Chilean University Students Research Articles

Determinantes psicosociales de la intención de donación de órganos en una muestra chilena

Organ donation (OD) is a complex process that among other factors, depends on the consent of the potential donor's family. Previous evidences have shown that the intention of a behavior predicts that behavior in the future. To study the effect of believes, worries, knowledge and attitudes on the intention of OD after own death as well as OD of a deceased relative. A total of 3,297 Chilean university students responded to a survey about the intention to donate organs through a web link. We conducted a path analysis and a structural equation technique was used. The model explained more than 50% of the variance of the dependent variables. The intention of respondents to donate their own organs or those of family members after death were predicted by attitude toward OD, social influences and family discussion. Attitude was the main predictor of the model, which is determined by the negative effect of bodily apprehensions and the positive effect of knowledge about brain death. Attitude, knowledge and concerns are the main determinants of donation intention. The results prove the validity of the Theory of Reasoned Action as a theoretical model to explain the intentions of OD.

Ethics, Political Symbols, and Comparative Cultural Analysis: The Case of Chile

This article is about culture, politics, ethics, and symbolism in Chile. More precisely, it is a case study on the relationship among these factors, gleaned from surveys conducted in 2010 and 2012 of Chilean college students and faculty. This survey is part of an overall multiyear and multination study examining the connections among symbols, language, culture, and ethics. In the Chilean case, the concern is with identifying the structure of political symbolism in building, communicating, and cultivating ethical responses. This article equally highlights an interdisciplinary approach that builds on the respective disciplines of the authors: public administration (Smith), international relations and comparative politics (Morris), and economics (Riveros).

Vitamin and minerals consumed food group by Chilean university students

The lifestyle changes in college, students go through periods of physical inactivity and irregular meal times, which leads to increased consumption of processed foods and fast food. To calculate vitamins and minerals intakes for groups in the diet of Chilean university students. We studied 654 university students (18 to 24 years, 54% female), a 7-day food frequency questionnaire was used for dietary assessment, the information collected was classified into 12 groups representing each set of food, and then nutrient intake was determined. The main results were: (a) women had lower intake of most micronutrients than men (b) pantothenic acid, vitamin B12 and E, calcium, magnesium and iron are nutrients that showed mean intakes below the daily recommendations, (c) the consumption of bread is essential for the supply of B vitamins, iron, copper and selenium. In the usual diet of college students, bread is a key to the dietary intake of B vitamins, iron, copper and selenium, as well as dairy products for calcium, meat and fish for vitamin B12 and zinc; vegetables for vitamin A and fruits for vitamin C.

The Epidemiology of Sleep Quality and Consumption of Stimulant Beverages among Patagonian Chilean College Students

Objectives. (1) To assess sleep patterns and parameters of sleep quality among Chilean college students and (2) to evaluate the extent to which stimulant beverage use and other lifestyle characteristics are associated with poor sleep quality. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted among college students in Patagonia, Chile. Students were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire to provide information about lifestyle and demographic characteristics. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used to evaluate sleep quality. In addition, students underwent a physical examination to collect anthropometric measurements. Results. More than half of students (51.8%) exhibited poor sleep quality. Approximately 45% of study participants reported sleeping six hours or less per night and 9.8% used medications for sleep. In multivariate analysis, current smokers had significantly greater daytime dysfunction due to sleepiness and were more likely to use sleep medicines. Students who reported consumption of any stimulant beverage were 1.81 times as likely to have poor sleep quality compared with those who did not consume stimulant beverages (OR:1.81, 95% CI:1.21–2.00). Conclusions. Poor sleep quality is prevalent among Chilean college students, and stimulant beverage consumption was associated with the increased odds of poor sleep quality in this sample.

Escalas de Depresión, Ansiedad y Estrés (DASS - 21): Validación de la Versión abreviada en Estudiantes Universitarios Chilenos

The high rate of anxiety disorders, depression and stress detected in Chilean university students requires a standardized instrument of diagnosis, enabling timely intervention for these disturbances. The aim of thisstudy was to determine the psychometric properties of the Abbreviated Scales of Depression, Anxiety and Stress (DASS-21) for Chilean university students, thus validating the scale. The sample consisted of 484 students of Universidad Austral de Chile selected through random sampling using a cross-sectional correlationdesign. Construct validity was verified by exploratory factor analysis which yielded a three-factor structure, explaining 49.99% of total variance. Concurrent and divergent validity was verified by the BAI, BDI-II and SCL-90. Adequate reliability and internal consistency of DASS-21 was found using Cronbach’s Alpha.

Unwanted Sexual Experiences in Young Men: Evidence from a Survey of University Students in Chile

The public health problem of unwanted sexual experiences (USE) in male youths has received little attention. In this study, we examined prevalence of USE, risk factors, contexts, and barriers to disclosure with data from a quantitative survey of students enrolled in General Education courses at a public university in Chile. This study focused on the male sample (N=466). Approximately 20.4% of participants reported some form of USE since age 14. Forced sex through physical coercion, forced sex through verbal coercion or while intoxicated, attempted forced sex, and less severe forms of USE were reported by 0.2, 10.1, 1.4, and 8.7% of participants, respectively. USE before age 14 was reported by 9.4% of participants and was a significant predictor of USE since age 14 (AOR 6.38, 95% CI 3.22-12.65, p<.01). The perpetrator of USE since age 14 was most commonly identified as a date/partner or friend/acquaintance; other findings on contexts and barriers to disclosure were also generally consistent with previous results in the literature. In addition, we found substantial co-occurrence of USE since age 14 with two other forms of coercion: physical dating violence victimization and coerced condom non-use. The study findings indicate a need for further attention to these public health problems and have implications for the development of violence and HIV/STI prevention programs for adolescent boys and young adult men in Chile and elsewhere.

Attitudes Toward Gay Men and Lesbians and Their Relationship with Gender Role Beliefs in a Sample of Chilean University Students

ABSTRACT. This paper analyzes the relation between gender role beliefs and prejudice toward gay men andlesbians in Chile. Participants were Chilean university students (N = 283). Results indicate that men are more prejudiced than women and religious people are more prejudiced than non-religious people. On the other hand, gender role beliefs mediate sex differences in prejudice. The participants' more traditional gender role beliefs hold more negative attitudes toward gay men and lesbians. Men are more prejudiced than women, particularly in their attitudes toward gay men. In addition, sex differences in attitudes toward lesbians and gay men are mediated by gender role beliefs.

Understanding social acceptance of electricity generation sources

Social acceptability is a determinant factor in the failure or success of the government's decisions about which electricity generation sources will satisfy the growing demand for energy. The main goal of this study was to validate a causal trust-acceptability model for electricity generation sources. In the model, social acceptance of an energy source is directly caused by perceived risk and benefit and also by social trust in regulatory agencies (both directly and indirectly, through perceived risk and benefit). Results from a web-based survey of Chilean university students demonstrated that data for energy sources that are controversial in Chilean society (fossil fuels, hydro, and nuclear power) fit the hypothesized model, whereas data for non conventional renewable energy sources (solar, wind, geothermal and tidal) did not. Perceived benefit had the greatest total effect on acceptability, thus emerging as a key predictive factor of social acceptability of controversial electricity generation sources. Further implications for regulatory agencies are discussed.

Chilean University Students’ Call for Participation and Engagement in What Matters to Them: Is It Possible to Achieve a Shared Decision Making Process in Education Policy?

Chile is facing one of its major intellectual revolutions in the last century: organised high school, college and university students have led the most salient educational reform since the one that took place during the dictatorship period. This phenomenon is a pacific revolution based on the power of sound, evidence-based, clear and robust ideas. The purpose of this short essay is to reflect some ideas on the conceptualisation of a shared decision making (SDM) process and how they could be transferred to the current students’ educational revolution in Chile. It provides a reflection on how SDM might concretely contribute to this educational reform and on what future steps could be taken to truly achieves a “participatory” democracy in Chile. According to the authors, this debate illustrates the extent to which the level of participation must rely not on particular individuals but on the establishment of a partnership between parties.

Acquisition of the non-generic definite article by Spanish learners of English as a foreign language

This study explains the acquisition of the non-generic uses of the english definite article the by L2 learners. Chilean university students completed a questionnaire containing deleted obligatory uses of the. in all, four identified categories showed to have different accuracy rates. Of the four categories, the one most similar to the L1 was the least difficult to acquire while the most different resulted as the most difficult. This concurs with other research and can be explained by L1 rules that are transferred to the L2.The other two categories did not show the same acquisition rate as compared to previous studies and cannot be explained by L1 transfer given that both languages share the same rules. Time spent studying the english increases accuracy rates across all categories. Knowing that difficulty with the definite article can be attributed to L1 interference is useful when implementing pedagogical recommendations to teach the english article system.

Prevalence of the drug consumption among Chilean university students

Drug abuse is one of the main public health problems and mostly involves young people. To determine the prevalence of drug consumption among university students and its associated social factors. A questionnaire exploring consumption of drugs and social-demographic, economic and religious variables, was applied to 1577 third year students aged 22 ± 2 years (54% females) of a public university. Sixty eight percent of the students were of middle socioeconomic class, 71 % belonged to some religion and 29% declared themselves as agnostic. Ninety six percent drank alcohol at least once and 29% never smoked. Among illicit drugs, marijuana was consumed by 22% followed by cocaine in 5.3%o, hallucinogenic drugs in 2.6 % >, inhalants in 2.3% > and cocaine free base in 1.4%). Six percent consumed stimulants and 13.8%>, sedatives. A higher economic income facilitated drug consumption and the adscription to a religion was protective against it. Alcohol is the most commonly consumed drug, and is the substance that generates more problems to students.

Happiness and health behaviours in Chilean college students: A cross-sectional survey

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.

Assessment of the Behavioral Inhibition System and the Behavioral Approach System: Adaptation and Validation of the Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire (SPSRQ) in a Chilean Sample

The goal of the present study is to estimate the psychometric properties of the Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire (SPSRQ; Torrubia, Avila, Moltó, & Caseras, 2001) in a sample of Chilean college students. The main hypothesis is that the instrument would show appropriate levels of reliability and validity, in light of previous validation studies. A pilot study was conducted in order to generate the adapted version of the questionnaire, which was then applied to a student sample from different undergraduate careers (n = 434). The results show the expected levels of reliability (test-retest and internal consistency). The factorial validity does not comply with the expected model, suggesting a further consideration of the structure of the questionnaire. External validity is appropriate, as the questionnaire shows the expected correlations with other personality measures. It is concluded that the SPSRQ is adequate for the context of validation, and this study contributes to the generalization of the questionnaire, since the results are consistent with the expected psychometric properties that have been reported in the literature.

Personalidad Eficaz en Estudiantes Chilenos de Ingeniería de Primer Año

A study on the construct of Efficient Personality, based on a questionnaire on efficient personality in educational settings. The psychometric properties of the questionnaire, applied to a sample of 450 university students in Chile, were analysed. As a result, the questionnaire used consists of 25 items with an internal consistency of 0.88, four factors which account for 48% of the total variance. In a second analysis, one unique factor was obtained accounting for 58% of the total variance. The results are consistent with other studies done with Chilean and Spanish samples which confirm the strength of the construct Efficient Personality. The results also present evidence on the possibility of relying on only one version of the instrument for transcultural studies. It is concluded that it is necessary to complement the results with studies of predictive capacity to establish the validity of the instrument to identify students who might suffer from adaptation difficulties in the university.

Influencia del Género en la Percepción y Adopción de e-Learning: Estudio Exploratorio en una Universidad Chilena

Based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the objective of this study is to explore gender differences in adopting e-learning technology for university students in Chile. A multigroup analysis, based on Partial Least Squares (PLS), was used to compare the differences between women and men. The results indicate that in a sample of students of a Chilean University, the conduct of technology acceptance of e-learning, firstly, coincides with the TAM model, and secondly, it isn't statistically significant difference between women and men.

Sexual violence in young men and women in Chile: results from a 2005 survey of university students

Experiences of sexual violence in adolescence and young adulthood have received little attention in Chilean public health research and practice. To describe the prevalence and contexts of sexual violence victimization in a sample of university students in Chile. A self-administered, quantitative survey including items on sexual violence was completed by 484 female and 466 male students at a public university in Chile in 2005. Thirty-one percent of women and 21 % of men reported having experienced at least one incident of sexual violence since age 14; the corresponding percentages for the past 12 months were 17% and 12%, respectively. The perpetrators were identified predominantly as an acquaintance; another important fraction corresponded to a partner or a date. Alcohol or other substances were involved in most cases. Among students who indicated having been assaulted, the incident was reported to the police by none of the men and 2% of women. Twenty one percent of women and 9% of men reported having experienced sexual violence before age 14. The high prevalence of sexual violence found in this study indicates that this issue merits further public health attention in Chile.

Norma percibida de consumo de marihuana en los pares de estudiantes universitarios

En este estudio se describe la relación entre la norma percibida del consumo de marihuana en los pares y el consumo real informado por alumnos de una universidad chilena. Se trata de un estudio cuantitativo, multicéntrico y transversal. Participaron 449 estudiantes previa firma del consentimiento informado. La información se recolectó con un cuestionario autoaplicado y se analizó con el programa SPSS 15.0. Fue encontrado que la mayoría son mujeres solteras, entre 20 y 21 años de edad, estudiantes de enfermería y educación. La norma percibida fue mayor que la de estudios nacionales (32,1% versus 21%); también el consumo autoinformado fue mayor que el nacional (32,1% versus 5,6%). Se observa un mayor consumo entre las mujeres, en educación y enfermería. Se confirma la feminización del consumo; el inicio del consumo en la universidad, el uso recreativo y la mayor tolerancia al consumo en los pares. Existe una sobreestimación del consumo de marihuana, lo que de acuerdo a la Teoría de las Normas Sociales y de Normalización influye en el aumento del consumo. Esta investigación constituye un aporte a las políticas de la salud del país y de la universidad.

Actitudes Explícitas e Implícitas hacia los Hombres Homosexuales en una Muestra de Estudiantes Universitarios en Chile

The article reports Chilean college students’ implicit attitudes toward homosexual men (N = 117), measured through the Implicit Association Test (IAT). The study compared young men and women implicit assessments with those obtained with an explicit measure, the Attitude toward Gay Men (ATG) Scale. Men showed more unfavorable implicit attitudes toward homosexuals than women. However, these differences were not observed when measuring implicit attitudes, showing that both men and women had negative implicit attitude toward homosexual men. These results suggest that the apparent decrease in prejudice revealed in self-reports measures, or associated with certain demographic groups, could conceal the fact that automatic attitudes might not have changed.

Young People's Images of Old Age in Chile: Exploratory Research

According to gerontological thought, an important part of senior citizens' disabilities are products of their social exclusion rather than factors associated with their physical or mental health. How these exclusions come about was the purpose of the research reported in this article. The study was conducted among 682 Chilean university students using a semantic differential test. A generalized negative image on old age was observed. The conclusion is that social images of old age affect the well-being of present and future senior citizens.

Chilean university students: knowledge and concern about HIV/AIDS.

According to a 2004 report by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, Chile has an incipient HIV/AIDS epidemic. Regardless of the classification, every year the cumulative incidence of HIV/AIDS increases. Young Chileans have been the most affected group; still, their knowledge, attitudes, and concerns about HIV/AIDS are not known. This study describes Chilean university students' HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, their worry about getting the virus, and the correlation between both variables. A convenience sample of 45 university students responded to an anonymous self-administered questionnaire after orally consenting to participate in this study. Overall, students had good levels of HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, with 77% responding correctly to at least 85% of the questions. Despite this knowledge, almost 56% of students stated that they were not worried about getting HIV/AIDS. The situation was corroborated by a nonsignificant statistical correlation between both variables (p > .05). These results are congruent with literature from other countries and strengthen the need for further research to clarify why university students, the majority of whom are well-educated and engage in behaviors that place them at risk for contracting the virus, do not worry about HIV.