This study examined the relationship between coping strategies, dispositional optimism, academic burnout and academic performance using structural equation modelling. Data were collected from a sample of 532 Spanish undergraduate students. Participants completed a battery of questionnaires including the LOT-R to assess optimism, CSI for the measurement of coping (adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies), and MBI-SS to evaluate academic burnout (exhaustion, cynicism, and efficacy). Academic performance was evaluated by the grade point average (GPA). The results showed that academic burnout was directly and positively associated with maladaptive coping but directly and negatively explained by adaptive coping. In addition, emotional exhaustion was significantly and negatively predicted by optimism. Finally, academic performance was significantly predicted by academic burnout. In conclusion, the findings suggest that both adaptive coping and optimism help to prevent academic burnout and, therefore, positively affect academic performance. Implications for intervention and future research are discussed.

The aim of this work is to analyze the predictive value of several variables that may affect the likelihood of occasional or severe cibervictimization in adolescence, including sociodemographic (gender and age), psychological (self-esteem and shyness-social anxiety), educational (off-line school victimization, training and socio-emotional support, and academic achievement), family (parental control), and technological (frequency of use and risky Internet behaviors) factors. To achieve this, three self-reports were applied to 3,180 Compulsory Secondary Education students from Asturias (Spain), aged between 11 and 19 years old. The multinomial logistic regression results show that age, off-line school victimization, parental control, risky Internet behaviors, using online social networks or instant messaging applications and frequency of Internet use during weekends are statistically significant risk factors for both occasional and severe cybervictimization. Self-esteem is a protective factor for occasional cybervictimization. Having their own mobile phone, playing on-line with others and frequency of Internet use during weekdays are risk factors for severe cybervictimization. The implications of these results are discussed with regard to prevention, detection and treatment of cybervictimization.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationships between coping (i.e., adaptive or maladaptive), academic engagement dimensions (i.e., vigor, dedication and absorption) and academic performance, as well as the mediating role of academic engagement dimensions in the relationship between coping and academic performance. Data were collected from a sample of 808 undergraduate students at a Spanish university. Participants completed the Coping Strategies Inventory for the measurement of coping strategies and the Utrecht Work Engagement Student Scale for the measurement of academic engagement. Academic performance was evaluated by the grade point average. Results showed that adaptive coping, academic engagement dimensions and academic performance were positively related. Maladaptive coping was negatively related to performance, but there were no significant correlations between maladaptive coping and any academic engagement dimension. Mediation analysis showed that engagement dimensions mediated the relationship between adaptive coping and performance. Adaptive coping increased academic vigor, dedication and absorption and these dimensions improved performance in turn. In conclusion, this study provides evidence of the way in which academic engagement mediates between adaptive coping and performance. The theoretical interpretation of the results and the potential applications for intervention are discussed.

Previous studies have shown the positive effects of educational video games (serious games) in improving motivation, attention and other cognitive components in students with learning disabilities. This study analyzes the effects on attention of a serious game based on multiple intelligences in a sample of 44 students (age range = 6–16 years; experimental group = 24; control group = 20) with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and specific learning disorder (SLD). Performance and observation measures of attention were used. The intervention consisted of 28 sessions (10 min each), in which the participants trained with 10 games based on multiple intelligences. A significant improvement in attention performance measures (visual attention) was found after the intervention, with the experimental and the control groups significantly differing in the posttest. These results invite consideration of the applicability of boosting different intelligences, talents or unique abilities through educational videogames as an important bridge to improving areas of deficit-in this case attention-in students with learning disabilities.

This study examined differences in future anxiety (FA) among mothers and fathers of children with and without developmental disabilities (DD), and it also analyzed differences in FA within the group of parents of children with DD taking into consideration parent-related factors and child-related factors. A group of 167 parents of children with DD were compared to a group of 103 parents of children with typical development. The group with DD included children with autism spectrum disorders, sensory disorders, and intellectual disability. Parents completed the Future Anxiety Scale-FAS1. Mothers of children with DD had a higher general level of FA than fathers of children with and without DD. Mothers of children with DD reported higher anxiety about their future health and the meaning of their future life than fathers of children with DD. For parents of children with DD, those with lower education, male children, and older children reported higher FA. The group at risk of highest general FA are mothers of children with DD, especially those without a professional career. Similarly, parents of teenagers and/or sons with DD are at increased risk of FA.

Objective: To analyze the diagnostic effectiveness of the AULA Nesplora test to discriminate the different ADHD presentations: impulsive/hyperactive (I/H), inattentive, and combined.Method: A total of 117 students (76.9% male and 23.1% female) between 5 and 16 years of age (M = 11.18 years, SD = 3.10 years) participated, and were divided into three groups with ADHD according to their presentation, and a control group. Results: Each of the test conditions allowed the discrimination between the I/H and combined presentations with respect to the control group, and between the I/H and inattentive presentations. However, differences among ADHD presentations were only evident when the results were separately analyzed for the visual and auditory modalities. Conclusion: This study showed that the indicators offered by the AULA Nesplora test (omissions, commissions, response times, and motor activity) make it possible to establish a differential diagnosis of ADHD presentations when analyzed under different contextual conditions.