Parenting practices : parent’s perception of the impact in children psychological wellbeing

SM Online Journals © All Rights Reserved.Parenting practices play an important role in children’s subjective wellbeing and global mental health. The study included a sample of 2256 parents of 2256 children from 5th grade (48.8%) and 7th grade (51.2%), mean age 11.58 years old; SD 1.41; ranging from 10-16 (48,4% between 10 and 11 years of age and 51.6% 12 years or older); there were 46.2 % boys and 53.8 % girls. The results present the descriptive analyses of the principal variables, parenting practices and parent’s perception of child subjective wellbeing. It is presented a Regression Model that illustrates the strong impact of parenting practices in subjective wellbeing, and the gender and age differences in this relation. The main conclusions are that positive parenting practices (control and acceptance) are related to positive perception of subjective wellbeing. Parents have a more positive perception of their parenting practices in relation to girls and younger children. Suggestions for intervention are proposed, related to positive parenting practices promotion programs and intervention that involve parents-children activities.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Challenges for prevention and promotion in the 21st century

© 2018 Matos and Ramiro; This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Prevention is now considered as a way to spread curiosity and commitment and has to do with the creation of communities where it is believed that "good things happen" and that people are part of them. Promoting people positive development, that is, promoting competence, motivation, opportunities and positive expectations is now considered the best prevention strategy, making prevention and promotion two sides of the same coin. Consequently, the approaches based on positive aspects are preferred and considered more effective in various contexts. In the field of health, this positive focus was represented in the "Model of Assets in health" which includes the mapping of resources of each community, both individually and collectively. It also aimed at the increasingly progressive participation of populations. Some aspects of the trajectory of knowledge in recent decades and their impact on interventions in Psychology, Public Health and Public Policies will be highlighted.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Worries, mental and emotional health difficulties of portuguese university students

Copyright © Society for Science and Education, United KingdomThe aim of this study was to reach an in-depth understanding on how Portuguese university students feel towards life in general, which are their worries, how often they feel worried, and how intense their worries are. Moreover, it was intended to identify the kind of psychosocial variables involved, strategies they use as well as which are the sources of their well-being. A total of 2991 university students, participated in the quantitative study and in the qualitative study, there were 50 participants between 18 and 35 years old. A significant minority of students got worried frequently, allowing their worries to interfere significantly in their lives. Gender and age differences were found. Having worries demonstrated to be relevant and negatively associated with young people’s perception of well-being, self-regulation and resilience; showing that the mental health of the Portuguese university students is at risk, mainly when their social emotional skills are underdeveloped.Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) (Grants: Marta Reis-SFRH/BPD/110905/2015)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Psychological and social factors that influence quality of life : gender, age and professional status differences

Coryright © 2017 David Publishing Company All rights reserved. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International LicenseQuality of life is influenced by psychological and social factors. Quality of life in the ageing process is a complex and multidimensional process, also influenced by gender, age and professional status. The data were collected on a national level. The sample was composed by1,330 people, 62.2% of which were female with ages ranging between 55 and 75 years old. 34.4% of the sample mentioned having a chronic condition, 48.2% of which had diabetes. Three regression models were created in order to understand the quality of life in ageing population in a biopsychosocial perspective. Results showed that quality of life in ageing population is influenced by psychological factors (purpose of life and stress management skills) and by social factors (family and friends social support). Gender, age, and professional status can also influence quality of life. Our study allowed us to conclude that quality of life is influenced by physical, psychological, and social health. The psychological factors presented a more systematic and strong influence in quality of life on the ageing population.This work was supported by Minerva Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Risks and comorbid factors of frequent headaches during childhood and adolescence

Copyright: © 2017 Paiva T, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Background: The prevalence of headache during adolescence is very high. In most studies, the prevalence of headache is higher in females. The objective of the present study was to evaluate statistically significant associations between high headache frequency and multiple variables obtained in a National Survey. Methods: The included variables were demographic and socioeconomic; other health complaints; sleep characteristics and complaints; current adolescents´ habits concerning multimedia/electronic tools and nutrition variables; risk behaviors; social support and school satisfaction with the final purpose of building a risk association model for adolescents´ frequent headaches by means of a logistic regression. This survey is a component of the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study. The Portuguese HBSC survey included 3476 pupils (53.8 % girls) in the 8th (45.9%) and 10th grades (54.1%) with a mean age was 14.9 years (SD=1.26). Results: The prevalence of high-frequency headaches was 22.2% and their major comorbidities were other health complaints with special reference to abdominal pain and dizziness and psychopathological symptoms, namely sadness, irritability, nervousness and low energy. Furthermore, they had lower family support, lower academic success, unfair treatment, loneliness and nobody to share or to worry about their problems and lower quality of life; e-media and excessive mobile phone use, tobacco and alcohol use, and some violent behaviors were also associated with the presence of frequent headaches. Conclusion: In spite of these significant associations, the logistic regression model explaining 38% of the variance included mostly other health complaints.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Cognitive-behavioural coaching : applications to health and personal development contexts

© All rights reserved by Marina Carvalho., et al.Coaching programs are demonstrating their effectiveness in several contexts and populations, namely in personal development through the lifespan, and in health contexts. In the present conceptual paper, Coaching definitions, goals, procedures, benefits and limitations are described and critically discussed. Specifically, differences between Coaching and Psychotherapies are emphasized. Based on this knowledge, the structure of a Cognitive-Behavioral Coaching program is presented, and its differences in relation to Cognitive-Behavioral Psychotherapies are also emphasized and critically discussed. Finally, the evidences for Coaching programs effectiveness, in particular in Health and Personal Development contexts, are reported, based on meta-analytic data and on literature systematic reviews. The need for qualified training and supervision, as well as limitations and future directions are also pointed in order to contribute to diminish conceptual and practical ambiguities that may interfere with Cognitive-Behavioral Coaching and, in consequence, that may interfere with the persons’ goals for their health or personal development.Margarida Gaspar de Matos receives a Sabbatical grant from Foundation for Science and Technology – SFRH/BSAB/135160/2017.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Perception of quantity and quality of sleep and their association with health related quality of life and life satisfaction during adolescence

Copyright: © 2017 Matos MG. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Objectives: This study aims to analyse differences between sleep duration and sleep quality and their association with health related quality of life and life satisfaction during adolescence. Methods: The Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) survey is based on a self-completed questionnaire. The participants in the present study were 3631 students (53.1% were girls) in the 8th and 10th grades at school; the mean age was 14.8 years (range 13-18). Results: The present results add to previous ones that both the duration and the perceived quality of sleep have impact upon the perception of quality of life and the perception of life satisfaction. Conclusions: These results are substantially important for sleep hygiene and for recommendations for adolescents, parents, health and education professionals and public policies. It is now widely recommended that adolescents must sleep at least 8 hours per night, what this study allow to recommend is that the perception of quality of that sleep is equally important, and this leads to another set of recommendations to increase sleep quality, that include not exercising or practising sports in the evenings, avoiding conflicts at home in the evenings, no going to bed worried, no having caffeine and other energetic drinks in the evening, not abusing screen time after dinner or in bed. These recommendations are important to assure sleep duration and perceived quality and therefore the perception of wellness and life satisfaction, having an additional impact on health and on school achievement.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Positive youth development : interactions between healthy lifestyle behaviours and psychosocial variables

Copyright © 2006 - 2018 The Canadian Center of Science and Education. All Rights Reserved .Copyright for this article is retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the journal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).The Positive Youth Development - PYD concept emphasised the importance of strengthening developmental assets in youth’s networks and contexts. This paper examines the correlation between PYD, healthy lifestyle behaviours and psychosocial variables (self-regulation, resilience, and anxiety); and the impact of PYD and psychosocial variables on healthy lifestyle behaviours. 2700 youths (73.3% girls; mean age 21.3±2.79 years) were included. Results showed that all variables mostly had significantly correlational associations. Specifically, the linear regression model evidenced that the promotion of PYD and self-regulation, along with the reduction of anxiety can be relevant for improving healthy lifestyle behaviours. Such results suggest a dynamic interdependence between all the present variables, reinforcing the need to study positive indicators for youth development. Having more knowledge in this area can help health professionals, educators, and policy-makers, in order to better plan interventions/policies and to improve an integral healthy perspective for youths, based on interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary work.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

What teens know about HPV? A cross-sectional study with HBSC Portuguese survey

© 2016 Apex Journal InternationalGlobally, cervical cancer is the fourth leading cause of death for women and is usually associated with infection by the human papillomavirus (HPV). To analyse knowledge related to HPV in Portuguese adolescents, and identify the influence of gender, school year, having had sexual education/sexual intercourse in adolescents’ knowledge of HPV. The 2010 study provides national representative data of 5050 Portuguese adolescents, randomly chosen from those attending 6th, 8th and 10th grades during the 2009/2010 academic year. The sample included 52.3% girls and 47.7% males; whose mean age was 14.0 years old. Measures included knowledge of HPV transmission/prevention and having had sexual education/sexual intercourse. Overall, results showed the majority had low level of knowledge, responding incorrectly or saying they did not know the answer. Nevertheless, girls and adolescents who reported having had sex education in a school context showed significantly more knowledge than boys and adolescents who did not report having had sex education in a school context. Another result that should be emphasized is the positive effect that sex education at school had specifically in what regards knowledge about HPV. These results could have significant implications for information provision andthe targeting of future education programmes. In terms of prevention, it emphasises the need to teach about this issue, encourages HPV vaccination and regular screening for cervical cancer and other STIs, that are crucial for the promotion of healthy sexual behaviours.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Cyberbullies, cybervictims and cyberbullies-victims : discriminant factors in portuguese adolescents

© Sociedade Portuguesa de Psicologia da SaúdeEnhancers of new and positive opportunities and learning, new technologies are also promoters of risks to the health and well-being of young people. Cyberbullying is one of those risks. The aim of this study was to analyse the differences between cyberbullies, cybervictims and cyberbully-victims for individual, relational and contextual factors. This is a Cross-sectional study. Results showed that cyberbully-victims reported higher alcohol consumption, as opposed to the increased drug use revealed by cyberbullies. Cybervictims reported more emotional symptoms, such as fear and sadness, and less night outs. Cyberbullies were more often involved in fights, and had an easier access to a larger amount of money and were more easy making friends, when compared to cybervictims. Based on the results, it is crucial to develop a greater awareness and education of parents and youth about the dangers of cyberbullying, together with the monitoring of technological development. A strong argument is also made related to the need of the inclusion of youth participation in the definition of public policies to prevent cyberbullying, as well as the need to focus not only in the prevention of cyber-peer related violence, but also to focus on violence-free, positive peer relationships, both virtual and in presence.This research was supported by the Ministry of Health. The authors would like to acknowledge the collaboration of the HBSC Portuguese team integrated in the Social Adventure Projects of the Faculty of Human Kinetics, University of Lisbon, for data collection. Branquinho, C. receives a PhD grant from the University of Lisbon (UL) (Grant Number 800178).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio