La adolescencia: retos para la investigación y para la sociedad europea de cara al siglo XXI

A lo largo de la última década, la adolescencia ha sido un tema de discusión política en distintos espacios europeos al más alto nivel. En una sociedad aceleradamente cambiante se percibe que la adecuada socialización de las generaciones más jóvenes constituye un reto socio-histórico que nos afecta a todos. Los cambios en que estamos sumergidos son tan plurales (demográficos, sociales, tecnológicos, económicos, políticos, etc.) que generan un amplísimo frente de nuevos dilemas éticos. La opinión de los ciudadanos de la Unión Europea se muestra preocupada por nuevos valores y destaca la preferencia por la responsabilidad en coherencia con dicha situación cambiante. Todo este macrocontexto psicosocial viene planteando nuevos retos teóricos y de investigación a la comunidad científica. De hecho las ciencias humanas y sociales han empezado a desarrollar nuevas líneas de investigación para comprender mejor las nuevas relaciones entre adultos y adolescentes y las nuevas culturas que emergen entre estos últimos, impulsadas por nuevas aspiraciones sociales compartidas por grupos más o menos amplios de la población joven. El desarrollo de técnicas e instrumentos que nos permitan comprender mejor la perspectiva del adolescente se hace más evidente si analizamos su relación con las nuevas tecnologías de la información y la comunicación. Dichas tecnologías comportan nuevos riesgos, pero también nuevas oportunidades, entre las que destaca la posibilidad de establecer nuevas formas de relación. La motivación que muestran los más jóvenes por las nuevas tecnologías constituye un gran reto a los investigadores aplicados para sugerir formas de maximizar las potencialidades latentesIn Europe, during the last decade, adolescence has been a subject of political debate at the highest levels. In an ever-changing society the socialization of the youngest generations is perceived as a socio-historical challenges which involves all Europeans. The changes we are immersed in are so plural (demographic, social, technological, economic, political, etc.) that they generate a very broad range of new ethical dilemmas. Europeans express their concern about the emergence of new values; they stress their preference for responsibility, consistent with the changing situation. All this psychosocial macrocontext presents new theoretical challenges for the scientific community. Indeed, in the area of human and social sciences new lines of research are currently underway to understand more clearly the new relations between adults and adolescents, and the new cultures emerging among the adolescents, grounded in new social aspirations shared by groups of varying dimensions in the teenage population. The need for in-depth analysis of theories, techniques and instruments that allow us a better understanding of the adolescent perspective becomes clearer if we analyse its relation with the new information and communication technologies. These technologies present new risks, but also new opportunities, among which the most important is the chance to establish new forms of relations. The interest that the young generations show in these new technologies presents a great challenge to applied researchers who must suggest ways of maximizing the hidden potential of these new means of comnunicatio

The rights of children and intergenerational relationships

Reflexión crítica sobre el impacto que la ratificación de la Convención de las Naciones Unidas sobre los Derechos del Niño parece haber tenido en nuestro entorno sociocultural, sobre todo en el contexto psicosocial en que niños y niñas deben ejercer sus derechos, en una sociedad organizada bajo la perspectiva de los intereses de la generación adulta. La Convención parece haber incomodado algunos aspectos de las representaciones a: sociales al provocar un debate sobre los derechos de los niños a la participación social. Será preciso un cambio substancial en las relaciones intergeneracionales, en la que los adultos dejemos de poner resistencias a un cambio importante para el futuro de nuestra sociedad, que facilite el protagonismo infantil en la vida social.Reflexió crítica sobre l'impacte que la ratificació de la Convenció de les Nacions Unides sobre els Drets de l'infant sembla haver tingut en el nostre entorn sociocultural, sobre tot en el context psicosocial en que els infants han d'exercir els seus drets, en una societat organitzada sota la perspecti va dels interessos de la generació adulta. La Convenció sembla haver incomodat alguns aspectes de les representacions socials en provocar un debat sobre els drets deis infants a la participació social. Caldrà un canvi substancial en les relacions intergeneracionals, en la que els adults deixem de posar resistencies a un canvi important per al futur de la nostra societat, que faciliti el protagonisme infantil en la vida social.A critical reflection on the effect that ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child seems to ha ve had on our socio-cultural space, particularly in a psycho-social context where children have to exercise their rights within a society organised around the interests of the adult generation. The Convention seems to have disturbed some aspects of social representations by stirring up debate on children 's rights to social participation. This will require a substantial shift in inte rgenerational relalion ships whereby we adulls give up our resistance to a significant change for the future of our society that will facilitate children 's protagonism in social live

Las representanciones sociales de las necesidades de niños y niñas, y su calidad de vida

Se presentan distintos aspectos del trasfondo psicosociul que conlleva el estudio de la calidad de vida de la poblacidn infantil. Para ello se hace hincapié en la relevancia de las representaciones sociales que la población adulta de cada sociedad va construyendo acerca de su población infantil y se relacionan distintos campos de investigación que, aunque a menudo se desarrollan de forma independiente, nos empiezan a informar de elementos que contribuyen a configurar dichas representaciones. Estos campos son: las relaciones y dinárnicas padres-hijos, las actitudes generales de la población adulta hacia los niños, y la consideracidn de la infiincia por parte de los medios de comunicacidn social. Los elementos representacionales que van apareciendo en los estudios a estos niveles, nos sugieren explicaciones e hipdtesis de trabajo sobre los factorespsicosociales que inciden sobre la legitimacidn de necesidades y problemas sociales de la infancia, y, ya en el terreno de la accidn social, nos abren perspectivas de posibles intervenciones sociales para desarrollar programas de prevención y promoción

Parental Child-Rearing Styles and Subjective Well-Being of Children Involved in Bullying

This study aims to examine how parental child-rearing styles contribute to subjective well-being of three groups: bullying victims, bullying perpetrator-victims, and those uninvolved in bullying. These groups were categorized based on the children’s self-reported bullying incidents. This study used quantitative approach with cross-sectional design. The participants were 781 4th to 6th-grader students (51.98% boys, 48.02% girls), consists of 329 bullying victims, 197 were both bullying perpetrators and victims, and 255 were uninvolved in bullying. Parental child-rearing styles were measured using The Egna Minnen Beträffande Uppfostran for Children (EMBU-C), while subjective well-being was measured using the Children’s Worlds Subjective Well-Being Scale 5 items (CW-SWBS5). Data were analysed using structural equation modelling. The results revealed that the warmth of fathers and mothers made significant and direct contributions to the subjective well-being of children uninvolved in bullying, where the father’s warmth negatively contributed, while the mother’s warmth positively contributed. Similar results did not appear in the subjective well-being of victims or perpetrator-victims

Adaptation and Validation of The Children’s Worlds Subjective Well-Being Scale (CW-SWBS) in Indonesia

The Indonesian research team participating in the Children’s Worlds international project has used a new context-free multi-item scale named CW-SWBS (Children’s Worlds Subjective Well-Being Scale). This psychometric instrument was previously never used in Indonesia. This study aimed to validate the adapted Indonesia language version for a representative sample of children who are elementary students in West Java province (N = 22,616), ranging from 8, 10, to 12-year-olds. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to test the fit of the psychometric scale, and multi-group CFA was used to check the comparability between answers given by gender and school types. Result findings showed that the instrument displays excellent fit for measuring life satisfaction in Indonesian children using five items, instead of the six original items. Answers to the items of the CW-SWBS by gender and school types were demonstrated to be comparable, suggesting that there was no different answering style between individuals in these studied groups

Children’s and adolescents’ reports on their quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 affects human life, but very few studies have examined the quality of life of children and adolescents during the pandemic. This article aims to report on the quality of life of children and adolescents (N = 1,474; ages 10-18 years) during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. Data were collected using Google Forms and convenience sampling. The measuring instrument used measured five domains of quality of life, namely material, physical, social, emotional, and productive well-being. The data were analyzed using crosstab, frequency, comparison of mean values, and ANOVA. The results show that children and adolescents have been able to maintain their subjective well-being and adapt to unpleasant situations during the lockdown. Younger boys and girls show significantly higher mean scores than older ones. Children and adolescents reported that they were bored because they had limited physical activities, were dissatisfied with school closures and with what they had learnt at home, and were frustrated by the limited contact they had with friends. The research has implications in providing advice to parents, teachers, children, and adolescents to improve the quality of life of children and adolescents during the pandemic

Food Indicators and Their Relationship with 10 to 12 Year-olds' Subjective Well-Being

This study aimed to test subjective indicators designed to analyze the role food plays in children’s lives, explore children’s personal well-being, and evaluate the relationship between these two phenomena. It was conducted on 371 children aged 10 to 12 by means of a selfadministered questionnaire. Results showed a marked interest in food on the part of children, who consider taste and health the most important indicators when it comes to eating. They demonstrated a high level of personal well-being, measured using Cummins & Lau’s adapted version of the Personal Well- Being Index–School Children (PWI-SC) (2005), overall life satisfaction (OLS) and satisfaction with various life domains (friends, family, sports, food and body). Regression models were conducted to explain satisfaction with food, taking as independent variables the interest children have in food, the importance they give to different reasons for eating, scores from the PWI-SC, OLS and satisfaction with various life domains. In the final model, it was found that OLS, health indicators, satisfaction with health from the PWI-SC and satisfaction with your body contribute to explaining satisfaction with food. The results obtained suggest that satisfaction with food is a relevant indicator in the exploration of children’s subjective well-being, calling into question the widespread belief that these aspects are of exclusive interest to adults. They also seem to reinforce the importance of including food indicators in any study aimed at exploring the well-being of the 10 to 12 year-old population

El bienestar psicológico de los preadolescentes

El estudio del bienestar psicológico, como componente de la calidad de vida, ha sido un campo de notables desarrollos durante las dos últimas décadas. No obstante, existen todavía pocos instrumentos aplicables al estudio de dicho bienestar en la adolescencia. En este articulo se presentan los resultados de la aplicación de uno de dichos instrumentos ya adaptado a la población infantil española (Alsinet, 1998), la escala SLSS de Huebner (1991a, 1994), a una muestra de 1.590 adolescentes catalanes entre 12 y 14 años. Los resultados se contrastan con 1os obtenidos al administrar escalas de afecto positivo y afecto negativo a la misma muestra y con 1os originalmente obtenidos por Huebner con una muestra norteamericana. Dichos resultados muestran una buena validez interna, una estructura factorial consistente, un buen funcionamiento de la escala con la población española y unas pautas de respuesta coherentes con las originalmente obtenidas por Huebner con muestras norteamericanas