Living near, recreating in, and feeling psychologically connected to, the natural world are all associated with better mental health, but many exposure-related questions remain. Using data from an 18-country survey (n = 16,307) we explored associations between multiple measures of mental health (positive well-being, mental distress, depression/anxiety medication use) and: (a) exposures (residential/recreational visits) to different natural settings (green/inland-blue/coastal-blue spaces); and (b) nature connectedness, across season and country. People who lived in greener/coastal neighbourhoods reported higher positive well-being, but this association largely disappeared when recreational visits were controlled for. Frequency of recreational visits to green, inland-blue, and coastal-blue spaces in the last 4 weeks were all positively associated with positive well-being and negatively associated with mental distress. Associations with green space visits were relatively consistent across seasons and countries but associations with blue space visits showed greater heterogeneity. Nature connectedness was also positively associated with positive well-being and negatively associated with mental distress and was, along with green space visits, associated with a lower likelihood of using medication for depression. By contrast inland-blue space visits were associated with a greater likelihood of using anxiety medication. Results highlight the benefits of multi-exposure, multi-response, multi-country studies in exploring complexity in nature-health associations.
This study analyses the psychometric proprieties of a Portuguese version of the social competence scale from the School Social Behavior Scales (SSBS-2, Merrell, 2002). It is a rating instrument of children and adolescents behavior, to be used by teachers and other school personnel. This scale includes 3 subscales: self-management/compliance, peer relations and academic behavior. In our first sample, 175 teachers rated 344 students from grade 1 through 12. On the second sample 13 teachers rated 251 3rd and 4th grades students. The results from the Portuguese adaptation support the multidimensional structure of the social competence scale from the SSBS-2, although an alternative model demonstrated a better fit to the data than the model originally proposed by the author. The scale showed good internal consistency and good intercorrelations between subscales, as well as between subscales and the total scale. The final model was well replicated in the second sample. These results encourage us to pursue the SSBS-2 Portuguese adaptation, in order to provide a useful and validated instrument for the assessment of social competence and for educational interventions. Keywords: social competence, assessment, validation, School Social Behavior Scales.El presente estudio analiza las características psicométricas de la versión portuguesa de la escala School Social Behavior Scales (SSBS-2, Merrell, 2002). Se trata de un instrumento de calificación del comportamiento de los niños y adolescentes, para ser utilizado por los maestros y por otro personal educativo. Esta escala incluye tres subescalas: autocontrol/conformidad, las relaciones entre pares y el comportamiento académico. En nuestra primera muestra, 175 maestros calificaron 344 estudiantes del 1º al 12º grado escolar. En la segunda muestra, 13 profesores calificaron 251 estudiantes de 3º y 4º grado escolar. Los resultados de la adaptación portuguesa apoyan la estructura multidimensional de la escala de competencia social del SSBS-2, a pesar de un modelo alternativo demostrar un mejor ajuste a los datos que el modelo propuesto originalmente por el autor. La escala reveló una buena consistencia interna y una buena correlación entre las subescalas, así como entre las subescalas y la escala total. El modelo final se replicó bien en la segunda muestra. Estos resultados nos incentivan a proseguir la adaptación portuguesa del SSBS-2, a fin de proporcionar un instrumento útil y validado para la evaluación de la competencia social y para las intervenciones educativas.
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