Three Intervention Programs in Secondary Education on Attitudes Toward Persons With a Disability.

Persons with a disability make up a social group which is in an especially vulnerable situation. They have to face obstacles and difficulties in their participation as part of the community with equal opportunities, in which attitude of others is a determining factor. This study makes a comparative analysis of three intervention programs (1 "Simulation and Modeling," 2 "Information and Awareness Raising," and 3 "Adapted Sport") on attitudes toward persons with a disability of adolescents in secondary schools. Each program is based on a concrete technique, but they all have the common thread of the direct, structured contact technique with persons with a disability. The effectiveness of the three programs in changing attitudes is analyzed, and their impact on the different factors of the attitude construct (1 "acceptance/rejection," 2 "competence/limitation," and 3 "equality of opportunities") is also studied. The results show the effectiveness of the three programs. The students show more positive attitudes toward persons with a disability in all the groups, especially program 1. Analyzing the general influence of the three programs on the factors of the attitude construct, it can be seen that in factors 2 and 3, the attitudes have significantly improved in all three programs. Finally, the results show that each program has been more effective on a concrete attitude factor.

A Protective Factor for Emotional and Behavioral Problems in Children: The Parental Humor.

In order to prevent the development of emotional and behavioral problems, risk and protective factors must be identified. This study aims to establish a link between perceived parental humor and children mental health. The sample comprises 762 pupils aged 10 to 15 (M = 12.23; SD = 1.12), who completed self-reports evaluating perceived parental humor (EEE-H) and their own emotional and behavioral strengths and difficulties (SDQ). The results indicate that parental humor is negatively associated with internalizing problems in children; no association with externalizing problems is observed. According to the study, girls who perceive low parental humor are the most likely to display internalizing problems, while girls perceiving high parental humor are the least likely to do so. Parental humor, characterized by calmness, cheerfulness, and optimism, is a protective factor against internalizing problems in children, especially girls. We recommend training for parents and training and intervention programs for families to encourage activities that boost parental humor.

Coping Strategies by University Students in Response to COVID-19: Differences between Community and Clinical Groups.

Last year, the COVID-19 pandemic had severe consequences on the health and well-being of millions of people. Different studies try to identify the main effects that the crisis and several lockdowns have had on the citizens' mental health. This research analyses the coping strategies generated by students from a community group and a clinical group in response to this crisis, using the Coping Responses Inventory-Adult Form (CRI-A) by Moos with a sample of 1074 students of Universidad de Extremadura. Multivariate analysis and receiver operating characteristic curve analysis have been carried out, revealing, amongst other things, a greater predisposition of the clinical sample towards factors such as seeking guidance and support, cognitive avoidance or emotional discharge. Results show that students with prior mental health problems perform an unhealthy coping response based on avoidance strategies. This group of students suffers a double source of distress and anxiety, one derived from their prior psychopathologic problems and the stress of the lockdown and another one originating from an inefficient coping response, which makes coping strategies raise levels of distress and anxiety.

The Impact of Cooperative Learning on University Students' Academic Goals.

Cooperative learning encourages the development of interpersonal skills and motivates students to participate more actively in the teaching and learning process. This study explores the impact of cooperative learning on the academic goals influencing university students' behavior and leading to the attainment of a series of academic objectives. To this end, a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design was used, with a sample of 509 university students from Preschool, Primary and Social Education undergraduate degree courses. Using the Academic Goals Questionnaire (AGQ), pretest and posttest measures were taken via self-reports to evaluate three types of academic goals: learning goals, social reinforcement goals and achievement goals. The results show that cooperative learning is an effective tool for encouraging university students to develop academic goals that motivate them to fully engage with the tasks they are set in order to acquire knowledge and skills (learning goals). In addition, when students are asked to work as part of a team on an autonomous basis without the structure and supervision necessary to ensure a minimum standard of cooperation, they display a greater tendency toward social reinforcement goals than toward learning and achievement goals. These findings contribute new knowledge to the conceptual framework on cooperative learning. Goals may be considered one of the most important variables influencing students' learning and the use of cooperative learning techniques in university classrooms creates the necessary conditions for encouraging students to develop goals oriented toward learning.

Emotional Intelligence as a Protective Factor against Victimization in School Bullying.

Previous research has identified the main predictors of being a victim of school bullying. This study focused on the phenomenon of school bullying and its relationship with self-perceived emotional intelligence. The main aim was to analyze the mediating effect of emotional attention, clarity, and repair in relation to school victimization. The sample was made up of 822 primary school pupils from 10 public schools. Data were collected through self-reports, exploring the profile of victims of school bullying, and the dimensions of self-perceived emotional intelligence (PEI). A multivariate analysis and multinomial regression showed a relationship between the two variables; the probability of being a victim of school bullying was 5.14 times higher among pupils with low clarity, 2.72 times higher among pupils with low repair, and 2.62 times higher among pupils with excessive attention. The results demonstrated that the better their emotional regulation and understanding, the less likely pupils are to be victims of school bullying. This confirmed that adequate emotional attention and excellent emotional clarity and repair are protective factors against victimization.

The Role of Parental Acceptance⁻Rejection in Emotional Instability During Adolescence.

The present study focuses on analyzing the relationship between the parental acceptance-rejection perceived by adolescents and emotional instability from the early stages of adolescence. Special attention will be paid to potential differences between mothers and fathers. A total of 1181 students, aged 11-17, took part in the study. We used the factor of emotional instability in the Big Five Questionnaire (BFQ-NA) and an affect scale (EA-H) to measure parental acceptance-rejection. The analyses performed show a clear association between emotional instability with maternal/paternal criticism and rejection. Specifically, maternal criticism and rejection in early adolescence and paternal criticism and rejection in middle adolescence were associated with emotional instability, confirming the association between children's and adolescents' emotional adjustment and family dynamics. This study makes interesting contributions to understanding paternal and maternal rejection during the different stages of adolescence. These differences should be incorporated into the research on parental influence and its role in the development of personality among adolescents.

Academic Goals and Parental Control in Primary School Children.

Parenting styles have been used to explain the effects of family socialization on children's learning skills. In this research, we have considered build an instrument for evaluating academic goals in the primary school stage, that allows us determine the relationships between the different types of goals and the different ways of establishing and policing the rules that the participants perceive from their parents. Those participating in this research were 550 pupils from of primary education. The Questionnaire on Academic Goals (QAG) has highly acceptable psychometric characteriztics. The analysis has shown the existence of four solid, well-defined factors. The relationships between the different types of goals and the different ways of establishing and policing the rules are verified. The pupils classified in the groups concerning the goals of social evaluation and reward were characterized by a more indulgent parenting style, determined by an absence of rules and limits for their children's behavior. On the other hand, those pupils classified in the groups concerning the goals of learning and achievement were characterized by parents with an inductive style, determined by the use of reasoning and explanations towards their children in so far as the consequences of breaking the rules.

Cooperative Team Learning and the Development of Social Skills in Higher Education: The Variables Involved.

The cooperative methodology provides an opportunity for university students to develop interpersonal, social, and teamwork competences which can be decisive in their professional and social success. The research described here examines the influence of cooperative learning on the social skills necessary for teamwork. Furthermore, it analyses whether the continued use of this type of learning, the type of group, the basic social skills for teamwork, or the academic level of the students, influence their efficacy. To do so, we have designed a research project of a quasi-experimental kind with a pre-test, a post-test, and a control group, in which 346 university undergraduate students studying degrees in Infant and Primary Education completed self-report surveys about behavior patterns in social skills concerning self-assertion and the reception and imparting of information in teamwork situations. The results show that cooperative learning in university classrooms is effective as a method for developing the social skills necessary for teamwork, as well as the relevance of the control over the number of students in a group, the basic social skills, or the academic level of the students, as relevant factors related with efficacy; where continuity over time in the use of the cooperative methodology is what marks the greatest differences in the development of the social skills necessary for teamwork. It is important to stress that when students are asked to work autonomously in teams, with the aim of favoring the development of social skills, they should be given adequate structures that can guarantee the minimum conditions of participation, so as to allow a proper development of the said social skills.

Entrenamiento en habilidades sociales en el contexto universitario: efecto sobre las habilidades sociales para trabajar en equipos y la ansiedad social / Social skills training in the university formal context: effect on the social skills to work in teams and on social anxiety

Las competencias de interacción social son muy importantes para los profesionales de la educación. En el presente trabajo se plantea como principal objetivo estudiar el efecto de un programa de entrenamiento en habilidades sociales en el contexto universitario formal, sobre las habilidades sociales para trabajar en equipos de aprendizaje y la ansiedad social de los estudiantes. Además, se analiza si el nivel de ansiedad social influye en el éxito del entrenamiento. Para ello, se diseña una investigación de corte cuasiexperimental con grupo de referencia, en la que participan 149 estudiantes del Grado en Educación Social. Se toman medidas pretest-postest a traves de autoinformes que exploran las habilidades sociales básicas para trabajar en equipos de aprendizaje y la ansiedad social. Los resultados confirmaron la eficacia del entrenamiento realizado en estudiantes universitarios de Educación social, y avalan la pertinencia de controlar la variable ansiedad social en los entrenamientos en habilidades sociales, como limitadora de las capacidades y competencias de interacción social durante el entrenamiento

The competences of social interaction are very important for education professionals. In this paper, we propose as main objective to study the effect of a program on social skills training in the formal university context, on the social skills to work in teams learning and on the social anxiety of students. It was also analyzed whether the level of social anxiety affects the success of the training. For this purpose a quasi-experimental research cutting control group, in which 149 students of the degree in social education participated. Pretest-posttest measures were taken through self-exploring basic social skills for learning teamwork, and social anxiety. The results confirmed the effectiveness of the training conducted in university students of social education, and support the relevance of social anxiety control variable in training in social skills, as well as its power to limit the capabilities and skills of social interaction during training

Relevancia del aprendizaje cooperativo sobre los diferentes perfiles de la dinámica bullying. Un análisis mediante pruebas de tamaño del efecto / Relevance of cooperative learning about the different profiles of the bullying dynamic. An analysis by testing the effect size

Esta investigación pretende determinar sobre qué perfil de la dinámica bullying (Agresor, Víctima, Observador) es más relevante una intervención en aprendizaje cooperativo. Mediante pruebas estadísticas de tamaño del efecto. Con el fin de evaluar las conductas de acoso se diseñó un instrumento para evaluar el acoso escolar entre Iguales desde la perspectivas del Agresor, Víctima y Observador”. Se trabajó con dos grupos de participantes de 3er ciclo de primaria, un primer grupo de 311 alumnos que utilizamos para el análisis psicométrico del instrumento y un segundo grupo de 110 alumnos para la intervención. Los resultados manifiestan que el tamaño del efecto intergrupo ha sido elevado para el factor de exclusión social para los perfiles observador (d =0.64) y agresor (d =0.65). También, obtiene un tamaño elevado el factor agresiones verbales y físicas directas para el perfil observador (d =0.57). En síntesis, tras el análisis del tamaño del efecto podemos afirmar que el aprendizaje cooperativo es eficaz sobre el perfil agresor y, especialmente, sobre el observador

With this research we try to determine which dynamic profile bullying (Aggressor, Victim, Observer) is more relevant in cooperative learning intervention. We will use evidence of effect size. In order to assess bullying behaviors have designed an instrument "Frequency Scale Peer Bullying. Perspective Aggressor, Victim and Observer". We have worked with two groups of participants in the 3rd cycle of primary, a first group of 311 students we used for the psychometric analysis of the instrument and a second group of 110 students for intervention. Our results show that the inter-group effect size was high for the social exclusion factor for observer profiles (d = 0.64) and aggressor (d = 0.65). Also, get a higher size factor direct verbal and physical attacks on observer profile (d = 0.57). In synthesis, after the analysis of the effect size we found that cooperative learning is effective on the offender profile and especially on the observe

Salud mental en menores españoles. Variables socioeducativas / Mental health in Spanish minors. Socioeducational variables

ANTECEDENTES: La investigación de la salud mental en los menores de edad supone una necesidad actual como medida de detección, análisis y prevención de posibles trastornos mentales. OBJETIVO: Analizar la influencia de la clase social ocupacional de los padres y de la etapa educativa en la que se encuentran los menores, como factores de riesgo en la salud mental de los menores españoles. MÉTODO: Se utilizaron los resultados obtenidos en la Encuesta Nacional de Salud Española 2006, con una muestra de 5812 menores de cuatro a 15 años. Se estimaron las medidas de asociación con respecto a las variables independientes midiendo la salud mental mediante el Cuestionario de Capacidades y Dificultades (SDQ-versión padres). RESULTADOS: La relación entre la salud mental y la variable clase social ocupacional 1 (más privilegiadas) (OR 0.256) y la clase social 2 (clase media) (OR 0.523) aportaron valores significativos (p < 0.05) con respecto a la clase social 3, más desfavorecida. Sin embargo, la pertenencia de los menores a la E. Infantil (OR 1.138) o a la E. Primaria (OR 1.162) no aportó valores significativos (p > 0.05) con respecto a la E. Secundaria. DISCUSIÓN Y CONCLUSIÓN: Se puede concluir que las clases sociales ocupacionales elevadas y medias son factores protectores con respecto a la salud mental de los menores en comparación con la pertenencia a una clase social ocupacional baja. Sin embargo, la pertenencia a la E. Infantil o a la E. Primaria no supone un factor de riesgo de salud mental en comparación con la pertenencia a la E. Secundaria.

BACKGROUND: Research on minors' mental health is a current necessity as a way to detect, analyze and prevent possible mental disorders. OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to analyze the influence of minors' educational stage and their parents' occupational social class as risk factors for minors' mental health. METHOD: We used the results obtained in the National Spanish Health Survey 2006, with a sample of 5812 minors between 4 and 15 years of age. Measures associated with the independent variables were estimated through the measurement of mental health on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ-parents' version). RESULTS: The relation between mental health and the variables occupational social class 1 (more privileged) (O.R. 0.256) and social class 2 (middle class) (O.R. 0.523) was significant (p < 0.05) in comparison with social class 3 (more disadvantaged). However, whether the minors were in pre-school (O.R. 1.138) or primary school (O.R. 1.162) was nonsignificant (p > 0.05) in comparison with secondary school. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: It is concluded that high and middle occupational social classes are protector factors for minors' mental health in comparison to belonging to a low occupational social class. However, being a student in pre-school or in primary school is not a risk factor for mental health in comparison to being a secondary school student.

Análisis de la Socialización sobre Perfiles de la dinámica bullying / Analysis of Socialization on Bullying Dynamics Profiles

Con esta investigación, mediante un análisis discriminante se pretende analizar cuáles variables de socialización presentan un mayor poder de discriminación o cuantifican mejor las diferencias entre los distintos niveles de agresión y victimización en el fenómeno bullying. La muestra está formada por 700 adolescentes estudiantes. Se utilizó el Cuestionario de Convivencia Escolar (Defensor del Pueblo, 2006) y el BAS-3 (Batería de Socialización, en formato de autoevaluación) de Silva y Martorell (1989). Nuestros resultados confirman que niveles altos de agresión en el acoso escolar estarían caracterizados por puntuaciones bajas en consideración hacia los demás y autocontrol en las relaciones sociales, mientras que niveles altos de victi-mización estarían caracterizados por puntuaciones altas en ansiedad social/ timidez y retraimiento social.

With this research, by discriminant analysis to analyze variables of socialization that have a higher discriminatory or better quantify the differences between the different levels of aggression and victimization in the bullying phenomenon. The sample consisted of 700 adolescent students. Questionnaire was used School Coexistence (Ombudsman, 2006) and the BAS-3 (Drums of socialization, self-assessment format) de Silva and Martorell (1989). Our results confirm that high levels of aggression in bullying would be characterized by low scores on consideration for others and self in social relations, while high levels of victimization, would be characterized by high scores on social anxiety / shyness and social withdrawal.