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.

The purpose of this study was to explore the differences in satisfaction with body image depending on whether the subject practices organized sport or not, as well as the gender of the children. In addition, the study aims to examine the role of body image and the practice of organized sport on the process of building the academic, social, emotional, family and physical dimensions of self-concept in childhood. To do so, a sample of 944 pupils was used. These children were attending primary school in different centers of the Autonomous Community of Extremadura (Spain) and were between 9 and 12 years of age. The main results of the study show that three out of every four children participating in this study were not satisfied with their figure and one out of every five was very dissatisfied. The satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the figure was similar in boys and girls, although it could be appreciated that the ideal body image is partly conditioned by gender stereotypes. The children most satisfied with their body image had a greater academic and physical self-concept. The children that practiced organized sports had a greater physical and emotional self-concept. The children most dissatisfied with their body image and practiced organized sports had a lower family self-concept. All these findings are discussed with reference to previous research literature.

There is no denying the fundamental role played by parents in the psychosocial development of their children—either as a liability or as protection against mental health disorders. This study seeks to ascertain, by means of odds ratio statistics (OR), the correlation between parental psychological control and emotional and behavioral disorders. A total of 762 students took part in this study, with an average age of 12.23 years—53.8% of whom were girls and 46.2% were boys. Children and adolescents reported their parental psychological control and their emotional and behavioral disorders (i.e., emotional and behavioral problems, internalizing and externalizing problems). Minors who perceive their psychological control as high are 6 times more likely to suffer from internalizing disorders and 4.8 times more likely to develop externalizing disorders. Furthermore, the probability of suffering externalizing disorders is higher among males who perceive a high degree of psychological control. This study breaks new ground on the importance of perceived psychological control—considered as a negative form of control by parents—in the emotional and behavioral disorders among children and adolescents.

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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.

The vast majority of young people have mobile phones. This has become a must-have item in their lives, with traditional socialization spaces displaced by virtual ones. They use their mobile phones for many hours a day, to the detriment of their psychological and social functioning, showing greater vulnerability to abusive or excessive use, and more likely to become problematic or addicted users. This paper aims to study the impact of mobile phone abuse in a sample of college students, assessing the social, personal, and communicational realms and deepening understanding of the different cyberbullying profiles, analyzing who has more personal and social problems using mobiles: victims or aggressors. Whether the number of hours of mobile phone use has an effect on these problems will also be explored. The

El maltrato entre iguales es un fenómeno que sucede en todos los países en los cuales se ha estudiado y que provoca efectos claramente negativos en las víctimas: alteraciones de comportamiento y trastornos afectivos emocionales. La preocupación social que suscita la violencia en los contextos sociales ha dado lugar a numerosas intervenciones. Con este estudio pretendemos determinar la eficacia de las técnicas de aprendizaje cooperativo para disminuir la frecuencia de conductas de acoso y agresión dentro del aula. Con el fin de evaluar las conductas de acoso hemos diseñado un instrumento, "Escala de frecuencia de acoso escolar entre iguales. Perspectiva agresor", que mide tres factores: "agresiones verbales y físicas directas", "agresiones de exclusión social" y "agresiones físicas indirectas". Nuestros resultados apoyan la hipótesis de que una intervención basada en técnicas de aprendizaje cooperativo reduce la frecuencia, especialmente, de las agresiones de exclusión social. Los caminos que, sin duda alguna, posibilitan este cambio son varios: contacto personal, mayor número de oportunidades de igual estatus, información sobre el "otro grupo" y aumento de la empatía. Palabras clave: Aprendizaje cooperativo, acoso entre iguales, agresor, víctima, alumnos, aula.