Resumen
Antecedentes: Los miedos nocturnos son frecuentes entre los niños en edad escolar y pueden estar relacionados con dificultades psicológicas, mientras que las estrategias de afrontamiento pueden variar y afectar a su bienestar emocional. El objetivo principal de este estudio fue identificar patrones de miedos nocturnos y estilos de afrontamiento en niños en edad escolar mediante el Análisis de Perfiles Latentes. Asimismo, se comprobaron los posibles predictores de los perfiles latentes mediante un análisis de regresión logística multinomial. Método: Una muestra de 786 niños hispanohablantes (8- 12 años; Medad = 9,66, DT = 1,20; 51,3% niñas) participaron completando medidas de autoinforme sobre miedos nocturnos
y respuestas de afrontamiento. Resultados: Los resultados revelaron cuatro perfiles latentes: (1)“miedos bajos, autocontrol
bajo” (24,2%), (2)“miedos altos (excepto miedos imaginarios), afrontamiento desadaptativo” (22,8%), (3)“miedos moderados, afrontamiento adaptativo” (44,9%), y (4)“miedos altos, afrontamiento desadaptativo” (8,1%). El análisis de regresión reveló que las características sociodemográficas y la utilidad percibida por los niños respecto a las estrategias de afrontamiento eran predictores de los perfiles latentes. Conclusiones: Estos hallazgos sugieren la presencia de patrones distintos y subgrupos heterogéneos, pudiendo emerger como perfiles de mayor o menor riesgo. Ello enfatiza la necesidad de considerar los patrones existentes para ofrecer intervenciones adaptadas dirigidas a los miedos nocturnos.
Citas
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