Factorial validity and group invariance of the Portuguese short version of the Social Physique Anxiety Scale in adolescents

Social physique anxiety (SPA) has been associated with a range of psychosocial and health-related variables, thus it can be considered is an indicator of social-psychological adjustment. The purpose of this paper is to determine factorial validity and group invariance of Motl and Conroy (2000) translated 7-item SPA among Portuguese adolescents. A nationally representative sample of 3330 8th and 10th grade students (15.07 1.34 years old; 47.5% males and 52.5% females) answered a survey as a part of a larger collaborative cross-national survey, the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) 2006 study. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses resulted on a uni-dimensional factor structure of 6 items [Satorra-Bentler c2 = 30.85, df = 8, p<.01; CFI = .996; NNFI = .992; RMSEA = .038 (90% C.I.: .024 - .052); SRMR = .010]. Further analises, confirmed configurational (all CFI and RMSEA > .99) and metric invariances (CFI difference between restricted and unrestricted models were lower than .01 for all groups) across gender, grade level, diet beliefs, physical activity, perception of body, and BMI. The present version can be used confidently by researchers in analysing and interpreting scores of SPA across a variety of samples in Portuguese adolescents, and that this instrument can be used in cross-cultural research

Life satisfaction in adolescents:the role of individual and social health assets

The aim of this study is to explore the relationship between adolescents’ life satisfaction and individual and social health assets. A nationally representative sample of 3,494 Portuguese adolescents (mean age = 14.94 ± 1.30 years; 53.6% girls) completed the Health Behavior in School-aged Children survey measuring a variety of health behaviors and beliefs. A sequential regression analysis was conducted with gender, individual assets (academic achievement, social competence, self-regulation and life objectives) and social assets (family support, peer support, parental monitoring and school connectedness) entered in separate steps. A second regression analysis was conducted with social assets entered before individual assets. The final model explained 18.3% of life satisfaction. School connectedness (β = .198, p < .001) and family support (β = .154, p < .001) were the strongest predictors of adolescents’ life satisfaction followed by social competence (β = .152, p < .001), academic achievement (β = .116, p < .001) and self-regulation (β = .064, p < .001). Social assets explained a larger variance of life satisfaction than individual assets when entered first in the regression (r2 = .134 and r2 = .119, respectively, p < .001). When entered last step in the regression analysis, social assets added more to life satisfaction’s variance than when individual assets were added in the last step (r2 = .060 and r2 = .045, respectively, p < .001). These results reinforce the role social interaction and social capital models in the promotion of well-being

Ecological Model Explaining the Psychosocial Adaptation to COVID-19

Funding Information: Gina Tom? is a Post DOC Funda??o Ci?ncia e Tecnologia. Concei??o Pereira, Maria Augusta Machado, Susana Moreira, Alexandra Carreiro, Aurora Lino and Ana Bernardo (Linde Saude) provided sleep disorder patients. Rute de Sousa was an important liaison with the Portuguese Psychologists Association. We are thankful to the following professional Associations for the disseminating and for promoting the surveys among their members, namely the Portuguese Medical Association (Ordem dos M?dicos), Portuguese Nurses Association (Ordem dos Enfermeiros), Portuguese Psychologists Association (Ordem dos Psic?logos Portugueses). We thank the endorsement of the WASM (World Association of Sleep Medicine), ESRS (European Sleep Research Society), and APS (Associa??o Portuguesa de Sono). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.The main objective of this study is to understand and characterize the adoption of an ecological perspective and the physical, psychological, social, and contextual health factors that may influence the adjustment to and mental health experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study included 5479 participants, of which 3710 were female (67.7%), aged between 18 and 90 years old, with a mean age of 48.57 years (SD = 14.29), were considered three age groups: 21.5% up to 35 years old, 61.8% between 36 and 64 years old, and 16.7% 65 years old or more. The mental health and individual adjustment to the COVID-19 situation are explained by socio-demographic factors, health-related factors, lifestyles, attitudes and behaviors, lockdown experience, and place of residence. A better adaptation and mental health are observed among men, people with a higher educational level, people with lower sadness, nervousness, and burnout, and people whose health situation did not worsen with the pandemic. In terms of lifestyle, a better adaptation is related to a better quality of sleep, fewer nightmares, a higher practice of physical activity, and less consumption of processed foods and sweets. A better adaptation is also associated with lower levels of dependence on alcohol, TV, and SN (social networks) and a more positive experience of the lockdown imposed by the pandemic. Gender and age group differences in the described context were studied. Promoting a better adjustment and improved mental health when dealing with the COVID-19 requires an ecological understanding and multitarget interventions, targeting physical, mental, and social health together with the contextual environment.publishersversionpublishe

Schools in 2010 : successful, happy, healthy, responsible, autonomous and participative children

Revista de Psicologia da Criança e do Adolescente. - ISSN 1647-4120. - N. 1 (Abril 2010). - p. 13-14

Health-related quality of life in portuguese children and adolescents

The KIDSCREEN is a European cross-cultural and standardized instrument that assesses ten quality of life dimensions in children, adolescents and their parents. This instrument is used to validate evidences to support general inferences on quality-of-life measures obtained by the Portuguese version of KIDSCREEN10 for children and adolescents, in the context of a survey research carried on in Portugal. The present study focuses only on the KIDSCREEN children and adolescents' versions. A sample of 8072 Portuguese children and adolescents attending the 5th grade (19.3%), 6th grade (19.2%), 7th grade (20.3%), 8th (21.6%) and 10th grade (19.7%) in Portuguese schools were inquired, with a mean age of 13.2; SD 2.06, randomly distributed regarding gender. The Portuguese version of KIDSCREEN-10 instrument showed a good Internal Consistency of .78. Chosen fit indexes indicate good fit to the data. Specifically in the final solution the RMSEA was lower than .03 and the upper limit of 90% confidence interval was lower than .05, and CFI was higher than .95. Results indicated that the current 10-item structure is invariant across age groups, nationality and socio-economic level. The KIDSCREEN-10 questionnaire is a reliable instrument to estimate the perception of quality of life in children and adolescents. Psychometric guidelines are presented for the Portuguese population aged 10 to 16 years old.O KIDSCREEN é um instrumento europeu transcultural e padronizado que avalia dez dimensões da qualidade de vida de crianças, adolescentes e seus pais. Este instrumento é usado para validar evidências a fim de apoiar inferências gerais sobre medidas de qualidade de vida obtidas pela versão portuguesa do KIDSCREEN-10 para crianças e adolescentes, no contexto de uma pesquisa de investigação feita em Portugal. O presente estudo centra-se apenas na versão KIDSCREEN para adolescentes e crianças. Uma amostra de 8.072 crianças e adolescentes portugueses frequentando a 5ª série (19,3%), 6ª série (19,2%), 7ª série (20,3%), 8ª série (21,6%) e 10ª série (19,7%) em escolas do país foram intrevistadas, com uma idade média de 13,2; DP 2,06, distribuídos aleatoriamente em relação ao sexo. A versão portuguesa do instrumento KIDSCREEN-10 mostrou uma boa consistência interna de 0,78. Os índices de ajuste escolhidos indicam bom ajuste aos dados. Especificamente na solução final o RMSEA foi inferior a 0,03, o limite superior do intervalo de confiança de 90% foi inferior a 0,05 e CFI foi superior a 0,95. Resultados indicaram que a estrutura atual do item 10 é invariável entre grupos de idade, nacionalidade e nível socio-econômico. O questionário KIDSCREEN-10 é um instrumento confiável para estimar a percepção da qualidade de vida em crianças e adolescentes. Orientações psicométricas são apresentadas para a população portuguesa entre 10 e 16 anos de idade

The information professionals in the Algarve region: a study of the users perspective

In this article it is presented the research carried out in the South of Portugal (region of Algarve) with the general objective to know the users perspective about the information services (public libraries and archives) and their professionals and afterwards define a marketing strategy to improve the image of these services. After the literature review it was decided to apply a questionnaire (quantitative approach) to the users and non-users of archives and libraries of the region. The data collected were analysed and although the perspectives of the users were very good there is the need to develop a marketing campaign to show the non-user the information services potentiality.CIDHEUS-UE/FC

Dimensions of social and personal skills in children and adolescents : age and gender differences

Copyright © 2018, Tânia Gaspar et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Personal and social skills play a key role in children and adolescents’ development, as well as their psychological well-being. Was used the Scale "For me it’s Easy" to assess personal and social skills in children and adolescents. The study includes 960 Portuguese children and adolescents with a mean age of 12.5 years (SD = 1.61). Included were 56.8 % boys of different educational levels. The studied version of the instruments demonstrated good psychometric properties and the factor structure identifies 5 dimensions of personal and social skills (Basic Skills, Problem Solving, Emotional Regulation, Interpersonal Relationships and Defining Objectives). Differences were found in the social and personal skills related to gender and related to age. The behavior of the different dimensions of social and personal skills was studied. It was found that there was a strong relationship between social and personal skills and psychological well-being in children and adolescents. The study contributes to the research and evaluation of intervention in children and adolescents, especially in the prevention and promotion of personal and social skills and healthy development.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Novos rumos na educação e promoção da saúde a partir de uma reflexão sobre a intervenção com crianças e adolescentes no trabalho do Aventura Social

Na última década, a investigação na área da saúde deixou de se centrar apenas na compreensão das doenças e condições lesivas da saúde para passar a interessar‑se pelos fatores determinantes destas condições de modo a passar a uma ação preventiva (antes de deixar que os problemas se instalem). Passou depois a interessar‑se não só pelos problemas e seus determinantes, mas também pelos fatores e processos associados à promoção da própria saúde, enquanto estado dinâmico de bem‑estar global

Psicologia da Saúde, saúde pública e saúde internacional

A Psicologia da Saúde é um campo da Psicologia cada vez mais valorizado no campo da Saúde em áreas como a relação das pessoas, no dia a dia, com a Saúde e com a Doença, a comunicação e cooperação com os restantes técnicos de Saúde e a investigação e inovação no Sistema de Saúde. Este facto tem a ver com a evolução histórica do conhecimento, da intervenção e da investigação nesta área, que ocasionou uma convergência “histórica”, entre o âmbito da Psicologia da Saúde, o âmbito da Saúde Pública e ainda o âmbito da emergente Saúde Internacional, com benefícios para essas três áreas. Uma outra consequência foi o aumento da formação específica na área da Psicologia da Saúde por parte da maior parte das Escolas Superiores de Psicologia, com inclusão de conteúdos ligados à Saúde Pública e Saúde Internacional, o mesmo acontecendo na formação nas áreas da Saúde Pública e Saúde Internacional, que em geral passam a incluir conteúdos ligados à Psicologia da Saúde. Durante este trabalho serão revistas estas mudanças históricas bem como a sua repercussão na formulação de questões relativas à promoção da saúde/bem-estar dos indivíduos e da comunidade.The relevance of Health Psychology in the health field is increasing, including areas such as daily relationship of people with health and disease, communication and cooperation with other health professionals and research and innovation in the Health System. This fact has to do with an historical evolution of knowledge and research in this area whose consequence was an “historical” convergence among Health Psychology, Public Health and the more recent International Health, and had important benefits for those three areas. Another consequence had to do with academic training. Most of Superior Psychology Schools include now a specific training in Health Psychology, with contents in Public Health and International Health, and in the same way, most Public Health Schools and International Health Schools include now contents in Health Psychology. This work will review these historical changes and their consequences on this new understanding about health/well- being promotion in individuals and in the community.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

«Aventura social» na multicultura

Este trabalho descreve a aplicação de um programa de promoção de competências sociais, a um grupo de 60 jovens, alunos do I.', 2.", 3." ciclo, com idades compreendidas entre os 6 e os 13 anos, sendo 35% de ascendência portuguesa e 65% filhos de imigrantes de países Africanos de expressão Portuguesa, maioritariamente Caboverdianos. Estes jovens frequentam três Escolas do Concelho da Amadora duas do I." ciclo e uma B2+3. Estes jovens, incluidos no projecto ((Aventura social)), frequentaram um programa de promoção de competências de relacionamento interpessoal (Matos 1993, 1994), que incluiu três componentes: I ) comunicação interpessoal verbal e não verbal; 2) resolução de problemas e gestão de conflitos; 3) promoção de competências sociais básicas e da assertividade. Como avaliação pre-pós utilizou-se um sociograma de classificação. De acordo com esta medida os jovens foram significativamente avaliados de maneira mais positiva pelos colegas na pós avaliação. Os jovens com estatuto socio-económico médio obtiveram significativamente melhores resultados sociométricos. «Per si)), 430 a sua ascendência (português ou imigrante) não pareceu determinante na obtenção de bons resultados.ABSTRACT: This work aims at describing a Social Skills Promotion program with a group of 60 youngsters, aged between 6 and 13, attending regular schools, 35% with a Portuguese background and 65% with an Portuguese speaking African background (mostly Cap Vert). This program included three main contents (Matos, 1993, 1994): 1) interpersonal communication - verbal and non-verbal; 2) problem solving and conflict management; 3) social skills and assertiveness promotion. A sociogram was used as a pre-post evaluation. According to this evaluation children were rated significantly more positively in post evaluation. Youngsters with average SES, reached higher improvements. Background (Portuguse or African) was not «per si» relevant except when coinciding with a poverty status.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio