Social Competence and Peer Social Acceptance: Evaluating Effects of an Educational Intervention in Adolescents.

This study aims to evaluate the impact of an educational intervention on social competence and social acceptance among adolescents. The participants were 106 adolescents aged 12-15 years (M = 13.41 years; SD = 0.81 years). Participants were randomly assigned to the control group (n = 44) and an experimental group (n = 69). In the experimental group, an intervention based on the Sport Education Model (SEM) was applied. While in the control group, an intervention based on the Traditional Model of Direct Instruction (TM-DI) was carried out. An experimental design with repeated pretest and posttest measurements was developed. The Adolescent Multidimensional Social Competence Questionnaire (AMSC-Q) was used to assess social competence. The Guess Who (GW4) questionnaire was used to assess social acceptance (SA) among peers. The preliminary results showed that the intervention based on the SEM (experimental group) promoted more significant improvements in some indicators of social competence and social acceptance among peers than those obtained with the TM-DI (control group). The results confirm a similar impact of the intervention between boys and girls. These preliminary results suggest the potential of the Sport Education Model with adolescents.

Promoting Social and Emotional Learning and Subjective Well-Being: Impact of the "Aislados" Intervention Program in Adolescents.

The aim of this study is to experimentally assess the effects of an intervention program through a video game called "Aislados" for the improvement of subjective well-being, mental health and trait emotional intelligence of a sample of adolescents (n = 187). We used well-established measures with appropriate psychometric properties. The study used a quasi-experimental design of pre-test/post-test repeated measurements with a control group. First, a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and then descriptive analyses and variance analyses (ANOVAs) were carried out by the adolescents randomly assigned to the experimental and control conditions. Then, a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was performed on the study's variables as a whole. Descriptive and covariance analyses of the post-test scores were carried out (ANCOVAs post-test, co-varying pre-test scores), in order to demonstrate the impact of the program. The effect size was reckoned (Cohen's d). The results confirm statistically-significant differences in: Health-Related Quality of life, positive affect and mental health. The study provides an effective intervention tool which has been experimentally validated. The overall results allow for emphasizing the importance of the implementation of programs aimed at encouraging social and emotional learning throughout adolescence as protective resources in fostering emotional and behavioral adjustment in adolescents.

The Sant Pau Initiative on Neurodegeneration (SPIN) cohort: A data set for biomarker discovery and validation in neurodegenerative disorders.

INTRODUCTION: The SPIN (Sant Pau Initiative on Neurodegeneration) cohort is a multimodal biomarker platform designed for neurodegenerative disease research following an integrative approach. METHODS: Participants of the SPIN cohort provide informed consent to donate blood and cerebrospinal fluid samples, receive detailed neurological and neuropsychological evaluations, and undergo a structural 3T brain MRI scan. A subset also undergoes other functional or imaging studies (video-polysomnogram, 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET, amyloid PET, Tau PET). Participants are followed annually for a minimum of 4 years, with repeated cerebrospinal fluid collection and imaging studies performed every other year, and brain donation is encouraged. RESULTS: The integration of clinical, neuropsychological, genetic, biochemical, imaging, and neuropathological information and the harmonization of protocols under the same umbrella allows the discovery and validation of key biomarkers across several neurodegenerative diseases. DISCUSSION: We describe our particular 10-year experience and how different research projects were unified under an umbrella biomarker program, which might be of help to other research teams pursuing similar approaches.

Emotional Intelligence and Its Relationship with Levels of Social Anxiety and Stress in Adolescents.

The aim of this work is to extend the research on the relationships between emotional intelligence and various indicators of subjective well-being in adolescents, such as stress and social anxiety. The existence of differences in stress and social anxiety as a function of an emotional intelligence score is also analyzed. A total of 505 Spanish adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18 participated in the study. The results obtained support the existence of a positive relationship between trait emotional intelligence and subjective well-being. Likewise, the existence of a negative association between emotional intelligence and stress, and emotional intelligence and social anxiety, is confirmed. These results are consistent with other similar works based on adolescent samples.

El cuestionario sociométrico Guess Who 4 como screening de la competencia social en educación primaria / Guess Who 4 Sociometric Questionnaire as Screening of Social Competence in Elementary Education

Resumen Este trabajo presenta la adaptación y validación española del Cuestionario Sociométrico Guess Who 4 (GW4) (Mavroveli, Petrides, Sangareau, & Furnham, 2009), que evalúa la reputación social en el contexto del grupo-aula, fundamentado en la técnica de evaluación por pares de Coie & Dodge (1988). La muestra se compone de 668 alumnos de tercero a sexto de Educación Primaria, y edades comprendidas entre 7-13 años (M= 9.6, DT= 1.11). Se analizan las correlaciones del GW4 con problemas emocionales y de conducta infantil, y rendimiento académico, en función del sexo. Los resultados avalan la fiabilidad y validez criterial del instrumento para la evaluación breve de la competencia social, con fines de investigación o de aplicación en la práctica de la evaluación psicoeducativa y la orientación psicopedagógica.

Abstract This paper presents the Spanish adaptation and validation of the Guess Who 4 Sociometric Questionnaire (GW4) (Mavroveli, Petrides, Sangareau, and Furnham, 2009), which assesses the social reputation in the context of group-classroom, based on the peer assessment technique by Coie and Dodge (1988). The sample consists of 668 students from third to sixth of primary education, aged 7-13 years (M =9.6, SD=1.11). GW4 correlations with emotional and behavioral problems of child and academic performance are analyzed. The results support the reliability and criterion validity of the instrument as a brief assessment of social competence, for use in research or application to psychoeducational assessment and counseling.

Test Anxiety in Spanish Adolescents: Examining the Role of Emotional Attention, and Ruminative Self-focus and Regulation.

Emotional attention has been found as a key predictive dimension of stress. However, very few studies have investigated the relationship between emotional attention and test anxiety. The objective of the present study was to analyze the role of emotional attention, measured using the Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS), on the level of test anxiety, and measured using the Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI). In addition, we examined the potential mediating role of Self-Rumination and Self-Reflection, as measured through the Rumination-Reflection Questionnaire (RRQ), on the relationship between emotional attention and test anxiety. The sample included 385 Spanish adolescents between 14 and 19 years of age. Mediation analysis results are consistent with a model in which Self-Rumination, but no Self-Reflection, mediates the relationship between Emotional Attention and Test Anxiety. Finally, several potential implications of these findings to improve quality of life in adolescents are discussed.

Inteligencias múltiples y su relación con inteligencias cognitiva y emocional en adolescentes / Multiple Intelligences and their Relationships with Cognitive and Emotional Intelligences in Adolescents

Resumen A partir del Inventario de Autoeficacia para Inteligencias Múltiples (IAMI), desarrollado en Argentina por Pérez, Beltramino y Cupani (2003), presentamos una adaptación abreviada para adolescentes españoles (IAMI-M40). IAMI evalúa la autoeficacia que los adolescentes tienen sobre las distintas inteligencias múltiples (IIMM) propuestas por Gardner (1999). En una muestra de estudiantes españoles de educación secundaria de 11 a 19 años (n = 313), se evaluó su inteligencia fluida (PMA-R), cristalizada (16-PF-R) y emocional (TEIQue-ASF), y su nivel de IIMM mediante una adaptación española. El análisis factorial exploratorio de la adaptación española identificó ocho factores correspondientes a cada tipo de inteligencia del modelo de Gardner (1999), reteniendo 40 ítems de los 69 originales. Los resultados avalan la fiabilidad y la validez convergente del IAMI-M40.

Abstract From the Self-Efficacy Inventory for Multiple Intelligences (IAMI), developed in Argentina by Pérez, Beltramino and Cupani (2003), we present a shortened adaptation of this self-report for Spanish adolescents (IAMI-M40). IAMI evaluates the self-efficacy that adolescents have about the different multiple intelligences (IIMM) proposed by Gardner (1999). In a sample of Spanish secondary school students 11 to 19 years (n = 313), its fluid (PMA-R), crystallized (16-PF-R), and emotional intelligence (TEIQue-ASF) and their level of IIMM by an Spanish adaptation of IAMI was assessed. Exploratory factor analysis of the Spanish adaptation of IAMI identified eight factors for each type of intelligence according to the Gardner's (1999) model, holding 40 items of the 69 original. The results support the reliability and convergent validity of IAMI-M40.