Psychosocial Well-being of Children and Adolescents in Latin America

This book discusses child well-being, with children and adolescents as key informants, from a Latin American perspective. It explores theoretical and empirical issues related to well-being and associated aspects, in order to understand the well-being of this population. Topics analyzed in this volume address for instance environment and community, rights, leisure time, technologies, interpersonal relationships and spirituality and their implications for changes in the well-being in children and adolescents. Especially relevant for scholars and professionals in the social and health sciences, as well as policy makers, seeking to promote child well-being, regardless of the area in which they operate.

Jorge Castellá Sarriera is a Professor of Psychology at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS/Brazil). Dr. Sarriera has been leading the Research Group in Community Psychology (GPPC) since 1993. Dr. Sarriera received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain) in 1993; and was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Barcelona (Spain) and at the University of San Francisco (United States). Dr. Sarriera is a grade 1A researcher for the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) since 2007, and has received an award for the 2015 researcher of the year in the State of Rio Grande do Sul for Humanistic and Social Sciences by FAPERGS. Dr. Sarriera holds the position of coordinator of international research projects with Latin American countries (PROTEBA), and is a member of the ISCWeB network. Dr. Sarriera is also the coordinator of international partnerships with the University of Girona (Spain), the Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain), the University of Barcelona (Spain), and the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina). Dr. Sarriera’s research interests include child and adolescents well-being; community psychology and health; immigration, leisure / free time in adolescence; psychosocial intervention in well-being; social programs and evaluation. Lívia Maria Bedin is a Professor of Psychology and member of the Research Group in Community Psychology (GPPC) at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS/Brazil). Dr. Bedin was a post-doctoral fellow at the Research Institute for Quality of Life in the University of Girona (Spain), and is a board member of the International Society for Child Indicators (ISCI), participating for the last 8 years in international research projects, such as the International Survey of Children’s Well-Being (ISCWeB), and the Trans-Latin Project for the Study of Well-Being in Adolescence (PROTEBA). Dr. Bedin holds a Ph.D. in Psychology and a M.Sc. in Psychology from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil), and was a visiting researcher at the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina). Dr. Bedin’s research interests include well-being and quality of life, childhood and adolescence, adolescents-parents relationships, research methodology, multivariate statistical analyses and structural equation modelling.