Cristian Rojas

• Doctor of Psychology
• Professor (Full) at University of Talca

Introduction. Substance use among adolescents is a public health problem. We culturally adapted The Social Competence Promotion Program for Young Adolescents (SCPP-YA) program to the school context in Chile (henceforth “Mi Mejor Plan or MMP”) and assessed the acceptability, feasibility, fidelity, and quality of the implementation among 6 th graders...

Background Mental health disorders are one of the leading causes of illness globally. The importance of psychosocial skills acquired in early childhood, such as executive functions, inhibitory control, emotional regulation, and social problem-solving, in preventing mental disorders has been reported. Furthermore, mental health care delivery is evol...

This article conceptualizes systems thinking from the perspective of mental models. It portrays systems thinking as a combination of perception, prior knowledge and reasoning processes for guiding decision‐making in complex, dynamic situations. Systems thinking is mostly considered as a skill, and assessment instruments are based on the observable...

L2 learning is influenced by both individual learner variables and contextual factors. Contextual factors have been extensively researched, but although internal learner-specific variables have received attention, this has been to a lesser extent. Among these internal variables, L2 motivation and L2 aptitude are likely the most significant predicto...

The global expansion of higher education has led to an increased enrollment of first-generation students, presenting opportunities and challenges for institutions. Despite efforts to support these students, they often face lower graduation rates and higher dropout rates. Among the factors influencing student success, the sense of belonging has emer...

This chapter addresses the concepts of validity and reliability of an evaluation from a theoretical-practical perspective and makes suggestions that allow safeguarding these quality criteria in their evaluations. The lack of rigor and quality in the evaluations are analyzed through the voices of the students and these examples are related to the un...

This chapter presents the conceptual foundations of the relationship between learning and assessment, which underpins decisions about what to assess. The main characteristics of learning progression taxonomies are developed, how them help to develop assessment indicators and some practical examples of how taxonomies are visualized in different subj...

The aim of this study is to evaluate the psychometric properties of Mathematics Anxiety (MA) questionnaires based on the psychological state-trait anxiety model. Therefore, the trait-Math Anxiety Questionnaire (trait-MAQ) and the state-Math Anxiety Questionnaire (state-MAQ) were examined in a sample of Chilean school-aged children (N = 430, Mage =...

Early childhood is a key period for the development of self-regulation skills. Inhibitory control is one of the self-regulation skills that are necessary in academic and social contexts to achieve better results. Studies have shown that older children’s inhibitory control improves when a reward is presented. However, types of rewards and individual...

Background Evidence suggests that children from low-income families begin the preschool stage with less academic and non-academic skills development compared to higher-income families. There are several successful experiences of early stimulation of cognitive and social-emotional skills; however, there is scarce evidence of the effectiveness of a v...

This article is a theoretical contribution to mental model research, which currently has different threads. Whereas some researchers focus on the perceived causal structure, others also include decision policies and decisions. We focus on the link between recognized causal structure (“mental models of dynamic systems”) and policies, proposing Johns...

Background Substance use is highly prevalent among children and adolescents in Chile, and it is known how it impacts their health and social adjustment. The call for effective prevention of substance use among children adolescents has resulted in numerous school-based programs, and particularly, the Social Competence Promotion Program among Young A...

Bullying is a major health problem. The KiVa antibullying program has been evaluated in Finland and other European countries, showing preventive effects on self-reported bullying victimization and perpetration. No evaluations of this program have been conducted in Latin America. A cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted at socially vulner...

The main goal of this study is to characterize Chilean distance education processes during the COVID-19 pandemic from the experience of professors and students. Theoretical aspects are assessed in relation to the best-know distance education practices, gender, and field of study. Two online closed-answer instruments are applied to assess perception...

This article contributes to research on mental models and how they underpin decision policies. It proposes a framework for the joint use of mental models of dynamic systems and the theory of mental models initiated by Johnson–Laird and defines two types of errors: (1) misrepresentation of the system’s structure, and (2) failure to deploy relevant m...

This study evaluates the contribution of conditional relationship contents to making inferences, depending on the span of the participant’s working memory. This is achieved through the use of a deductive reasoning task with conditional statements and the “Reading Span Test” by Daneman and Carpenter, in its Spanish version. The results of the two ex...

Measuring temperament is an important, yet challenging matter. The Children Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ) is a widely used measure, yet its psychometric properties have not been established in Latin America, and few studies have analyzed its structure at the item level. We analyzed the factor structure and reliability of the CBQ-short form in 998 Ch...

"Introduction: Executive functions (EF) are developed early, building a fundamental basis of higher cognitive processes in adulthood (Garon et al., 2008). There are studies with children of typical development (Passolunghi et al., 2006; Welsh et al., 2010) that have demonstrated the key role of EF, such as working memory, inhibitory control, planni...

Bullying is a phenomenon that affects children and adolescents worldwide, and it has major consequences for all participants involved in these situations. In Chile, researchers have validated several instruments used to investigate aggression between peers and school violence, but there is a lack of validation of instruments to investigate bullying...

Introduction Bullying is a major problem worldwide and Chile is no exception. Whole school-based antibullying programs offer an opportunity for preventing bullying at school. The KiVa antibullying program has been evaluated in Finland and other European countries, showing preventive effects on self-reported bullying victimization and bullying perpe...

A robust body of literature confirms the importance of developing the skills of self-regulation (working memory, attention and inhibitory control) from the early years, considering their impact on the achievements of the present and future success (eg adaptation to the school context, academic achievements, social participation). The aim of this re...

Computadoras, tabletas y apps: para algunos representan un serio riesgo para el aprendizaje y la salud de los niños menores de seis años. ¿Qué dicen los estudios científicos al respecto?. Doctor en Psicología por la Universidad de Granada, España, con un postdoctorado de la Universidad de Southampton. Sus trabajos se han enfocado en la estimulación...

El trastorno del lenguaje es un problema de la comunicación con alta incidencia y prevalencia en la población escolar, el cual afecta negativamente el desempeño académico, y el desarrollo social y afectivo de los niños que lo padecen. Existe evidencia de que en este trastorno se encuentran afectadas funciones ejecutivas (fe), además de los componen...

Los objetivos de este estudio fueron, comparar las funciones ejecutivas (atención, flexibilidad, control inhibitorio, planificación y memoria de trabajo) de niños preescolares con y sin trastorno del lenguaje y definir un perfil de funciones ejecutivas. El diseño es no experimental con propósitos descriptivos/comparativos. La muestra estuvo conform...

A large body of literature demonstrates that different cognitive components related to executive function (EF), such as short-term memory, working memory, and response inhibition, are linked to early academic skills in preschool children. Nevertheless, few studies have focused on the unique contributions of these components to distinctive early num...

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a screening tool used to measure psychological functioning among children and adolescents. It has been extensively used worldwide, but its psychometric properties, such as internal structure and reliability, seem to vary across countries. This is the first study exploring the construct validity...

The objectives of this study were to compare the executive functions (attention, flexibility, inhibitory control, planning and working memory) of preschool children with and without language disorder and to define a profile of executive functions. The design is non-experimental for descriptive/comparative purposes. The sample consisted of 105 child...

El estudio de las llamadas Funciones Ejecutivas, un concepto que nace desde las neurociencias, ha tenido un crecimiento exponencial en los últimos 20 años, y posiblemente lo más interesante, que ha sido abordado desde distintas áreas del conocimiento. Dicho crecimiento ha permitido identificar y comprender componentes clave comprometidos en conduct...

Being involved in bullying as a victim or perpetrator could have deleterious health consequences. Even though there is some evidence that bullies and victims of bullying have a higher risk for drug use, less is known about bystanders. The aim of this research was to study the association between bullying experience (as victims, bullies, or bystande...

Background: Bullying is a major problem worldwide and Chile is no exception. Bullying is defined as a systematic aggressive behavior against a victim who cannot defend him or herself. Victims suffer social isolation and psychological maladjustment, while bullies have a higher risk for conduct problems and substance use disorders. These problems ap...

Background: The promotion of healthy behaviors is a relevant issue worldwide, especially among adolescent populations, as this is the developmental stage where most unhealthy behaviors become ingrained. Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Adolescent Health Promotion Scale (AHPS)...

School membership appears to be an important factor in explaining the relationship between students and schools, including school staff. School membership is associated with several school-related outcomes, such as academic performance and expectations. Most studies on school membership have been conducted in developed countries. The Psychological...

Background: Family behavior models may influence health promoting conducts among adolescents. Aim: To determine the association between health promoting behaviors among parents and healthy behaviors of early adolescents. Material and Methods: Analysis of the baseline assessment of a longitudinal study of early adolescents in the city of San Felipe,...

BACKGROUND Family behavior models may influence health promoting conducts among adolescents. AIM To determine the association between health promoting behaviors among parents and healthy behaviors of early adolescents. MATERIAL AND METHODS Analysis of the baseline assessment of a longitudinal study of early adolescents in the city of San Felipe,...

Aportes de la psicología a la educación Esta sección especial incluye artículos seleccionados de dos prestigiosos eventos científicos celebrados en 2014 y 2015 que analizan los aportes de la psicología a distintos ámbitos educacionales. El primer evento, las XV Jornadas Internacionales de Psicología Educacional. Redes para Transformar, fue organiza...

Mental health problems among adolescents are prevalent and are associated with important difficulties for a normal development during this period and later in life. Understanding better the risk factors associated with mental health problems may help to design and implement more effective preventive interventions. Several personal and family risk f...

Esta sección especial incluye artículos seleccionados de dos prestigiosos eventos científicos celebrados en 2014 y 2015 que analizan los aportes de la psicología a distintos ámbitos educacionales. El primer evento, las XV Jornadas Internacionales de Psicología Educacional. Redes para Transformar, fue organizado por la Escuela de Psicología de la Un...

Background: Smoking and alcohol use are risky behaviors that can start early in life. Aim: To determine the lifetime prevalence of tobacco and alcohol use in adolescents aged 10 to 14 years and related factors. Subjects and methods: A survey about smoking and alcohol use was answered by 1,392 teenagers aged 10 to 14 years (46% women) from seve...

Smoking and alcohol use are risky behaviors that can start early in life. Aim: To determine the lifetime prevalence of tobacco and alcohol use in adolescents aged 10 to 14 years and related factors. Subjects and Methods: A survey about smoking and alcohol use was answered by 1,392 teenagers aged 10 to 14 years (46% women) from seven schools in a sm...

School membership appears to be an important factor in explaining the relationship between students and schools, including school staff. School membership is associated with several school-related outcomes, such as academic performance and expectations. Most studies on school membership have been conducted in developed countries. The Psychological...

Introducción. Existen antecedentes que la salud mental de la población infanto-juvenil en Chile es un problema importante de salud pública, por tanto es urgente conocer en detalle los factores relacionados. Principalmente, se han identificado factores familiares (por ejemplo, salud mental de los padres y el funcionamiento familiar) e individuales (...

Palabras Claves: Promoción de salud, Profesores, Enseñanza Básica. Introducción. Las conductas promotoras de salud se han asociado a un menor desarrollo de enfermedades crónicas, tales como hipertensión arterial y diabetes mellitus tipo 2. Muchas de estas conductas se van desarrollando tempranamente, y estarían influenciadas por los estilos de vida...

Research Findings: The present study evaluated the impact of a working memory (WM) stimulation program on the development of WM and early literacy skills (ELS) in preschoolers from socioeconomically deprived rural and urban schools in Chile. The sample consisted of 268 children, 144 in the intervention group and 124 in the comparison group. The com...

El consumo de sustancias de abuso (tabaco, alcohol y marihuana) en adolescentes es un problema de salud pública. Muchos adolescentes que comienzan a consumir tempranamente lo seguirán haciendo durante adultos. Por otro lado, los trastornos depresivos suelen aparecer en la adolescencia, generando deterioros importantes en el desarrollo de los indivi...

This research analyses the impact of home practices, sociodemographic variables (family income and parents’ education) and attendance at a formal education programme prior to the development of early literacy skills of 240 children (four years old) from rural and urban disadvantaged families starting nursery school in Chile. The results show that t...

Introducción. El uso de tabaco y alcohol en adolescentes es aún un problema de salud pública en Chile. Objetivo. El objetivo de este estudio es determinar la prevalencia de vida del consumo de tabaco y alcohol y sus factores relacionados, en jóvenes entre 10 y 14 años. Metodología. Siete colegios de la comuna de San Felipe (V Región, Chile), repre...

Background: Health-promoting behaviors are important to prevent diseases and prolong life in the population. People develop these behaviors throughout life. However, better benefits for health are obtained with an early development. Aim: To determine the prevalence of health-promoting behaviors among early adolescents and its associated factors....

This article presents the results that were achieved by implementing an early literacy program using a balanced method (GE) and a traditional method (GT) to 194 first year students in five schools located in Santiago de Chile (Chile) that were characterized by a poor performance in the national standardized test called SIMCE. The objective was to c...

El artículo presenta los resultados obtenidos en la aplicación de un programa de alfabetización inicial utilizando un "método equilibrado" (GE) y un "método tradicional" (GT), a 194 estudiantes de primer grado de cinco colegios de la Comuna de Santiago de Chile con bajo rendimiento en la prueba nacional estandarizada SIMCE. El objetivo fue comparar...

Introducción: La evidencia científica reciente destaca la importancia de la alfabetización temprana como fundamento del aprendizaje lector posterior, especialmente en niños en riesgo social, pero no existen las condiciones adecuadas para alcanzar su desarrollo. El objetivo del estudio fue evaluar los resultados de una intervención focalizada en el...

Introduction. There is substantial research literature emphasizing the positive impact of early literacy learning on school achievement, mainly in the case of children at-risk, but there aren't adequate conditions at school to develop them. Here we examine the effects of teaching reading and writing strategies on atrisk children's literacy learning...

Background: Memory is affected differently with the passage of time; specifically, episodic memory presents a clear decline. There is a relationship of this memory impairment and degenerative and psychiatric diseases. Aim: To determine the reliability and validity of the University of Southern California Repeatable Episodic Memory Test (USC-REMT) i...

Memory is affected differently with the passage of time; specifically, episodic memory presents a clear decline. There is a relationship of this memory impairment and degenerative and psychiatric diseases. To determine the reliability and validity of the University of Southern California Repeatable Episodic Memory Test (USC-REMT) in a sample of Chi...

There is clear evidence of the importance metacognitive skills and motivational aspects in problem solving, thus evaluation is necessary, especially in school context. O’Neil and colleagues made the Trait Thinking Questionnaire, considering the planning and monitoring in the metacognitive dimension, and the effort and self-efficacy in motivational...

There is clear evidence of the importance metacognitive skills and motivational aspects in problem solving, thus evaluation is necessary, especially in school context. O'Neil and colleagues made the Trait Thinking Questionnaire, considering the planning and monitoring in the metacognitive dimension, and the effort and self-efficacy in motivational...

Development of deductive reasoning: Differences between factual and counterfactual conditionals. In this work we study how adults and children make inferences about what could have occurred but did not occur (counterfactual). For this, a deductive reasoning task with real conditional statements (or factual, of the type "if you run, you'll arrive on...

El artículo analiza cómo los adultos y los niños realizan inferencias sobre lo que podría haber ocurrido pero no ocurrió (contrafácticos). Para ello, se utiliza una tarea de razonamiento deductivo con enunciados condicionales reales (o fácticos, del tipo "si corres, llegas a tiempo") y contrarios a la realidad (o contrafácticos, del tipo "si hubier...

The findings of a research aimed to estimate reliability and validity of The Life Satisfaction Index (LSI-A) of Neugarten, Havighurst & Tobin (1961; 1996) are presented. The sample consisted of 473 adults from 30 to 75 years (male and female) from Metropolitan Region of Santiago, Chile, distributed into three levels of 2income, age groups and educa...

Se presentan los resultados obtenidos en la estimación de la confiabilidad y la validez del Índice de Satisfacción Vital (LSI-A) de Neugarten, Havighurst & Tobin (1961, 1996). La muestra estuvo constituida por 473 adultos de 30 a 75 años (hombres y mujeres) de la Región Metropolitana de Santiago de Chile, distribuidos en tres niveles de ingreso, tr...

Background: Self-esteem is positively associated to the well being of people and could be a good mental health indicator. Aim: To determine the reliability and validity of the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale in a Chilean adult sample. Material and methods: The instrument was applied to 473 subjects living in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago, evenly...

Self-esteem is positively associated to the well being of people and could be a good mental health indicator. To determine the reliability and validity of the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale in a Chilean adult sample. The instrument was applied to 473 subjects living in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago, evenly distributed according to gender, age, e...

La presente investigación evalúa cómo los preescolares interpretan expresiones condicionales e infieren a partir de ellas. Con tal fin, se diseñó una tarea novedosa para evaluar inferencias, adaptando para ello la que Harris y Núñez (1996) emplearon en un estudio sobre la comprensión de condicionales. Participan 180 preescolares de edades comprendi...

El artículo profundiza en el tema de la evaluación en el aula, una práctica cotidiana que pocas veces es analizada. Por medio de elementos conceptuales y experiencias reales de estudiantes se intenta identificar los elementos determinantes y necesarios para una evaluación de calidad. Se analiza la validez de contenido, la validez instruccional, la...

Este estudio analiza el estatus del género existente en los equipos o consejos editoriales de las revistas científicas españolas de Educación. A priori, se indaga el estatus de la eminencia científica en el campo de la Educación; con el fin de detectar los posibles sesgos de género. Como análisis complementario se considera la nacionalidad o proced...

El artículo presenta los resultados obtenidos en la aplicación de un programa de alfabetización inicial utilizando un “método equilibrado” (GE) y un “método tradicional” (GT), a 194 estudiantes de primer grado de cinco colegios de la Comuna de Santiago de Chile con bajo rendimiento en la prueba nacional estandarizada SIMCE. El objetivo fue comparar...