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Consistent with current emotion theory, we should note that contempt is not a homogeneous category but rather shows intracategorial variability. Previous research on Spanish samples shows a communicative structure in which contempt is felt towards intimate, social or abstract receivers, for reciprocal, altruistic or prejudiced reasons. Our objective was to test, on a large and heterogeneous sample, the previously found structure and variations of the experience of contempt as well as its spontaneous facial expression. Testing the association of contempt varieties with certain subject attributes was a secondary goal. Results from 130 participants from the Spanish general population corroborated the previously found structure and varieties, as well as the associations between contempt receiver and attribution. No relation was found with sex, age or emotion recognition ability. As to spontaneous facial expression, disgust was more often expressed by those who narrated their personal episodes of contempt for reciprocal reasons, and was less often expressed by the people who described prejudiced scenarios. This result indicates that the conventionally considered facial expression of contempt is not the only one, as already stated by Darwin, and should not be considered as such by experimental and psychometric procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between the educational level with the perceived emotional well-being and the mental health of the Spanish population. In a total of 29,478 adults, participating in the Spanish National Health Survey 2006, we found that low education level is related with poor mental health (OR 1.65 in men and OR 2.36 in women), poor or very poor self-perceived health (OR 2.10 OR 2.53 for men and women), less social support (OR 1.31 OR 1.66 for men and women) and inactivity (OR 2.09 OR 1.80 for men and women). In the Spanish population the educational level is an associated factor related with different health dimensions and to the subjective well-being and mental health perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]