Different single-item and multiple-item scales are used as subjective indicators of well-being in the international arena. However, very few cross-cultural studies exist into subjective indicators of well-being among adolescent populations. In this study, three different multi-item scales, variations of these scales and several single items -all of them previously used separately in international research-were tested together on 12 to 16-year-old adolescents in 4 different countries with Latin-based languages (Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Spain). The scales are the PWI (Cummins, Eckersley, van Pallant, Vugt, Misajon, et al.

This study aims to describe and identify factors associated with environmental quality and characteristics of children exposed to environmental risk factors in Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. This was a prospective, population-based study, including 630 children from the 1993 birth cohort. During the year 1998, environmental quality and other information were assessed using the Home Observation for the Measurement of the Environment. Data were submitted to univariate analysis. The association between the variables and the outcome was evaluated through prevalence ratios, 95% confidence intervals, and chi-square. Logistic regression was performed according to a hierarchical model. Some 97 children (15%) were living in negative environments. Eight risk factors were associated with environmental quality: low monthly family income, low maternal schooling, male gender, households with more than 7 members, 4 or more siblings, tobacco use during gestation, children sleeping in their parents' bed at age 4 years, and mothers with psychiatric disorders.

Resumen. El objetivo del presente estudio es conocer y comparar los niveles de bienestar subjetivo de adolescentes argentinos y brasileños. La muestra está compuesta por 640 adolescentes de ambos sexos con edades entre los 12 y 16 años, siendo el 46.3% argentinos y el 53.7% brasileños. Se han utilizado tres escalas: el Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI), la Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) y la Brief Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS). El PWI y la BMSLSS mostraron puntuaciones más altas en los adolescentes argentinos (M PWI = 82.42 y M BMSLSS = 41.19) que en los brasileños (M PWI = 80.88 y M BMSLSS = 40.09), y mientras que la SWLS mostró resultados semejantes (M SWLS-Arg = 31.50 y M SWLS-Bra = 31.32). El análisis multivariado de variancia (MANOVA), revela que las tres escalas forman una variable estadística en su conjunto, mostrando diferencias significativas por país (p < .038) y por edad (p < .024), y evidenciando efectos de interacción significativa entre las dos variables (p < .008), pero no por sexo (p = .174), ni en la interacción entre país y sexo (p = .856). Se discuten las implicaciones de los resultados con relación al bienestar considerando el país, la edad y el sexo de los adolescentes.

This paper seeks to characterize the political situation in some of the progressive countries that integrate the CELAC (Latin American and Caribbean Community) and the current world geopolitical situation characterized by the willingness of subjugation that manifest the countries of NATO and Israel with regard to this set of Nations, above all those who integrates UNASUR (Union of South American Nations). In this situation and scenario we will reflect in relation to the practitioners of community psychology in relation to the ideological and ethical pillars of their internships, their definition of democracy, its conceptualization of freedom and equality before the law, their sense of professional coherence.

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