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.

BackgroundObesity is a public health problem of alarming proportions, including among the university population in Latin America. The purpose of this study was to determine the relation between the self-reported body mass index and the associated drug use and health-risk behaviors.MethodsWe performed a cross-sectional, descriptive study of 3,311 Chilean university students (17–24 years). The variables weight, height, frequency of physical activity, diet quality index, and drug use were evaluated by way of a self-report questionnaire.Results16.7% of students were overweight and 2.1% were obese. Higher rates of overweight and obesity were observed in the men compared to women. There was a significant but moderate association between self-perceived obesity and being men and higher age, and just low with greater use of analgesics and tranquilizers with or without a prescription.ConclusionsThe punctual prevalence rates of self-reported obesity, in this sample, are consistent with other Latin American studies. The risk behaviors associated with perceived obesity in terms of gender, particularly the different pattern of drug use, highlight the importance of considering gender when designing strategies to promote health in a university setting.

La psicología en tanto práctica profesional y de investigación científica no puede ni debe permanecer aislada de los contextos en los que se desarrolla. Frente a los profundos sentimientos de malestar expresados por el pueblo chileno en movilizaciones sociales desde el 18 de octubre de 2019, que responden directamente a la implementación de un modelo neoliberal desprovisto de justicia social, como psicólogas y psicólogos nos sentimos llamados a levantar los requerimientos mínimos que consideramos que nuestra disciplina debe asumir. Bajo este marco, se presenta un Manifiesto que contempla 22 puntos, construido de manera colaborativa por 13 psicólogas y psicólogos de diversas instituciones que, en una labor colectiva, lo proponen como agenda de trabajo para los próximos meses. Sabiendo que este listado no es definitivo ni exhaustivo, lo ofrecemos a la comunidad como un punto de partida para la deliberación, discusión y debate dentro de Universidades, centros de investigación, sociedades científicas y profesionales y al aparato estatal, de manera de fortalecer el rol de la psicología en la problematización y reducción las inequidades e injusticias, así como en el fomento del bienestar psicosocial.

Se presentan los resultados de una investigación que aborda la efectividad de la psicoterapia, de acuerdo ala duración del tratamiento en una muestra de estudiantes que acuden a un centro de atención psicológicauniversitario. El tipo de estudio es de medidas repetidas o longitudinal y el diseño es cuasi experimental. Lamuestra es intencionada y estuvo compuesta por 21 personas de ambos sexos. Se ha utilizado el cuestionarioOutcome Questionnaire de Lambert (OQ-45.2). Se concluye que el tratamiento psicoterapéutico es efectivo.Los consultantes, en promedio, cambian de presentar puntuaciones clínicas a puntuaciones no clínicas a partirde la octava sesión.

In this report we examined the reliability and structural validity of the Chilean version of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory, SPAI, (Turner, Beidel, Dancu y Stanley, 1989), using a sample of 1040 non clinical Chilean adolescents (range of age between 13 and 18 years). The structural validity analysis indicated the existence of two, clearly differentiated, subscales (Social Phobia and Agoraphobia) that explained 43.4% of the variance. The alpha reliability coefficients were very high in each one of the subscales. In spite of finding significant differences, for sex in both scales, the effect size was small. On the other hand, the age variable was significant in the social phobia scale but not in the agoraphobia one, but again the effect size was small. In general the results offer empirical evidence in support of the reliability and validity of the Chilean version of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory.