Women facing psychological abuse: how do they respond to maternal identity humiliation and body shaming?

This research analyzes the decisions made by women facing simulated situations of psychological abuse. Seventy-three women (36.9 ± 13.6 years) who had been victims of domestic violence participated. The analysis was based on their coping strategies, early maladaptive schemes, and their decisions in response to vignettes describing the following domestic violence situations: humiliation to women’s maternal identity with children as witnesses and body shaming. We used Student’s t and Mann–Whitney tests to compare the results between groups. The participants presented some coping strategies (social support seeking, wishful thinking, and professional support seeking) and several early maladaptive schemes (emotional deprivation, defectiveness/shame, social isolation/alienation, failure to achieve, attachment, and subjugation) associated with their reactions facing a situation of humiliation with children as witnesses. When the humiliation was against the body image, their reactions were associated with some coping strategies (wishful thinking, professional support seeking, autonomy, negative auto-focus coping, and positive reappraisal) and one maladaptive scheme (defectiveness/shame). Women who reacted avoidantly showed higher social and professional support seeking but experienced higher indicators of discomfort and deterioration of self-esteem than those who opted for assertive decisions. The presence of children as witnesses seems to be a factor of stress in the configuration of coping strategies and maladaptive schemes in female victims of domestic violence. The evolution of early maladaptive schemes and coping strategies requires observation to avoid the risk of isolation and permanence in victimizing relationships

Gender, anxiety, and legitimation of violence in adolescents facing simulated physical aggression at school

We analyzed gender and anxiety differences in middle school students facing a physical peer aggression situation. The participants were 1147 adolescents aged between 12 and 18 years (male: n = 479; female: n = 668) who watched a 12 s animation representing the situation and filled out a questionnaire to analyze the legitimation of violent behaviors and anxiety levels. We registered their decisions to solve the situation using a categorical scale that included assertive, avoidant, aggressive, submissive, and supportive behaviors. Gender was not associated with the adolescent’s behaviors in facing a simulated peer aggression situation. However, male teenagers tended to perceive adults as sanctioners and neutrals; those who used the diffusion of responsibility and dehumanization to justify their behavior also showed a higher state of anxiety. Female teenagers who expected legitimation from their peers, presented higher anxiety as well. Educational interventions may use these results, helping adolescents to understand that their acts have substantial implications in the lives of others. It is essential to develop group interventions that modify how adolescents manage their conflicts and change gender stereotypes that significantly impact health. We highlight the need for linking families in educational programs facing the challenges of transforming the legitimization of violence in parental practices

Social inequalities in multimorbidity patterns in Europe: A multilevel latent class analysis using the European Social Survey (ESS)

Multimorbidity is associated with lower quality of life, greater disability and higher use of health services and is one of the main challenges facing governments in Europe. There is a need to identify and characterize patterns of chronic conditions and analyse their association with social determinants not only from an individual point of view but also from a collective point of view. This paper aims to respond to this knowledge gap by detecting patterns of chronic conditions and their social determinants in 19 European countries from a multilevel perspective. We used data from the ESS round 7. The final sample consisted of 18,933 individuals over 18 years of age, and patterns of multimorbidity from 14 chronic conditions were detected through Multilevel Latent Class Analysis, which also allows detecting similarities between countries. Gender, Age, Housing Location, Income Level and Educational Level were used as individual covariates to determine possible associations with social inequalities. The goodness-of-fit indices derived in a model with six multimorbidity patterns and five countries clusters. The six patterns were "Back, Digestive and Headaches", "Allergies and Respiratory", "Complex Multi -morbidity", "Cancer and Cardiovascular", "Musculoskeletal" and "Cardiovascular"; the five clusters could be associated with some geographical areas or welfare states. Patterns showed significant differences in the cova-riates of interest, with differences in education and income being of particular interest. Some significant dif-ferences were found among patterns and the country groupings. Our findings show that chronic diseases tend to appear in a combined and interactive way, and socioeconomic differences in the occurrence of patterns are not only of the individual but also of group importance, emphasising how the welfare states in each country can influence in the health of their inhabitants

The impact of the covid-19 pandemic on mental disorders. A critical review

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the lives of the worldwide population. Citizens suffer the social, economic, physiological, and psychological effects of this pandemic. Primary sources, scientific articles, and secondary bibliographic indexes, databases, and web pages were used for a consensus critical review. The method was a narrative review of the available literature to summarize the existing literature addressing mental health concerns and stressors related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The main search engines used in the present research were PubMed, SciELO, and Google Scholar. We found the pandemic has had a direct impact on psychopathologies such as anxiety, increasing its ratios, and depression. Other syndromes such as burnout and post-traumatic stress disorder have increased with the pandemic, showing a larger incidence among medical personnel. Moreover, eating disorders and violence have also increased. Public authorities must prepare healthcare systems for increasing incidences of mental pathologies. Mental health apps are one of the tools that can be used to reach the general population

El cáncer hereditario en mujeres

Most cases of cancer are sporadic, whereas 5-10% are hereditary and about 20-30% of cancers tend to cluster in families. Families and individuals who are suspected of suffering from hereditary cancer need to undergo a process known as genetic counseling, which is of considerable importance in the prevention and early detection of malignant tumours. The most common hereditary cancer syndromes are: hereditary breast-ovarian cancer syndrome, familial adenomatous polyposis and Lynch syndrome. Genetic diagnosis allows clinicians to estimate the risks of developing different cancers in order to make decisions over surveillance and prophylactic surgery to reduce these risks. The ultimate goal is to reduce cancer mortality through early diagnosis and prevention.La mayoría de los casos de cáncer son esporádicos, entre un 20-30% presentan agregación familiar, mientras que solo el 5 -10% son de carácter hereditario. Las familias e individuos en los que se sospecha que padecen cáncer hereditario deben someterse a un proceso de asesoramiento genético, que es de gran importancia para la prevención y detección temprana de tumores malignos. Los síndromes más frecuentes de cáncer hereditario son el síndrome de mama-ovario hereditario, la poliposis adenomatosa familiar y el síndrome de Lynch. El diagnóstico genético facilita realizar una estimación de los riesgos de desarrollar diferentes cánceres, permitiendo tomar decisiones de vigilancia y preventivas que reducen estos riesgos. El objetivo final es reducir la mortalidad por cáncer mediante el diagnóstico precoz y la prevención