Background/Objective: The objective of this ex post facto study is to analyze both the direct relationships between perceived social support, self-concept, resilience, subjective well-being and school engagement. Method: To achieve this, a battery of instruments was applied to 1,250 Compulsory Secondary Education students from the Basque Country (49% boys and 51% girls), aged between 12 and 15 years (M = 13.72, SD =1.09), randomly selected. We used a structural equation model to analyze the effects of perceived social support, self-concept and resilience on subjective well-being and school engagement. Results: The results provide evidence for the influence of the support of family, peer support and teacher support on self-concept. In addition, self-concept is shown as a mediating variable associated with resilience, subjective well-being and school engagement. Conclusions: We discuss the results in the context of positive psychology and their practical implications in the school context.
29 August 2018 in Journal of Research on Adolescence
Although the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) is the most widely used instrument to measure life satisfaction with its validation having been carried out across ages and countries, few studies have analyzed SWLS measurement cross-cultural invariance with adolescents. With respect to Spanish adolescents, measurement invariance across gender has not been found and the one-factor structure has not been confirmed in Mexican adolescents through Structural Equation Modeling. The main purpose of this study was to explore the measurement invariance of the SWLS in a sample of 701 adolescents (Mage = 14.93, SD = 1.83), 47.1% boys and 52.9% girls, from two different countries: Spain (74.2%) and Mexico (25.8%). A multigroup confirmatory factorial analysis is performed to test the invariance of the unifactorial structure. of SWLS with respect to the variables country, gender and age. Results support a single-factor structure as well as the internal consistency of the SWLS. Similarly, the tests of measurement invariance support its strict invariance regarding country and gender, and strong invariance regarding age. These results suggest that the SWLS is a useful single-factor measure of life satisfaction in Spanish and Mexican adolescents.
Internationally, acute homelessness is commonly associated with complex health and social care needs. While homelessness can be understood as an outcome of structural housing exclusion requiring housing led solutions, the health care issues faced by homeless people equally require attention. A substantive evidence base on the health needs of homeless people exists, but relatively little is known about what influences the self-rated health of homeless people. This article presents new evidence on whether drug use (alcohol consumption, ever having used drugs), health variables (visiting a hospital once in the last year, visiting the doctor in the last month, having a health card, sleeping difficulties, and having a disabling impairment) and sociodemographic characteristics are significantly associated with Self-Rated Health (SRH) among Spanish homeless people. The approach applies secondary analysis to cross-sectional data from a sample of 2437 homeless adults in Spain (83.8% were male). Multinomial logistic regression modelling was used to analyse the relationships between drug use, other health variables and SRH. Being male, an abstainer, having a health card and being in the youngest age groups were significant factors associated with perceived good health. On the other hand, ever having used drugs, having been a night in hospital, having gone to the doctor in the last month, having sleeping difficulties, having a disabling impairment and being in the older age group were all significant risk factors associated with perceived poor health. These results help to improve understanding of the key factors that influence the SRH among homeless people. The findings can contribute to development and delivery of preventive policies, suggesting that interventions to reduce drug consumption and ensure access to a health card/health services, as well as enhancing services for older, female and disabled homeless people are all measures which could improve health and well-being for those who face homelessness. Effective housing interventions (e.g. Housing First or Permanent Supported Housing programmes) are equally important to underpin the effectiveness of measures to improve the self-rated health of homeless people.
Relaciones entre el autoconcepto físico y la actividad físico-deportiva adolescente / Relationships between Adolescent Physical Self-Concept and Physical Activity