In the middle of the 20th century, there was a shift from a skills deficit approach to a positive approach, focused on promoting assets and individual strengths. The role of social-emotional competences became salient. School is a privileged arena for universal and selective prevention interventions that can help pupils in raising their competence to cope with life challenges in a relaxed, non-violent and effective way. Personal and social-emotional skills play a key role in children and adolescents’ development, as well as their behavior towards risk factors and there is a need to evidence-based interventions. The scale “For me it’s Easy” is an evaluation tool for personal and socio-emotional skills and was used to assess the effect of a Social and Emotional Skills Promotion Program. Personal and social skills play a key role in children and adolescents’ development, as well as their behavior towards risk factors. The study includes an intervention group with 960 Portuguese children and adolescents with a mean age of 12.5 years (SD = 1.61) and included were 56.8% boys of different educational levels. The waiting-list group included 171 children and adolescents; 46.2% were boys. The mean age was 14.7 years and the SD was 3.3. The results reveal significant differences in the intervention group related to the competences before and after the intervention, namely in the interpersonal relationships and definition of goal related skills, while in the waiting list group there were no significant differences in the moment before and after the intervention, and the scale “For me it’s Easy” can be considered an instrument which 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.

Background: A healthy and supportive family environment leads to more positive results regarding adolescents’ development. The main objective of this study was to explore and analyze the relationship between adolescents’ quality of life (QoL) and their family environment/relationship. Method: The sample was collected as part of the Health Behavior in School-aged Children 2018 study, which included 8215 adolescents, 52.7% female, with a mean age of 14.36 years (SD = 2.28). Results: Girls are more involved in family activities (such as family meals), report being treated with fairness by their parents and feel less parental pressure to get good grades. Boys have a higher perception regarding their family affluence, better family relationships and support and better QoL. Having an above-average QoL is significantly related to high family affluence, better communication with both parents, greater involvement in family activities, greater perception of help from parents regarding decision-making, greater perception of being treated with fairness by parents and less pressure from parents to get good grades, as well as a better family relationship/support. Conclusion: It is important to determine the impact that parental divorce/separation or a weak parent–child relationship can have on adolescents. It is also necessary to consider the family relationship and structure when devising strategies and public policies related to the promotion of adolescents’ health and well-being.

The relation between positive youth development and stress, anxiety and depression was studied considering the mediator role of psychological symptoms and life satisfaction. A total of 3109 students included in the “Psychological Health and Well-being” study of the School Observatory participated, including 1618 females and 1491 males aged between 11 and 18 years old (M = 14.45; SD = 1.88), belonging to different school groups in different regions of the country. Adolescents with higher stress, depression and anxiety levels reported lower levels of competence, confidence and connection, as well as more psychological symptoms and lower life satisfaction. The results also showed that adolescents with higher levels of competence, confidence and connection reported less psychological symptoms and more life satisfaction. Two separate mediation analyses were performed to analyse the role of mental distress and life satisfaction on the relationship between positive youth development indicators and stress, anxiety and depression. These analyses confirmed the predicted relationships and partial mediations between mental distress and life satisfaction. These results should be taken into account in public policies concerning young people’s health and education that should involve both targeted and indicated prevention strategies, including school and community-based interventions, in order to be effective.

The health of children, adolescents, and young adults is a primary global concern. In 2021, there were 2.1 million deaths among children and adolescents. Injuries, violence, communicable diseases, nutritional deficiencies, substance use, non-communicable diseases, and mental health disorders are among the leading causes of death in this age group. Background/objectives: This scoping review aims to identify and describe health promotion and healthy lifestyle programs developed worldwide targeting adolescents and young adults. Methods: A total of 106 programs were included, of which 8 were selected through scientific databases and 98 through other research methods (e.g., government websites and other online sources). Results: The results show that Europe, North America, New Zealand, and the United States of America are the continents and countries with the highest number of programs. Most programs originated before 2020 and are aimed at children, adolescents, and young adults. Mental health, substance and non-substance dependencies, and sexual and reproductive health were the most frequent areas among the available youth programs. Most programs do not mention evaluating or monitoring the services provided. Conclusions: This work allows for a deeper understanding of the programs available for adolescents and young adults, providing an overview of their characteristics. Moreover, it emphasizes the importance of increasing the number of available programs, especially in countries with higher morbidity and mortality rates among the young population. The programs must be based on population studies to better meet their needs. Lastly, programs should become sustainable and integrated into national public policies, accompanied by ongoing training, supervision, and intervision of professionals working in these contexts.

Adolescents who possess environmental health literacy are more equipped to handle the effects of the environment on their health. This study uses data from Portugal’s 2022 HBSC survey to investigate the environmental health literacy (EHL) of teenagers. The Environmental Health Literacy Scale (EHLS) was verified by confirmatory component analysis. Within the framework of an ecosystem, this study investigates factors related to health and well-being. There are 7355 adolescents in the sample. EHLS_Social Norms and participation in volunteering activities were found to be significant predictors of EHL_Knowledge, which explained 25.2% of the variance in the final model. EHLS_Social Norms and EHLS_Knowledge accounted for 42.9% of the variance in EHL_Behaviors, while school grade was adversely connected with pro-environmental behavior. While actions and knowledge were major positive predictors, gender and school grades showed negative relationships, and EHL_Social Norms accounted for 46% of the variance. This study establishes a valid measure of environmental health literacy in adolescents, informing science education strategies and public health interventions.