Adolescentes, identidad grupal y medio rural. Una perspectiva basada en el desarrollo positivo

Resumen

This study analyses the relationships between the group identity of adolescents who live in rural areas and a series of variables in the approach to positive development (Oliva, Hernando, Parra, Pertegal, Ríos and Antolín, 2008). The analysis was performed once the Positive Development for Adolescents in Rural areas Programme (DPAR) was carried out throughout a school year. The study included 145 students in the second (N=66) and third (N=77) year of compulsory secondary school aged from 12 to 17 (M=13.98; DT=.912). The treatment group comprised 85 of them and the control group 60 of them. The relationships between group identity and self‐esteem, life satisfaction, empathy, alexithymia, self‐efficacy, assertiveness, communicative and relationship skills, planning and decision‐making, and moral values were determined by means of a correlation analysis. The results showed strong positive correlations between all the variables studied in the intervention group, except for alexithymia, whose correlation was also strong but negative. Hence, the utility of intervention in the rural school environment will be discussed in the framework of positive youth development.