Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

A study was designed with the aim of identifying different profiles of emotional regulation in a sample of university students, and analysing the differences among the identified profiles in relation to stressors perception and psychophysiological stress responses. The participants were 504 Spanish physiotherapy students (74% women), with a mean age of 21.06 ± 3.74 years old, which answered the Difficulty Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) and the Academic Stress Questionnaire (stressors scale [ECEA] and response scale [RCEA]). Based on Cluster analysis, three emotional regulation profiles were identified: students with high emotional regulation profile, students with low emotional regulation profile and students with low emotional regulation but high scores in emotional attention profile. The results indicated statistically significant differences between the emotional regulation profiles in stress appraisals and psychophysiological responses. Succinctly, students with high emotional regulation profile perceived academic environment as less threatening and showed lesser scores in stress responses. Students with low emotional regulation profile and low emotional regulation but high emotional attention profile showed similar scores, with the exception of sleep disorders. Briefly, physiotherapy students who had higher scores on emotional control and acceptance, perceived the academic setting in a more adaptive way and reported fewer stress responses.

Children enter the school system with different educational experiences, leaving also with different levels of learning and school results. In this study, we intend to understand the impact of family and school on children's cognitive performance and academic achievement during elementary education. The sample consists of 406 Portuguese children, from preschool and the 1st cycle of Basic Education, aged from 4 to 10 years old. Through full structural equation model, it was observed that the latent variable family (parents’ schooling and socioeconomic level) and the latent variable school (community and type of school) have a significant impact on academic achievement. However, only family presents a significant impact on cognitive performance. These data suggest that the impact of school on intelligence quotient is not expressive in early academic years, where family present higher explanation of the variance.

The present investigation examines the factorial structure of Ryff's Scales of Psychological Well-Being in university students; 1,402 students took part in the study. Participants were randomized into two independent homogeneous (calibration and validation) subsamples. Various theoretical models proposed by previous research were subjected to confirmatory factor analysis. Our results indicate that the four factor model (self-acceptance, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth) with no latent factors show the best fit to the empirical data. These findings are discussed according to theoretical and empirical implications.

The Matthew effect on reading refers the contrasted phenomenon on how differences in performance between good and poor readers can increase over time. A longitudinal study was conducted on the presence/absence of Matthew effect in a sample of 1st to 5th year Primary School children. A total of 51 students who started Primary School in 2011 were evaluated five times by several reading measurement tools: Collective Test of Reading Efficacy (TECLE), PROLEC-R (a battery of tests for the evaluation of reading processes, ACL (a Spanish reading comprehension test), and BEL (a standardised Spanish reading test). Assessment was carried out each June between 2011 and 2015. A group of children (n = 13) considered at risk of being low performance readers (using a percentile criterion below 25 obtained on the TECLE test at the end of the 1st year). A comparison was then made of the progress over 5 years between this group, and a group of average performance readers (n = 26), as well as high-level performance readers (n = 12) from the same sample of participants. Tracking the reader profile of students at risk, helps to determine the changes generated in these children through the different assessments over the five years of the study. The overall results showed differences between the groups assessed, but differences between readers at risk and other groups were not increased. Furthermore, the individual monitoring of students at risk showed that some children improvised his/her performance in reading above the average. Educational suggestions from the study are discussed.

A cross-sectional study examines the relationship between participation in secular demonstrations, spiritual rituals, and communal coping, as well as the question whether these strategies might serve as triggers of post-traumatic growth, and enhance social well-being. A communal coping scale, showing satisfactory structural validity, was administered to a quasi-random sample (N = 517) of people affected by an earthquake in Chile in 2010. The results indicated that adaptive forms, such as communal reappraisal, regulated emotional expression, communal distraction, and communal searching for social support, were associated with social well-being (SWB) and post-traumatic growth (PTG). Participation in spiritual rituals was specifically related to communal reappraisal and contributed to post-traumatic growth. On the other hand, participation in secular collective gatherings also reinforced post-traumatic growth, as well as social well-being, but not through communal reappraisal. Overall, this study confirmed social functions of collective ritualized activities, which through the reinforcement of in-group interaction, foster individual post-traumatic growth and social well-being of people affected by a collective trauma, like an earthquake. Results are discussed in the framework of a collective positive psychology approach on micro- and macro-social processes of coping and their implications for social well-being.

The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP) and aggressiveness according to their components: physiological-emotional (anger), motor (physical and verbal aggression), and cognitive (hostility). The sample included 776 children from the 3rd to 6th year of Primary School (M = 9.72 years; SD = 1.14). The Child and Adolescent Perfectionism Scale and the Aggression Questionnaire were used to assess, respectively, SPP and components of aggressive behaviour: Anger, Hostility, Physical and Verbal Aggression. The mean difference analysis showed that students with high levels of SPP scored significantly higher on all 4 sub-scales of Aggression Questionnaire, compared with their peers with lower levels of SPP. Moderate effect sizes were obtained for all cases, except for Hostility, where the magnitude of the differences was small. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the 4 dimensions of Aggression Questionnaire predicted significantly and positively high scores on SPP, with the OR ranging from 1.07 to 1.12. The results showed that there is a close relationship between the SPP and manifestations of aggression.

A high percentage of adolescents with attention deficit disorder (with or without hyperactivity [ADHD]) fail to become academically successful because, among other reasons, they have poor study-organisation and lack the skills and resources to tackle homework. The aim of this study was to first determine, and then improve, the study habits and skills of such individuals, using a quasi-experimental design (pre-test-treatment application-post-test). The sample consisted of 20 students without ADHD in Secondary Education (specifically, 5 from each course and aged between 12 and 16 years), and 6 adolescents with ADHD. The evaluation instrument utilized was the Study Habits Inventory in Spanish (Fernández-Pozar, 2002). The results highlighted that the sample of adolescents with ADHD were lacking in all scales measured in the Study Habits Inventory (adaptation to the study-environment, planning of study, use of materials, and assimilation of contents), with their scores being significantly lower than the sample of adolescents without ADHD, in terms of environmental adjustment, and improvements in most other measurements when receiving specialised educational attention.

The aim of the present study was to empirically test an explanatory model of psychosocial adjustment during adolescence, with psychosocial adjustment during this stage being understood as a combination of school adjustment (or school engagement) and subjective well-being. According to the hypothetic model, psychosocial adjustment depends on self-concept and resilience, which in turn act as mediators of the influence of perceived social support (from family, peers and teachers) on this adjustment. Participants were 1250 secondary school students (638 girls and 612 boys) aged between 12 and 15 years (Mean = 13.72; SD = 1.09). The results provided evidence of: (a) the influence of all three types of perceived support on subject resilience and self-concept, with perceived family support being particularly important in this respect; (b) the influence of the support received from teachers on school adjustment and support received from the family on psychological wellbeing; and (c) the absence of any direct influence of peer support on psychosocial adjustment, although indirect influence was observed through the psychological variables studied. These results are discussed from an educational perspective and in terms of future research.

Recent studies have shown contradictory evidence regarding cognitive abilities differentiation and organization in childhood. Cattell's investment theory postulated that during the early stages of life, the individual begins with a single and general ability (fluid intelligence), in which the relevance tends to decrease during adolescence, due to the appearance of differentiated abilities developed through the process of socialization and associated with the motivations, interests and experiences. This study analyses whether the factorial structure of the results in a battery of tests supports the existence of a general factor or, instead, a structure formed by different specific factors. A sample of 472 Portuguese children, aged between 4 and 10 years old, completed the Cognitive Competencies Scale for Children (ECCOs 4/10), and four subtests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III) and Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence – Revised (WPPSI-R). The adjustment of some models that reflect different psychometric theories of intelligence was tested by several confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). The implications of the tested models in the organization of cognitive abilities for cognitive development and school learning in childhood are also discussed.

The aim of the present study is to assess the risks associated with parental breakup on the children's physical health indicators in relation to adaptive and maladaptive behaviour. A cross-sectional designed study was conducted to assess the physical health indicators of children in relation to the family type (intact homes vs. separated parents). The study was performed in the Primary Healthcare Area of the University Hospital of Santiago de Compostela (Spain). The sample consisted of 467 children and adolescents, of whom 300 (64.2%) were from broken homes, and 167 (35.8%) from intact families. The data on physical health were gathered using a structured interview, the Structured Developmental History of the BASC. Children living with separated parents had approximately double the risk of gastrointestinal, genitourinary, dermatological and neurological disorders than children in intact families. Parental breakup is a risk factor for the children's physical health in terms of genitourinary, gastrointestinal, dermatological, and neurological disorders.