Articles

Background. Rapid changes in work and career systems have increased the importance of proactive career regulation. Career crafting refers to intentional behaviors through which individuals shape career-related resources, relationships, meanings, and task boundaries. However, dedicated instruments for assessing career crafting are limited, and no Russian-language measure has yet been validated.

Objective. To adapt and validate the Career Crafting Assessment (CCA-R) for Russian-speaking samples.

Design. A cross-sectional online survey included 1,100 employed respondents from different regions of Russia. The study examined the factor structure, reliability, general factor contribution, item-level properties, and convergent validity of the CCA-R using measures of job crafting and proactive attitudes.

Results. The CCA-R reproduced the original four-factor structure: Changing Relational Boundaries, Utilizing Relational Resources, Reflecting Positive Career Meaning, and Expanding Task Boundaries. The higher-order model showed an acceptable fit (CFI = .924, TLI = .907, RMSEA = .085), supporting the hierarchical structure of the CCA-R.

Internal consistency was high for the total scale (α = .92, ω = .95) and satisfactory to high for the subscales (α = .78–.88; ω = .79–.88). Schmid–Leiman analysis indicated a substantial general factor (ωh = .77; explained common variance = 61.8%). IRT analysis showed high item discrimination and adequate latent trait coverage. Convergent validity was supported by positive correlations with job crafting (rs = .59–.61) and proactive attitudes (r = .41), whereas Decreasing Hindering Job Demands showed no practically meaningful association with career crafting.

Conclusion. The Russian version of the CCA is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing proactive career crafting behavior in Russian-speaking samples.

Background. Suicidal risk in university students does not require analysis solely from clinical parameters; it is also necessary to understand it from the perspective of psychosocial factors and the everyday life situations to which the students are mostly exposed. Furthermore, it is a phenomenon with multiple causes, so studying it by integrating the complexity of various actors can help us understand not only direct dynamics but also indirect, multifaceted ones.

Objective.  To estimate a sequential and latent multiple mediation model of emotional fatigue and social dysfunction in the relationship between loneliness and suicidal risk in Ecuadorian university students. 

Design. A descriptive, cross-sectional, multiple mediation study using structural equation modelling (SEM). The sample comprised 943 undergraduate students (64.4% women, 35.6% men) from six universities (61.1% public) in four Ecuadorian cities, aged between 18 and 47 years (M = 21.62, SD = 3.81). 

Results. Loneliness, emotional fatigue, and social dysfunction are latent predictors of suicidal risk, explaining 60% of its variance. Loneliness exerts both a direct effect on suicide risk and an indirect effect through the sequential multiple mediation of emotional fatigue and social dysfunction.

Conclusion. Academic risk factors such as loneliness, emotional fatigue, and social dysfunction are key attributes to consider for preventing suicidal behavior in university students. These predictors can dynamically interact to generate both direct and indirect effects, allowing for a better understanding of the complexity of this phenomenon.

Background. Early childhood is a sensitive period for the development of emotion comprehension. Although family factors are known to influence emotion comprehension, the specific role of birth order remains understudied. In the modern context, research on predictors of emotion comprehension should control for screen time.

Objective. This study investigates whether birth order predicts emotion comprehension development in 5–6—year-old children over a one-year period, controlling for screen time.

Design. The sample consisted of 84 boys and 83 girls recruited from two-child families with age gap between siblings not more than 5 years. During the study’s first stage (T1), the children were in the penultimate year of kindergarten. The study’s second stage was one year later. The Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC) was used to evaluate emotion comprehension. Data on birth order, age difference between siblings, and screen time were collected via a questionnaire for caregivers.

Results. Birth order was not a significant predictor of the emotion comprehension development in boys and girls. However, in the exploratory model for girls, higher active screen time at T1 was associated with smaller gains in emotion comprehension over one year.

Conclusion. The findings are exploratory and require further testing; future research should formally test whether sex moderates the association between active screen time and emotion comprehension development. The absence of birth order effects may reflect insufficient statistical power rather than a true null relationship. Subsequent studies with larger samples should examine why active screen time affects emotion comprehension development in girls.

Background. Nurturing and responsive parenting, along with parental competencies that foster child development, are the foundation for healthy emotional and psychological growth, as they provide children and adolescents with a secure environment in which they feel valued, understood, and capable of coping with everyday challenges. From this perspective, the quality of family interactions plays a central role in the development of children’s self-esteem.

Objective. To analyze the relationship among formative parental competencies, parental stress, and children’s self-esteem. 

Design. The sample of 332 participants comprised 166 children aged 8 to 12 years and their caregivers. The E2P v.2 scale, the PSI-SF, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale were administered, after obtaining consent from the parents and/or caregivers and assent from the children.

Results. At a correlational level, formative parental competencies were negatively associated with parental stress, and positively associated with children’s self-esteem, while parental stress was negatively associated with that self-esteem. When examining the relationships using structural equation modeling, formative parental competencies were associated with less stress and higher self-esteem in children, without showing a direct effect of stress on the children’s self-esteem.

Conclusion. These findings suggest that the quality of parenting practices is associated with lower levels of parental stress and higher levels of children’s self-esteem, highlighting its potential role as a protective factor. This pattern of associations may inform the design of interventions aimed at strengthening parental competencies aligned with positive parenting, without implying causal effects.

Background. The rapid digital transformation in Indonesia’s education sector requires lecturers and teachers to demonstrate high levels of technological readiness. However, previous studies suggest that many educators remain insufficiently prepared to adapt to digital change, which may cause increased work stress, ineffective technology use, and reduced educational performance. Identifying factors that influence educators’ readiness for change is therefore essential for supporting successful digital transformation in educational institutions.

Objective. To examine the relationship between perceived organizational support and educators’ readiness for change and to investigate whether organizational identification mediates this relationship.

Design. A quantitative cross-sectional design was employed involving 322 lecturers and teachers from various educational institutions in Indonesia. Data were collected using the Readiness for Change Scale (Holt et al.), the Organizational Identification Scale (Mael & Ashforth), and the Perceived Organizational Support Scale (Eisenberger et al.). Relationships among the variables were examined using mediation analysis with bootstrapped confidence intervals.

Results. Perceived organizational support was positively associated with readiness for change and organizational identification. Organizational identification was also positively related to readiness for change. Mediation analysis indicated a significant but partial indirect effect of perceived organizational support on readiness for change through organizational identification, suggesting that organizational support influences readiness both directly and indirectly through identification.

Conclusion. The findings highlight the central role of perceived organizational support in enhancing educators’ readiness for digital transformation. While organizational identification contributes to this process, its mediating role appears secondary to the direct influence of organizational support. Strengthening supportive institutional practices may therefore facilitate educators’ adaptation to digital transformation.

Background. Corruption severely threatens societal stability and well-being, with various factors contributing to its prevalence. This study, relying on theory and empirical research on the relationship between suffering and fraud, offers a new explanation, that worries may be an essential factor in the acceptability of corruption. People’s worries are the consequences of suffering they experience throughout their lives.

Objective. To investigate the role of basic human values in the relationship between micro/macro worries and the acceptance of corruption.

Design. In the cross-sectional online research, 1,380 Russians participated. The socio-psychological survey includes the revised Portrait Values Questionnaire, a modified version of Kubiak’s method for assessing the acceptability of corruption, and a modified version of Boehnke’s method for assessing worries.

Results. The results demonstrate that micro worries lead to acceptance of corruption, while macro worries induce rejection of corruption. The interaction of values and worries affects the acceptability of corruption and shows that increasing micro worries, against the backdrop of the values Conservation and Self-Transcendence, can lead to high risk of everyday corruption. We observe the opposite situation when macro worries, against the backdrop of the clearly expressed value Openness to Change, lead to decreased corruption risks.

Conclusion. This research contributes theoretically by explaining how negative social phenomena like corruption can be understood through the relationship between suffering and dishonest behavior.

Background. In recent years, experimental studies concerning the role of the cerebellum in cognitive functions and a variety of language deficits have been conducted.

Objective. To evaluate the impact of posterior fossa tumors (PFT) on spatial working memory and eye-movement behavior during reading in children and to compare the system-level organization of working memory and gaze-related parameters between patients and typically developing peers.

Design. This retrospective cohort study applied advanced analytical methods, including Drift Diffusion Modeling (DDM) and Recurrence Quantification Analysis (RQA), to capture the temporal dynamics of cognitive processing and oculomotor control. The study included 119 children aged 8 to 17 years: 59 survivors of posterior fossa tumors and 60 healthy controls. Working memory was assessed using the Spatial Span task from the CANTAB battery, modeled using DDM parameters, while eye movements during reading were recorded with eye tracking and analyzed using RQA. Network analysis was conducted to characterize cross-domain integration between working memory dynamics and gaze behavior.

Results. Our findings indicate that cerebellar disruption due to tumor and treatment affects not only isolated aspects of reading or eye-movement behavior, but also the functional coordination between working memory and oculomotor control. Stronger working memory capacity was associated with more organized and predictable gaze dynamics in controls, whereas patients showed reduced flexibility and altered connectivity patterns. RQA parameters captured a unified dynamical system, linking cognitive control and motor implementation during reading.

Conclusion. These findings highlight the importance of considering subtle, system-level disruptions in posterior fossa tumor patients and underscore the relevance of using multimodal, temporally sensitive approaches when designing rehabilitation protocols.

Background. There is a high prevalence of impairments in executive functions in various neurological diseases (stroke, traumatic brain injury, neurodegenerative disorders), which severely limits patients’ independence and quality of life. The study integrates the theory of the systematic, step-by-step formation of mental actions and concepts by Galperin, Luria's approach to neuropsychology, and modern foreign rehabilitation techniques (e.g., strategies from the "Goal Management Training" program).

Objective. To assess the impact of a specialized neuropsychological training program on monitoring process indicators in patients with brain damage of various etiology. 

Design. The study involved 48 patients with brain damage of various etiology, aged from 23 to 74 years (M_age = 57.6; SD = 11.13; 17 women and 31 men). The patients were divided into an experimental group and a control group.

Results. A specialized training program aimed at improving monitoring process indicators in patients with impaired executive functions was developed, as well as a neuropsychological diagnostic protocol for assessing monitoring. We did not observe a training effect when comparing the monitoring index values before and after the training within the experimental group. However, we found significant differences between the experimental and control groups when analyzing the indices based on the results of the post-test assessment (U = 170, p = .008, p_bonferroni = .032), along with significant improvements in five monitoring indicators and the total Frontal Assessment Battery score in the patients of the experimental group.

Conclusion. The training effect, when comparing the experimental and control groups at the post-test, may be interpreted within the framework of intra-systemic semantic reorganization and the initial formation of a new mental action of selection and implementation of a solution in which monitoring actively participates. This interpretation is preliminary and requires further empirical validation. In future research, we plan to focus the training on the formation of the mental action of control.

Background. Empirical evidence highlights that psychotherapists and applied psychologists experience stress, anxiety, depression, emotional exhaustion, secondary traumatic stress, and other symptoms of somatic and psychological distress. Although studies suggest that volunteering can protect somatic and psychological well-being in the general population, these relationships have not been investigated in mental health professionals.

Objective. This study aimed to examine the role of volunteering and work-related characteristics in symptoms of somatic and psychological distress among psychotherapists and applied psychologists.

Design. The study had a cross-sectional design. The participants were psychotherapists and applied psychologists who provided volunteer Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy sessions. One hundred and twenty volunteer EMDR therapists filled out the forms measuring somatic, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, job satisfaction, meaningfulness of work, and engagement in volunteering.

Results. Correlation analyses showed that symptoms of somatic and psychological distress were negatively associated with job satisfaction, vigor in volunteering, and dedication in volunteering. Regression analyses revealed that vigor in volunteering was the only significant negative predictor of somatic (β = -.247, p = .049), anxiety (β = -.263, p = .004), and depressive symptoms (β = -.263, p = .034).

Conclusion. This study contributes to our knowledge of the benefits of volunteering for the somatic and psychological well-being of EMDR therapists. From a practical standpoint, these findings suggest that psychotherapists and applied psychologists might be encouraged to frame pro bono work as a form of emotional and professional self-regulation. Furthermore, training programs could integrate pro bono activities into their curricula.

Background. Relational self-esteem—self-worth derived from significant relationships—is central to psychosocial functioning. However, brief measures validated with appropriate methods for ordinal items are scarce in Ecuadorian populations.

Objective. To examine the factorial structure, internal consistency, convergent validity, and gender-based measurement invariance of the Relational Self-Esteem Scale (RSE), using a cross-validation approach.

Design. Instrumental, cross-sectional study with n = 1.478 Ecuadorian adults. The sample was split for cross-validation: 40% (n = 591) for EFA and 60% (n = 887) for CFA. EFA used a polychoric matrix, ULS extraction, and oblimin rotation; factor retention was guided by parallel analysis. CFA employed WLSMV. Convergent validity was tested against personal self-esteem (RSES), collective self-esteem (CSE), and mental well-being (MHC-SF). Multigroup measurement invariance by gender was assessed (configural, metric, scalar, strict).

Results. Parallel analysis and confirmatory factor analysis supported a unidimensional structure with robust factor loadings and an adequate overall model fit. The scale demonstrated high internal consistency and reliability. Convergent validity was established through significant positive correlations with measures of self-esteem, core self-evaluations, and mental health. The instrument showed full measurement invariance across genders, meeting all criteria from configural to strict levels.

Conclusion. The RSE shows a unidimensional structure, adequate reliability, convergent validity, and gender invariance in Ecuadorian adults. Findings support using the total score as a brief, valid indicator of relational self-esteem in this context.

Background. In a rapidly changing society, locus of control becomes an important psychological indicator reflecting an individual’s readiness to actively manage their own life. Research shows that an internal locus of control is associated with higher levels of psychological well-being, academic achievement, and social responsibility. The relevance of studying the factors that influence the development of locus of control in childhood and adolescence is determined by its high plasticity during this period and the possibility of targeted influence through the family environment.

Objective. The present study focuses on the relationship between parental and child locus of control in the context of parent–child relationships in intact two-child families. Particular attention is given to the analysis of both direct and indirect influences (through parental attitudes) of parental locus of control on children’s locus of control.

Design. The sample consisted of 278 families (N = 1,112 individuals). The Questionnaire of Locus Control and the “Parent-Child Interaction” questionnaire were used for assessment. Data analysis was conducted using the Actor–Partner Interdependence Model (APIM).

Results. Parents with a more internal locus of control demonstrated more positive attitudes toward their children, which in turn was positively associated with the development of an internal locus of control in siblings. Maternal locus of control was found to play a particularly important role, exerting both direct and indirect influences on children’s locus of control. Within the parental dyad, maternal influence was expressed not only as actor effects but also as partner effects, through its impact on paternal attitudes toward the children. It was also shown that children’s subjective perception of a parental positive attitude is a particularly significant mediator between parental and child locus of control.

Conclusion. The obtained data emphasize the significance of the family environment, specifically positive parental attitude, in the formation of locus of control in children.

Background. Climate change worry is an increasingly relevant emotional response among young adults. However, less is known about the psychosocial predictors of climate change worry and whether these associations differ by level of environmental activism engagement.

Objective. This study examined psychosocial predictors of climate change worry in Italian young adults, focusing on mental health, personality traits, perceived individual and social norms, and individual and collective climate self-efficacy. A secondary aim compared more engaged versus less engaged participants.

Method. Using convenience and snowball sampling via social media and word of mouth, 302 Italian young adults aged 18–35 years (M = 24.20, SD = 3.73; 62% female) completed an online survey. Group differences were tested using one-way ANOVAs. Multiple regression analyses were conducted separately in the more engaged (EA_MORE) and less engaged (EA_LESS) groups to identify predictors of climate change worry.

Results. EA_MORE reported significantly higher climate change worry than EA_LESS. In EA_MORE, climate change worry was predicted by mental health, collective self-efficacy, and perceived individual and social norms. In EA_LESS, climate change worry was predicted by mental health and perceived individual and social norms, whereas collective self-efficacy was not significant.

Conclusions. Climate change worry appears to reflect a combination of well-being and normative/efficacy-related processes, with different patterns depending upon the level of activism engagement. Supporting effective coping strategies may help reduce the emotional burden associated with sustained engagement.

Background. The inconsistent evidence regarding nostalgia’s affective outcomes suggests that its effects may not be uniform, but contingent on individual characteristics, a possibility that has received limited empirical attention.

Objective. To examine how induced nostalgia influences positive and negative affect, while accounting for age, gender, and overall well-being.

Design. A sample of 122 participants (balanced by gender and across three age groups: 20-35, 36-50, and 51-65 years) completed an Event Reflection Task to elicit either nostalgic memories or recollections of daily life events. Positive and negative affect were measured before and after the nostalgia induction and general well-being was measured after the intervention.

Results. Negative and ambivalent affect decreased after both experimental and control interventions. Gender and age did not moderate the effect of nostalgia induction on affect. Well-being moderated affective outcomes of nostalgia induction, with individuals higher in well-being experiencing greater increases in positive affect and greater decreases in negative and ambivalent affect (co-activation of positive and negative affect) after nostalgia induction.

Conclusion. The emotional impact of nostalgia appears to be independent of age or gender, but affected by individual differences in well-being. These findings help to clarify previous inconsistencies in the literature and suggest that nostalgia may be most emotionally beneficial for those already in a stable emotional state.

Background. Due to the prolonged duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, cultural differences and various strategies used to combat the disease, public perceptions of both the virus and the pandemic itself have likely evolved considerably since its onset and may vary significantly across countries.

Objective. The aim of the research was to study the factors influencing the dynamics underpinning perceptual differences regarding the coronavirus and the COVID-19 pandemic among respondents from Russia, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan across different stages of the pandemic.

Design. The questionnaire "Perception of the Coronavirus and the COVID-19 Pandemic" was completed by 2.863 participants between April 2020 and May 2022. The total sample was divided into seven subsamples based on country and the time of participation in the study. The study design was cross-sectional and included intergroup comparison, taking into account all questionnaire items according to factors of gender, cultural background, and time of participation in the study.

Results. The study confirmed the significance of gender, cultural background, and time factors in the perception of the coronavirus and the pandemic.

Conclusion. Cultural background, gender, and time factors are significant in the formation of perceptions toward both the COVID-19 pandemic and the virus itself.

Background. There are genetic, social, and interpersonal factors that determine the relationship between mate preferences and parental figures. Attachment theory offers an explanatory principle about the continuity of relationships with the primary caregiver and romantic partner.

Objective. To integrate the cultural-historical and attachment approaches, and to examine the contribution of attachment style to the image of the family, as well as to conceptualize the orienting image of attachment.

Design. 237 heterosexual Russian individuals participated in the study. The Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R) Questionnaire and a Semantic Differential Scale were used to assess attachment style, as well as images of self, romantic partner, mother and father, and the family.

Results. Significant differences in the image of the family were found depending on attachment style; however, no differences were found in the image of the parental family. Attachment insecurity dimensions are associated with perceptions of the similarity of image of the mother and the romantic partner image in men and women (both dimensions for women and avoidance for men). Characteristics of the mother and father images predict attachment anxiety in women, while the father image predicts attachment avoidance in men.

Conclusion. The orienting image of attachment was conceptualized as the image of the mother, which is explained by the cultural patterns of upbringing in the Russian sample; however, individual characteristics of parental images act as predictors of attachment insecurity dimensions.

Background. Psychological attention to the role of academic performance in university admission tests is still growing. This attention includes both the psychometric characteristics of these tests and the cognitive and non-cognitive factors that may affect performance in admission tests.  

Objective. This study aims to assess the stability and changes in the academic performance of students across two consecutive admission tests. It also aims to examine how participants’ genders and languages can relate to student academic performance.

Design. To test the research hypotheses, we sampled a large group of school graduates (n = 25.563) who applied and took two national university admission tests in 2024 in Kazakhstan. 

Results. The results of the Pearson correlation revealed that there is a positive association between the academic performance of applicants in two consecutive national admission test scores (r = .913). The paired t-test results suggested that they were statistically significant, with the largest increase in overall scores (ΔM = .96). Gender was found to affect the academic performance such that females outperformed males (85.6% vs. 64.6% pass rates), showing stronger effect sizes. There were also statistical differences between the two groups of Russian and Kazakh test takers; however, this difference was not practically significant. 

Conclusion. These findings suggest that demographic characteristics of applicants can considerably influence the university admission results, and it is recommended that test developers be attentive to this issue. Academic performance showed strong stability over time, especially in STEM subjects, with significant but modest overall improvements across subjects. 

Background. Gratitude is a human strength that promotes well-being; however, it is important to consider culture when constructing scales. 

Objective. To develop and validate a culturally adapted Mexican Gratitude Scale for youth, establishing its psychometric properties: reliability, internal structure, convergent validity, and criterion validity.

Design. The participants were 442 Mexican young people with a mean age of 20.81 years from three regions of Mexico.

Results. The initial 28-item scale underwent systematic refinement through Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). This psychometric validation process yielded a final 9-item instrument characterized by a robust two-dimensional factorial structure: personal gratitude and emotional gratitude. The CFA results confirmed this structure through excellent model fit indices (CFI = .98; NFI = .97) and demonstrated significant internal consistency for personal gratitude (ω = .89) and emotional gratitude (ω = .88). The scale provided evidence for convergent validity through significant correlations. Personal gratitude showed moderate associations with optimism (r = .40), positive vision (r = .37), affective resources (r = .30), and hope (r = .43), while emotional gratitude exhibited stronger relationships with optimism (r = .54), positive vision (r = .51), affective resources (r = .42), and hope (r = .52). Discriminant validity was evidenced by young people who do not report any type of mental disease scoring higher on gratitude.

Conclusion. The psychometric properties of the Mexican Gratitude Scale proved to be acceptable, facilitating its use and application in the general and clinical population for future research.

Background. Previous research highlights the importance of parental support, and in particular parental autonomy support, in homework motivation. However, the joint impact of parental autonomy support and parental control on homework motivation, cheating, persistence, and GPA has not been studied, despite the importance of homework motivation and homework behavior for students’ academic achievement.

Objective. To investigate how students’ parental control and parental autonomy support are related to homework motivation and homework behaviors (e.g., cheating and persistence), and academic achievement in Russian high school students.

Design. The participants were high school students, N = 526 (257 girls and 269 boys, M_age = 16.48, SD = .61). The measures used included the Perceived Parental Autonomy Support Scale (Mageau et al., 2015), the Motivation for Homework Scale (Gordeeva & Sychev, 2025b), the Homework Behavior Scale (Gordeeva & Sychev, 2025a), and students’ GPA.

Results. In contrast to control, parental autonomy support showed a clear positive effect on student academic achievement. Structural equation modeling showed that perceived parental autonomy support in childhood is positively associated with students’ GPA, autonomous homework motivation, and productive homework behavior. On the other hand, controlling parenting style demonstrated ambivalent patterns of results, being a predictor of low persistence, external and introjected homework motivation, with the latter related to higher GPA. 

Conclusion. This study extends previous self-determination theory (SDT) research on parenting styles by examining their role in homework behavior and academic performance, particularly emphasizing the dual importance of promoting parental autonomy support and lowering parental control for homework motivation.

Background. Problematic social media use and emotional regulation difficulties have been associated with increased appearance-related concerns among adolescents. However, these associations may vary depending on the interaction of psychosocial factors and contextual influences such as parental mediation.

Objective. To identify profiles based on adolescents’ levels of problematic social media use and online emotional intelligence, and to examine their relationship with appearance-related social media consciousness, considering the mediating role of parental mediation strategies and the moderating role of gender.

Design. A total of 636 Cuban adolescents aged 12 to 15 participated in the study, the majority of whom were female (n = 351, 55.2%). Measures included validated scales of social media disorder, online emotional intelligence, parental mediation, and appearance-related social media consciousness (ASMC). Latent Profile Analysis was used to identify profiles, followed by parallel multiple mediation and moderated mediation models using the PROCESS macro.

Results. Four latent profiles were identified, reflecting different combinations of emotional competence and problematic use. Only active parental mediation emerged as a significant mediator between profiles and appearance-related social media consciousness (ASMC), with stronger effects among adolescents with lower emotional intelligence. No significant moderated mediation by gender was found, although girls reported higher exposure to mediation and more pronounced indirect effects in high-risk profiles.

Conclusion. These findings emphasize that adolescents’ digital and emotional profiles shape how appearance-related risks develop in social media contexts. They underscore the protective value of active parental mediation and suggest that interventions should not only address problematic social media use but also promote emotional competencies and strengthen family involvement, offering practical guidelines for prevention programs and school-based interventions. 

Background. Previous research has established the significant role of perceived stress in contributing to Smartphone addiction, but the specific effects and mechanisms through which perceived stress influences smartphone application-based addiction (SABA) among young adults remain insufficiently understood.

Objective. This study investigates the relationship between perceived stress and the smartphone application-based addiction (SABA) in emerging adulthood, focusing on the mediating role of psychological distress and the moderating role of self-control.

Design. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 1,911 young adults in Southwest China, utilizing the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4), the Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale (SABAS), the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4), and the Brief Self-Control Scale (BSCS).

Results. Perceived stress positively predicted psychological distress (β = .47, t = 24.38, P < .001), psychological distress positively predicted Smartphone application-based addiction (β = .42, t = 7.04, P < .001), and perceived stress positively predicted smartphone application-based addiction (β = .65, t = 11.46, P < .001). Psychological distress was a mediating variable between the relationship between perceived stress and smartphone application-based addiction, with a mediating effect size of .19 (95% CI = [.13, .26]), accounting for 22.62% of the total effect. Self-control moderated the relationship between perceived stress and psychological distress in young adults (β = -.13, t = -8.40, P <.001).

Conclusion. Our findings reveal a positive correlation between perceived stress and SABA, with psychological distress serving as a mediator. The impact of perceived stress on SABA is more significant among individuals with lower self-control, indicating that targeted interventions for these groups may be particularly beneficial.