Renato Gomes Carvalho

Schools are key settings for development and skills promotion and play a central role in career interventions. In a rapidly changing world of work and careers, ensuring the effectiveness of these interventions is increasingly critical. This qualitative study explored psychologists’ perspectives on the needs and challenges of school-based career interventions, aiming to capture professional experiences and identify key dimensions shaping practice. Nineteen Portuguese school psychologists participated in a survey, and subsequently 10 of those took part in a follow-up focus group. The findings highlight several central issues: the need for continuous professional training in vocational psychology; the importance of early and sustained career interventions throughout schooling; challenges arising from competing professional demands; the limited prioritization of career intervention within schools; and the need for stronger collaboration among school stakeholders. These findings are discussed in light of the advancement of school-based career interventions at both practice and policy levels, emphasizing lifelong and comprehensive approaches.

Whether personality changes over time has long been a central question in psychology. While most research has approached this issue through the lens of trait stability, such a perspective alone is insufficient to fully capture the dynamic and multifaceted nature of personality development. From a constructivist standpoint, personality is not a fixed set of attributes but an evolving process of self‐organization, shaped by the continual interaction between individuals and their sociocultural contexts. In this work, we adopt McAdams's integrative three‐layer model of personality—encompassing dispositional traits, characteristic adaptations, and narrative identity—to explore how stability and change coexist across the life span. Drawing on empirical evidence, we argue that although traits tend to relative stability, particularly from early adulthood onward, characteristic adaptations and life narratives are inherently more fluid and responsive to life experience, personal goals, and meaning‐making processes. Personality change, therefore, is not merely a quantitative shift in traits but often reflects qualitative transformations in how individuals construct and reconstruct their sense of self. We discuss the implications of this perspective for psychological practice, emphasizing the importance of supporting narrative revision and tailoring interventions to individuals' unique developmental trajectories and personal meanings.

The digitalization of psychological assessment has introduced new paradigms in the collection, processing, and analysis of data. This paper explores the transformation of psychological testing and assessment in the context of digital footprints and the rise of machine learning (ML) tools. The emergence of smartphones, wearables, and social media platforms has allowed for the collection of passive data, significantly impacting how psychological states are evaluated. This shift offers enhanced insights into personality traits and psychological symptoms, while reducing reliance on traditional self-report methods. However, the use of machine learning to interpret large volumes of behavioral data raises concerns about ethical implications, particularly regarding privacy, consent, and algorithmic transparency. Furthermore, methodological challenges, such as the reliability and validity of AI-based assessments, complicate the integration of these tools into mainstream psychological practice. This paper aims to critically evaluate the benefits and limitations of digital footprints and ML in psychological assessment, emphasizing the need for ethical frameworks and robust methodologies to ensure their effective and safe implementation.

Research shows that successful development of sexual identity is essential for healthy and well-adjusted ageing. Gay and bisexual (GB) older people have experienced cumulative events throughout their lives that may have affected the development of their identity. In addition, the few previous studies show an alarming lack of community connectedness among older GB people in Portugal. This study assessed the factors that have contributed to the development of sexual identity in Portuguese GB older adults throughout their lives, using an inductive qualitative cross-sectional approach based on Life Course Theory. Twenty-two semi-structured interviews were carried out with older (60+ years) GB people living in the community and using the lifeline technique. The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis with a codebook approach. Results suggest a multifactorial contribution of factors throughout the life cycle that have affected the development of GB older people’s sexual identity. These include historical–cultural factors (e.g., sexual repression and traditionalism of the dictatorship), psychosocial factors (e.g., cumulative sexual stigma), relational factors (e.g., relational clandestinity) and intrapersonal factors (e.g., concealment of sexual orientation). The existence of the Internalized Sexual Minority Disconnectedness phenomenon and its contribution to the formation of the sexual identity of older GB adults were also verified. These results reveal important clues about the development of older GB people in Portugal and the factors that may be affecting the current invisibility of these people in the social and health-related context. Relevant implications for the clinical context are also discussed.

O estudo das dimensões associadas às escolhas vocacionais dos estudantes na transição para o ensino secundário tem gerado interesse nas áreas da psicologia e da educação. No presente estudo comparamos estudantes de cursos profissionais com estudantes de cursos científico-humanísticos num conjunto de dimensões, nomeadamente o estatuto socioeconómico (ESE), o desempenho escolar prévio, o autoconceito de competência e os interesses profissionais. A amostra foi constituída por 150 estudantes portugueses, com idades entre os 17 e os 28 anos (M = 19.21; DP = 2.55). Os instrumentos utilizados foram um questionário sociodemográfico, a Escala de Autoconceito de Competência e o Self Directed Search. A comparação entre os estudantes do ensino profissional e os dos cursos científico-humanísticos revelou diferenças moderadas entre estes, com os primeiros, em média, a estarem integrados em agregados familiares de ESE mais baixo, a terem mais indicadores de insucesso escolar prévio e resultados médios mais elevados na dimensão resolução de problemas do autoconceito de competência. Os estudantes do ensino profissional revelaram ainda mais interesses profissionais nas dimensões realista, empreendedor e convencional.

Neste estudo, analisámos a relação entre a adaptabilidade de carreira, expressa nas dimensões Preocupação, Controlo, Confiança e Curiosidade, e um conjunto de variáveis sociodemográficas (sexo, zona de residência, educação parental) e do percurso escolar (média de classificações, retenções, participação em atividades extracurriculares). Testámos ainda a relação entre a participação prévia reportada em atividades de carreira e a realização de atividades ocupacionais, e a adaptabilidade de carreira. Participaram no estudo 201 estudantes do ensino secundário, com idades compreendidas os 16 e os 23 anos (M = 17.56, DP = 0.89). Os instrumentos foram um questionário sociodemográfico e escolar e a versão Portuguesa da Career Adapt-Abilities Scale. Os resultados não mostraram um efeito global das variáveis sociodemográficas na adaptabilidade de carreira, com a exceção de um efeito de pequena magnitude da área de residência (rural) no Controlo; e um efeito de pequena magnitude do sexo (feminino) na Preocupação. Verificou-se uma associação entre o desempenho escolar (moderado na média das classificações; fraco no caso das retenções) e a adaptabilidade de carreira. A participação prévia em atividades de educação e desenvolvimento de carreira, ou a realização de atividades ocupacionais, não se associaram à adaptabilidade de carreira com a presente amostra.

The relation between teachers’ expectations and students’ academic achievement has received considerable interest in the education and psychology domains. In this study, we analyze the extent to which the information about students influences the formulation of teachers’ estimates about their achievement. The sample consisted of 491 Portuguese teachers, aged between 26 and 82 years old (M age = 43 years). To assess the teachers’ estimates, we created excerpts containing information about hypothetical students, in relation to whom an estimate of academic success was required. Each excerpt had two versions (A and B), according to the more or less favorable information regarding students’ intellectual, family, self-regulation, and previous performance variables. The results show moderate differences between the estimates of the participants that received version A and those that received version B. The results are discussed considering the importance of a set of student characteristics for the way teachers develop estimates about student performance.

Introduction. In this quantitative, cross-sectional study we analyse the relationship between family socioeconomic status (SES) and students’ adaptation to school life, as expressed through several indicators of achievement, integration (adaptation to transitions, behaviour problems, risk behaviours, interpersonal difficulties, participation in extracurricular activities) and overall satisfaction. It was our goal to understand if students’ SES is a contributing factor for the individual differences in several school life dimensions, beyond grades, which have been usually the most prominent marker of school success.Method. Participants were 351 ninth to twelfth grade Portuguese students (ages 14-18 years) and the instrument that collected data concerning several school life dimensions was the School Path Questionnaire, which was designed for this study. Data was thereafter analysed through multivariate statistical analysis.Results show a positive association between students’ SES and school adaptation, with significant differences between the groups on most school life dimensions, namely school grades, number of retentions, school achievement, participation in extracurricular activities, interpersonal difficulties, adaptation to school transitions, and overall satisfaction about school life. The most significant differences were observed in performance related variables. It was the highest SES group that differentiated most from the remaining groups.Discussion. The pattern of results is discussed concerning the role of contextual variables such as family and community on school success and integration, and the necessity of educational interventions in order to compensate students’ unfavourable starting socioeconomic conditions at school.

Research literature has been increasingly focusing on children’s career development, especially when school contexts are considered. In the present study, we evaluate the efficacy of a short-term intervention program designed to foster career awareness in elementary school. The sample consisted of 155 Portuguese fifth- and sixth-grade students, aged nine to fifteen years old (M = 11, SD = 1). With a quasi-experimental design, the sample was divided into two groups, namely, the participants in the program and the controls. We used the Career Awareness Scale for Children and a sociodemographic survey. Analyses of covariance indicated a moderate effect of the participation in the program in students’ career awareness (ηp2 = .06, p = .003). The results are discussed considering the school as a key context for career education aiming at promoting students’ adaptability and involvement in the construction of their life pathways.