Background: A negative lifestyle is reported to be related to poor mental health and quality of life (QOL). However, there is little information on this in university students. The objective of the present study was to investigate the association between mental health (i.e., anxiety, depression symptoms and stress), QOL, SWLS and lifestyle parameters (i.e., PA, sleep duration, ST and food habits) among Chilean university students and then to determine the differences in mental health, QOL, SWLS and lifestyle parameters according to gender. Methods: This cross-sectional study included a total of 211 university students (128 females and 83 males) aged 18–28 years. Mental health, QOL and lifestyle were measured through validated questionnaires. Results: Bad food habits (lowest score in the food survey) were linked to anxiety (2.3 [0.22–4.36], p = 0.03), depressive symptoms (3.75 [1.54–5.9], p = 0.001) and stress (2.24 [0.31–4.17], p = 0.023). Furthermore, <6 h of sleep was related to poorer mental health (13.5 [7.6–19.5], p = 0.001), anxiety (4.2 [2.0–6.4], p < 0.001), depressive symptoms (5.5 [3.2–7.9], p < 0.001) and stress (3.8 [1.8–5.9], p < 0.001). In addition, ≥4 h of ST was linked positively to negative mental health (8.3 [2.86–13.7], p = 0.003), depressive symptoms (3.45 [1.47–5.4], p = 0.001) and anxiety (3.2 [1.05–5.4], p = 0.004). Non-physical activity was related to the scores for anxiety (2.6 [0.20–5.0], p = 0.030), depression (2.7 [0.009–5.3], p = 0.049) and stress (2.4 [0.12–4.7], p = 0.039). Conclusions: this study showed that unhealthy lifestyle factors (i.e., insufficient sleep, lack of PA and prolonged ST) were strongly associated with poorer mental health and QOL in university students. These findings highlight the importance of addressing these aspects of lifestyle in intervention and health promotion programs aimed at young university students in order to improve their mental health and overall QOL.

Resumen El propósito de este trabajo es comprender y explicar la tensión epistemológica entre los conocimientos educativos indígenas con la monoculturalidad eurocéntrica de los sistemas educativos nacionales, desde la complejidad que implica la educación escolar en los contextos de los pueblos indígenas de América. Puesto que la justificación ha sido la colonización y su integración a los Estados nacionales, negando las epistemes de sus conocimientos educativos en la educación escolar. Frente a esto, proponemos una crítica epistemológica a la construcción de conocimientos interculturales propuesta por los Estados, apoyándonos en el pluralismo epistemológico. Específicamente, analizamos los casos del proyecto Milpas educativas de México, la acción educativa kimeltuwün en la Araucanía, Chile y la política educativa en el estado de Roraima, Brasil. Se considera el contexto político que norma la educación intercultural sobre las experiencias de Educación Intercultural Bilingüe de los estados nacionales y las recomendaciones del Convenio 169, de la Organización Internacional del Trabajo. En conclusión, planteamos una educación intercultural tomando en cuenta la tensión epistemológica entre las epistemes indígenas y escolar. Asimismo, planteamos la necesidad de construir una educación intercultural, contextualizada a cada pueblo indígena, en el marco de sus relaciones interétnicas con los no indígenas mediante un diálogo desde la perspectiva del pluralismo epistemológico.

Emotional regulation (ER) is understood as the set of automatic and/or voluntary processes that are used to reduce, maintain, or increase aspects related to emotions. RE in school contexts characterized by social and cultural diversity has had a broad growth in relation to research during the last decades. The objective is to analyze and synthesize the scientific productivity found between 2010 and 2022, regarding emotion and culture in school contexts. The method is a systematic review of the documents found on the Web of Science, related to emotional regulation and culture in school contexts, following the PRISMA guidelines. The n consisted of 17 articles that met the inclusion criteria. The results indicated that cultural aspects mediate the forms of emotional regulation, which is directly linked to individual and social development and to the context of belonging to people. In conclusion, there is a need to address emotional beliefs from cultural perspectives, not only from mental health approaches in general, but also as an aspect in full development in the field of education.

In rural schools, nature is a space where teachers and students seek to feel states of emotional well-being. Activities carried out in contact with nature could be considered ideal for learning. The objective of the research was to explore the influence of physical/natural spaces on the emotional well-being of schoolchildren as reported by female teachers working in rural and indigenous contexts in the region of La Araucanía, Chile. This research is based on the hermeneutic paradigm with a case study design. The selection of participants was non-probabilistic and intentional, including 15 female teachers working in rural school contexts. The study used a semi-structured interview format, and the data were analyzed using grounded theory. According to the teachers’ discourse, the results generated three categories: (a) culture and diversity, (b) physical/natural spaces, and (c) emotional well-being. These show that natural spaces positively affect learning processes and emotional regulation. The research suggests that encouraging contact with physical/natural spaces can help create classroom climates with lower levels of conflict and tension. This, in turn, leads to higher levels of physical, psychological/mental, social, and spiritual balance, resulting in improved attitudes and motivational processes towards learning by students and teachers in rural and indigenous contexts.

Interaction spaces influence emotional regulation, due to the link between bodies, emotions and places. On the one hand, a series of emotions are projected on a certain space, on the other hand, spaces have the capacity to generate different emotional responses in people. The objective of this research was to identify the direct and indirect effects of the organization of school spaces on emotional regulation and learning. Eleven key informants participated, divided into professionals who work or have demonstrated their experience in the school educational context. The design was non-probabilistic and an analysis of the level of incidence in first and second order was carried out, in order to find the forgotten effects in the explanation of the object of study. The results show that the main indirect effects are that of the school infrastructure both on the development of respect for others and on the ability to control negative emotions, both mediated by the learning environment. On the other hand, the use of the Mapuzungun language in the school educational context has indirect effects on the behavior and regulation of the emotions of the students, having as main mediator the interpersonal relationships that occur in the school educational context.

En dos regiones de Chile aproximadamente un tercio de la población es indígena y sus estudiantes se ven en problemas a la hora de aprender en las escuelas, debido a que no se contempla su idioma, su cosmovisión ni su episteme. Debido a esta circunstancia, se plantean tres objetivos específicos para evidenciar si existe una relación entre el porcentaje de estudiantes indígenas matriculados en un establecimiento educacional y el rendimiento promedio de las escuelas en las pruebas estandarizadas nacionales. El método empleado es cuantitativo ex post facto, con un diseño no experimental transeccional y correlacional. Los resultados muestran que existe una correlación negativa entre los resultados obtenidos en pruebas estandarizadas de matemáticas y lenguaje con el porcentaje de estudiantes indígenas de los establecimientos educacionales; el factor étnico explica un porcentaje del resultado en pruebas estandarizadas, y los establecimientos educacionales con baja proporción de estudiantes indígenas obtienen resultados significativamente más elevados en pruebas estandarizadas que los que cuentan con una alta proporción de estudiantes indígenas. En conclusión, los establecimientos educacionales que muestran una alta concentración de estudiantes indígenas obtienen resultados académicos más bajos que los que cuentan con una baja concentración de estudiantes indígenas en las dos macrozonas de Chile con mayor porcentaje de población indígena.