David Sirlopú

Sense of Community Mediates the Relationship Between Social and Community Variables on Adolescent Life Satisfaction

The study of subjective well-being in adolescence has had a recent and dynamic development. Despite this, the meso-systemic contextual factors and their relationship with well-being have had relatively little attention compared to the micro-social dimensions. Regarding this context, this chapter aims to examine the association between life satisfaction with social-communitarian dimensions, and specifically the role that the sense of community plays in Chilean adolescents. Here, we provide a systematic review of the literature on the relationship between subjective well-being in childhood and adolescence with a focus on Sense of Community, Social Well-Being, and Community Support variables. Next, we analyze the relationship between subjective well-being scales together with analyzing the role of the sense of community in mediating overall life satisfaction and its relationship with community support and social well-being. The analysis uses the Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (SLSS) (Huebner 1991), Sense of Community Scale (Sanchez 2001), the Social Well-being Scale (Keyes 1998), and Perceived Community Support Questionnaire (PCSQ; Herrero and Gracia 2007). The target population studied in this chapter is based on a convenience sample of 438 adolescents of both sexes, aged between 14 and 18, belonging to public schools, subsidized private schools, and private schools distributed among seven urban neighborhoods in three regions of Chile. The results indicate that the sense of community mediates the relationship between community support and overall life satisfaction in Chilean adolescents. In addition, the sense of community has a partial contribution to the relationship between social well-being and overall life satisfaction. The discussion includes an analysis of the implications of these findings for future studies on adolescent subjective well-being.

Actitudes implícitas y explícitas hacia personas con síndrome de Down: un estudio en colegios con y sin programas de integración de Chile

Resumen La integración escolar puede disminuir el prejuicio entre sus miembros a través del contacto. En esta área, las investigaciones suelen utilizar medidas explícitas pero son escasas las que han usado mediciones implícitas. En este artículo se pretende evaluar ambos tipos de actitudes hacia las personas con síndrome de Down (PCSD). Ochenta estudiantes chilenos entre los 11 y 15 años, pertenecientes a colegios con y sin programas de integración, participaron de este estudio. Las actitudes implícitas fueron medidas a través del Test de Asociación Implícita (IAT). Los resultados mostraron que los estudiantes, independiente del sistema escolar, mostraron sesgo implícito hacia las PCSD. En las actitudes explícitas, si bien ambas muestras exhibieron bajos niveles de prejuicio, en los colegios integrados se expresó menos ansiedad hacia las PCSD. Finalmente, la calidad, cantidad y saliencia se asociaron con menor ansiedad y más estereotipos positivos hacia las PCSD.

Identity, Contact, and Health Among Majority and Minority Ethnic Groups in Mexico and Chile

This chapter explores the relationships between social identity, intergroup contact, and health among mestizos and indigenous people in Mexico and Chile. Building on social identity theory and self-categorization theory, in Mexico and Chile important identities are based on ethnicity and nationality. There is widespread discrimination against indigenous people in both nations. While the protective influence of social relationships on health is well documented, it is not known whether this also applies to intergroup contact. We report two questionnaire-based studies (total N = 1000). Participants were asked about their direct and extended intergroup contact, their identification with subordinate and superordinate categories, and several health-related variables. Results revealed a complex pattern. For example, in both studies direct and extended outgroup contact had exclusively beneficial effects on physical and psychological health among indigenous participants while their impact for mestizo participants was more mixed. Results are discussed according to the meaning of sub-versus superordinate identities in Mexico and Chile and the divergent effects of intergroup contact on health-related variables.