Health promotion and school engagement in youth: the influence of social and emotional competencies

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Assessing the impact of the European resilience curriculum in preschool, early and late primary school children

Publication . Simões, Celeste; Santos, Anabela; Lebre, Paula; Daniel, João; Branquinho, Cátia; Gaspar, Tania; Matos, Margarida Gaspar De

Resilience is an individual’s ability to adapt successfully to and persevere during and after significant challenges. Resilience programmes based on a socioemotional learning approach have been associated with an increase in protective factors (e.g., prosocial competencies), improvements in physical and mental health, and a decrease in internalised and externalised symptoms. The present study aimed to evaluate the impact of the RESCUR curriculum implemented in Portuguese schools on students’ academic, behavioural, and socioemotional outcomes, based on child and teacher reports. Participants included 1,084 children (53.2% male) aged 3-15 (M¼7.24, SD¼2.31). A quasi-experimental study compared outcomes for an experimental intervention group (AIG) with a waiting list control group (WG). The results showed the RESCUR programme decreased mental health difficulties while increasing both prosocial behaviours and well-being. In addition, academic performance increased for those in preschool after implementation. Both teachers and children consistently reported positive behavioural changes in resilience-related competencies after implementing RESCUR. Our findings contribute to the recent research on the potential of RESCUR to address key socioemotional competencies and improve relevant protective factors. Study limitations and future recommendations are addressed.

2021Journal article

Open access

Portuguese validation of the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire short version in youth: Validity, reliability and invariance across gender and age

Publication . Santos, Anabela C.; Simões, Celeste; Daniel, João; Arriaga, Patrícia

The Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) is a multidimensional measure widely used to access nine cognitive emotion regulation strategies. In this study, we examined the psychometric properties of the CERQ-Short Portuguese version. A sample of 1052 adolescents (aged 10–25 years old, 60.53% females) completed the CERQ-Short form, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale, and the Patient Health Questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that the nine latent dimensions of CERQ-Short provided an acceptable fit to the data. Measurement invariance (for gender and three age-groups), reliability and construct validity were adequate. The adaptative strategies were positively associated with higher positive affect, and maladaptive strategies with higher negative affect, symptoms of generalized anxiety and depression. These results suggest that CERQ-Short is a valid and reliable measure for Portuguese-speaking samples. Moreover, CERQ-Short’s length makes it a cost-effective tool for both clinicians and researchers.

2021Journal article

Open access