This study examines the relationships between spirituality, resilience, and happiness among higher education students, exploring the moderating roles of religious belief and years of study based on developmental and religious coping theoretical frameworks. Developmental theory suggests that university students’ psychological resources evolve across academic years, while religious coping theory posits that individual differences in religious commitment may buffer spirituality’s protective effects on well-being outcomes. Using a quantitative cross-sectional approach, data were collected from 459 university students from environmental science programs across public and private universities in northern Peru. Participants were predominantly female (59.04%) and aged 18–24 years (73%). Three validated instruments were administered: the Personal Spirituality Scale, Connor–Davidson Brief Resilience Scale, and Subjective Happiness Scale. Religious beliefs were measured on a 5-point scale, while years of study was categorized by academic year. Results from partial least squares structural equation modeling revealed significant direct effects of spirituality on both happiness (β = 0.256, p < 0.001) and resilience (β = 0.274, p < 0.001), with resilience also significantly influencing happiness (β = 0.162, p < 0.05). The structural model demonstrated exceptional explanatory power, with spirituality explaining 97.1% of variance in resilience, while spirituality and resilience together accounted for 86.2% of variance in happiness. Contrary to theoretical expectations, neither religious beliefs (β = 0.032, p = 0.489) nor years of study (β = −0.047, p = 0.443) showed significant moderating effects. These results suggest that spirituality and resilience serve as universal contributors to student well-being, operating independently of specific religious orientations and academic progression. The findings support integrating spiritual development and resilience-building components into inclusive university student support programs.

Background: The proliferation of technology in higher education has generated new forms of psychological stress that require an understanding of cognitive mechanisms. Method: This study examined the association between critical thinking and technostress and the mediating role of AI-related academic self-efficacy among 340 Peruvian university students via partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS‒SEM). The following validated instruments were used: Yoon’s Critical Thinking Disposition Scale (26 items administered; 13 retained after the reflective measurement-model assessment), the General Self-Efficacy Scale adapted for artificial intelligence, GSE-6AI (6 items, all retained), and the RED-Technostress scale (22 items administered; 17 retained). Results: The results revealed the absence of a significant direct association between critical thinking and technostress (β = -0.071; p = 0.444) but confirmed a significant positive association between critical thinking and AI-related academic self-efficacy (β = 0.403; p < 0.001) and a significant positive association between AI-related academic self-efficacy and technostress (β = 0.258; p < 0.001). The indirect association between critical thinking and technostress through AI-related academic self-efficacy was significant and positive (β = 0.104, p < 0.001). The model accounted for 16.2% of the variance in self-efficacy and 5.6% of the variance in technostress. Conclusion: These findings do not support the expected direct protective association between critical thinking and technostress. Critical thinking was indirectly associated with technostress through AI-related academic self-efficacy; however, the positive direction of this pathway suggests that higher self-efficacy may be linked to greater engagement with AI-mediated academic tasks and therefore greater exposure to technology-related demands. Given the cross-sectional, self-report design, these associations should not be interpreted causally, and their practical implications remain preliminary.