Professors Luísa Grácio, Maria João Carapeto and Heldemerina Pires, from the Psychology Department at the University of Évora, are part of the European project ‘Stronger Youth – Empowering young people social competences and soft skills through peer mentoring’ (https://strongeryouth.eu/), which involves six European countries (Czechia, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain).
One of the initial tasks of the project, led by the University of Évora team, aimed to gain insight into the psychological difficulties and support needs of adolescents, as perceived by the adolescents in each country. The Portuguese National Report suggests that the level of life satisfaction reported by Portuguese adolescents is similar to that reported in other international studies. The students identified a greater prevalence of emotional than behavioural challenges, particularly anxiety, depression and stress, as a consequence of academic and familial pressures. Among the behavioural issues, they mention aggressive and violent behaviour, social isolation and self-harm. Moreover, relational issues were identified.
The Portuguese adolescents surveyed ascribed a high level of importance to interpersonal relationships as a means of coping with psychological difficulties. The mother was identified as the primary source of help, followed by the boyfriend/girlfriend or close friend, another friend, and the father. Furthermore, the majority of Portuguese adolescents (76.5%) indicated a preference for in-person meetings to discuss personal issues, with telephone conversations (47.1%), text messages (33.3%), and social media (17.6%) being the next most preferred communication methods.
