RESUMEN

Background: Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) are considered a subsystem of people, whose mission is to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of maritime transport within the maritime system. VTS operate as a control system where Vessel Traffic Services Operators (VTSOs) must cope with a complex environment to make up for safe and efficient maritime transport, so it is essential to understand how these operators maintain control through adapting to the uncertain and dynamic environment of maritime traffic. This multidisciplinary study explores how human factors within this complex sociotechnical system, means VTS, play a role in maritime safety, specifically focusing on fatigue, which is considered a key variable for VTSOs' performance. In this context, the research has focused on the assessment of fatigue with psychological and operational instruments to highlight the importance of the human element in CSSs. Objective: To study the intra and inter-individual differences in fatigue ratings and their relationships with other personal and environmental variables: mental workload, work shifts, reaction time, and hours of usual sleep. Methods: The study was conducted in two of the 19 Spanish Maritime Rescue Coordination Centers (MRCCs) with a sample of 23 active VTSOs (82.14% of the staff). Both objective and standardized subjective measures were used to assess fatigue and associated sleepiness (Borg RPE, Nasa-TLX, Stanford Sleepiness Scale, and Self-Assessment Manikin Scale). Results: A significant positive correlation between fatigue and mental workload was found, being more prevalent in the night shift, which shows a bigger variation in these variables. A significant difference was found in the increase in fatigue experienced throughout the shift depending on the hours of usual sleep, being smaller in the group of subjects reporting to sleep more. Conclusion: The human element is key to maritime safety related to Vessel Traffic Services, so it is of paramount importance to consider certain measures to counteract the negative effects of fatigue. A proper organization of duties on/off periods, assessment of work and rest schedules, and the implementation of fatigue management programs based on sleep education are recommended.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

The promotion of children's healthy eating is a key public health priority. However, children's food consumption is a complex phenomenon with several contributing factors, and there is a call to continue developing comprehensive models with several variables acting simultaneously. The present study aimed to examine the role different motivational-related variables (e.g., self-regulation, self-efficacy) may play in children's consumption of healthy and unhealthy foods. To address this goal, data were collected in a sample of 242 fifth and sixth graders with access to both healthy and unhealthy foods at home. A path model was conducted to analyze networks of relationships between motivational-related variables and children's healthy and unhealthy eating. The gender variable was included as a covariate to control its effect. The data showed that self-regulation for healthy eating mediates the relationship between the predictor variables (i.e., knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy) and the type of food consumption (healthy and unhealthy). Current data contribute to understanding the complexity behind food consumption by providing a comprehensive model with motivational-related factors associated with both healthy and unhealthy eating. The present findings are likely to help inform the development of early preventive interventions focused on the promotion of healthy eating.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

En su teoría del autogobierno mental, Sternberg afirma que tan importante como disponer de capacidades intelectuales es el modo en cómo se aplican éstas a las diferentes tareas, situaciones o contextos. A la forma predilecta que cada persona tiene de aplicar sus habilidades intelectuales Sternberg le denomina estilo intelectual. Este autor identifica trece estilos intelectuales que se agruparían en cinco dimensiones: función, forma, nivel, ámbito y tendencia. Algunos de los últimos estudios realizados sobre esta teoría ponen en entredicho la existencia de tales dimensiones. En el presente estudio, se analiza la estructura de los estilos de pensamiento en una muestra de estudiantes de ESO significativamente mayor que las utilizadas en los estudios que preceden en el tiempo a éste (n = 1.153) y, además, aplicando el análisis factorial jerárquico confirmatorio. Los resultados obtenidos, en general, coinciden con los obtenidos por otros investigadores y ofrecen una estructura de los estilos intelectuales sustancialmente distinta a la sugerida por Stemberg (AU)

In his theory of mental self-government, Sternberg stated that the way individuals apply their intellectual skills to various tasks, situations, or contexts is as important as the skills themselves. This author called the preferred way in which people apply their intellectual skills thinking style. He identified thirteen thinking styles that are grouped into five dimensions: function, form, level, setting, and tendency. Some recent studies of this theory have cast doubt on the existence of these dimensions. In this study, the structure of thinking styles is analyzed by means of confirmatory hierarchical factor analysis in a sample of students (n= 1153) from Obligatory Secondary Education (ESO) who are significantly older than those employed in previous studies. In general, the results coincide with those reported by other researchers, providing a thinking-style structure that is substantially different from the one suggested by Sternberg (AU)

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

En este estudio se analiza la relación existente entre la adaptabilidad y la cohesión familiar, así como la conducta autorregulatoria de los padres en relación a su comportamiento con los hijos, en general, y en su implicación en el ámbito del estudio, en particular. También se estudia el tipo de relación que tales variables familiares mantienen con diferentes dimensiones del autoconcepto de los hijos y con su rendimiento académico. Los datos se obtienen a partir de una muestra de 163 estudiantes de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria que han cumplinentado tres escalas (Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales, Parental Inducement of Self-Regulation y Self-Description Questionnaire-II). Los resultados muestran que la percepción que los hijos tienen sobre el grado de implicación de los padres en comportamientos característicos autorregulatorios influye significativamente sobre las diferentes dimensiones que el estudiante tiene sobre sí mismo (privada, social, académica), que este tipo de percepción se encuentra escasamente relacionada con las características de adaptabilidad y cohesión familiar y, finalmente, que la dimensión académica del autoconcepto predice positiva y significativamente el rendimiento académico, mientras que la dimensión social lo predice negativamente (AU)

The present study analyses the relationship between adaptability and parental cohesion and how children’s behaviour towards studying and in general is affected by parental self-regulatory inducement. Furthermore, the relationship between variables like children’s self-concept dimensions and academic achievement are also analysed. Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales, Parental Inducement Self-Regulation and Self-Description Questionnaire II scales were administered in a sample of 133 secondary students. The results indicate that: 1) children’s perception about self-regulatory inducement had a significant influence on the self-concept dimensions (personal, social, academic); 2) this perception was vaguely related to adaptability and familiar cohesion; and, 3) academic self-concept dimensions positively and significantly predicted academic achievement, whereas social dimensions predicted it negatively (AU)

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

El objetivo de este trabajo es informar sobre la contrastación de un modelo teórico en el cual se postula que las conductas de inducción a la autorregulación académica desplegadas por los padres y madres en sus tareas habituales en el hogar, en general, inciden significativa y positivamente sobre la percepción de competencia como estudiante que van desarrollando sus hijos y ésta, a su vez, sobre el rendimiento académico obteniendo en las diversas áreas curriculares. El modelo ha sido analizado en base a las respuestas dadas por 226 estudiantes, de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria, a dos instrumentos de medida (cuestionario de evaluación de la inducción parental a la autorregulación y el cuestionario de Autoconcepto SDQ-II) y al rendimiento de final de curso en varias áreas académicas. Los resultados confirman plenamente las hipótesis formuladas en el modelo teórico postulado en esta investigación y son discutidos en base a su interés para promover interacciones entre escuela y familia que incidan en el desarrollo de este ámbito (AU)

The authors tested a theoretical model where parental inducement of self-regulated learning in ordinary home tasks is hypothesized to have a general significant and positive influence on their children’s perceptions of competence about themselves as students, and these, in turn, on achievement obtained in different academic areas. The model was contrasted in a group of students (N= 226) from Compulsory Secondary Education using the following instruments: The Questionnaire of Parental Inducement of Self-Regulated Learning; and the Self-Description Questionnaire (SDQ-II). Academic Achievement was measured by the grades obtained by the students in different areas at the end of the academic year. The results obtained confirm the hypotheses postulated in the theoretical model, and suggest the importance of promoting family-school interactions (AU)

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Los resultados de la investigación psicológica realizada hasta la fecha en muestras de estudiantes con dificultades de aprendizaje (DA) respecto a variables tales como el autoconcepto, la motivación o los procesos de atribución causal son, en muchos casos, contradictorios. Revisiones recientes apuntan a una doble explicación de este hecho: por una parte, el tipo de instrumento utilizado para evaluar estas variables y, por otro lado, estaría la comparación de resultados de grupos de estudiantes con DA escolarizados en contextos distintos (clases inclusivas, apoyo fuera de clase ordinaria, etc.). Con la realización de este estudio pretendemos profundizar en el análisis de esta situación ciertamente confusa. Han sido utilizados instrumentos de evaluación multidimensional, de contrastada fiabilidad y validez, un único tipo de clase (apoyo fuera de la clase ordinaria), y un tamaño muestral razonablemente amplio (259 estudiantes con DA y 243 sin DA).Los resultados del estudio muestran que los estudiantes con DA en relación a sus iguales sin dificultades, presentan una imagen de sí mismos más negativa a nivel general y, especialmente, en las áreas académicas, aunque también en las dimensiones de naturaleza social; atribuyen sus fracasos más a causas internas que externas y se responsabilizan menos de sus éxitos, aunque en ambos casos consideran el esfuerzo como factor fundamental de cara a sus resultados académicos; y, finalmente, se encuentran menos motivados hacia el aprendizaje escolar y la búsqueda de aprobación social (AU)

Up to the present, the results of psychological research using samples of students with learning disabilities (LD) that are related to variables such as self-concept, motivation, or causal attribution processes are very often contradictory. Recent reviews suggest a two-fold explanation of this fact: on the one hand, the type of instrument used to assess these variables and, on the other, the comparison of results from groups of students with learning disabilities who receive different instructional treatment (ordinary classes, supplementary instruction outside the ordinary class, etc.). In this study, we attempt to analyze in-depth this confusing situation. Instruments for multidimensional assessment with contrasted reliability and validity were used. We focused on just one type of class (students who receive supplementary instruction outside the ordinary class) and we employed quite a large sample (259 students with LD and 243 without LD). The results of the study indicate that, compared to students without LD, those with LD have a more negative general self-image, especially in academic areas, although in social areas as well. They attribute their failures more frequently to internal causes than to external ones, and they feel less responsible for their successes, although in both cases, they consider effort an important factor in their academic results. They are also less motivated, both intrinsically and extrinsically (AU)

Asunto(s)