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

The aim of this work was to analyze the self-efficacy, social participation and perception of the university services between men and women who study at a higher education institution in Michoacán, Mexico. The study was quantitative and transversal. A total of 587 university students participated. They answered a Self-Efficacy Scale, a Social Participation Scale, and a Questionnaire of the Use and Satisfaction of the Services Delivered to the Students. There were found differences in pressure resistance and sport self-efficacy. More social participation was found in men than in women, and a low contact with the university services in both groups. In conclusion, more diffusion of the university services is required to call the attention of the students, and to promote these services in order to increase the perception of self-efficacy, and social participation in men and in women.

The bear subculture, based on the problem of a scarce theoretical production that makes the phenomenon almost unknown in the country, makes the present study a pioneer in the field. The research is exploratory with a non-probabilistic sample for convenience, being made up of six participants aged 21 to 30 years old, gays and self-conceived bears. Semi-structured interviews were performed, whose data were analyzed using transcripts and subsequent categorization. The findings indicate a subordinated masculinity, tinted with hetero-identification, and affirmed in heteronormativity and in a fetishized body in clear opposition to some stereotypes of thinness. The expression on their condition is relegated to night life and entertainment experiences dyed with discrimination and violation of rights. Bear sexuality in Santiago of Chile is highly rated as a morbid and promiscuous activity. Practices concerning the complete body sexualization are mentioned in detriment of the genitalization. In parallel the figure of the bear is conceived as significantly intolerant and discriminatory with respect to other masculinities. Relevance of the results lies on providing a framework of analysis to understand the reality of new male homosexual identities offering to competent authorities the possibility of visualization of new social actors on the border of male sexuality.

Instructional teaching quality facilitates learning and promotes affective, motivational, behavioral and cognitive development of students. It was analyzed the role that instructional teaching quality, task value, self-efficacy and boredom on attention in class have. Argentinian university students (N = 454, 84% women) completed self-reports that measured the variables under study. The path analysis showed that only one of the four models analyzed showed a good fit to the data and explained 54% of attention in class variance. It was found that instructional teaching quality predicts task value, academic self-efficacy and boredom in class; task value and academic self-efficacy affect boredom and attention in class, while academic self-efficacy influences on task value; and boredom is the strongest predictor of attention in class. Instructional teaching quality, task value and academic self-efficacy added indirect effects on boredom and attention in class. In this way teacher’s behavior and student motivation are fundamental in reducing boredom and increasing attention in class.

Fat studies have been scarce in the Spanish-speaking world. In this paper we deepen in this matter and we propose that discrimination on the size of the body is a way to reproduce gender inequalities. We present the results of an exploratory study whose objective was to describe and understand how fat is socially constructed, based on differences by sex, age group and socioeconomic status. We conducted a qualitative study from a constructionist perspective. We conducted six mixed gender discussion groups in Santiago, Chile, three young people and three adults, also varying socioeconomic status (high, medium and low). We conducted the analysis following the recommendations of the grounded theory. The results lay out a feminization of the fat that is expressed in four dimensions: a stricter standard for the weight of women, the construction of fatness as a matter of feminine concern, as a matter of moral conviction, and women as responsible for the size of their body and their family. We conclude that the feminization of fat reproduces dichotomies of masculine and feminine (mind/body and public/private), which are themselves forms of gender violence.

This research was performed at the end of a subject taught in the second year of Nursing, whose purpose was to contribute to the integral formation of the student, through self-knowledge and development of social skills to favor the establishment of therapeutic relationships. Strategies were used to intend the development of the reflection, and it was pertinent to investigate the perception of the students on their own reflective processes. The aim was to explore how nursing students perceive the development of their reflective processes. It was a naturalistic research, which used a qualitative method to study a single and intrinsic case; semi-structured interviews were carried out, after signing an informed consent by students. An inductive data analysis was performed using the constant comparison method. As results three related thematic groups emerged: development of the reflective process, team work experiences and development of meaningful learning. It was concluded that reflective processes of nursing students correspond to a recursive phenomenon that become deep and mature over time. This process is perceived as the development of a skill, which is identified as useful not only in a personal level, but also as an academic tool and as future professionals.

Although the Affect Balance Scale (ABS) developed by Bradburn (1969) is considered one of the most relevant scales to assess affective component of subjective well being, there are no adaptations in the Argentine context. For this reason, this study evaluated the psychometric properties of the ABS in a nonrandom sample composed of 336 university students in Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires. The results suggest acceptable psychometric properties. Confirmatory factor analysis suggests a good fit to the data of the two-dimensional model observed in the literature. For this reason, it is considered that this study enables the assessment of subjective well-being in the local context. It is also recommended that future studies which intend to use the ABS use different populations, providing better empirical support.

This study focuses on the existing relation between perceptions of discrimination for performing non-traditional activities and the subjective psychological wellbeing levels. 81 volunteer women who exercise works, defined by themselves and by external judges as traditionally played by men, participated (aged between 18 to 52 years, with an average of 34 years.). All of them develop their work in the city of Punta Arenas, Chile. An intentional nonrandom sample and non-experimental cross-correlation design were used. Questionnaires were used to measure both, psychological well-being and perception of discrimination. The results for psychological well-being suggest that the observed average of the sample falls within 55 percentile compared with regional standards by gender. Regarding the perception of discrimination, the global average indicates that perceived levels of discrimination are in intermediated levels compared to the theoretical scale, in others words; they show intermediate levels of discrimination perception because of their jobs. The correlation’s analyses indicate the existence of a negative association between both variables. To assess the relationship between well-being and the perception of subtle discrimination, this association becomes marginally significant, while the correlation in the case of blatant discrimination is particularly high. These results are discussed in terms of the costs of questioning traditional roles and their implications for the new generations.

The purpose of this research was to identify the presence of disordered eating behaviors and attitudes (DEBA) and its relation to body weight and health-related quality of life in children. The sample comprised 398 children from fourelementary schools, public and private, 203 women (51%) and 195 men (49%), who completed the Children EatingAttitudes Test (ChEAT-26) and the Pediatric Questionnaire Quality of Life (PedsQL). As a part of the procedure, body weight and size were registered in order to determine the body mass index. The data analysis yielded a prevalence of 14.1% and 13.4% of DEBA respectively to public and private school. Overweight participants showed higher risk of DEBA than peers of normal weight (OR: 2.36; 95% CI: 1.18-4.73). Children with DEBA from public schools showed minimized scores in the physical functioning, scholar functioning and for the total of PedsQL compared to peers from private schools. The scholar functioning was explained by type of school, age and DEBA. It was concluded that a significant number of children, mainly overweight, presented DEBA, and they affect the healthrelated quality of life.