Introduction: This study examines the predictive roles of personality traits, rational/irrational beliefs, and self-efficacy in academic performance, while also investigating how these factors interact with gender, residence, and school type.Methods: Data were collected from 453 students at George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science, and Technology in Târgu Mureş using the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ), the General Self-Efficacy Scale (SES), and the short-form Attitudes and Beliefs Scale (ABSs).Results: Results revealed that institutional factors, particularly high school type, emerged as the strongest predictors of academic performance. Among the psychological traits, aggressiveness/hostility, impulsive sensation seeking, and rationality significantly predicted academic performance. Notably, impulsive sensation seeking was positively linked to higher performance in female but not male students, while aggressiveness/hostility predicted better performance only among students with high self-efficacy.Discussion: These findings highlight the potential for tailored intervention programs that take into account gender and personality differences to improve academic outcomes.

Introduction: Problematic smartphone use has been associated with academic procrastination, but it remains unclear whether this association reflects the amount of time spent using a smartphone or difficulty regulating its use. This cross-sectional study compared problematic smartphone use with self-reported daily use duration as predictors of academic procrastination. It also, examined general self-efficacy as a candidate intervening variable and educational stage as an exploratory moderator, and provided a preliminary psychometric evaluation of a new 27-item measure of problematic smartphone use. Methods: A convenience sample of 973 Romanian adults enrolled in secondary or higher education completed measures of problematic smartphone use, self-reported daily use duration, general self-efficacy, and academic procrastination. All participants were at least 18 years old, so the secondary-education subgroup comprised adult students in their final high-school years. Analyses included competing confirmatory factor models, hierarchical regression, comparison of dependent correlations, a bootstrap indirect-effect model, and exploratory moderation. Results: Problematic smartphone use was positively associated with academic procrastination ( r = 0.21, 95% CI [0.15, 0.27], p < 0.001), whereas self-reported daily use duration was not ( r = 0.04, p = 0.192). The two dependent correlations differed significantly (Williams test, p < 0.001), and problematic smartphone use explained additional variance beyond self-reported use duration (Δ R ² = 0.042). The association remained similar after removing items conceptually adjacent to procrastination, although conceptual overlap cannot be excluded. General self-efficacy did not account for the association in the hypothesized direction. In exploratory analyses, the association was stronger in the secondary-education subgroup ( r = 0.31) than among university students ( r = 0.15; interaction p = 0.016, Δ R ² = 0.007). Discussion: Academic procrastination was more consistently associated with problematic smartphone use than with self-reported daily use duration, although the explained variance was small ( R ² = 0.04). Duration was self-reported with a single item, so the comparison does not extend to objectively recorded screen time. The findings are consistent with a self-regulation account; however, the cross-sectional design precludes causal or temporal inferences. Both measures require independent validation, and the findings should be replicated with independently validated instruments.

Background: Children’s resilience is a dynamic, multisystemic process shaped by cultural context, supportive relationships, and family values. In Romania, research on children’s resilience and the role of parental values remains limited. Objective: This study examined the relationship between children’s resilience, socio-demographic factors (parental educational level, economic status, family structure, religious affiliation, and ethnicity), and parental values based on Schwartz’s value model. We hypothesized that socially oriented values (security, conformity, tradition, universalism, and benevolence) would be associated with higher resilience. Method: A cross-sectional correlational study was conducted with 245 children aged 8–15 years (M = 10.58, SD = 1.95) and one parent per child. Children’s resilience was assessed using the Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM-28), parental values using the Short Schwartz’s Value Survey (SSVS), and socio-demographic data through a parental questionnaire. Results: Higher resilience was associated with higher parental educational level and with parental values reflecting conservation and self-transcendence. In the regression model, parental educational level, conservation values, Orthodox religious affiliation, and intact family structure were independently associated with resilience and jointly accounted for 22.6% of the variance. Younger children had higher resilience, but age was not a significant predictor in regression analysis. Conclusions: The findings support the socio-ecological perspective on resilience and provide among the first empirical evidence from Romania that parental values, together with family and cultural resources, are associated with children’s resilience.