Prosocial Tendencies Measure Validation for Portuguese Late Adolescents

O Questionário de Tendências Prossociais (MTP) de Carlo e Randall (2002) é amplamente usado para avaliar tendências prossociais. Partindo do pressuposto de que existem diferenças no comportamento pró-social entre adolescentes e adultos, o presente estudo teve como objetivo validar a versão em português do MTP com uma amostra de adolescentes. Este instrumento avalia seis tipos diferentes de tendências prossociais: altruísta, anónima, emergência, emocional, complacente e pública. Desenhado para confirmar esta estrutura fatorial do MTP com adolescentes portugueses, este estudo recolheu as perceções de um total de 1313 adolescentes a frequentar o ensino secundário. A análise fatorial confirmatória corroborou a estrutura de seis fatores da validação original. Além disso, considerando o ano escolar e o género dos alunos, a análise de invariância foi executada e atestou a invariância configural, métrica (parcialmente para género) e escalar (parcialmente para ano escolar e género) do MTP. Estes resultados demonstram ainda que a versão portuguesa MTP é confiável, aumentando a utilidade deste instrumento para avaliar comportamentos prossociais na adolescência.

The Prosocial Tendencies Measure (PTM; Carlo & Randall, 2002) is widely used for assessing prosocial tendencies. Assuming that there are differences in prosocial behavior between adolescents and adults, the current study aimed to further validate the Portuguese version of the PTM for adolescents. This instrument assesses six different types of prosocial tendencies ­ altruism, anonymous, dire, emotional, compliant and public. Designed to confirm this structure with Portuguese adolescents, this study collected a total of 1313 high school students' prosocial behaviors perceptions. Confirmatory factor analysis corroborated the six-factor structure of the original validation. Furthermore, considering the students' school year and gender, invariance analysis was executed and attested the PTM's configural, metric (partially for gender) and scalar (partially for school year and gender) invariance. These findings further demonstrate that the Portuguese version of the PTM is reliable, enhancing the utility of this instrument to assess prosocial behaviors in adolescence.

Socioemotional Skills Program with a Group of Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Young Adolescents: Impacts on Self-Concept and Emotional and Behavioral Problems.

There is significant evidence that emphasizes the importance of social and emotional learning in schools for students' positive development and adjustment. The main goal of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a socioemotional skills promotion program, implemented with a group of socioculturally vulnerable young adolescents. Data were collected in the 2020-2021 school year from all students from 6th grade (n = 50, from four classes) in a high-risk school in Portugal (56% females). Two classes served as the comparison group. Participants responded to self-concept and emotional and behavioral problems measures at two moments (pre- and post-intervention). Results indicated a significant impact on self-concept, namely an increase in behavioral adjustment, happiness, and satisfaction and a decrease in anxiety in the intervention group compared with the comparison group. These findings support intervention efficacy. Educational implications are discussed.

Kenny Music Performance Anxiety Inventory: Contribution for the Portuguese Validation.

(1) Background: The aim of the present study was to contribute to the validation of the Portuguese version of the Kenny Music Performance Anxiety Inventory (K-MPAI) and to study its psychometric properties. (2) Methods: A sample of 164 undergraduate music students in Portugal (62.2% female; mean age = 22.63; SD = 4.36) completed an online survey composed of the K-MPAI Portuguese version, the State Trait Anxiety Inventory, and a sociodemographic questionnaire. The K-MPAI psychometric properties were examined using exploratory factor analyses, known-group differences, and Cronbach's alpha. (3) Results: A four-factor structure was identified, in line with recent validation of this measure in other countries: music performance anxiety-related symptoms, depression and hopelessness, parental support, and memory self-efficacy. Concurrent and known-group validity were established, and reliability scores were appropriate for the dimensions and total score. (4) Conclusions: The results provide initial evidence of the appropriateness of the Portuguese version of the K-MPAI.

Academic achievement and emotional and behavioural problems: The moderating role of gender.

The present study aimed to explore the association between academic achievement and emotional and behavioural problems and the moderation role of gender in this association. 1350 Portuguese school-aged children and adolescents from first to ninth grade (6-15-year-old), part of a national representative sample, were assessed by teachers and parents with questionnaires from the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA). Results show that academic achievement significantly predicts child and adolescent's internalizing, externalizing, and total problems. Gender moderates the association between academic achievement and child and adolescent's externalizing and total problems, both at school and in the family context. The results underscore the relevance of academic achievement in children and adolescent's emotional and behavioural problems, and particularly in boys.

Protective Factors in the Use of Electronic Media According to Youth and Their Parents: An Exploratory Study.

The use of electronic media (EM) by youths has been widely described in the literature, indicating the relevance of understanding the factors that can protect against its risks. We aimed to explore the protective role of participating in extracurricular activities (ECAs) and of parental mediation in the use of EM by young people. A total of 1413 people (729 students, aged between 11 and 17 years old, and one of their parents) participated in this study. Youths who engaged in ECAs spent significantly less time per week on EM and perceived that the use of EM devices had less of a negative impact. When parents and their children presented a congruent notion of how much time youth spent on EM, parents perceived EM to have less of a negative impact on their children compared to dyads with discrepant assessments. The hierarchical regression results indicated that regardless of time spent per week on EM, engaging in ECAs was a significant predictor of perceiving a less negative impact, playing a role as a protective factor regarding the use of EM. The ubiquity of EM reinforces the importance of the focus of this study, and its results contribute to creating specific guidelines for parental education and educational policies.