Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Publication
    Open Access
    Food addiction and grazing: The role of difficulties in emotion regulation and negative urgency in university students
    (MDPI, 2023)
    Ribeiro, Andreia
    ;
    ;
    Felix, Silvia
    ;
    Guimaraes, Carolina
    ;
    Machado, Barbara Cesar
    ;
    Goncalves, Sonia
    ;
    Lourdes, Marta
    ;
    Conceicao, Eva
    University students are a vulnerable population to the development of disordered eating, such as food addiction (FA) and grazing. FA is an emerging concept characterized by an intense desire to eat hyper-palatable foods. Grazing is characterized by the repetitive and unplanned ingestion of food throughout a period of time. Both FA and grazing have been associated with increased scores of negative urgency (NU) and difficulties in emotion regulation (ER). This study aims to evaluate the frequency of FA and grazing in a university population and to test the direct, total, and indirect effects—via FA—of ER and NU on repetitive eating and compulsive grazing. A total of 338 participants responded to a set of psychological measures assessing these variables. Thirty-six (10.7%) participants met the criteria for FA diagnosis and 184 (54.4%) presented grazing. Confirmatory factor analysis showed acceptable fit indexes for the model tested (χ2(1695) = 3167.575; p < 0.001; CFI = 0.955; NFI = 0.908; TLI = 0.953; SRMR = 0.085; RMSEA = 0.051; CI 90% (0.048; 0.053); P[RMSEA ≤ 0.05] = 0.318) and suggested that FA partially mediated the effect of difficulties in ER and NU on grazing, specifically on compulsive grazing. The results indicate that individuals with difficulties in ER and impulse control under negative emotions are more likely to engage in grazing if food addiction scores are higher. These results highlight the importance of assessing these variables, particularly in at-risk populations such as university students.
    Scopus© Citations 2  50  58
  • Publication
    Open Access
    Academic success, engagement and self-efficacy of first-year university students: Personal variables and first-semester performance
    (University of Murcia, 2024)
    Casanova, Joana R.
    ;
    ;
    Almeida, Leandro S.
    Higher education can be hugely transformative for students and has an important role in empowering human capital, innovation, and society’s social, cultural, and environmental development. The expansion of higher education has promoted access for a more heterogeneous mix of students, but ensuring access does not guarantee academic success. This paper aims to analyse predictors of academic achievement in 447 first-year students in their 1st and 2nd semesters, considering variables including sex, age, parents’ educational level and grades on entering higher education, along with levels of students’ academic engagement and self-efficacy after some weeks at university. Results show statistically significant paths for sex, age, and GPA to 1st-semester achievement, for parent’s educational levels to perceived self-efficacy, for students’ academic engagement to 1st-semester achievement, and 1st-semester achievement to 2nd-semester achievement. Students’ academic engagement also had an indirect effect on the 2nd-semester achievement. The correlation between academic engagement and self-efficacy was positive, strong, and statistically significant. The model explained 35.2% of the variance in 2nd-semester achievement and 15.0% of the variance in 1st-semester achievement. Knowledge about predictors of academic achievement and the importance of engagement and self-efficacy will support timely interventions, promoting success and preventing failure and dropout.
  • Publication
    Embargo
    The Walsh Family Resilience Questionnaire: Validity evidence from Portugal
    (Wiley, 2024)
    Morais, Ines
    ;
    Carneiro, Francis Anne
    ;
    ;
    Costa, Pedro Alexandre
    ;
    Leal, Isabel

    Background Family resilience refers to a family's capacity to face and manage adversities, emerging as a stronger and more resourceful unit. A family system approach enlarges the lens to the broad relational network, identifying potential resources for resilience within the immediate and extended family. This approach emphasizes a family's innate ability to adapt in the face of adversities.

    Objective
    This study aims to test the psychometric properties of the Walsh Family Resilience Questionnaire (WFRQ) using a sample of Portuguese caregivers with children aged between 10 and 15 years.

    Method
    A total of 267 caregivers of children aged 10 to 15 years completed a sociodemographic questionnaire and the WFRQ. Analyses were performed to evaluate the WFRQ's validity evidence based on the internal structure (i.e., dimensionality and reliability) and on its relationship to other variables.

    Results
    The findings supported a 31-item version of the WFRQ with one third-order latent factor, three second-order factors, and nine first-order factors for the Portuguese population. The WFRQ exhibited satisfactory validity evidence based on the internal structure and relation to other variables.

    Conclusion
    Overall, the results of this study demonstrate the suitability of the WFRQ as a holistic measure to gauge resilience at the family level, going beyond individual assessments.

    Implications
    This instrument holds significant utility in family resilience research and clinical interventions involving families.

      17  13
  • Publication
    Open Access
    Exploring the impact of depression, anxiety, stress, academic engagement, and dropout intention on medical students' academic performance: A prospective study
    (Elsevier, 2025) ;
    Oliveira, Pedro
    ;
    Novais, Filipa
    ;
    Almeida, Carla Maria
    ;
    Telles-Correia, Diogo

    Background Depression, anxiety, and stress (DAS) have been linked to poor academic outcomes. This study explores the relationships among DAS, academic engagement, dropout intentions, and academic performance — measured by Grade Point Average (GPA) — in medical students. It aims to understand how these factors relate to each other and predict academic performance.

      34  179
  • Publication
    Open Access
    Correlates of burnout and dropout intentions in medical students: A cross-sectional study
    (Elsevier, 2024) ;
    Oliveira, Pedro
    ;
    Novais, Filipa
    ;
    Almeida, Carla Maria
    ;
    Telles-Correia, Diogo

    Background Burnout is a pervasive issue among medical students, exhibiting a high prevalence that jeopardizes their academic success and may also predispose them to more severe affective disorders such as depression. This study aims to explore the complex relationships between psychological capital (PsyCap), general social support, educational satisfaction, and burnout, and how these factors collectively influence dropout intentions.

    Methods
    A non-probabilistic convenience sample was collected through an online survey from first- and second-year medical students at a Faculty of Medicine in Portugal. The survey employed psychometric instruments to measure burnout (BAT-12), social support (F-SozU K-6), PsyCap (CPC-12R), satisfaction with education, and dropout intentions (Screening Instrument for Students At-Risk of Dropping Out). Structural equation modeling was applied to analyze the data from 351 participants.

    Results
    The model demonstrated a significant positive association between burnout and dropout intentions ( = 0.37; p < 0.001), underscoring burnout as a direct correlate of dropout intentions alongside educational satisfaction ( = −0.25; p = 0.003) and PsyCap ( = −0.22; p = 0.005). Higher social support is associated with reduced burnout ( = −0.28; p < 0.001) and increased educational satisfaction ( = 0.22; p = 0.002).

    Limitations
    The non-probabilistic sampling method prevents the generalization of the findings. The cross-sectional data do not permit the inference of temporal relationships between the studied variables.

    Conclusions
    These findings emphasize the importance that burnout may have on dropout intentions, and contribute to the understanding of affective syndromes such as burnout in educational settings.

      21  332