RESUMO
Guatemala is a multiethnic and multicultural country that has suffered from poverty and violence. Sports can serve as tool to foster development across the country; however, there is limited research on the use of sports as a tool for promoting broader social benefits in Guatemala. The purpose of this study was to compare sports and the health and physiological characteristics of at-risk youths in Guatemala. The research objectives were achieved through a quantitative approach and the participation of 90 youths involved in an educational organization through sports and 91 youths who have not been influenced by any organization. The results showed that urban at-risk youths involved in a sports for education organization develop more self-esteem; they have higher levels of physical activity than their peers who are not involved in an educational organization; the socioemotional competencies of self-regulation and motivation are higher in urban areas; empathy is higher in men than in women; the level of the self-perception of health is lower and health literacy higher. However, the at-risk youths who are not involved in an educational organization showed that their self-regulation was higher, and the level of health literacy was higher for all factors. This was through a set of attitudes and skills as a result of their historical development and sociocultural strategies transmitted from generation to generation to foster health and physical activity.
RESUMO
PURPOSE: This study aimed to understand 10- to 19-year-old adolescents' conceptions of mental health and well-being, and suggestions for appropriate interventions, in three low- and middle-income countries to inform the design of adolescent-responsive preventive and promotive mental health programming. METHODS: Ninety-one adolescents participated in focus group discussions in Belize, Kazakhstan, and South Africa. The discussions were recorded, transcribed, translated, and analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Adolescents were active contributors to the discussions and provided important information and solutions for improving adolescents' mental health from interpersonal skills training to interventions in schools and communities. Adolescents identified a need for social emotional skills development, particularly regarding interpersonal relationships and navigating peer pressure and bullying. Furthermore, the discussions highlighted the need for programming to be tailored to the local context regarding language, contextual challenges faced by adolescents, and choice of program facilitators. Adolescents valued supportive interactions with adults in their lives and recommended that programs should include teacher/parent training on interacting with adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight that adolescents are valuable partners in developing adolescent health interventions and show that social emotional skills are key components in such interventions. These programs should be culturally and locally appropriate and include components for teachers and parents.
Assuntos
Promoção da Saúde , Adulto , Adolescente , Humanos , Criança , Adulto Jovem , Grupos Focais , África do Sul , Belize , CazaquistãoRESUMO
Responding to the need for school-based, broadly applicable, low-cost, and brief assessments of socio-emotional skills, we describe the conceptual background and empirical development of the SENNA inventory and provide new psychometric information on its internal structure. Data were obtained through a computerized survey from 50,000 Brazilian students enrolled in public school grades 6 to 12, spread across the entire State of São Paulo. The SENNA inventory was designed to assess 18 particular skills (e.g., empathy, responsibility, tolerance of frustration, and social initiative), each operationalized by nine items that represent three types of items: three positively keyed trait-identity items, three negatively keyed identity items, and three (always positively keyed) self-efficacy items, totaling a set of 162 items. Results show that the 18 skill constructs empirically defined a higher-order structure that we interpret as the social-emotional Big Five, labeled as Engaging with Others, Amity, Self-Management, Emotional Regulation, and Open-Mindedness. The same five factors emerged whether we assessed the 18 skills with items representing (a) a trait-identity approach that emphasizes lived skills (what do I typically do?) or (b) a self-efficacy approach that emphasizes capability (how well can I do that?). Given that its target youth group is as young as 11 years old (grade 6), a population particularly prone to the response bias of acquiescence, SENNA is also equipped to correct for individual differences in acquiescence, which are shown to systematically bias results when not corrected.
RESUMO
Resumen El objetivo de este estudio fue identificar el nivel predictivo de las competencias socioemocionales sobre la resiliencia, por lo que se aplicaron el Inventario de Competencias Socioemocionales (EQi-YV) y la Escala de Resiliencia para Adolescentes (READ) a una muestra de 840 adolescentes mexicanos. Los resultados obtenidos a través de un análisis de ecuaciones estructurales, señalan que las habilidades de adaptabilidad, así como el optimismo y el autoconcepto, favorecen la competencia personal. Mientras que las competencias interpersonales y la capacidad para generar emociones positivas, predicen las competencias sociales asociadas a la resiliencia. Destaca que el manejo de emociones negativas como el enojo, pierde significancia en el modelo. Los resultados se discuten a la luz de la importancia del desarrollo positivo del adolescente.
Abstract The purpose of this study was to identify the predictive level of socio-emotional skills on resilience. The Inventory of Socioemotional Skills (EQi-YV) and the Resilience Scale for Adolescents (READ) were applied to a sample of 840 Mexican adolescents. The results obtained through a structural equation analysis, indicated that adaptability, optimism and selfsteem, promote personal competences, while interpersonal skills and generating a positive mood, facilitate social competence associated with resilience. The management of negative emotions, like anger, lost significance in the model. The results are discussed in light of the importance of positive adolescent development.
RESUMO
Resumo As habilidades socioemocionais (HSE) têm sido compreendidas como um construto multidimensional, composto por variáveis emocionais, cognitivas e comportamentais que auxiliam no desenvolvimento saudável ao longo do ciclo vital. Estudos recentes têm demonstrado que as HSE podem ser desenvolvidas e aprendidas. Nesse sentido, há, atualmente, uma ampla concordância que o sistema educacional de ensino deve focar não só no desenvolvimento cognitivo, mas também no desenvolvimento das competências sociais e emocionais de crianças e adolescentes. A presente nota técnica descreve, brevemente, o procedimento de criação e as propriedades psicométricas de seis instrumentos de avaliação de HSE. As escalas foram desenvolvidas para mensurar o Programa Semente - um novo programa de aprendizagem de habilidades socioemocionais. Os instrumentos mensuram as facetas propostas pelo Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), a saber: autoconhecimento, autocontrole, perseverança, empatia, decisões responsáveis e comportamentos prossociais. Todos os instrumentos apresentam evidências de validade baseada na estrutura interna (estrutura fatorial, fidedignidade, invariância configural, métrica e escalar) bem como na relação com medidas externas (padrões de validade convergente e/ou concorrente). A versão final da bateria é composta por 45 itens. Juntos os construtos formam um fator de segunda-ordem, denominado HSE, que, também apresentou adequados índices de ajuste.
Resumen Las habilidades socioemocionales (HSE) son comprendidas como un constructo multidimensional, que consiste en variables emocionales, cognitivas y comportamentales que ayudan en el desarrollo saludable durante todo el ciclo de vida. Estudios recientes han demostrado que las HSE suelen ser desarrolladas y aprendidas. En este sentido, hoy en día existe un amplio consenso en que el sistema educativo de enseño debe centrarse no sólo en el desarrollo cognitivo, sino también en el desarrollo de habilidades sociales y emocionales de los niños y adolescentes. Esta nota técnica describe brevemente el procedimiento de creación y las propiedades psicométricas de seis herramientas de evaluación de HSE. Las escalas fueran diseñadas para medir el Programa Semente - un nuevo programa brasileño de aprendizaje de habilidades socioemocionales. Los instrumentos mensuran las HSE en conformidad con la propuesta del Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL): autoconocimiento, autocontrol, perseverancia, empatía, decisiones responsables y comportamientos pro-sociales. Todos los instrumentos presentaran evidencias de validez en base a la estructura interna (estructura factorial, fiabilidad, invariancia configuracional, métrica y escalar), así como en relación con las medidas externas (validez convergente y/o concurrente). La versión final de la batería es compuesta de 45 ítems. Juntos, los constructos forman un factor de segundo-orden llamado HSE, que también mostró índices de ajuste adecuados.
Abstract Social emotional skills (SES) is comprehended as a multidimensional construct, composed of emotional, cognitive and behavioral variables that positively affect healthy development throughout the life span. Recent studies have shown that SES can be developed and learned. In this sense, there is currently a broad agreement that the educational system should not solely focus on cognitive development but also on the development of children and adolescents' social and emotional competencies. This technical note briefly describes the development process and the psychometric properties of six scales aiming to measure SES. The scales were designed to measure the Programa Semente - a newly developed Brazilian social emotional learning (SEL) program. The instruments measure the constructs proposed by Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL): self-knowledge, self-control, perseverance, empathy, responsible decision-making and prossocial behaviors. All the instruments presented evidence of validity based on the internal structure (factorial structure, reliability, configural, metric and scalar invariance) as well as based on external measures (convergent and/or concurrent validity). The final battery is composed of 45 items. Together, the constructs form a second-order factor, called SES, which, also, presented adequate goodness-of-fit indexes.