Marc Eric Santos Reyes

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Verified

Marc Eric verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

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• Doctor of Philosophy Major in Clinical Psychology
• Professor at University of Santo Tomas

Crises vary in severity and effects to individuals and the response of people depends also on their intensity. For people in vulnerable populations such as the members of the LGBTQ + community, they experience compounded forms of crisis that may impair their capacity to respond proactively to debilitating situations. In the face of extreme crisis s...

Objective: Somatic symptom burden is frequently linked to trauma-related psychopathology; Yet, the specific contributions of PTSD, disturbances in selforganization (DSO), and dissociation remain underexplored. Our study examined the prevalence of somatic symptom burden among female mental health service users and evaluated the associations between...

Romantic love is a near-universal human experience. However, while it transcends cultural boundaries, its intensity varies significantly across individuals and societies. We hypothesize that this variability is partly driven by socio-cultural factors, particularly individualism—a cultural orientation prioritizing personal goals over group interests...

Athletes gain physical and psychological improvements from engaging in sports. Nonetheless, they are susceptible to sport injuries that may result in both physical and mental difficulties. Pain anxiety, a prevalent psychological reaction in injured athletes, may affect their perceptions of rehabilitation, hence altering their recovery trajectory. T...

This cross-cultural comparative study sought to estimate levels of media trust and perceived media stress and model the associations of these perceptions with coping self-efficacy, positive thinking, and negativity toward heterosexual individuals and society. A total of 1,153 self-identified LGBTQ+ individuals from three countries (Philippines, Hun...

We examined the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and endorsement of honour. We studied the SES‐honour link in 5 studies (N = 13,635) with participants recruited in different world regions (the Mediterranean and MENA, East Asian, South‐East Asian, and Anglo‐Western regions) using measures that tap into various different facets of hono...

This study investigates the phenomenon of sofalizing—socializing online from the comfort of one’s home—among Filipinos, focusing on Generations X, Y, and Z. In the context of the Philippines' high internet and social media usage, this research examines how sofalizing affects social interactions and overall well-being across different age groups, us...

Given the ubiquitous nature of love, numerous theories have been proposed to explain its existence. One such theory refers to love as a commitment device, suggesting that romantic love evolved to foster commitment between partners and enhance their reproductive success. In the present study, we investigated this hypothesis using a large-scale sampl...

The World Health Organization (World Health Organization, 2020) announced the COVID‐19 outbreak as a pandemic. Globally, this situation affects people in various domains including mental health. Existing theories and research findings suggest justice beliefs are associated with mental health and may help to cope with adverse life circumstances. Par...

The phenomenon of teacher burnout has gained greater attention due to its grave impact on the educational system and the well-being of teachers. In this regard, millennial teachers’ experiences— currently comprising most of the teaching workforce—have gained attention in scholarly research. Thus, developing an efficacious online intervention progra...

Athletic Identity (AthID) is an aspect of the self-concept that refers to how one identifies with the role of an athlete and seeks acknowledgment of that role. This identity is not salient in all individuals, but AthID is activated for those who regard their athletic role as significant. Our objective was to develop a theoretical model to elucidate...

Knowing the patient's personality can assist the clinician in improving their relationship and tailoring the interventions for the patient. Several studies reported that treatment and prevention programs must be tailored to an individual's social and cultural attributes to facilitate continuous recovery and prevent relapse. This study aims to devel...

Climate justice is increasingly prominent in climate change communication and advocacy but little is known about public understanding of the concept or how widely it resonates with different groups. In our global survey of 5,627 adults in 11 countries spanning the global north and south, most participants (66.2%) had never heard of climate justice....

To further understand the vulnerability and existential challenges of the LGBTQ+ community during crisis situations, we investigated the mediating role of spirituality between the relationship of meaning in life and death anxiety among lesbian and gay middle-aged adults amidst the pandemic using an explanatory, cross-sectional design. Four hundred...

Existing research suggests that lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals often face discriminatory and hostile acts known as microaggressions, which are more prevalent than those experienced by individuals with heterosexual orientations. However, literature examining this phenomenon within the Philippine context is lacking. This explanatory seq...

Aging members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community experience heterosexism and age-based discrimination that may contribute to lower quality of life as they age. This two-phase, sequential-explanatory study investigates perceived ageism, quality of life, and the unique experiences of 155 LGBT Filipinos between 45 and 74 y...

LGBTQ+ media representations that uphold heteronormativity, negativity, and homophobia can lead to perceptions of media as threatening. Drawing on intergroup threat theory, this study measured perceived media threats (in-person/group, realistic/symbolic) among English-speaking LGBTQ+ Filipinos (N = 817). The Perceived Media Threat Scale, developed...

Recent cross-sectional and experimental research has found measures of climate change related distress to be positively associated with measures of self-efficacy. Authors of some of these studies have interpreted this finding in terms of motivated control, that is, people who experience climate change related distress are motivated to believe that...

Little is known about how Filipino secular psychotherapists understand and address the religious/spiritual struggles of their clients. The current study employed a qualitative approach in exploring the experiences of secular psychotherapists in addressing religious/spiritual struggles in secular psychotherapy. The authors interviewed six secular ps...

Religious beliefs have been associated with holding more conservative views on gender identity and substantial prejudice against transgender individuals. The Philippines is a country with a traditional view of gender roles and may have difficulty understanding and accepting transgender individuals. This study explored the association between religi...

The teaching profession is extremely vulnerable to burnout. The sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic posed new threats and changed the educational environment as well as the perceptions and values of the teachers. The traditional in-person learning approach was quickly replaced by distant online learning to continue education. As schools re-ope...

The current study investigates attitudes toward one form of sex for resources: the so-called sugar relationships, which often involve exchanges of resources for sex and/or companionship. The present study examined associations among attitudes toward sugar relationships and relevant variables (e.g., sex, sociosexuality, gender inequality, parasitic...

In addition to maintaining social relationships, social networking sites (SNS) are a platform for social comparison and self-esteem. Social comparison theory posits an innate drive to assess and evaluate oneself by comparing oneself to others, influencing self-esteem. Although existing research relates to SNS usage, social comparison, and self-este...

The primary aim of suicidology is to understand the phenomenon of suicide by increasing its predictability and prevention to reduce the suicide rate. However, the rate of suicide remained obstinately high. This phenomenological study explored the different perspectives of 5 suicide attempt survivors and 7 mental health professionals on suicide reco...

Contemporary climate change advocacy, science, and policymaking widely incorporate justice framing, but little is known about public understanding of climate justice and the degree to which justice-related beliefs function as a motivation for climate action and policy support. We assessed climate justice awareness among adults in 11 countries spann...

Love is a phenomenon that occurs across the world and affects many aspects of human life, including the choice of, and process of bonding with, a romantic partner. Thus, developing a reliable and valid measure of love experiences is crucial. One of the most popular tools to quantify love is Sternberg’s 45-item Triangular Love Scale (TLS-45), which...

Quality of life is a broad multidimensional concept containing negative and positive aspects of life. For transgender individuals, significant challenges through a mass of internal and external factors impact their general view of their status in life. Moreover, transgender congruence, which is to feel authentic towards one’s inner and outward expr...

People’s attitudes toward members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community have been an important issue that has persisted in society through time. Researchers have conducted numerous studies to understand members of this sexual minority group. However, studies geared toward an understanding of transgender individuals have be...

The use of social media significantly impacts mental health. It can enhance connection, increase self-esteem, and improve a sense of belonging. But it can also lead to tremendous stress, pressure to compare oneself to others, and increased sadness and isolation. Mindful use is essential to social media consumption.

Empirical evidence shows that Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) with poor psychological well-being increases. IGD has become an emerging issue of significant public health concern and the World Health Organization has recently recognized it as a mental health condition. This study examined the efficacy of the Acceptance and Cognitive Restructuring Int...

Background: Acne vulgaris (AV) is a chronic inflammatory skin condition that is non-life-threatening but may cause significant psychological morbidity regardless of severity. An extreme case of this is depicted in body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), which is often an undiagnosed condition presenting with excessive preoccupation of perceived flaws not o...

The COVID-19 pandemic may have substantially impacted adolescents’ mental health. Therefore, this study aims to assess the influence of exposure to parental intimate partner violence (IPV) and demographic variables on adolescents’ self-esteem. A cross-sectional approach was used in this study. The sample consisted of 214 adolescents from different...

Children exposed to parental intimate partner violence (IPV) are at high risk in terms of their mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, online interventions are imperative in a crisis situation. Empirical studies indicate a significant relationship between self-esteem and children exposed to parental IPV. This research aimed to devel...

Children and adolescents exposed to parental intimate partner violence are more likely to have low self-esteem, and the adverse effects of low self-esteem have to be addressed. In the context of the global pandemic, there is a lack of online mental health interventions for parental IPV victims. This study examined the efficacy of the Cognitive Self...

Love is a worldwide known phenomenon that affects many aspects of human life, including considering a romantic partner with whom to bond. Thus, developing a reliable and valid measure of love experiences is crucial. One of the most popular tools to test love levels is Sternberg's 45-item Triangular Love Scale (TLS-45), which measures three love com...

Sexual minority individuals experience more intimate partner violence (IPV) than those in heterosexual relationships. Issues of mistrust, stigma, and anticipation of abuse contribute to these rates. Lesbian and gay IPV victims have distinct experiences from their abuses with exposure to homophobia, heterosexism, discrimination, and threats of sexua...

The impact of the global health crisis on students’ mental health has been well documented. While most of the studies looked into the psychological impact of the coronavirus disease, the process of coping with psychological distress as experienced by university students in the Philippines remains unexamined. Cognizant of the dearth in literature, t...

The changes in people’s way of life through the years raise questions on how they address existential needs and concerns, particularly those related to life and death and spiritual connections. Through a scoping review, we surveyed studies on meaning in life, death anxiety, and spirituality within the lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) community. We...

Studies regarding parental attitudes toward lesbians and gays (LG) continue to pave the way in recognizing the factors contributing to LG identity development. This study aims to explore positive identity formation by determining its link to perceived parental acceptance among LG adults. Our cross-sectional predictive research hypothesized that per...

This study explored the correlates of climate anxiety in a diverse range of national contexts. We analysed cross-sectional data gathered in 32 countries (N = 12,246). Our results show that climate anxiety is positively related to rate of exposure to information about climate change impacts, the amount of attention people pay to climate change infor...

Outness is determined by disclosing one’s sexual orientation and gender identity to people we socially engage in everyday life. For lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) youth, coming out may have several consequences due to stigma and discrimination toward sexual minorities. Perceived social support, a generalized sense of acceptance, has been associat...

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has led to the intensive use of the internet for educational and recreational purposes, leading adolescents to be more exposed to cyberbullying. Empirical studies indicate that cyberbullying has become a pervasive problem among adolescents causing negative consequences like depression. Moreover, the global pand...

Efficacy of the Online Mindfulness-Based Logotherapy Program (OnlineMLP) on the Depressive Symptoms of Selected Cyberbullied Adolescents during Covid-19 Pandemic

With the increasing popularity of social networking platforms, it serves a greater purpose that is no longer contained simply as a means of social leisure. Social networking sites (SNSs) form and maintain social interactions. Various phenomena revolve around how this usage is associated with certain behaviors, such as keeping social ties online and...

People across the world and throughout history have gone to great lengths to enhance their physical appearance. Evolutionary psychologists and ethologists have largely attempted to explain this phenomenon via mating preferences and strategies. Here, we test one of the most popular evolutionary hypotheses for beauty-enhancing behaviors, drawn from m...

Literature from worldwide revealed that poor mental health is evident among youths living with HIV (YLHIV). However, literature exploring their mental health in the Philippines is limited despite the alarming increase of HIV cases among young people. Hence, this descriptive phenomenological study purported to characterize the mental health of a sel...

Compared with the heterosexual population, the prevalence of mental health outcomes such as suicidality (suicidal ideation, suicide plans, and suicide attempts) is higher among sexual minority youth, particularly those who identify themselves as bisexuals. Bisexuals are at an even elevated risk within the LGB populations due to biphobia, monosexism...

The Covid-19 pandemic has transformed many aspects of our lives, mainly in implementing intervention programs for those in need. Virtual and online engagements exponentially became the norm and demands for telepsychology and teletherapy have risen. In-person or face-to-face therapies are being converted to online platforms to service those in need...

COVID-19 pandemic affected the mental health of the global population. Among the most vulnerable are the healthcare workers (HCWs) who got infected but returned to the frontline after recovery. Currently, there is a dearth of information and understanding on the psychological status and actual lived experience of the recovered HCWs in the Philippin...

The Big Five Inventory-10 (BFI-10; Rammstedt & John, 2007) is one of many short versions of personality inventories that measure the Big Five trait dimensions. Short versions of scales often present methodological challenges as a trade-off for their convenience. Based on samples from 28 countries (N = 10,560), the current study investigated inter-i...

The alarmingly increasing prevalence rate of suicide makes it a major public health concern worldwide. Nevertheless, suicidality is preventable and manageable given the continuous efforts to fully understand it. This grounded study examined the process of suicide recovery among a selection of Filipino youth aged 15 to 27. Twenty-five survivors of s...

Exposure of children to their parents’ intimate partner violence (IPV) is recognized as an adverse childhood experience that has a significant impact on the overall healthy development of the children and this research summarizes all relevant literature to determine the prevalence, impacts, risks, and protective factors of adolescents subjected to...

This study explored the antecedents and outcomes of negative emotional responses to climate change among people from a diverse range of cultural and national contexts. We analysed cross-sectional data gathered in 28 countries (N = 10,963). Our results show that negative emotional responses to climate change are positively related to the amount of a...

To understand how the use of social networking sites, depressive symptoms, and NSSI are related, we conducted cross-sectional predictive research involving 214 adolescents selected via purposive sampling. The result shows that these variables are significantly associated with each other. Two regression models were also tested using the stepwise for...

Victimization via cyberbullying has become a significant mental health concern particularly among adolescents at risk of depression and other mental health issues. As the COVID-19 outbreak forced everyone to stay at home and participate in their educational, recreational, and entertainment activities online, this study investigated the relation bet...

The present study investigated Filipino college students' mental health literacy and mental health using a descriptive cross-sectional design. Five hundred nineteen participants from six Philippine universities took the Mental Health Literacy Scale and the Mental Health Inventory. Descriptive analyses of the data were used to profile the students....

The present study investigated Filipino college students' mental health literacy and mental health using a descriptive cross-sectional design. Five hundred nineteen participants from six Philippine universities took the Mental Health Literacy Scale and the Mental Health Inventory. Descriptive analyses of the data were used to profile the students....

Attitudes toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities have become an important societal issue. Numerous events and movements support the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community, but homonegativity remains prominent in the Philippines. This study describes the attitudes of heterosexual Filipinos toward les...

Filipinos have been using social media platforms to connect, interact, and get news about celebrities. Previous studies have shown that persons who are strongly attracted to a favorite celebrity were more likely to be addicted to social media. The present study was an attempt to replicate those findings with a total of 508 Filipino adolescents, a...

The present study is a conceptual replication of the functional alternative hypothesis, which states that when it is difficult for some persons to form satisfactory interpersonal relationships they turn to parasocial relationships as a functional alternative. In this study, the Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS), a one-item measure of interest in celeb...

A growing number of adolescents who engage in non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) have been reported worldwide. Despite numerous investigations about NSSI, this self-harming behavioral process mostly found among adolescents has not been examined much in non-western countries like the Philippines. This grounded theory study purports to investigate and u...

Climate change and mental health concerns are both defining issues of the generation of today. It has been established that the worsening climate causes many environmental disasters and physical health problems. However, its psychological impacts are still not well understood. Climate change has brought about an emerging psychological phenomenon te...

The emergence of the selfie phenomenon in 2013 is widely viewed as a form of social media-driven narcissism. Such individuals use images to promote themselves on social networks, gain admiration from others, and feed their seemingly inflated self-view. The current study examined whether narcissistic personality traits predict selfie behavior among...

Climate change threatens mental health via increasing exposure to the social and economic disruptions created by extreme weather and large-scale climatic events, as well as through the anxiety associated with recognising the existential threat posed by the climate crisis. Considering the growing levels of climate change awareness across the world,...

Retirement anxiety may cause significant distress for a person approaching retirement due to the inevitable loss of critical resources. Healthy well-being can counter retirement anxiety allowing the person to carefully plan and make better life choices before and during retirement. This brief research report investigated whether high psychological...

Empirical evidences associating internet gaming disorder (IGD) with poor psychological well-being are increasing. As IGD becomes an emerging issue of significant public health concern, the World Health Organization has recently recognized it as a mental health condition. This study examined the efficacy of the Acceptance and Cognitive Restructuring...

About 800,000 people die of suicide each year worldwide (World Health Organization, 2018). Many of these can be expected to be adolescents. Key protective factors have been found to buffer the risk of suicide (Suicide Prevention Resource Center, 2018). This study investigated the relative importance of two protective factors-social support and soci...

The increasing number of adolescents at risk of non-suicidal self-injurious (NSSI) behaviors has caused concern among mental health professionals and researchers. Prior studies have revealed the classification, pervasiveness, correlates, forms, and functions of NSSI; however, the behavioral dynamics are still unexplored. In order to bridge this kno...

Knowing the immense physical and psychological distress that military personnel undergo, it is almost impossible not talk about its adverse psychological consequences, particularly in the context of the mental health profession. Resilience, optimism, and self-esteem are just among the many factors that frequent the discussion about the effects of a...

Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is an emerging mental health condition in increasing number of countries as it leads to a variety of negative consequences and poor psychological well-being among adolescents. The awareness and understanding of the risk factors, symptoms, and impact of IGD are relevant to its proper diagnosis and treatment. The purpos...

There is growing awareness of gender as a spectrum, not simply as a binary biological sex. The term "transgender" describes persons who display identities and behaviors that are gender-nonconforming or which transcend traditional gender paradigms. For such individuals, their gender identity, expression, or behavior does not conform to their biologi...

With the widespread popularity of social media, particularly Facebook among millennials, this generation may be at risk for developing Facebook Addiction. This study utilized a crosssectional predictive design to predict the variance of the psychological predictors, in relation to Facebook addiction tendencies among 1,000 Filipino millennials, age...

This study examined the efficacy of the Acceptance and Cognitive Restructuring Intervention Program (ACRIP) in reducing the symptoms of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) and improving the psychological well-being of adolescents. The ACRIP is an eight-module intervention program carried out over a four-week period. Its efficacy was tested using "random...

Over the past few years, empirical studies have indicated that compulsive internet gaming can negatively influence one’s psychological well-being. To date, the World Health Organization recognizes individuals who have internet gaming disorder as having a mental health condition. As current global statistics on internet usage show an increasing numb...

The Philippines is a religious nation and most Filipinos share a collective religious view stemming from the predominance of Catholicism. This view includes traditional opinions on gender roles and prohibition of behaviors associated with non-heterosexuality. Lesbians and gays who deviate from this traditional norm, tend to become targets of discri...

Pathological gaming is the recurrent, persistent, and excessive involvement of an individual with online or offline video games. According to the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution Model of Brand, Young, Laier, Wolfling, and Potenza, pathological gaming is a consequence of interactions between the person’s core characteristics, coping...

Western literature has shown that youths living with HIV (YLHIV) are at high risk of mental health concerns such as depression, anxiety, and suicide. In the Philippines, there is an alarming increase of HIV cases among young people, yet, there is a paucity of literature about their mental health status. Hence, this study was conducted to explore th...

Suicide is a serious health concern worldwide making it the second leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults. Among those at-risk for suicide are lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) youth, who are reported to be more likely to exhibit suicide behavior than their heterosexual counterparts. LGB-specific stressors, known as sexual minority...

The rise of the social media and Internet in the 21st century has brought forth an anxious feeling among users known as Fear of Missing Out (FoMO), a form of social anxiety caused by the concern of not being in touch with the events in the cyber world. According to Ryan and Deci’s Self-determination Theory (SDT), people have increased their social...

The relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and personality pathology is a growing area of research. Problems with the categorical model of personality disorders have led researchers to explore the relationship between dimensional models of personality and ACEs. Seven hundred seventeen Filipinos with ages from 18 to 87 completed t...

Collegiate athletes encounter different set of adversities compared to students who are non-athletes because they must not only make time for studying but must also allot hours for sport-related activities. Combined with significant levels of physical and psychological expectations, these situations cause increased stress and may result to changes...

This study investigated the efficacy of ‘Emotion-Focused Couples’ Communication Program’ for enhancing marital communication and satisfaction among distressed couples. It used a ‘two-group randomized control trial’ with 32 couples who belonged to the urban, middle class society of Maharashtra, India. ‘Primary Communication Inventory’ and ‘Dyadic Ad...

A number of studies have addressed the aging concerns of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) older adults. Since LGBT psychology is still emerging in the Philippines, The current study investigated the relationship between mental health and attitudes toward aging among 116 Filipino (LG) lesbian and gay older adults aged 50 years and olde...

Cosplay is the art of portraying fictional characters from movies, comics, and literature. Although originating in Japan, cosplay is becoming popular throughout the world, with many Filipinos having attended cosplay events. Previous research indicates that fantasy proneness and dissociative experience are related to participation in cosplay. Fantas...

Suicide is a serious concern worldwide. Understanding the dynamics of suicidal behavior may help prevent it. Meyer's minority stress model (2003) holds that minority groups, such as the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, experience group-specific stressors, collectively termed "stigma." In the current study, stigma was divide...

Minority group members experience what is known as “minority stress,” by which individuals suffer stress because of their membership in stigmatized social categories. In turn, minority stress may lead to self-stigmatization. This occurs when minority group members experience a sense of shame created by the view of the majority culture and then inco...

Non-Violent Communication (NVC), developed by Dr. Marshall B. Rosenberg, fosters intra- and interpersonal relationship through empathetic and compassionate communication. It has been used and proven effective in a variety of settings like schools, health care centers, jails, and in restorative and rehabilitative institutions. However, the use of NV...

Suicide is now the second leading cause of death among the 15- to 29-year-old age group (WHO in: Preventing suicide: a global imperative, executive summary, World Health Organization, Geneva, 2014. Retrieved from www.who.int/mental_health/suicide-prevention/exe_summary_english.pdf). Current research supports the observation that suicidality is a cr...

Suicide and suicide behavior are major health concerns in our society today. Suicide has always been a sensitive topic, being considered taboo in many cultures and religions. Studies have shown that suicide and suicide behavior are linked to personality traits. The study aims to observe the relationship of the Five Factor Model personality traits w...

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a phenomenon that is persistent in society and exacts a heavy psychological toll on women and children victimized by it. This research aims to understand how doers of intimate partner violence construe or perceive their alleged violent behavior. This study focuses on fifteen men with cases of Republic Act of 9262...