Careful conceptualization and differentiation of both spirituality and religiosity is a necessary precondition for understanding the potential role they play in health, whether physical or mental. The aim of this study was to explore the associations of spirituality with self-rated health, health complaints, and life satisfaction of adolescents with the moderating role of religiosity. Data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study conducted in 2014 in Slovakia were used. The final sample consisted of 658 adolescents (mean age = 15.37; 50.6% boys). Data regarding spirituality, religiosity, self-rated health, health complaints, and life satisfaction were obtained. Binary logistic models revealed spirituality to be associated with self-rated health, health complaints, and life satisfaction. A moderating role of religiosity was not confirmed. The presented findings indicate the need to distinguish between the concepts of religiosity and spirituality in connection with subjective health and life satisfaction.

European policy has seen a number of changes and innovations in the field of early childhood preschool education over the last decade, which have been reflected in various forms in the policies of individual EU countries. Within the Czech preschool policy, certain innovations and approaches have been implemented in the field of early children education, such as the introduction of compulsory preschool education before entering primary school from 2017, emphasis on inclusive education, equal conditions in education and enabling state-supported diversity in the education concepts of kindergartens. The aim of our study was to assess the influence of various preschool education systems in the Czech Republic in the context of psychological variables reflecting selected children’s outcomes which may contribute to future school achievement. The monitored variables were the attitudes, motivations and executive functions of children in the last year of preschool education. A comparison was made between the traditional preschool education program and the so-called alternative types of preschool education, such as Montessori, Waldorf and religious schools. The total sample was divided into four subgroups, namely a group of children attending traditional kindergartens (731, 84.9%), religious (65, 7.5%), Montessori (35, 4.1%), and Waldorf (30, 3.5%) kindergartens. To determine empirical data, the following research methods were used: Attitude Questionnaire, School Performance Motivation Scale, and Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). The results of our survey show the fact that the type of kindergarten attended has a significant effect on the child’s level of school performance motivation, attitudes toward school as well as executive functions. Significant differences were found between the different types of kindergartens attended in the monitored variables.

This paper describes an analysis of mind maps capturing the experiences of the participants in an experiential and outdoor education course. The method of mind mapping is usually limited to a quantitative scoring analysis and comparative content analysis of concepts. As a consequence, the visual elements of the information are usually ignored, but to analyze the holistic information, it is necessary to analyze its visual elements. This intention underlines this study of five chosen pairs of mind maps made by participants in the outdoor course comparing their impressions at the beginning and end of the course. A qualitative review of the visual and symbolic levels of information found a significant impetus occurring in the participants' view of their life journey and the possibility of changes due to the course experience. There is a visible tendency toward changes between first and second maps, from vague fears to acceptance of one's self, from polarity to holistically perceived reality, from vague concepts to colorful visual symbolism, from focus on the past to open acceptance of the future, from personality to community, and from the physical dimension of the experience to the spiritual or holistic level of the meaning of the experience. ARTICLE HISTORY

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