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Leisure time activities in childhood may have a crucial role in the development of subjective well-being. Nevertheless, more research is needed with cross-national samples concerning the differential effects of lifestyles on life satisfaction. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to analyze the associations between the frequency of playing sports/exercise or playing electronic games on life satisfaction in a sample of 12-year-old children from nine countries from the European Union. The data used in this publication come from the third wave of the Children’s Worlds project, an international survey of children’s lives and well-being whose administration started in 2017. The sample was composed of 10,626 children (50.9% boys) from Estonia, Belgium, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Poland, Romania, and Spain. They completed the Student Life Satisfaction Scale and answered two questions to assess the frequency of playing sport or exercise, and the frequency of playing electronic games. The results indicated notable scores in life satisfaction in all participating countries. The results showed some differences between boys and girls, and among the countries, in the frequency of sport practice and electronic games in the leisure time, as well as in the overall level of life satisfaction. The results also underlined that sport practice had a greater positive effect on life satisfaction than the use of electronic games. Thus, this study highlights the need to design programs to promote sport practice in leisure time for 12-year-old children in Europe, in order to protect their subjective well-being.

Literature to date has well supported the detrimental consequences of bullying and school exclusion in different countries, with negative outcomes in school adjustment or child psychological adjustment, among others. However, more research is needed to understand the effects on positive indicators of psychological well-being in children as subjective happiness. Cross-national studies are also recommended to examine the differential effects by country. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine bullying and school exclusion, and their effects on child subjective happiness, from a cross-national perspective. Data from the Second Wave of Children’s Worlds: International Survey of Children’s Well-being (ISCWeB) was used, from a sample of 12,623 children aged 10 years old from 15 countries. Participants completed self-report measures of bullying, school exclusion and subjective happiness. Results showed that 20.8% of children suffered harassment and 17.6% felt excluded, twice or more times, at school. Negative effects of bullying and exclusion on subjective happiness were observed in all the sample. Furthermore, differences by country were found in the frequency of bullying and exclusion, as well as in the size of their effects on happiness. These results underline the need to protect child psychological well-being by preventing bullying and school exclusion.

Critical thinking is a skill of great importance in our current and future society. Its value goes beyond all theoretical doubt although it requires more practical development, especially in terms of coordinated and evidence-based approaches. In addition, the ethical foundation must permeate the entire critical process, indicating what to criticize, for what, why, how, and when, elements that should not be left to improvisation or what is traditionally done. The aim of this research was to describe the ethical connotations that come together in the critical process. To this end, we focused on a group case study of undergraduate and graduate students of Psychosocial and Socio-educational studies in Spain, collecting information with instruments built ad hoc. The results show little practical awareness of the weight of ethics in critical decisions, producing a change in orientation regarding educational training to improve decision-making based on critical thinking and ethics.

This research aimed to examine the association between life satisfaction and family climate indicators in 12-year-old European adolescents. Cross-sectional data from the second wave of the Children’s Worlds project—an international survey of children’s lives and well-being—were examined. Specifically, data from participating European countries were analyzed: i.e., Estonia, Spain, Germany, England, Romania, Norway, Poland, and Malta. This sample of 9281 adolescents (50.3% girls) filled in self-report measures of life satisfaction and some indicators of family climate. Descriptive statistics and regression analyses were performed by country. Furthermore, a confirmatory model was tested to examine the association between family climate and life satisfaction. The results pointed out that having a good time together with family and being treated fairly by parents/carers were the indicators with the greatest positive effects on life satisfaction. In general, a more positive family climate was associated with higher life satisfaction among 12-year-old adolescents in the participating eight European countries.

Critical thinking is a competence that is recommended to be learned with increasing emphasis from different national and international organizations in the fields of education and employability. The aim of this study was to analyze and describe the beliefs that Argentine and Spanish teachers who have received training in socioeducational intervention have about critical competence. A mixed-methods research study was developed by administering questionnaires and conducting focus group sessions in a sample of 153 trainee secondary school teachers holding different degrees. The results indicated that the sample subjects unanimously considered critical thinking to be essential for their professional development, but few teachers considered these skills to have been sufficiently developed. There were no significant differences between nationalities or between genders except for some variables linked to the role of universities. As a practical implication of these results, the importance of developing specific teaching–learning programs about critical competence in universities must be emphasized, especially in the degree programs whose ultimate aim is to educate individuals and groups.

Critical thinking is present in the educational intentions in higher education with more or less programmatic development. In the training of social educators, such thinking is considered a fundamental pillar for a good performance of their functions in the social field. By means of qualitative and quantitative instruments, we set ourselves the objective of knowing the opinions of 72 Social Education degree students of the University of Huelva (Spain) about critical thinking, higher education, and their position on the subject. The results obtained showed that students have an approximate general knowledge of what critical thinking is, but a clear lack of knowledge of how it is developed. In addition, it is observed that there is a great contradiction between what they say and what they actually do, as, although they value its development in the degree and professional performance, they do not develop or commit themselves de facto to this competence. Moreover, they recognize that the university is a context that favors critical competence, but at the same time they are very critical about the teachings offered in this regard.

(1) Background: Creative self-efficacy is associated with better psychological well-being and academic performance in adolescent and youth samples. Positive youth development is a strength-based model of youth transition to adulthood, which states that this emerges from adaptive regulations between personal strengths and nurturing contexts. The present study aimed to examine the associations between creative self-efficacy, PYD and perceived academic performance in a sample of Spanish youth. (2) Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out during the spring of 2024. A sample composed of 370 undergraduates (M = 21.29, SD = 3.61) from 10 universities in Andalusia (Spain) filled in an online self-report measure. (3) Results: The results showed positive associations between creative self-efficacy, PYD and academic performance. A mediational analysis indicated that creative self-efficacy presented a positive effect on perceived academic performance through its positive associations with both Confidence and Competence dimensions of PYD. (4) Conclusions: These results may suggest the need to integrate creativity and PYD programs to strengthen academic performance in higher education.

(1) Background: The aim of the present study is to analyze subjective happiness in relation to leisure time in 10-year-old boys and girls from Brazil, Chile and Spain and to determine which leisure time activity has a greater effect on their subjective happiness and whether there are differences according to gender. (2) Methods: Data from the third wave of the Children’s Worlds Project was used, which was collected by administering self-report measures to representative samples in each country. The sample was composed of 4008 early adolescents from Brazil (22.1%, n = 886), Chile (22.8%, n = 913) and Spain (55.1%, n = 2209). The mean age of the sample was 10.17 years (SD = 0.57), and 51.7% were girls. (3) Results: In terms of subjective happiness, moderate to high means were observed, with higher scores in boys and the Spanish sample. The results showed some differences in leisure time activities among children from Brazil, Chile and Spain. Furthermore, the results highlighted the importance of relaxation time with the family to promote happiness in pre-adolescence across genders and countries. Additionally, playing outdoors and doing homework were also found to be protective factors for subjective happiness. (4) Conclusions: In Brazil, Chile and Spain the most consistent result was the positive effect of spending time relaxing with the family on subjective happiness.

Positive Youth Development (PYD) emerged as a holistic and strength-based perspective that focuses on the fact that young people may have the internal and external resources for healthy and successful development through five dimensions (5Cs) that empower them: Perceived Competence, Confidence, Character, Connection, and Caring. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the overall PYD factor, the 5Cs, and risk behaviors, in addition to analyzing gender differences. This study showed the results of a cross-sectional study of 1044 emerging adults from 11 Spanish universities in 2021. Data collection was performed by applying an online self-report measure. The results showed that the Character was protective against substance abuse, mainly in women, while the connection was related to the participation of betting money and online betting in men. Caring was protective against money bets in the men’s sample. However, controversial results were found regarding Perceived competence, which had a positive association with substance abuse, money bets, and drunk driving. It seems that high levels of Perceived competence, rather than objective competence, were associated with engagement in various risk behaviors. Concerning gender differences, men showed more risky behaviors than women. A partial mediation model pointed out that lower character and higher perceived competence in men partly explained the higher presence of risky behavior compared to women. These results underline the need to promote PYD within the university context to prevent risky behaviors by addressing gender differences and the separate role of the 5Cs.

Dispositional critical thinking has been linked to positive performance in different life domains, such as better academic performance and professional practice, as well as better psychological adjustment. This study had the aim to examine the associations between positive youth development, dispositional critical thinking, and social contribution in a sample of Spanish undergraduates and to test the mediational role of the 5Cs of positive youth development (i.e., confidence, competence, caring, character, and connection) in the relationship between dispositional critical thinking and social contribution. A cross-sectional study was conducted during the spring of 2024 by administering an online self-report. The sample comprised 370 students (67.2% women) aged from 18 to 29 (M = 21.29; SD = 3.61) enrolled at 10 universities in the region of Andalusia (Spain). The results showed a multiple partial mediation of character and caring in the relationship between dispositional critical thinking and social contribution. This model indicated that dispositional critical thinking was associated with more character and caring, and, in turn, these dimensions of positive youth development were associated with more social contribution. These results underline the need to promote dispositional critical thinking and the positive youth development components of character and caring to increase social contribution in undergraduate students. El pensamiento crítico disposicional se ha relacionado con un rendimiento positivo en diferentes ámbitos de la vida, como un mejor ajuste académico y una mejor práctica profesional, así como un mayor bienestar psicológico. Este estudio tuvo como objetivo examinar las asociaciones entre el desarrollo positivo juvenil, el pensamiento crítico disposicional y la contribución social en una muestra de estudiantes universitarios españoles y probar el papel mediador de las 5Cs del desarrollo positivo juvenil (es decir, competencia, confianza, conexión, carácter y compasión) en la relación entre el pensamiento crítico disposicional y la contribución social. Se realizó un estudio transversal durante la primavera de 2024 mediante la administración online de un autoinforme. La muestra estuvo compuesta por 370 estudiantes (67.2% mujeres) de entre 18 y 29 años (M = 21.29; DE = 3.61) matriculados en 10 universidades de la comunidad autónoma de Andalucía (España). Los resultados mostraron un modelo de mediación parcial múltiple de las dimensiones de carácter y compasión en la relación entre el pensamiento crítico disposicional y la contribución social. Este modelo señaló que el pensamiento crítico disposicional se asociaba con más carácter y compasión y, a su vez, estas dimensiones del desarrollo positivo juvenil se asociaban con más contribución social. Estos resultados subrayan la necesidad de promover el pensamiento crítico disposicional y los componentes del carácter y compasión para aumentar la contribución social en los estudiantes universitarios.