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Introduction: Physical activity is a great remedy to prevent diseases, as well as to keep us healthy and improve our physical, mental, and social health. One of the many benefits of physical exercise is emotional regulation, which allows us to provide an adequate response to everyday situations in addition to controlling our own emotions. High-level athletes face multifactorial stressors that can affect their quality of life. Materials and Methods: We explored the relationship between quality of life and emotional regulation using questionnaires that measure self-reported quality of life and how they cope with stressful situations in 54 mountain athletes with a mean age of 21.88 (SD = 7.88). We also investigated gender differences and demographic location in this population, as they are subjected to very high moments of stress in competition, with the risk that this modality entails. Results: Rural areas have better physical and psychological health, with higher scores on quality of life and adaptation dimensions. Women have a worse quality of life, specifically in psychological health, with worse coping mechanisms. Conclusions: It is important to design strategies that improve these mechanisms, specifically in urban areas and the female sex, to improve their emotional regulation and quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bullying is an aggressive and repetitive behavior, where one person or several people physically, socially, or emotionally harm a vulnerable person and provokean imbalance of power in a school setting. Several factors such as age, sex, school performance, psychological factors, and ethnicity have been associated with bullying and more are being sought. Thus, the objectives of this study were as follows: (1) analyze the differences in bullying (victimization and aggression) and self-concept (academic, social, emotional, family, and physical) with respect to sex, school location, and educational level among Spanish adolescents; (2) explore the associations of bullying and self-concept with these sociodemographic dimensions. A cross-sectional study was designed with a total of 1155 participants (between 12 and 18 years old); there were 48.8% boys and 51.2% girls, where 75.9% studied compulsory secondary education (CSE) and 24.1% Baccalaureate, and 31.9% were students from rural schools and 68.1% were from urban schools. Medium and inverse correlations were shown between victimization and self-concept at the general level, for both sexes, both types of school, and both educational stages. For the aggression dimension, the correlations with self-concept were inverse at the general level (low), in girls (low), in rural students (medium), and in compulsory secondary education students (medium). For academic self-concept and family self-concept, the associations were medium and inverse with bullying in all variables. For emotional self-concept the correlation with bullying was direct and medium in all variables; in physical self-concept, the correlations with bullying were inverse in almost all variables except in boys. Self-concept may be a protective factor for bullying and interventions should aim at adolescents building a positive multidimensional self-concept that prevents and protects them from bullying either as aggressor or victim. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescence is a stage of crucial physiological and psychological changes within the individual's life cycle, where fitness work is important. With self-perception being crucial in relation to adolescent health and well-being, a positive perception of fitness is directly related to increased practice or higher level of physical activity (PA). Thus, the aims were: (1) to analyze, with the Visual Analogue Fitness Perception Scale for Adolescents (FP VAS A), the self-perceived physical fitness (PF) of high school students, (2) to investigate if there are differences according to sex and school location, and (3) to study the correlations between the items of the FP VAS A with age and body mass index (BMI). For this purpose, a cross-sectional study was designed with a total of 961 participants, 48.8% boys and 51.2% girls in secondary education, where 31.9% studied in rural schools and 68.1% in urban schools. The FP VAS A scale was used to assess self-reported PF. Regarding the results, there were statistically significant differences between sexes (p < 0.001), with boys showing higher scores than girls in all the items of the FP VAS A scale, with the exception of global flexibility. Inverse, mean and significant correlations were established between BMI and self-perceived overall PF (r = −0.202; p < 0.001), cardiorespiratory endurance (r = −0.226; p < 0.001) and movement speed (r = −0.268; p < 0.001). Between age and self-perceived cardiorespiratory endurance (r = −0.138; p < 0.001) an inverse, mean and significant correlation was also observed. In conclusion, boys showed a better self-perception of PF than girls for all physical abilities, with the exception of flexibility. School location was not shown to influence students' self-perceived PF. In addition, most of the self-perceived PF abilities for overall fitness correlated inversely with BMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: In recent years, there has been increasing interest in understanding the factors that determine students' attitudes and interest in learning. The information that can be extracted from students' attitudes is essential for teachers to plan their classes to capture their attention and promote learning. Thus, this study aimed to determine whether there were significant differences between the genders in the perception of students from Extremadura towards Corporal Expression (CE) in Physical Education (PE) classrooms. (2) Methods: A single-measure descriptive and correlational cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 889 PE students in the Compulsory Secondary Education (CSE) stage from public schools in Extremadura, Spain, participated in the study; the subject had a mean age of 14.58 (SD = 1.47) and a BMI of 20.63 (SD = 3.46). Variables related to gender, age, height, and weight of the participants and a questionnaire on attitudes towards Corporal Expression were included. (3) Conclusions: Girls showed a more positive perception of the CE contents of the PE subject than boys; the latter showed a greater indifference to and a lower preference for these contents compared to other contents of the subject. On a general level, participants valued CE with a certain degree of positivity regarding its formative and educational usefulness and the expression of feelings and emotional self-management, and the pupils agreed with the methods and means used by the teacher to transmit the learning of CE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Depression is a mental disorder that affects more than 250 million people in the world, limiting their functional capacities. The work of public health policies is aimed at reducing its prevalence as well as its pharmaceutical cost. Physical activity (PA) programs are interventions with a high potential for effectiveness. Objectives: To establish the relationships between physical activity and the prevalence of depression and antidepressant intake in the Spanish population. Design: We performed a correlational study that was based on data from the European Health Survey Spain 2020 with 20,287 participants, aged 18–84 years, living in Spain. Results: Dependency relationships were found between the prevalence of depression, and: the frequency of PA, the number of days of PA per week, and the number of days of muscle strengthening in the population, in both sexes, and in all age groups (p < 0.001). Dependency relationships were found between the three PA variables and the prevalence of taking antidepressants (p < 0.001). An elevated prevalence of depression and antidepressant taking were found in the inactive groups compared to those who performed PA (p < 0.05). Conclusions: There is an inverse relationship between physical activity and the probability of suffering from depression and the intake of antidepressants. Performing PA 3–4 days/week, including 1–2 days of strength work, could be the best proposal to reduce the prevalence of depression in the Spanish population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life satisfaction has been determined as a cognitive indicator of subjective wellbeing, a term that acquires vital relevance during adolescence as a protective factor against numerous psychological, mental and social disorders. Therefore, the objectives of this study are: (1) to evaluate differences in life satisfaction as a function of gender and school environment in Spanish children and adolescents; and (2) examine the possible associations between life satisfaction and age and/or body mass index (BMI) of the student body. For this purpose, a cross-sectional study was carried out with 723 students (aged 6 to 18 years) in which the "Satisfaction with life Scale" was applied, consisting of 5 items that measure self-perception of life satisfaction. Nonparametric statistics (Mann-Whitney U test) were used to explore differences in scores according to sex and school environment, in addition to Spearman's Rho test to identify associations between scale scores and students' age and BMI. Significant differences were obtained in terms of sex in favor of the male gender, and between the two environments of the centers in favor of the rural ones. In addition, the two variables explored (age and BMI) showed significant inverse associations with life satisfaction levels. Therefore, educational interventions and policies must take this information into account to design and develop actions aimed at improving this cognitive factor., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Gómez-Paniagua, Castillo-Paredes, Galán-Arroyo and Rojo-Ramos.)