This research assesses Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in a Spanish sample of adolescent cancer survivors, and analyzes the relationship between HRQoL, coping styles and physical exercise. Forty-two survivors (12–19 years), who were ≥ 1 year of remission, completed standardized measures of HRQoL (CHIP-AE), coping strategies (ACS) and physical exercise (AECEF). Mean scores in all HRQoL domains were within normative values. Multiple regression analysis revealed that physical exercise and productive coping were related to higher HRQoL, whereas non-productive coping was related to lower HRQoL. This sample of survivors reported good levels of HRQoL, which are mediated by coping styles and physical exercise.

The current study aimed to identify personality traits, emotional states and adjustment variables in a sample of pathological gamblers as compared to a non-gambling control group taking gender differences into account. The sample for this study consisted of 206 subjects (103 pathological gamblers and 103 non-psychiatric subjects from the general population matched for age and gender). Pathological gamblers had a lower educational level and a family history of alcohol abuse higher than non-gamblers. In turn, female gamblers were affected by unemployment and a lower socioeconomic status more often than female non-gamblers. Pathological gamblers were more anxious and impulsive and suffered from a poorer self-esteem than non-gamblers. Likewise, pathological gamblers had a greater history of other Axis I psychiatric disorders and were more often affected by anxiety and depression symptoms and showed a more problematic adjustment to everyday life than non-gamblers. Alcohol abuse was not higher in pathological gamblers than in non-gamblers, but, when gender was taken into account, male gamblers were more affected by alcohol abuse than male non-gamblers. Importantly 68.6% of female gamblers versus 9.8% of control group women reported being victims of intimate partner violence. These findings can be used to specifically inform prevention and intervention efforts.

Taking care of offspring suffering a long-term illness such as schizophrenia is one of the more stressful life experiences. Care conditions may act as a protective factor in the health of the caregiver. The present study assesses heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), and mood responses to psychosocial stress in 16 mothers receiving specialised support for the care of their offspring (CARE+) and in 11 mothers caring for their offspring without support (CARE−). The CARE− group take care of less functional and more symptomatic offspring; and display higher basal, but lower HR, responses after stress than the CARE+ group. No significant group effects were found for BP. For mood states, there were significant decreases in the anger subscale in the CARE− group that were not found in the CARE+ group. HR was related to active and passive coping styles, trait anxiety, and years spent providing care. In the total sample, other significant relationships between cardiovascular responses and life events and personality traits have been found. In sum, the data suggests that specialised support for patients may modulate cardiovascular responses to repeated stress in caregivers.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between drug use and four kinds of stress symptoms in 954 Brazilian students from the 6th to the 11th grades, in 4 public and 5 private schools in the city of Sao Paulo. Based on their answers to the Drug Use Screening Inventory (DUSI-R) and to the Stress Scale for Adolescents (SSA), we compared regular drug users with non/occasional drug users regarding the frequency of four kinds of stress symptoms (psychological, cognitive, physiological, interpersonal), and the period in which it happened. When compared to non/occasional drug users, regular drug users presented higher levels of psychological, cognitive and physiological symptoms of stress and these symtoms were in the most severe spectrum of severity (near to exhaustion and exhaustion). The association between drug use and stress was even stronger in the youngest age group (11 to 13 years old). Most of the regular drug users were 16 years old and over, from upper-middle class families, had poor family relationships and more academic problems. These results confirm the association between drug use and stress in adolescents and highlight the need for early screening and intervention in both drug use and stressful situations.

Two experiments were conducted to explore the associations involved in human predictive learning. Experiment 1 found that post-training devaluation of one of the outcomes by instructing participants that one of the attackers was indestructible, led to a significant decrease in participants’ predictive responses to the cue that was initially followed by the devalued outcome, suggesting that cue-outcome associations play a major role in human simple predictive learning. In Experiment 2, immediately after receiving cue-outcome predictive judgment training, participants were instructed to destroy the attackers by using the same responses previously used to give predictive judgments, but they were not informed as to which response should be used on each attacker. During a test in which both attackers were present at the same time, when the cue was present, participants preferentially chose the instrumental response alternative that was previously used as a predictive judgment about the relationship between the present cue and its outcome. In the absence of cues, participants equally chose either response alternative. This transfer of control shows that participants also establish judgment-outcome associations during predictive training.

A total of 104 children aged between 41 and 47 months were selected to study the relationship between language and false belief understanding. Participants were assigned to four different training conditions: discourse, labelling, control (all with deceptive objects), and sentential complements (involving non-deceptive objects). Post-test results showed an improvement in children’s false belief understanding in the discourse and the labelling conditions, but not in the sentential complements with non-deceptive objects or the control group. Furthermore, the most remarkable improvement in false belief understanding occurred in the labelling group. These results suggest that some types of linguistic experience promote the development of false belief understanding, provided that differing perspectives are confronted.

Emotional faces are commonly used as stimuli in a wide number of research fields. The present study provides values of 198 pictures from one of the amplest available face databases, the Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces (KDEF). We used a new validation strategy that consisted of presenting pairs of faces which included an emotional face (i.e., angry, happy, sad) and its corresponding neutral face from the same model. This design allowed participants to keep a comparison face (i.e., neutral) as a constant anchor point to evaluate parameters on each emotional expression presented. Raters were asked to judge both the prototypicality of the emotional expressions (i.e., the degree to which they represent their corresponding emotional prototypes) as well as their emotional intensity. We finally discuss the potential advantages of this anchor-point method as a system to elicit judgments on facial emotional expressions.

The aim of this article was to describe the driving behavior profile of drivers aged 18 to 25 years old. Four hundred young adults were interviewed, 320 (80%) of them male and 80 (20%) female. Cluster analysis identified a group characterized by sensation-seeking behavior (Cluster 1), a group that did not show any risky driving behavior (Cluster 2), and a group engaged in transgressive behavior and driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs (Cluster 3). Discriminant analysis classified successfully and correctly 81.3% of the young adults into their original profiles. Function 1 distinguished cluster 1 from clusters 2 and 3, on the basis of the following factors: higher frequency of alcohol consumption, intrusive behavior, and motorcycle riding, as well as younger age, more aggressive behavior, and lower education level. Function 2 distinguished cluster 3 from cluster 1 and 2, especially as to higher amounts of alcohol consumption, higher frequency of marijuana use and delinquent behavior, larger number of traffic tickets and motor vehicle accidents, higher paternal education level, which were the variables with discriminant values above .20. Characteristics of vulnerability were identified, especially those related to alcohol consumption, drug use, and externalizing issues.

Executive abilities have been suggested to show differential age-related changes. This study aimed to extend this evidence to a Brazilian sample, which was composed of 572 children and adolescents aged 6 to 14 years, assessed in tests of visual and auditory working memory, selective attention, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, attentional abilities, verbal fluency and planning. ANOVAs revealed significant age effect on performance in all tests, with a trend toward better performance with the progression of age, even in differential ways. Overall, the performance on simpler tests, such as the basic attention, increased with age progression until around 11 or 12 years, when performance becomes more stable. However, in more complex tasks, including working memory tasks, the performance showed a more continuous improvement. There was gender effect in two measures: visual working memory, in which boys outperformed girls, and verbal fluency, in which the girls outperformed boys. In general, the results of this Brazilian sample were similar to those reported by studies conducted in other countries, what suggests that Brazilian socio-cultural specificities, at least of the participants of this sample, were not sufficient to reveal a distinct pattern of progression.

The purpose of the present study was to assess the factor structure and reliability of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS-21) in a large Portuguese community sample. Participants were 1020 adults (585 women and 435 men), with a mean age of 36.74 (SD = 11.90) years. All scales revealed good reliability, with Cronbach’s alpha values between .80 (anxiety) and .84 (depression). The internal consistency of the total score was .92. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the best-fitting model (*CFI = .940, *RMSEA = .038) consisted of a latent component of general psychological distress (or negative affectivity) plus orthogonal depression, anxiety and stress factors. The Portuguese version of the DASS-21 showed good psychometric properties (factorial validity and reliability) and thus can be used as a reliable and valid instrument for measuring depression, anxiety and stress symptoms.

This study investigated associations of contextual variables of risk (stressful events and exposure to community violence), variables of protection (family environment, connectivity to the school and community perceptions) and demographic variables (gender and age) with indicators of psychosocial adjustment (self-esteem, involvement in illegal activities and alcohol use in past month) among adolescents. The participants were 685 students (61.5% girls) aged between 12 and 18 years (M = 15.10, SD = 1.52) of public schools in southern Brazil. They answered a questionnaire with 77 questions and an inventory for assessment of family relationships. Logistic regression analyses indicated that the negative perception of family environment, poor connectivity to the school and exposure to community violence were associated with low self-esteem. Involvement in illegal activities was associated with low connectivity to school, stressful events, exposure to community violence and male sex. Finally, alcohol use/month was associated with negative perception of the community, community violence, stressful events, and particularly at the ages of 15–16 years.

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship among pre-service science teachers’ personality traits, academic self-regulation and teaching self-efficacy by proposing and testing a conceptual model. For the specified purpose, 1794 pre-service science teachers participated in the study. The Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale, the NEO Five-Factor Inventory, and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire were administered to assess pre-service science teachers’ teaching self-efficacy, personality, and academic self-regulation respectively. Results showed that agreeableness, neuroticism, performance approach goals, and use of metacognitive strategies are positively linked to different dimensions of teaching self-efficacy, namely self-efficacy for student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom management. In general, while agreeableness and neuroticism were found to be positively associated with different facets of self-regulation and teaching self-efficacy, openness was found to be negatively linked to these adaptive outcomes.

The relations of Gf (Standard Progressive Matrices Raven), Gc (verbal scale of Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Version), personality dimensions (Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Junior Version), and disruptive behavior (TDAH scale) with school achievement (measured by TDE test and PISA test) were investigated. Two samples of students (total N = 534) representing a broad range of socioeconomic status (SES) participated in this study. Path models were conducted. The results demonstrated that (1) in both samples no sex differences related to school achievement were found; (2) in the first sample, after controlling for age and SES differences, Gf and psychoticism predicted (.38 and −.13, respectively) school achievement (measured by TDE test); (3) in the second sample, after controlling for SES differences to which additional measures were administered, Gf and Gc positively predicted (.22 and .40, respectively) school achievement (measured by PISA test). In addition, psychoticism and disruptive behavior also predicted school performance (−.14 and −.28, respectively). Some theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Although much research has been done to study the working memory structure in children in their first school years, the relation of cognitive constructs involved in this process remains uncertain. In particular, it is unclear whether working memory is a domain general construct that coordinates separate codes of verbal and visuospatial storage or whether it is a domain-specific construct with distinct resources of verbal and visuospatial information. This paper investigates the structure of working memory, by using the Working Memory Test Battery for Children (WMTB-C) and by doing confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) on a sample of Portuguese children (n = 103) between 8 and 9 years of age. The results of the confirmatory factor analyses that provide the best fit of the data correspond to the model that includes Central Executive and Visuospatial Sketchpad in the same factor, co-varying with a Phonological Loop factor. Moreover, the traditional working memory tripartite structure – based on the Baddeley and Hitch Model – revealed good fit to the data.

The present study’s objective is to create a Spanish adaptation of the Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire II (CWEQ-II) by Laschinger, Finegan, Shamian, and Wilk (2004) in order to measure structural empowerment in an organizational context. To do so, this study was conducted in two distinct phases. In the first, a group of experts carried out a back-translation of the questionnaire and in the second phase, we analyzed the questionnaire’s internal structure (through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis) and external validity. The resulting Spanish version of the questionnaire (CWEQ-S) demonstrated/exhibited good factor structure and good psychometric properties as far as reliability and validity are concerned.

This paper aims to evaluate the validation of Schalock’s quality of life multi-dimensional model (1996) in the Portuguese context. We also analyze the quality of life of disabled people by adding a political dimension (adapted from the Minorities’ Rights Support Scale by Nata & Menezes, 2007) to this construct and seeking to understand the impact of discrimination. The sample is composed of 217 participants, most of whom have a physical disability, aged 16 to 81. Validation procedures of the Quality of Life Questionnaire (Schalock & Keith, 1993) and descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were conducted. Confirmatory Factor Analysis revealed good local and global fit indices, and the internal consistency of the scales was satisfactory. An adapted version of the instrument composed of five scales—satisfaction, competence, empowerment, equality of rights and positive discrimination—is proposed. The results reveal the importance of rights and empowerment for the quality of life of disabled people and indicate a strong critical consciousness concerning the experience of discrimination in different contexts. Taken together, the findings indicate the strong need for social and political changes in this domain.

The study examines the impact of body image in adolescents’ well-being. Well-being was assessed with the scale Kidscreen10, with the Cantril ladder for satisfaction with life and with an ad hoc happiness scale. The study presents data on adolescent health from the Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC)/World Health Organization study in Portugal (2006), with a sample of 4,877 adolescents, average age of 14 years old and gender distribution at 49,6% males. Portuguese adolescents showed differences between gender and age group regarding their body image-related satisfaction/dissatisfaction and self-perceived body image, being that both components have a direct impact on the levels of well-being. The male gender has better results in the perception of body image and, consequently, well-being. The largest inter-gender differences for well-being is at 15 years of age. The main predictors of well-being are the look and body satisfaction/dissatisfaction, with greater importance on the affective component. This research highlights the importance of body image for adolescents’ well-being, as well as to prepare educational strategies adapted to adolescents’ age and gender, by helping them to develop skills concerning self-knowledge and caring for their look.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the temperament and behavior problems of 32 toddlers born preterm and very low birth weight and 25 toddlers born full-term without medical problems. Mothers completed the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire and the Child Behavior Checklist-1.5–5 for assessing toddler`s temperament and behavior problems, respectively. The results showed that, regarding temperament, toddlers born preterm exhibited higher scores on the temperament dimensions Motor Activation, Perceptual Sensitivity, and High Intensity Pleasure, and lower scores on the temperament dimension Cuddliness than toddlers born full-term. In regard to behavior problems, toddlers born preterm showed higher attention problems scores than the comparison group. These findings indicated that children born preterm presented developmental vulnerabilities in temperament dimensions related to behavior problems at toddlerhood. Early intervention programs for preventing psychological problems in at-risk children, especially those born preterm, could focus on children’s temperament dispositions.

The objective of this study is to develop and validate a scale of subjective resilience for students 12–17 years old. Items covered adverse situations due to parents’, peers’ and teachers’ actions. The validation process included the analysis on the generalizability of the factor structure and of relationships of resilience scores with different kinds of protective and vulnerability factors -goal orientations and learning-oriented classroom motivational climate (CMC)-. A total of 471 students answered four questionnaires. Confirmatory factor analyses, reliability analysis and correlation and regression analyses were carried out. Results showed: (a) that factor structure was well defined; (b) that resilience scale had good reliability; (c) that scores correlated as expected with protective-vulnerability factors such as goal orientations and CMC defined by teachers’ teaching-patterns, and (d) that students’ attribution of perceived change in resilience to teachers’ work depended on the degree in which CMC was learning oriented. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The psychometric properties of a Binocular Rivalry (BR)-based test on a group of 159 participants (57 with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD) aged between 6 and 15 years are presented. Two factors, which explained 56.82% of the variance, were obtained by exploratory factor analysis: (a) Alternations and Duration of exclusive dominances, and (b) Decision time. Reliability was excellent (Cronbach’s α = .834 and .884). The ADHD group showed fewer alternations and longer duration of dominances and decision time than the control group. Correlations between measures of BR, IQ, working memory, and processing speed of the WISC-IV, and ADHD symptoms, assessed by parents and teachers, ranged between low and medium.