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After the global challenges posed by COVID-19, researchers strived to identify risk factors for severe cases, which lead to various complications—including death. Lifestyle modifications, such as implementing a healthy diet and recommended physical activity, have been shown to be protective against severe COVID-19 cases. Despite an association of a plant-based diet with reduced COVID-19 severity, specific dietary characteristics have not been identified. Also, the methodology for measuring physical activity is variable, with studies overlooking the intensity or the habit components of physical activity. To bridge this gap, our study designed, validated, and applied a retrospective questionnaire with aims of exploring the relationship between lifestyle factors, specifically diet and physical activity, and severe COVID-19. We considered the intensity and years of physical activity habit, which is a limitation of other questionnaires. Results reveal associations of age and BMI with severe COVID-19. An excessive sugar diet was found to be associated with severe COVID-19 and increased symptom duration. We also observed an inverse relationship pattern of moderate- and vigorous-intensity physical activity across case severity, which is absent in walking physical activity. This study lays a foundation for research aiming to identify lifestyle factors that prevent severe COVID-19 cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyberaggression is an important problem today; it can affect adolescents in different ways. Therefore, reliable and valid measures are necessary to better study the phenomenon. The aim of the present study was to generate validity and reliability evidence for a Spanish-language cyberaggression scale from Garaigordobil, (2017) in a population of 1695 adolescents from northwestern Mexico (51.5% female) between 12- and 15-years-of-age. The results of this study contribute to the research and focus on cyberaggression in adolescents in Mexico. The measure used in this paper detects the different roles, including the bystander, rigorously testing the reliability and validity of the measure, providing a solid tool to evaluate cyberaggression in the Mexican context and guide evidence-based interventions and policies in educational settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In this paper, a Mexican Optimism Scale was constructed to investigate and estimate psychometric properties (reliability and validity based on the measurement model). The convergent validity and validity criterion were evaluated for a sample of young Mexicans. Methods: The scale was presented to 848 Mexican young people aged between 17 and 30 years from three different regions of Mexico. The scale was reduced to 20 items on the basis of CFA and analyses of internal consistency. Results: The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) suggested a three-factor structure of optimism: affective resources, positive vision and hope. The data provided evidence for convergent validity with positive affect, negative affect and coping. Additionally, males scored higher on affective resources and positive vision than females. Finally, the results support the reliability of the instrument. Conclusions: The psychometric properties of the Mexican Optimism Scale proved to be highly acceptable and allow for a novel assessment of optimism from an ethnopsychological perspective. Validity, reliability and invariance were determined, as well as percentiles for the practical use of the scale. This scale may be of crucial importance for future research on optimism and health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]