The current meta-analysis aims to investigate the relationship between parental stress and well-being, by focusing on the positive dimensions of parental well-being, such as happiness and life satisfaction, which are often overlooked in favor of negative outcomes like depression. It also extends the scope beyond specific populations, such as parents of children with special needs, to include parents of typically developing children. This meta-analysis included evidence from cross-sectional, longitudinal, daily diary, and intervention studies. By examining various moderators related to parent and child variables (such as gender, age, job status) and study characteristics, this analysis aims to inform more effective, targeted interventions to enhance parental well-being. Systematic searches of the Web of Science, PubMed, APA PsychNet, Scopus, ProQuest, and Google Scholar databases yielded 86 studies, involving 22,108 parents of children aged 0 to 18 years. The PROSPERO registration number for this study is CRD42023428750. Elected outcomes were continuous self-report measures to assess stress and well-being of parents. Our findings indicated a significant negative medium-sized association between parental stress and well-being (r = − .40), i.e., greater parental stress was robustly linked to reduced well-being. Higher-quality studies reported stronger stress-well-being associations, underscoring the role of methodological rigor in producing reliable estimates. Additionally, studies utilizing the Parental Stress Index (PSI) demonstrated stronger associations, highlighting its utility as a validated measure for capturing parental stress. Overall, these findings emphasize the need for evidence-based prevention and intervention programs to address parental stress and improve well-being.

(1) Background: Although there is accumulating evidence for the associations between resilience, emotion regulation and stress, little is known about the mechanisms of these relations. To extend the existing research, the present study examined cognitive emotion regulation strategies as one potential mechanism between trait resilience and perceived stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. (2) Methods: Young adults (N = 266; M = 20.05; SD = 3.93) were invited to fill out questionnaires that assessed trait resilience, cognitive emotion regulation strategies and perceived stress. (3) Results: The results showed that resilience was negatively associated with perceived stress and with self-blame, catastrophizing and rumination, and positively associated with positive reappraisal, focus on planning, positive refocus and putting into perspective. Stress was positively associated with self-blame, catastrophizing, rumination, other-blame and acceptance, and negatively associated with positive reappraisal and positive refocus. Moreover, positive refocus, rumination, catastrophizing and self-blame partially explained the associations between trait resilience and perceived stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. (4) Conclusions: These findings highlight the potential utility of targeting cognitive emotion regulation strategies in the development and implementation of preventive interventions for reducing stress during highly challenging situations.

(1) Background: The high rates of mental disorders in adolescence presented in the literature often exclude internalizing problems. Although there is extensive data on the effectiveness of SEL skills in improving resilience, few studies included evidence in their reports on the relationship between SEL skills and internalizing problems. The present study aims to deepen the understanding of the relationship between SEL, resilience, and internalizing problems, by investigating the mediating effect of resilience between SEL components and internalizing problems. (2) Methods: Adolescents (N = 968 adolescents, aged between 11 and 18 years old; M = 13.30; SD = 1.92) from 30 schools from the NE region of Romania were invited to fill out questionnaires on social and emotional learning, internalizing problems, and resilience. (3) Results: The results show that resilience mediates the link between self-awareness and internalizing problems, between self-management and internalizing problems, between relationship skills and internalizing problems, and between responsible decision-making and internalizing problems. (4) Conclusions: These findings revealed the need for social and emotional learning interventions that include resilience-oriented approaches in order to decrease internalizing problems in adolescents. Moreover, we suggest that more culturally appropriate interventions are required to better investigate the interaction between SEL components, resilience, and internalizing problems.

Research shows that emotions and emotion regulation strategies are important variables for family functioning. The aim of the present article was to review the literature on the role of emotions and emotion regulation in couple relationships and parent-child interaction. The paper presents the most important theoretical models on emotions and family functioning and provides an overview of research investigating the association of positive emotions, negative emotions and emotion regulation with family relationships outcomes. First, we provided an overview on the functionality and social function of positive and negative emotions. Second, we investigated the role of positive and negative emotions in couple relationship and parent-child interaction. Third, we emphasized the role of specific intrapersonal and interpersonal emotion regulation strategies in couple relationships. Finally, we outlined the role of parents in child’s emotional development. The conclusions of our review support the importance of including emotions and emotion regulation strategies in counselling programs for couples and families.

The aim of the present study was to adapt the Behavioral Emotion Regulation Questionnaire to the Romanian population and assess its psychometric proprieties. Participants included 399 adults, aged between 18 and 67 years old (M = 25.30, SD = 9.20; 83% females). Related to reliability and construct validity, results showed good indices. Additionally, results replicated the original five-factor structure, including seeking distraction, withdrawal, actively approaching, seeking social support and ignoring. These subscales showed good criterion validity, having significant associations with cognitive emotion regulation strategies, stress, anxiety and depression, and positive and negative affectivity. Furthermore, in terms of predictive validity, seeking distraction and actively approaching negatively predicted six months later symptoms of depression, withdrawal positively predicted six months later symptoms of depression and anxiety, while actively approaching negatively predicted six months later stress. These findings highlight that the Romanian version of the BERQ could be a helpful tool to assess emotion regulation strategies among adults.