Psychopathological Symptoms, Social Skills, and Personality Traits: A Study with Adolescents

The purpose of this study is two-fold: (a) to study the concomitant relationships between psychopathological symptoms, cooperation, social skills, and other personality traits; and (b) to identify the predictive variables of psychopathological symptoms. The sample consists of 322 adolescents aged 14 to 17 years old. This study uses correlational methodology. In order to assess psychopathological symptoms, cooperation, social skills, and personality traits, the following scales are used: the Symptom Checklist (SCL-90-R; Derogatis, 1983), the Cooperativeness Scale (CS; Rigby, Cox, & Black, 1997), the MESSY social skills scale (Matson, Rotatori, & Helsel, 1983), and the TPT Personality Test (Corral, Pamos, Pereña, & Seisdedos, 2002). Pearson coefficients suggest that adolescents with many psychopathological symptoms have low levels of cooperative behaviors and social skills. They also score high in inappropriate assertiveness, impulsiveness, overconfidence, and jealousy-withdrawal and have low levels of emotional stability, sociability, and responsibility. Through multiple regression analyses, the following variables were identified as predictors of psychopathological symptoms: jealousy-withdrawal, low social integration, impulsiveness, and low self-concept. The role played by intervention programs promoting socio-emotional development to prevent psychopathological symptoms and enhance mental health is discussed.El estudio tiene 2 objetivos: 1) analizar las relaciones de los síntomas psicopatológicos con cooperación, habilidades sociales, y otros rasgos de personalidad; y 2) identificar variables predictoras de síntomas psicopatológicos. La muestra está constituida por 322 adolescentes de 14 a 17 años. El estudio utiliza una metodología correlacional. Los síntomas psicopatológicos, la capacidad de cooperación, las habilidades sociales y diversos rasgos de personalidad fueron medidos con 4 instrumentos de evaluación: el cuestionario SCL-90-R (Derogatis, 1983), la escala de cooperación (EC; Rigby, Cox y Black, 1997, la escala de habilidades sociales MESSY (Matson, Rotatori y Helsel, 1983), y el test de personalidad TPT (Corral, Pamos, Pereña y Seisdedos, 2002). Los coeficientes de Pearson sugieren que los adolescentes con muchos síntomas psicopatológicos tienen pocas conductas de cooperación, pocas habilidades sociales, mucha asertividad inapropiada, impulsividad, sobrevaloración, y celos-soledad, así como baja estabilidad emocional, sociabilidad y responsabilidad. El análisis de regresión múltiple permite identificar 4 variables predictoras de síntomas psicopatológicos: alto nivel de celos-soledad, baja integración social, impulsividad y bajo autoconcepto. La discusión plantea el papel que pueden tener los programas de intervención socio-emocional durante la infancia para prevenir la emergencia de síntomas psicopatológicos y para fomentar la salud mental

Assessment of a cooperative-creative program of assertive behavior and self-concept.

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Efectos del juego en la creatividad infantil: Impacto de un programa de juego cooperativo-creativo para niños de 10 a 12 años

This work presents the assessment results of a play program designed for stimulating creativity in children. The design used was quasi-experimental pretest-interventionpost-test with control group. The sample used included 86 children aged 10 and 11 years, 54 experimental and 32 control, distributed in four groups. Before and after the program, four assessment instruments were administered: 7 verbal and figural tasks from Torrance's, the direct judgement by experts who assessed a creative product, a creative personality scale, and a sociometric questionnaire. The program consisted of a weekly two-hour intervention session throughout the school year. The program's activities were intended to stimulate verbal, graphic-figural, constructive and dramatic creativity. Results of the analyses of variance suggest a positive effect of the intervention, as the experimental subjects significantly increased their: 1) verbal creativity (originality); 2) graphic-figural creativity (resistance to premature closure, originality, elaboration, creative performance); 3) various behaviours and traits of creative personality, and 4) a rise in the number of classmates considered as creative

Efectos del juego en la creatividad infantil: Impacto de un programa de juego cooperativo-creativo para niños de 10 a 12 años

This work presents the assessment results of a play program designed for stimulating creativity in children. The design used was quasi-experimental pretest-interventionpost-test with control group. The sample used included 86 children aged 10 and 11 years, 54 experimental and 32 control, distributed in four groups. Before and after the program, four assessment instruments were administered: 7 verbal and figural tasks from Torrance's, the direct judgement by experts who assessed a creative product, a creative personality scale, and a sociometric questionnaire. The program consisted of a weekly two-hour intervention session throughout the school year. The program's activities were intended to stimulate verbal, graphic-figural, constructive and dramatic creativity. Results of the analyses of variance suggest a positive effect of the intervention, as the experimental subjects significantly increased their: 1) verbal creativity (originality); 2) graphic-figural creativity (resistance to premature closure, originality, elaboration, creative performance); 3) various behaviours and traits of creative personality, and 4) a rise in the number of classmates considered as creative.Este trabajo presenta los resultados de la evaluación de un programa de juego diseñado para estimular la creatividad infantil. Se utilizó un diseño cuasiexperimental pretest -intervención-postest con grupo de control. La muestra utilizada fue de 86 participantes de 10 a 11 años, 54 experimentales y 32 de control, distribuidos en 4 grupos. Antes y después del programa se aplicaron cuatro instrumentos de evaluación: 7 ¡ tareas verbales y figurativas del TPCT de Torrance, el juicio directo de jueces expertos que evaluaron un producto creativo, una escala de evaluación de la personalidad creadora y un cuestionario sociométrico. El programa consistió en una sesión de intervención semanal de dos horas de duración durante un curso escolar. Las actividades del programa estimulan la creatividad verbal, gráfico-figurativa, constructiva y dramática. Los resultados de los análisis de varianza sugieren un positivo efecto de la intervención ya que los sujetos experimentales incrementaron significativamente: 1) la creatividad verbal (originalidad); 2) la creatividad gráfico-figurativa (abreacción, originalidad, elaboración, rendimiento creativo); 3) conductas y rasgos de personalidad creadora; y 4) el número de compañeros del grupo considerados como personas creativas