The article contains reflections on the role of reflexivity in contemporary education. The most important is to emphasize the importance of a pragmatic reflexivity in constructing the cultural identity of a young man. The majority of the text consists of references to the thoughts of Hans Georg Gadamer in the context of pragmatics of reflexivity. In conclusion, the author proposes a pedagogical definition of reflexivity.

Avatars are virtual representations of virtual world users. Creating a virtual representation can be considered an important element of the self-esteem formation process in modern adolescents. As previous research suggests, the similarity level between an avatar and its creator is related to the latter’s self-esteem. However, previous studies were limited by small and unrepresentative samples, which creates difficulties in generalizing the results. Moreover the studies usually did not include adolescents. This study aims to investigate possible predictors of adolescent–avatar similarity (AAS), in particular global self-esteem, which develops in adolescence. In addition to self-esteem, the importance of personality and gender was also examined. 130 high school students played the Characterium computer game, which was designed for this project. The participants also completed measures of global self-esteem and personality and explained why they had created such avatars. In order to test the research hypotheses, hierarchical regression analyses were performed. No relationship was found between adolescents’ global self-esteem and AAS; however extraversion and gender were significant predictors of adolescent–avatar similarity. Due to the limited number of studies in adolescents, we discuss our results based on the results of adults. The lack of verification of the first hypothesis may be due to the fact that adolescents use avatars to experiment with their own identity, regardless of their self-esteem. This suggests that they use avatars for a different purpose than adults (who want to boost their self-esteem). We discuss gender and personality results in terms of gender and personalty differences in (adult) players. Additionally we propose a hypothesis of cognitive overload (for adolescent extroverts).

Understanding and measuring mental well-being among adolescents has recently become a priority. The validity and reliability study of the 7-item short version of the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (SWEMWBS) has not been examined in Turkish adolescents. Therefore, this study aims to adapt the 7-item Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale to Turkish and examine the relationships between loneliness, emotional flexibility, resilience, and mental well-being. The data were collected by convenience sampling method from 820 adolescents aged 14-18 from 73 city of Turkey. During the adaptation process of SWEMWBS, confirmatory factor analysis, concurrent validity, and reliability analysis were performed. The findings confirmed the one dimensionality of the 7-item scale on the Turkish adolescent sample. In addition, a significant positive relationship was found between mental well-being and emotional flexibility and resilience. However, there was a significant negative correlation between mental well-being and loneliness. The results showed that the Turkish version of SWEMWBS had strong psychometric properties in adolescents.

TMD is a group of pathological changes including increased tension in the masticatory muscles, pain in the muscles and/or the temporomandibular joints, abnormal range of the mandibular movement or the presence of acoustic symptoms in the joints in the form of clicking or poping. The aim of the project was to compare the effectiveness of two methods of physiotherapeutic rehabilita-tion, used in adolescent patients with temporomandibular disorders.
Material and Methods: The material consisted of 68 patients, aged 14 to 17, of both sexes, generally healthy, who came to the Dental Prosthetics Department for treatment due to pain in the masticatory muscles. Dental examination and diagnostics revealed Ia in all cases in accordance with RDC/TMD protocol. Manual therapy was performed in group I (34 people) and kinesitherapy with massage was performed in group II (34 people). Patients were allocated randomly to both groups. Contraindications were considered for both methods.
Results: Within the first study, mean values of pain intensity between group I and group II were not significantly different (6.12 and 6.24 respectively). Within the second study significantly lower VAS scores in both groups have been revealed (0.92 and 0.74 respectively). Results of the first and second study differed significantly in both groups. Similar results were obtained for the maximum abduction of the mandible.
Conclusions: The results of the conducted studies indicate a beneficial effect of the assessed phy-siotherapeutic procedures in terms of functional rehabilitation of adolescent patients with temporoman-dibular disorders.

Epididymal cysts are benign cystic formations of the epididymis that usually appear in adoles-cence or early adulthood. Their frequency doubles after the age of 14–15. Obstruction in the epididymal efferent ductules with subsequent prostenotic dilatation of them, as well as dysgenesis due to hormonal disorders during fetal or postnatal life, are possible. At the 1st Department of Pediatric Surgery of A.U.Th. we treated 11 cases of boys at the age of 11–16 who presented with acute scrotum because of an epididymal cyst. The diagnosis was confirmed by ultrasound scanning . Due to persistent symptomatology, patients underwent surgical exploration and removal of the cyst. The postoperative care of the patients was uncomplicated with immediate remission of symptoms. In one case, ipsilateral acute epididymitis oc-curred after 10 days, which was successfully treated with antibiotic therapy. It is reported that approxi-mately 50% of epididymal cysts involute within an average of 17 months. In conclusion, using the data obtained from the review ,of the small in number of international bibliography studies, it is proposed conservative treatment of asymptomatic cysts with diameter smaller than 1 cm and surgical excision [1] of large asymptomatic cysts with diameter greater than 1 cm, which do not regress after a follow-up of 24–48 months, cysts, regardless of their diameter, responsible for persistent symptoms and in the manifestation of acute scrotal symptoms due to inflammation, intravesical bleeding or secondarily torsion of the epi-didymis.

The study explored the impact of experimental manipulation of body schema on creative potential in midadolescence. The experiment was conducted in a group of 140 adolescents at the age of 14-16: 68 boys (M = 15.03; SD = .93) and 72 girls (M = 15.01; SD = .81), randomly allocated to equinumerous groups: experimental and control. The aim of experimental manipulation was to obtain a temporarily disturbance of body schema. It was gained by the use of glasses reversing the field of vision in the vertical up/down plane, and measured by the Body Schema Disturbance Questionnaire. In both groups the Urban and Jellen’s Test for Creative Thinking – Drawing Production (TCT-DP, Urban & Jellen, 1986) was administered twice (in A and B versions, randomly selected). Statistical analyses was run with a mixed model ANOVA (2 drawings x 2 groups x 2 sexes). The interaction effect of drawing production and group assignment on creative potential was significant, while the interaction effect of drawing production and sex on creative potential turned out to be insignificant.

Self-control is a complex and multifaceted construct that can be regarded as an individual trait that follows its own developmental trajectory. In the presented study we used NAS-50 for the assessment of self-control in adolescents and young adults. Since the questionnaire has not been used before in underage participants we tested its reliability in adolescent and adult samples. We also investigated possible age and gender differences in self-control abilities as well as relations between NAS-50 and behavioral measures of cognitive control and impulsivity. Although the sample was quite small, the reliability of the questionnaire was similar to the results achieved by its authors. According to the predictions in the literature we did not find relations between NAS-50 and behavioral measures of cognitive control and impulsivity. We also did not observe significant age differences in the assessment of self-control abilities. The theoretical relevance of our results is discussed.

Prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components is a growing issue, including pediatric populations. However, because of many definitions used, it is difficult to assess the true fre-quency of these problems.
The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of MetS and its components as well as the frequency of problems with inadequate nutritional status among adolescents.
One hundred ninety-six teenagers aged 15–18 years, living in Krakow and its vicinity were examined including measurement of blood pressure, anthropometric parameters and blood levels of cholesterol and glucose.
The prevalence of MetS was low and varied from 0.5% to 2.0% depending on the definition. Based on Cook’s definition of MetS, the most common components were hypertension (12.8%) and hypertriglycer-idemia (12.8%). Improper body weight (based on BMI) was found in 23.5% of adolescents, including 5.1% underweight, and 18.4% overweight or obese. According to the body fat percentage (BF%), 45.8% of the boys were underfat and 6.3% had too much body fat, while only 4% of the girls were below the BF% reference values and 15% above. All girls and 86.5% of boys had too low total body water. In conclusion, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in population of Krakow adolescents was relatively low, but more than 12% of the adolescents had a hypertension or hypertriglyceridemia. Based on BMI most of adolescents were found to have adequate body weight, but examination of fat content in the body high prevalence of underfat was observed, especially among boys.

The relevance of the study is explained by the fact that adolescence is a critical period of development when essential changes in the personality occur. Achieving personal autonomy is an urgent problem because it indicates the development of the independence of an adolescent and their ability to choose their life goals based on an independent and free choice. In this regard, the purpose of the study is to analyse and diagnose the development of emotional and spiritual independence in adolescents based on the connection with school performance and family environment. The leading techniques for investigating this problem were analysis, classification, observation, experiment, generalisation, and comparison of results. The study identified the role of parents in the development of independence of an adolescent and the connection of this process with success at school; demonstrated aspects and features of the psychological and pedagogical process; etc. A detailed analysis of the literature was conducted and the content, characteristics, and features of this phenomenon were clarified; various forms of parental influence on an adolescent and their psychological autonomy were discovered; the process of indirect influence on children's academic success was considered and other.