Previous studies have emphasized the effect of insecurity attachment on youth's Internet and smartphone addiction. In this study, we examine the mediating role of alexithymia, impulsivity, and general psychological distress in the relationship between insecure attachment dimensions and technology addiction. Data were collected from 539 adolescents and young adults, mostly women ( N = 378; 70.1 percent), aged 19.76 ± 1.99 years. Participants completed self-report measures of attachment insecurity, psychological risk factors (i.e., impulsivity, psychological distress, and alexithymia), and technology addiction (i.e., problematic Internet use, smartphone, and Internet addiction). The gender-related (i.e., multi-group) mediation model was tested through a path analysis with both observed and latent variables. Attachment anxiety had no direct effect on technology addiction, whereas attachment avoidance had a small negative direct effect, but only among women. Insecure attachment dimensions were significantly associated with psychological risk factors, whereas the latter had a significant, direct association with technology addiction. Psychological risk factors significantly mediated the association between insecure attachment dimensions and technology addiction. Finally, the tested model was gender-invariant. Findings suggest that insecure attachment dimensions have an indirect effect on the development of technology addiction mediated almost entirely by higher levels of psychological risk factors. Such findings might have relevant implications to inform any treatment plan for young adults who are overinvolved with technology activities and so to deliver patient-tailored interventions.

Despite several empirical studies on the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic that have highlighted its detrimental effect on individuals’ mental health, the identification of psychological factors that may moderate its impact on individuals’ behavior and well-being remains partly unexplored. The present study was conceived to examine the mediation role of regulatory emotional self-efficacy in the relationship between positivity and anxiety, depression, and perceived self-efficacy in complying with the containment measures to contrast the COVID-19 spread. Furthermore, the moderation role of age was tested. A sample of 1258 participants (64.2% women; M_age = 42.09, SD = 13.62) enrolled from the Italian general population answered an online survey aimed at investigating the role of individual differences in facing the COVID-19 pandemic. We opted for a snowball recruiting procedure to find participants. The online survey was disseminated through email invitation and using social media platforms (i.e., Facebook, Instagram). A multi-group path analysis model was performed using Mplus 8.4 to explore the hypothesized relations among variables. The following criteria were employed to evaluate the goodness of fit: χ² likelihood ratio statistic, CFI and TLI > 0.95, RMSEA < 0.06 and SRMR < 0.08. The findings corroborated the protective role of both positivity and regulatory emotional self-efficacy in reducing individuals’ anxiety and depressive symptoms, as well as in fostering individuals’ capabilities in complying with the containment measures imposed by the government to reduce the risk of illness and to contain the spread of the virus COVID-19. Specifically, regulatory emotional self-efficacy beliefs partially mediated the relations between positivity and anxiety and depressive symptoms and fully mediated the effect of positivity on perceived self-efficacy beliefs in complying with the containment measures. These paths were equal across ages. The results of the present study appear relevant to implementing psychological interventions aimed to reduce the deleterious effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health through the promotion of individuals’ optimistic orientation and emotion regulation.

Background: Youths' online problematic behaviors, such as smartphone or social network sites (SNS) addiction, gained increasing attention nowadays, due to their impact on concurrent and later adjustment, such as emotional and/or behavioral problems, academic impairments, or relational issues.Aims: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a pilot school‐based intervention to contrast online addictive behaviors while fostering adolescents' self‐regulative abilities.Materials & Methods: The intervention started in January 2022 in an Italian junior high school located in Rome, and consisted of four meetings with students. A total sample of 462 15‐year‐old adolescents (M_age = 15.2; SD = 0.50; 41% females; N_control = 214; N_intervention = 248) was considered. Within the latent difference score framework, we examined short‐term changes from the pre‐to‐the‐postintervention levels of SNS and smartphone addiction, and self‐regulatory self‐efficacy (SRSE) beliefs as a possible booster of the intervention's effectiveness.Results: Results showed a significant decrease in both online addictions (SNS and smartphone addiction), controlling for age, gender, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status, because of the short‐term efficacy of the project. The buffering effect of SRSE beliefs was further supported.Conclusion: These findings emphasized the usefulness of promoting youths' self‐regulative beliefs to contrast problematic tendencies, according to a Positive Youth Development perspective which focused on resources rather than only on the prevention of negative outcomes for youths' adjustment.

Future orientation is a core human feature shaping people’s behavior and development. It is associated with mental health and well-being, especially under stressful situations. With increasing emphasis on the impact of several collective stressful events (e.g., terrorist attacks, wars, pandemics, natural disasters, climate change, and economic crisis) on people’s mental health, research has focused on individual future orientation over the last two decades. However, literature on the relationship between collective stressful events and individual future orientation is limited and inconclusive. The present study aimed to conduct a systematic review to (1) analyze the relationship between collective stressful events and individual future orientation and to (2) synthesize the evidence for factors that may impact this association (i.e., the type of event, the study design, and the operationalization of the future orientation’s construct). Following PRISMA guidelines, a systematic review was conducted on Scopus, Web of Science, Psycinfo and Pubmed databases up to October 2024; 1,551 articles were identified and 17 were selected. Most analyses (n = 17, 70.83%) found a negative relationship between the collective stressful events and individual future orientation, while a small percentage (n = 6, 25%) found no significant relationship. Notably, the only analysis that specifically examined the relationship between climate change and a generalized pattern of future time perspective found a positive relationship. Furthermore, the study design and the operationalization of the future orientation construct appear to affect the relationship between collective stressful events and individual future orientation.

Shame is an intense, difficult to regulate, self-conscious emotion that predicts aspects of poor psychological functioning and is also strongly related to early relationships. Attachment insecurities, which constitute non-specific risk factors for psychological maladjustment, have been associated with an individual’s tendency to experience shame. In this study, we sought to examine the serial mediating roles of dispositional shame and shame-coping styles (i.e., attack other, attack self, withdrawal and avoidance) in the association between anxious and avoidant attachment, and psychological distress. Using a cross-sectional design, self-reported data were collected. The study sample included 978 respondents (57% female) with a mean age of 32.17 ± 13.48 years. The results of the path analysis indicated that both attachment dimensions were sequentially associated with dispositional shame and then with the attack self shame-coping style, which was, in turn, positively related to psychological distress. Further, attachment insecurities were sequentially associated with dispositional shame and then with the avoidance shame-coping style, which was, in turn, negatively related to psychological distress. The model was gender invariant, suggesting that the serial mediation worked in a similar way for men and women. The practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Excessive use of technology has become a worldwide problem due to its high prevalence, fast growth rate, and undesirable consequences. However, little is known about underlying psychological mechanisms that maintain excessive use of technology. We investigated the mediating role of self-esteem, novelty seeking, and persistence on the relationship between attachment dimensions and technology addiction among young adults. Data were collected from 727 young adults (females, N = 478; 66.3 percent), aged 23.44 ± 3.02 years. Participants completed self-report measures of secure and insecure attachment dimensions, personality, and temperament characteristics (i.e., self-esteem, novelty seeking, and persistence), technology addiction and frequency of technology use (i.e., own technology use, perceived use by peers and parents). The mediation model was tested through a path analysis. The effects of attachment insecurity on technology addiction were partially mediated by the levels of persistence and self-esteem, whereas the effects of attachment security on technology addiction were fully mediated. The effects remained robust even after controlling for the frequency of technology use. The model was gender and age invariant, suggesting that the mediation worked in a similar way for both men and women and across ages. Findings suggest that attachment dimensions exert not only a direct but also an indirect effect on technology addiction through self-esteem and persistence. Such findings may help to develop psychosocial interventions that are sensitive to young adults' attachment, personality, and temperament characteristics.