Background: With many digital mental health interventions failing to engage clients for enough time to demonstrate substantive changes to their well-being and with only 2% of all digital solutions on app stores having undergone randomized controlled trials, the rising demand for mental health prevention and early intervention care is not being met. Young adults in particular struggle to find digital well-being apps that suit their needs. Objective: This study explored the effects of eQuoo, an evidence-based mental health game that teaches psychological skills through gamification, on resilience, depression, anxiety, and attrition in a student population. Methods: In total, 1165 students from 180 universities in the United Kingdom participated in a 5-week, 3-armed randomized controlled trial. Participants were randomly allocated into 1 of 3 groups: eQuoo users, users of a treatment-as-usual evidence-based cognitive behavioral health app called Sanvello, and a no-intervention waitlist. The Rugged Resilience Scale, Generalized Anxiety Disorder–7, and Patient Health Questionnaire–8 were administered to all participants at baseline and every 7 days until completion. Results: A repeated measures–ANOVA revealed statistically significant increases in resilience scores in the test group (P<.001) compared with both control groups (Sanvello: P=.10 and waitlist: P=.82) over 5 weeks. The app also significantly decreased anxiety and depression scores (both P<.001). With 64.5% (251/389) adherence, the eQuoo group retained 42% more participants than the control groups. Conclusions: Digital health interventions such as eQuoo are effective, scalable, and low-cost solutions for supporting young adults and are available on all leading mobile platforms. Further investigation could clarify the extent to which specific elements of the eQuoo app (including gamification) led to better outcomes. Trial Registration: German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS) DRKS00027638; https://drks.de/search/en/trial/DRKS00027638

The physical, mental, and behavioral impact of living in poverty is significant; research shows that individuals who experience financial stress in childhood are more likely to suffer from impaired mental health and continue experiencing similar stressors in adulthood. Less clear is the role of maternal resilience on child outcomes in the face of financial stress. The current study focused on maternal resilience as a moderator between objective financial stress and child outcomes. Additionally, we proposed that subjective financial stress would mediate the interaction between maternal resilience and objective financial stress on child outcomes. To test these hypotheses, we utilized data from the Mothers’ Outcomes Matter Study in which 116 low-income mothers were interviewed about their stress, resilience, and their child’s mental, behavioral, and physical outcomes. Results suggest that maternal self-esteem and mastery buffer the relationship between objective financial stress and child outcomes, but subjective financial stress did not mediate the association.

Depression is an ongoing public health issue impacting over 5 million American adolescents. Although prevention has been shown to be an effective strategy in reducing the incidence of depressive symptoms, depression prevention programs have been developed and tested in largely White populations. Thus, the effects of such programs in diverse groups are understudied, though research shows adapted versions are more beneficial for diverse populations than nonadapted programs. In this study, we sought to examine the effects of depression prevention in Black and White American youth. Informed by youth focus groups, we adapted and implemented a program which previously benefited mainly White samples to benefit Black and White American inner-city high school students. Of the 425 youth who participated, 57.2% identified as Black and 42.8% identified as White. We randomized youth into two conditions-prevention and nonprevention control-and measured depressive symptoms over three semesters. We found differential effects of prevention on Black and White American youth. For Black American youth, there was no difference between the two conditions at any of the waves of data collection. For White American youth, however, the prevention program worked as intended. Given our findings and past research, it is essential to investigate possible causes for the differential effects of prevention to increase understanding and ensure positive effects of prevention for all youth. Additional ramifications and recommendations for future research and practice are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Parents play an important role in adolescent mental health. Yet, research is inconclusive regarding the influence of adolescent affect on parenting behavior. This study examined the bidirectionality between five parenting behaviors and adolescent depressive symptoms—conceptualized by the tripartite model as low positive affect and high negative affect—while investigating gender differences. Adolescents (N = 193) from a Southern United States high school reported their parent’s parenting behavior and their affect twice over a year. Linear regression results revealed relations between parenting behaviors and adolescent affect in both directions. However, when examining the relation between specific parenting behaviors (e.g., involvement) and adolescent affect (e.g., negative affect), results showed unidirectional effects only. Furthermore, significant gender differences emerged. These findings underline the importance of considering the relation between parenting behavior and adolescent affect as bidirectional and with differential associations depending on the parenting behavior and adolescent affect and gender.