ADAPTATION AND VALIDATION OF A GROUP COHESION TEST FOR BASES IN ANTARCTICA: COGBA

Social Cohesion is an important adaptative factor for facilitating living in polar environments, however few studies on the subject have been performed. Here we adapted Buckner’s Neighborhood Cohesion Test (Buckner 1998) for its use in Argentinean bases in Antartica by translating it from English to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ciencias Psicológicas
Main Authors: De Vita, Ana Celeste, Barbarito, Marta Graciela
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:Spanish
Published: Universidad Católica del Uruguay 2016
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Online Access:https://revistas.ucu.edu.uy/index.php/cienciaspsicologicas/article/view/1252
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Summary:Social Cohesion is an important adaptative factor for facilitating living in polar environments, however few studies on the subject have been performed. Here we adapted Buckner’s Neighborhood Cohesion Test (Buckner 1998) for its use in Argentinean bases in Antartica by translating it from English to Spanish and adding Antarctic-specifi c terminology to it. From a sample of civilian and military personnel from two Antarctic bases (n = 100), a factor analysis revealed five Principal Factors. The main factor was used to construct a uni-dimensional scale of 18 items, with a Cronbach’s alpha of .907. Negatively keyed items that were discarded during the analysis suggest that denial of unrest is usually prevalent in Antarctic bases, and poses the need to generate tools to measure task-related aspects of group cohesion and use them for further studying social confl icts. La cohesión grupal es unos de los factores que facilita la adaptación al medioambiente polar, pero hacen falta estudios específi cos que analicen la cohesión social en bases antárticas. Se llevó a cabo una adaptación del test de Buckner (1988) Neighborhood Cohesion Instrument para ser empleado en bases antárticas argentinas. Se tradujo de inglés al castellano y se adaptó terminología usada en las campañas antárticas. La muestra estuvo constituida por personal civil y militar de dos bases antárticas, con un n = 100. Se realizó un análisis factorial de Factores Principales que produjo cinco factores. Se tomó el factor principal para la construcción de una escala unidimensional de 18 ítems, con un alfa de Cronbach de .907. Las preguntas en clave negativa descartadas durante el análisis hacen pensar en la negación de la confl ictividad que suele prevalecer en las bases antárticas y se plantea la necesidad de generar instrumentos para medir los aspectos de la cohesión grupal en relación al trabajo y las tareas, así como contemplar estudios en relación al conflicto.