Subjective well-being in adolescence and teacher connectedness : A health asset analysis

This is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: I. García-Moya, F. Brooks, A. Morgan, and C. Moreno, “Subjective well-being in adolescence and teacher connectedness. A health asset analysis.”, Health Education Journal. Vol. 74(6), November 2015. The final published version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0017896914555039 © The Author(s) 2014.Objectives: Teacher connectedness is an important factor for young people's well-being. The aim of this paper was to examine teacher connectedness in detail and its potential association with emotional well-being. More specifically, we set out to analyse whether teacher connectedness acted as a universal asset for boys and girls of different ages and countries as well as across adolescents with differing perceptions of their performance at school. Methods: The study sample consisted of 9,444 young people aged 11, 13 and 15 years who had taken part in the World Health Organization (WHO) collaborative survey Health Behaviour in School-aged Children in Spain and England. After examining differences in teacher connectedness associated with demographic factors, we used general linear models to analyse the relationship between teacher connectedness and emotional well-being (including interaction teacher connectedness by country) across different age and performance-derived groups. Results: Results indicated some significant differences in teacher connectedness associated with age, country and perceived performance, but a consistent positive association between teacher connectedness and emotional well-being regardless of demographic factors, country and perceptions of school performance. Older adolescents and low achievers reported lower level of connectedness to their teachers, but the association between teacher connectedness and emotional well-being operated irrespective of adolescents' age and perceived performance at school. Conclusion: Results support the perspective that teacher connectedness can act as a significant health asset that operates irrespective of key demographic factors, while they point to some inequalities in teacher connectedness associated with age and performance at school. These findings have significant implications for health promotion interventions.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

A new measure for the assessment of student–teacher connectedness in adolescence

Student–teacher relationships have received a lot of attention in the social sciences. It is well-known that relationships with teachers tend to become more distant during adolescence, but most adolescents single out specific teachers they feel connected to. To better capture this latter phenomenon, the aim of this paper is to propose and evaluate the psychometric properties of a new measure for the assessment of student–teacher connectedness in adolescent samples from two countries. Samples consisted of 2,323 adolescents from England and 8,000 adolescents from Spain, who had answered a specific package of questions for the assessment of student–teacher connectedness included in the 17/18 edition of the WHO-collaborative survey Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) in the aforementioned two countries. After analyses of item performance and factorial structure, we obtained a 12-item scale with high internal consistency and a factorial structure consistent with the definition of student–teacher connectedness used for scale development in both datasets. Some evidence of validity was also obtained (the scale correlated positively with teacher support, school satisfaction and life satisfaction and negatively with school-related stress). Finally, invariance analysis (configural, metric, and scalar invariance) supported an equivalent functioning of the scale in England and Spain.European Union’s Horizon 2020 657482Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades RYC-2017-21626Fundación La Caixa LCF/BQ/LR18/1164000

Bullying Victimization Prevalence and Its Effects on Psychosomatic Complaints: Can Sense of Coherence Make a Difference?

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of bullying victimization and its impact on physical and psychological complaints in a representative sample of adolescents and to explore the role of sense of coherence (SOC) in victimization prevalence and consequences. METHODS A representative sample of Spanish adolescents (N = 7580, mean age = 15.41) was selected as part of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study. Bullying victimization, physical and psychological symptoms, and SOC were measured, and comparisons were made between strong- and weak-SOC adolescents regarding their likelihood of being a victim of bullying and the negative effects of bullying victimization on their health. RESULTS Weak-SOC adolescents were significantly more likely to suffer from bullying victimization regardless of type (nonphysical vs physical and nonphysical) or means (traditional vs cyberbullying). In addition, bullying victimization showed significant increasing effects on weak-SOC adolescents' physical and psychological symptoms whereas in strong-SOC adolescents it was not significantly associated with increases in physical complaints and its effects on psychological complaints seemed to be weaker. CONCLUSIONS Weak-SOC adolescents seem to be at higher risk of becoming bullying victims and victimization experiences appear to have increased negative effects on them when compared to strong-SOC students.Ministerio de Sanidad, Política Social e Igualdad de EspañaMinisterio de Educación de España AP2009-097

The ‘balancing acts’ of building positive relationships with students: secondary school teachers' perspectives in England and Spain

This qualitative study explores teachers' views on the salience of relationships with students in their professional roles, and the benefits and potential tensions associated with relationship building. Thematic analyses of semi-structured interviews conducted in England and Spain with 20 secondary school teachers show an ambiguous status of relationship building, with diverse views on its centrality in teachers' professional roles. Teachers also describe the complex balancing acts they perform in relationships with students and express difficulties and uncertainties around well-being, authority, and student behaviourMinisterio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades RYC-2017-21626Fundación La Caixa LCF/BQ/LR18/11640009European Union's Horizon 2020 65748

MAP17 predicts sensitivity to platinum-based therapy, EGFR inhibitors and the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib in lung adenocarcinoma

Background The high incidence and mortality of lung tumours is a major health problem. Therefore, the identification both of biomarkers predicting efficacy for therapies in use and of novel efficacious therapeutic agents is crucial to increase patient survival. MAP17 (PDZK1IP1) is a small membrane-bound protein whose upregulation is reported as a common feature in tumours from diverse histological origins. Furthermore, MAP17 is correlated with tumour progression. Go to: Methods We assessed the expression of MAP17 in preclinical models, including cell lines and patient-derived xenografts (PDXs), assessing its correlation with sensitivity to different standard-of-care drugs in lung adenocarcinoma, as well as novel drugs. At the clinical level, we subsequently correlated MAP17 expression in human tumours with patient response to these therapies. Go to: Results We show that MAP17 expression is induced during lung tumourigenesis, particularly in lung adenocarcinomas, and provide in vitro and in vivo evidence that MAP17 levels predict sensitivity to therapies currently under clinical use in adenocarcinoma tumours, including cisplatin, carboplatin and EGFR inhibitors. In addition, we show that MAP17 expression predicts proteasome inhibitor efficacy in this context and that bortezomib, an FDA-approved drug, may be a novel therapeutic approach for MAP17-overexpressing lung adenocarcinomas. Go to: Conclusions Our results indicate a potential prognostic role for MAP17 in lung tumours, with particular relevance in lung adenocarcinomas, and highlight the predictive pot0065ntial of this membrane-associated protein for platinum-based therapy and EGFR inhibitor efficacy. Furthermore, we propose bortezomib treatment as a novel and efficacious therapy for lung adenocarcinomas exhibiting high MAP17 expression

Neighbourhood Perceptions and Sense of Coherence in Adolescence

The neighbourhood has traditionally been neglected in studies about adolescents’ sense of coherence (SOC). The current study represents the first attempt to analyse the associations between neighbourhood assets, neighbourhood risks, and SOC during adolescence. The sample consisted of 7,580 Spanish adolescents aged 13–18 who were selected for the 2009/10 edition of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey in Spain. The adolescents completed self-report questionnaires that included the SOC-29 scale and separate HBSC scales measuring neighbourhood risks and assets. The results showed that neighbourhood risks were negatively associated with the adolescents’ SOC. In contrast, neighbourhood assets, especially relationships with significant adults, were positively associated with the adolescents’ SOC. Assets explained 6.5 % of the variability in SOC scores after controlling for risks, suggesting that assets may play a significant role, even in neighbourhoods where risks are present. We discuss implications and future research directions.Ministerio de Educación AP2009-097

School experiences in relation to emotional and conduct problems in adolescence: a 3-year follow up study

Background: Mental health in adolescents has become a major public health issue. This study examined school experiences in relation to mental health (emotional problems and conduct problems) from early to middle adolescence. Methods: This longitudinal 3-year follow up study used data from the Swedish Study of Health in School Children in Umeå. Analyses were conducted in 1379 participants that were attending grade six in 2003 or 2006 (age 12 years). KIDSCREEN-52 was used to assess school experiences and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire for emotional and conduct problems. Statistical analyses included repeated measures ANOVA and multiple linear regressions. Results: Positive school experiences decreased while emotional and conduct problem scores increased from grades six to nine. Positive school experiences were negatively associated with emotional and conduct problem scores and contributed to the explanation of mental health scores in middle adolescence after controlling for background factors. When baseline mental health problem scores were taken into account the association with early school experiences disappeared (except for conduct problems in boys). However, incorporating concurrent school experiences in the analysis increased the levels of explanation for emotional and conduct problem scores further. Conclusions: The results of this study confirm that school experiences are linked to emotional and conduct problems. That link may be stronger for conduct problems. In addition, the association of school experiences in early adolescence with later mental health may be overridden by concurrent school experiences in middle adolescence.European Union’s Horizon 2020 65748

Iguales, familia y participación en actividades deportivas organizadas durante la adolescencia

Suplemento de artículos seleccionados con revisión del Congreso Andaluz de Psicología de la Actividad Física y el Deporte (13 : 2011 : Sevilla). Editores : José Carlos Caracuel ; Rocío Bohórquez.This study aimed to examine the influence of sport activities by peer groups and the family on the frequency of adolescents' participation in organized sport activities. A sample of 9,821 Spanish adolescent schoolchildren between the ages of 11 and 18 from the 2010 edition of the international study on Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) was used. The results obtained by means of an Answer Tree multivariate analysis indicated that gender was the best predictor of organized sport activity, with participation being notably higher in boys. As for the role of other variables, the practice of sport in peer and family activities were the most influential variables for boys. On the contrary, in the girls' case, age appeared as the first factor and the influence of sport in family activities and the peer group was different depending on age. In conclusion, family and peers seem to be significant influences on involvement in sport, despite having different roles according to the adolescents' gender and age

Sense of coherence and substance use in Spanish adolescents. Does the effect of SOC depend on patterns of substance use in their peer group?

Los objetivos de este trabajo fueron analizar las relaciones entre el sentido de coherencia (SOC) y el consumo de sustancias en los adolescentes españoles y el potencial efecto moderador de los patrones de consumo de sustancias en el grupo de iguales en dicha relación. La muestra constaba de 5475 adolescentes españoles de 15 a 18 años, participantes en la edición 2010 del estudio Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC). Los análisis estadísticos consistieron en análisis de cluster, para identificar grupos de adolescentes según los patrones de consumo de sustancias en su grupo de iguales, y regresión logística, con el SOC y los patrones de consumo en el grupo de iguales como predictores del consumo actual de tabaco y alcohol, episodios de embriaguez alguna vez en la vida y en la actualidad. Los resultados mostraron que un fuerte SOC parecía reducir la probabilidad de consumo de tabaco y episodios de embriaguez, pero no se asoció con el consumo actual de alcohol. Además, el efecto protector del SOC estaba moderado por los patrones de consumo del grupo de iguales. En concreto, el SOC tuvo un efecto protector significativo en los adolescentes cuyo grupo de iguales mostraba un patrón de no consumo o de frecuente consumo de alcohol y episodios de embriaguez ocasionales, pero el efecto del SOC desapareció si el patrón de consumo de los iguales incluía drogas ilegales. En conclusión, el SOC tiende a actuar como un factor protector individual respecto al consumo de sustancias durante la adolescencia, pero la influencia del grupo de iguales parece moderar dicho efecto protector del SOC.The aims of this work were to analyse the relationships between sense of coherence (SOC) and substance use among Spanish adolescents and to examine the potential moderator effect of the patterns of substance use in the peer group. Sample consisted of 5475 Spanish adolescents aged 15 to 18 from the 2010 edition of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. Statistical analysis included cluster analysis to identify groups of adolescents according to their peer group’s patterns of substance use and logistic regression with SOC and peers’ pattern of consumption as predictors of current tobacco use, current alcohol use, life-time drunkenness and current drunkenness. The results showed that a strong SOC seemed to reduce the adolescents’ likelihood of involving in tobacco use and drunkenness, but it was not associated with being a current drinker. In addition, the protective effect of SOC was moderated by peers’ patterns of substance use. Specifically, SOC had a significant protective influence in adolescents whose peer group showed either a nonconsumption pattern or a pattern of frequent alcohol use and occasional drunkenness; but the protective effect of SOC disappeared if peers showed a pattern of consumption that included illegal drugs. In conclusion, SOC tends to act as a protective personal variable with respect to substance use during adolescence, but the influence exerted by the peer group seems to moderate the aforementioned protective effect of SOC