but reducing the limitations encountered during the validation process. The final result is a 4-dimensional structure, corresponding to four of the original dimensions, with a total of 13 items. The goodness-of-fit indices (CFI, TLI, RMSEA and SRMR) had optimal levels. The Manifest and Subtle Prejudice scale was used for its divergent validity, presenting all the dimensions of the instrument, and its total score, inverse and significant correlations with manifest prejudice, subtle prejudice, and total prejudice, as expected.

En México fenómenos como la inseguridad y el miedo al delito han afectado históricamente a la sociedad mexicana. Sin embargo, las investigaciones se han centrado en comprender las causas que la sociedad atribuye al aumento de ambos fenómenos y poco se ha analizado la relación que éstos pueden tener con constructos como el bienestar social. Este estudio tiene como objetivo conocer el efecto del bienestar social (sus subdimensiones), las emociones (positivas-negativas) y la percepción negativa del mundo en el miedo al delito. Una muestra de 152 jóvenes universitarios (55.3% mujeres y 44.7% hombres) con una media de edad de 25.56 años (DT = 3.30) participaron en esta investigación. Los resultados evidenciaron que el miedo al delito se ha configurado como un problema en sí mismo y afecta la sociedad de forma diferencial. Así, altos niveles de bienestar social disminuyen la preocupación de miedo al delito. Contrariamente, altos niveles de percepción negativa del mundo y de emociones negativas, en conjunto con bajos niveles de bienestar social y emociones positivas, promueven la preocupación de miedo al delito.

Although different social crises may eventually favor undemocratic and authoritarian forms of governance, at some point, such antidemocratic practices require the support of a significant part of the population to be implemented. The present research investigates how and whether the COVID‐19 pandemic might have favoured greater support for antidemocratic governmental practices, on the premise of regaining control and security. Using data from 17 countries (N = 4364) and national‐level indicators (i.e., real number of contagions and deaths, and sociopolitical indicators), we test how the risk of contagion and death from COVID‐19, along with personal orientations (i.e., social dominance orientation [SDO], right‐wing authoritarianism [RWA], and perceived anomie) motivate authoritarian and antidemocratic practices. Results from multilevel models indicate that risk perception and perceptions of political instability predict a wish for stronger leadership, agreement with martial law, and support for a controlling government especially when SDO and RWA are high, while more egalitarian and less conservative people agree less with these authoritarian measures in spite of the levels of risk perception. We discuss the implications for these findings for future research on similar but also dissimilar external events (natural disasters, war, or terror incidents) and the consequences for societies with higher authoritarian tendencies.

Do factors impacting life satisfaction remain stable, or do they change, during the life course of workers? This study analyses the relationships between life satisfaction and age. This study is a secondary analysis of data from ENETS a health and working conditions survey. Workers were grouped into 5 age ranges. A scale of life satisfaction was analyzed, investigating aspects such as income, level of debt, physical and mental health, among others. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that 4 of the 5 age ranges have a unifactorial structure, but for those under 30 years of age, 2 factors associated with “psychophysical well-being” and “material well-being” were identified. Thus, at different stages of productive life different priorities affect life satisfaction, this should be considered to optimize the human resources management.

Perceived changes in basic beliefs and growth related to life events were examined in three studies. A representative sample (N = 885), a sample of students and their families (N = 291) and a sample of students (N = 245) responded with a list of positive and negative life events, a scale of changes in basic beliefs and a post-traumatic growth scale. Positive events were strongly associated with changes in basic beliefs, while only weak associations were found for negative events. In addition, negative changes in basic beliefs were associated with growth only in negative life events and positive changes in basic beliefs were generally associated with growth.

La actual pandemia de la COVID-19 ha supuesto un marcado incremento de las brechas sociales preexistentes. En esta investigación analizamos las relaciones de diferentes facetas de clase social con el bienestar y afectividad general a lo largo de un total de 8 países de la región cultural iberoamericana. Asimismo, también pusimos a prueba el potencial rol mediador del riesgo percibido relativo a la COVID-19 y la eficacia colectiva percibida. Los resultados obtenidos (a) revelaron que una clase social más baja se relacionó con un menor bienestar y afecto positivo, y un mayor afecto negativo; (b) confirmaron que la clase social subjetiva constituye un mejor predictor del bienestar y afectividad general que la clase social objetiva (i.e., nivel educativo); y (c) mostraron que los efectos de la clase social subjetiva en el bienestar/afectividad general se daban de forma indirecta a través del riesgo percibido y la eficacia colectiva. Estos hallazgos confirman la existencia de diferencias en bienestar y afectividad general en función de la clase social durante la pandemia, al tiempo que permiten avanzar en la comprensión de los mecanismos psicosociales subyacentes.

El aumento de la matrícula de niños de origen inmigrante está generando nuevos desafíos para la educación Preescolar en Chile. Sin embargo, son escasas las investigaciones que indagan tanto en las actitudes de las educadoras hacia el colectivo inmigrante latinoamericano como en otras variables que pueden incidir en su construcción. Esta investigación exploratoria tuvo como objetivo analizar las relaciones entre la amenaza exogrupal, la autoeficacia cultural y el prejuicio afectivo en una muestra de 153 estudiantes de la carrera de educación Preescolar; además, se buscó determinar la contribución de la amenaza exogrupal y la autoeficacia cultural percibida en la explicación del prejuicio. Los resultados indican que la percepción de amenaza exogrupal y la autoeficacia cultural explican el 34.4% variabilidad del prejuicio afectivo de las participantes. Se discute acerca de la relevancia de estos resultados en la formación de las estudiantes.