Perception about adult caregiving among Chilean adolescents / Percepción acerca del cuidado de los adultos en adolescentes chilenos

BACKGROUND: Chronic stress has short and long-term consequences during child and adolescent development if the stress is not mediated by adult care-giving. AIM: To assess the perceptions of parental responsiveness, demand, and monitoring among seventh grade students. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We applied the Brief Parental Scale (developed and validated locally) asking 12 items about three dimensions, namely responsiveness, demand, and monitoring to 524 seventh grade students aged 12 years, 48% females, from eight public and private schools at Santiago. Results: The overall response rate was 85%. While the scores were higher for mothers, a significantly constant gradient for the same dimensions (demand > responsiveness > monitoring) was verified for both parents. CONCLUSIONS: The main hypothesis emerged from our study is that adolescents seem to perceive a discrepancy in terms of a relatively high demand and lower monitoring from parents/guardians towards them. The differences between fathers and mothers in adolescent care and the different perceptions by gender of adolescents about parental caregiving, require a further analysis.

ANTECEDENTES: El estrés crónico ha demostrado tener efectos a corto y largo plazo en el desarrollo infantil y adolescente, especialmente si el estrés no es mediado por el cuidado adulto responsable. Objetivo: Evaluar la percepción de capacidad de respuesta, demanda y monitoreo parental en adolescentes de séptimo año básico. MATERIAL Y MÉTODOS: Se aplicó la Escala Parental Breve (desarrollada y validada localmente) consultando 12 ítems en relación a 3 dimensiones: capacidad de respuesta, demanda y monitoreo a 524 estudiantes de séptimo año básico de 12 años de edad (48% mujeres) de ocho establecimientos educacionales públicos y privados de Santiago. RESULTADOS: La tasa de respuesta promedio fue de 85%. Si bien los puntajes fueron superiores para madres, se verifica una gradiente significativamente constante para las mismas dimensiones (demanda > capacidad de respuesta > monitoreo) en ambas figuras parentales. Conclusiones: La principal hipótesis que emerge de nuestro estudio es que los adolescentes parecen percibir una discrepancia en términos de una relativa alta demanda de las figuras parentales y menor monitoreo por parte de estos hacia ellos. Otros aspectos que se deben profundizar están relacionados con las diferencias observadas entre los niveles de involucramiento de padres o madres y lo posiblemente reportado por niños/niñas sobre estas experiencias.

Perception about adult caregiving among Chilean adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Chronic stress has short and long-term consequences during child and adolescent development if the stress is not mediated by adult care-giving. AIM: To assess the perceptions of parental responsiveness, demand, and monitoring among seventh grade students. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We applied the Brief Parental Scale (developed and validated locally) asking 12 items about three dimensions, namely responsiveness, demand, and monitoring to 524 seventh grade students aged 12 years, 48% females, from eight public and private schools at Santiago. RESULTS: The overall response rate was 85%. While the scores were higher for mothers, a significantly constant gradient for the same dimensions (demand > responsiveness > monitoring) was verified for both parents. CONCLUSIONS: The main hypothesis emerged from our study is that adolescents seem to perceive a discrepancy in terms of a relatively high demand and lower monitoring from parents/guardians towards them. The differences between fathers and mothers in adolescent care and the different perceptions by gender of adolescents about parental caregiving, require a further analysis.

Adolescentes y consumo nocivo de alcohol: Chile 2009: mirando a las políticas públicas / Proposing a data mining scaffolding for preventing harmful alcohol consumption in Chilean adolescents

Background: Adolescent alcohol and drug consumption are important public health problems in the Chilean young population. Aim: The purpose of this study was to examine the potential ofa data mining approach in scaffolding policy making, using the particular case of differential risks of harmful alcohol consumption in adolescent students. Material and Methods: Index and control groups were composed by 7918 and 7138 participants respectively (drawn from a CONACE survey 2009), aged 16 ± 2 years, 52% mole. Heavy drinking at last month was the independent variable. As dependent variables parenting style, peer group influence, age and sex were used. For data analysis, a data mining approach was applied (CART, SPSS version 15). Results: The peer group influence was the main discriminant variable in males and the total sample, proving to be the only relevant variable in the case of women. The results suggest how a data mining approach may be useful in order to develop a hard data scaffolding for making and implementing policies in general andpolicies addressing adolescent alcohol consumption in particular.

Factores predictores del riesgo de consumo de drogas lícitas en escolares de 4° a 7° básico / Risk factors that predict legal drug consumption in school children from 4th to 7th grade

El problema del consumo de drogas es una preocupación mundial fundamentalmente en términos de prevención. El objetivo de esta investigación fue identificar factores predictores del inicio en el consumo de drogas lícitas en escolares de 4° a 7° básico. Se encuestaron 234 participantes de dos comunas de Santiago, mediante la metodología de pares (Rodríguez & Hernández, 2005). Los resultados muestran que si bien el consumo en el último mes parece estar disminuyendo, el consumo escolar está en aumento y a una edad más temprana, lo que predice un aumento del consumo futuro. Los principales factores de riesgo asociados al uso de drogas licitas en la muestra serían no vivir con alguno de sus padres y la participación en peleas callejeras. Dentro de los factores protectores, el género femenino presenta menor riesgo de inicio en la edad escolar.

Drug consumption is a problem of global concern primarily in terms of prevention. The objective of this research was to identify the factors that predict initial legal drug consumption in school children from 4a1 to 7"¹ grade. The peer methodology (Rodríguez & Hernßndez, 2005) was applíed to 234 partícípants from two counties in Santiago. The results showed that although drug consumption in the past month was in decline, school children are starting legal drug consumption earlier, which will increase its general use in the future. The main factors that predict the risk of legal drug consumption are not living with on of the parents and involvement in street fights. The feminine gender was the main protective factor for beginning drug consumption at this age.

[Ethnicity and race as variables in epidemiological research about inequity]. / Consideraciones acerca del uso de la variable etnia/raza en investigación epidemiológica para la Salud Pública: A propósito de investigaciones en inequidades.

Epidemiology analyzes differences in states of health and disease of populations. Public Policies are established considering inequities associated with ethnicity and race. In this context, the identification of vulnerable groups for concentration of resources is relevant. Nevertheless, the lack of a clear definition of these variables might lead to biased results and interpretations. Two problems about the use of these variables are discussed. First, lack of a measurable and objective characteristic, even considering self reference (gold standard), considering that the opinion of a person can change in time. The second problem is a consequence of the former, basing research on a poorly defined variable. Uses of ethnicity and race variables between 1920-1999 in the American Journal of Epidemiology, Health Services Research and American Journal of Public Health were reviewed. In 919 articles, 27 different names identified to describe these variables and more than half did not describe the reason to use these variables. Almost half did not describe analytical methods. Although some articles found statistically significant relationships, less than half discussed those results. It has been suggested that there is enough evidence to exclude these variables in biomedical investigations. However, others propose that they cannot be excluded, given their multidimensional condition that includes social, cultural and genetic features. Therefore, provided the lack of clear definition, the assessment of ethnicity and race effects must be done as rigorously as possible.

Consideraciones acerca del uso de la variable etnia/raza en investigación epidemiológica para la Salud Pública: A propósito de investigaciones en inequidades: [revisión] / Ethnicity and race as variables in epidemiological research about inequity: [review]

Epidemiology analyzes differences in states of health and disease of populations. Public Policies are established considering inequities associated with ethnicity and race. In this context, the identification of vulnerable groups for concentration of resources is relevant. Nevertheless, the lack of a clear definition of these variables might lead to biased results and interpretations. Two problems about the use of these variables are discussed. First, lack of a measurable and objective characteristic, even considering self reference (gold standard), considering that the opinion of a person can change in time. The second problem is a consequence of the former, basing research on a poorly defined variable. Uses of ethnicity and race variables between 1920-1999 in the American Journal of Epidemiology, Health Services Research and American Journal of Public Health were reviewed. In 919 articles, 27 different names identified to describe these variables and more than half did not describe the reason to use these variables. Almost half did not describe analytical methods. Although some articles found statistically significant relationships, ¡ess than half discussed those results. It has been suggested that there is enough evidence to exclude these variables in biomedical investigations. However, others propose that they cannot be excluded, given their multidimensional condition that includes social, cultural and genetic features. Therefore, provided the lack of clear definition, the assessment of ethnicity and race effects must be done as rigorously as possible

La triangulación entre métodos cuantitativos y cualitativos en el proceso de investigación / Triangulation between qualitative and quantitative methods in the research process

Se presenta una reflexión en torno a la triangulación metodológica entre una aproximación cualitativa y otra cuantitativa frente a una misma pregunta de investigación. El fin último es ilustrar al lector, aunque no de modo acabado, sobre las posibilidades de triangulación en el proceso de investigación científica. Para esto, se ejemplifican distintas situaciones donde los autores van planteando diversas interrogantes que contribuyen a la toma de decisiones.