BackgroundHappiness has been associated with a range of favourable health outcomes through two pathways: its relationship with favourable biological responses to stress and with healthy lifestyles and prudent health behaviours. There are a substantial number of cross-cultural studies about happiness, but none of them has studied the association of happiness with perceived stress and health behaviours in Latin American samples. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the association between general happiness and these variables in a Latin American sample.MethodsWe conducted a survey to examine the status of 3461 students aged between 17 and 24 years old (mean age = 19.89; SD = 1.73) who attended University of Santiago de Chile during 2009. The healthy behaviours indexes assessed were the frequency of daily physical exercise, fruits/vegetables intake, breakfast and lunch intake, smoking, alcohol and other drugs consumption. We also included the assessment of perceived stress and Body Mass Index. All of them were evaluated using a self-report questionnaire.ResultsThe univariate and multivariate binary logistic regression analyses showed that being female and younger was related to a higher happiness, as well as that people self-reporting daily physical activity, having lunch and fruits and vegetables each day had a higher likelihood (OR between 1.33 and 1.40) of being classified as "very happy". Those who informed felt stressed in normal circumstances and during tests situations showed a lower likelihood (0.73 and 0.82, respectively) of being considered "very happy". Regarding drug consumption, taking tranquilizers under prescription was negative related to "subjective happiness" (OR = 0.62), whereas smoking was positive associated (OR = 1.20).ConclusionsThe findings of this study mainly support the relationship between happiness and health outcomes through the two pathways previously mentioned. They also underscore the importance of that some healthy behaviours and person's cognitive appraisal of stress are integrated into their lifestyle for college students. Additionally, highlight the importance of taking into account these variables in the design of strategies to promote health education in university setting.

Rec (30 de Marzo de 2020) Acept (12 de Abril de 2020) ResumenEn diciembre de 2019, se informaron casos de neumonía potencialmente mortal en Wuhan, provincia de Hubei, China . Esta enfermedad se ha extendido rápidamente por todo el mundo con miles de casos confirmados y muertes, transformándose en pandemia y desafiado los sistemas de salud pública. No existe aún vacuna ni tratamiento científicamente probado, sin embargo, se ha identificado los comportamientos exactos que pueden evitar el contagio y propagación. El presente artículo sistematiza información disponible inicial sobre psicología y COVID-19. Se discute que gran parte del problema de la enfermedad se puede evitar cambiando los comportamientos de las personas y que la psicología puede ayudar a explicar, prevenir e intervenir para su solución. La psicología cuenta con evidencia científica disponible que explica todos estos fenómenos, evidencia que debe ser puesta en relieve por los mismos actores de las disciplinas a disposición de otras áreas del conocimiento y sobre todo para los tomadores de decisión.

La enfermedad por COVID-19 no solo ha provocado un colapso del sistema sanitario y la muerte de miles de personas, sino que está repercutiendo en la salud de las personas que están brindando atención a los infectados.  En este marco, el objetivo de esta investigación fue determinar prevalencias de depresión, ansiedad, insomnio, distrés y fatiga por compasión, así como factores relacionados a la presencia de sintomatología asociada a estos trastornos en profesionales de los equipos de salud. Para esto, se encuestó en formato online a 126 profesionales sanitarios del Paraguay, de los cuales el 83% son mujeres, con una edad promedio en la muestra total de 32 años. Se aplicaron los cuestionarios PHQ-9 para depresión, GAD-7 para ansiedad, ISI-7 para insomnio, IES-R para distrés y el módulo de fatiga por compasión del ProQOL – CSF-vIV. Se encuentra que los porcentajes de participantes que reportaron síntomas clasificables como moderados y severos fueron de un 32.2% para depresión, 41.3% en ansiedad, 27.8% en insomnio, 38.9% en distrés y un 64.3% en fatiga por compasión. Adicionalmente las mujeres y los de menor edad presentaron un riesgo mayor de presentar síntomas. Los datos aportan evidencia a la necesidad de establecer estrategias de prevención o intervención para abordar los problemas de salud mental en los profesionales de la salud.

The aim of this investigation is to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), in the adult population from ages 18 to 65. In order to do this two studies were conducted. In the first one, we evaluated the internal consistency and construct validation of data from 330 people between 18 and 52 years of age; in the second study, we evaluated the confirmatory factor and validation of data indicators from 1157 people between 18 and 65 years of age. The results show suitable indicators of internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.82), the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis finds a one factor’s solution. The correlation between the SWLS, the WHOQOL-BREF Quality of Life Questionnaire, and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), display significant, consistent correlations in the expected direction. We conclude that the SWLS is a reliable and valid instrument to use for evaluating the cognitive sphere of subjective well-being in Chile’s adult population.

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