Teresa Freire

Flow theory provides a comprehensive framework for understanding intrinsically rewarding experiences, yet individuals differ markedly in their propensity to experience flow across situations. To explain these differences, the construct of autotelic personality has been proposed, referring to a dispositional configuration of motivational and attentional characteristics that facilitate deep engagement in activities. The present study aimed to adapt and validate the Autotelic Personality Questionnaire (APQ) for the Portuguese context. A total of 915 Portuguese adults completed the Portuguese version of the APQ along with measures of dispositional flow, personality traits, positive mental health, and psychological distress. Confirmatory factor analyses did not support the original second-order structure; instead, a first-order model with seven correlated factors demonstrated adequate fit. Bifactor analyses indicated that the use of a global score was not justified, supporting a multidimensional interpretation of autotelic personality. The Portuguese APQ showed adequate to excellent reliability across all subscales and evidence of configural, metric, and scalar invariance across educational groups. Known-groups validity analyses revealed small but meaningful differences according to educational attainment. Convergent and divergent validity were supported through theoretically consistent associations with flow proneness, personality traits, well-being, and distress. Overall, the findings support the psychometric adequacy of the Portuguese APQ and reinforce the conceptualization of autotelic personality as a multidimensional motivational–attentional system, with implications for applied research in positive psychology.

Background/Objectives: Happiness is a main topic of psychological research, and as a catalyst for transformative change, it is capable of inspiring growth and well-being. This study aims to identify and understand the themes that compose visual representations of happiness in adolescents, while using an innovative qualitative methodology centered on visual research. Methods: Applying the ‘draw-and-write’ technique, Portuguese adolescents were asked to ‘Draw happiness’, generating a visual data set of 330 drawings, coined hSquares. Results: By order of prevalence, the thematic analysis identified eight key themes: ‘people’, ‘hobbies’, ‘love’, ‘smile’, ‘sports’, ‘basic needs’, ‘inner harmony’, and ‘human rights and equality’. The findings highlight the significance of social contexts, such as family and peer relationships, as central to adolescents’ happiness, while also emphasizing the importance of self-selected activities. Visual representations associated with basic needs and human rights emerged as novel contributions to the literature. Differences emerged by age, with younger adolescents often depicting single themes, whereas older adolescents integrated multiple themes in their drawings. Conclusions: This study provides a visual complement to the rich textual conversation about happiness and demonstrates the potential of visual methodologies in psychological research.

Despite the critical role of culture in understanding adolescent self and identity, there is a lack of cross‐culturally validated measures of adolescent self‐construal. The present study evaluated cross‐national measurement invariance of the Aspects of Identity Questionnaire‐IV (AIQ‐IV), assessing four dimensions of self‐construal: personal, relational, public, and collective. The sample included 16,795 adolescents aged 14–19 years from 30 countries across four continents. The four‐factor structure of the AIQ‐IV obtained using exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) was supported in the vast majority of countries. Exact invariance testing using multi‐group ESEM supported configural invariance, indicating that the overall structure of the AIQ‐IV was similar across countries. Full scalar invariance was supported only on a subset of countries (i.e., when tests were conducted using European countries grouped by UN geographical regions). An alignment approach provided evidence for the approximate invariance of the ESEM model, with 15.6% of parameters showing noninvariance and allowing for comparison of latent means. The largest number of noninvariant parameters was evident in Asian countries, with items assessing collective‐interdependent aspects of identity showing the most variation across countries. A comparison of mean levels of identity orientations across countries revealed that culture‐level dimensions of collectivism–individualism do not translate simply into individual‐level dimensions of self‐construal.

Background/Objectives: Happiness is a main topic in psychological research, as a catalyst for transformative change, capable of inspiring growth and well-being. This study aims to identify and understand the themes that compose visual representations of happiness in adolescents, while using an innovative qualitative methodology centered on visual research. Methods: Applying the ‘draw-and-write’ technique, Portuguese adolescents were asked to ‘Draw happiness,’ generating a visual data set of 330 drawings, coined hSquares. Results: By order of prevalence, the thematic analysis identified eight key themes: ‘people,’ ‘hobbies,’ ‘love,’ ‘smile,’ ‘sports,’ ‘basic needs,’ ‘inner harmony,’ and ‘human rights and equality.’ The findings highlight the significance of social contexts, such as family and peer relationships, as central to adolescents' happiness, while also emphasizing the importance of self-selected activities. Visual representations associated with basic needs and human rights emerged as novel contributions to the literature. Differences emerged by age, with younger adolescents often depicting single themes, whereas older adolescents integrated multiple themes in their drawings. Conclusions: This study provides a visual complement to the rich textual conversation about happiness and demonstrates the potential of visual methodologies in psychological research.

Because adolescent leisure is important to development, we consider its role in Portuguese adolescent wellbeing. Data for this study came from 303 adolescents in grades 10, 11, and 12 living in a large urban area in northern Portugal. Self-report data were collected in classrooms using a cross-sectional design in two urban high schools. Hypothesis testing used seven hierarchical linear regression models. Except for subjective happiness, experiencing boredom in leisure and/or the ability to make a boring situation more interesting were strong predictors of each wellbeing experience in the predicted direction. Perceptions of healthy leisure were associated with higher levels of life satisfaction, subjective happiness, self-esteem, and positive affect. Active leisure was important to adolescent self efficacy and positive affect. Those who could restructure a boring situation into something more interesting exhibited higher levels of wellbeing experience. Adolescents who perceived parental autonomy control were more likely to experience boredom in leisure.