The process of digitalization has become an integral part of the social situation of a child’s growth in the modern world. Child development in the digital environment demands the involvement of adults as mediators. This practice is called parental digital mediation. Previous studies have identified the significant parental and environmental aspects of parental mediation, but there has been little information about the relationships between the children’s characteristics and parental digital mediation. The current study aims to fill this gap by identifying the behavioral (social network and screen time) and emotional (social network addiction and happiness) predictors of the two dimensions of digital mediation: parental support and parental control. The study also examines the differences among children influenced by various parental mediation strategies. A total of 4011 students (42% male and 58% female) ranging in age from 13 to 15 years (M = 14.07; SD = 0.76) took part in the study. The parental mediation of their children’s internet use, social media addiction, social network time, screen time, and happiness were measured. According to the results, both the behavioral and emotional characteristics of the children served as predictors of parental mediation. A small amount of time spent on social networks or screens and low social media addiction and happiness were identified as the predictors of parental support, whereas a large amount of time spent on social networks and screens and low social media addiction were identified as the predictors of parental control. Three groups of children experiencing different parental mediation strategies were determined. The children with parents who enabled mediation were happier than the others. Children under instructive mediation demonstrated the highest tendency to social media addiction. Children under selective mediation spent the most time (of all groups) on gadgets, but they showed a low tendency towards social media addiction.

This review examines the application and findings related to the Perceived Stress Scale for Children (PSS-C) since its development by B. White in 2014. The PSS-C is designed to assess children’s perceived stress, focusing on their subjective experience rather than objective stressors. Our review utilized the PRISMA method to systematically collect and analyze pertinent literature, with a specific focus on studies which utilized the PSS-C. A comprehensive screening process reduced the extensive initial search results from various databases, ultimately resulting in the inclusion of 21 studies. These studies were assessed based on criteria that included publication date, language, and relevance to children’s perceived stress. We categorized the selected studies into several themes: (1) the impact of COVID-19 and the return to school; (2) mindfulness as a coping mechanism; (3) the effectiveness of breathing techniques; (4) mental health intervention programs; and (5) the cultural context of stress. The review also highlighted potential biases in the studies, particularly concerning sample size and randomization procedures. Key findings from the reviewed studies included the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s perceived stress, the role of mindfulness and breathing techniques in stress reduction, and the effectiveness of intervention programs. In conclusion, the review emphasized the significance of the PSS-C as a tool for evaluating perceived stress in children and stressed the necessity for additional research to examine its connections with different psychological and social factors. The findings underscore the importance of supportive parent–child interactions, especially during challenging situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and the possible advantages of mindfulness and other coping mechanisms in reducing stress. Subsequent research should persist in enhancing stress assessment tools and exploring the enduring impacts of stress on children’s growth and welfare.

Background. The COVID-19 pandemic is not only a world health crisis, but also an ordeal for people’s mental health and psychological well-being. The period of the COVID-19 lockdown has changed everyday life and increased anxiety, fears, and stress from habitual activities such as meetings, shopping, and the use of public transport. As the worry and nervousness increase, they threaten the cognitive (Life-satisfaction) and emotional (Happiness) components of well-being. Emotional regulation strategies are a mechanism to cope with the threat. Objective. This study assessed the impact of anxiety, perceived stress from COVID-19, and emotional regulation strategies on well-being during the first weeks of the lockdown in Russia. Design. Questionnaire-based surveys were conducted online from March 31 to April 30, 2020. A total of 589 participants (18 to 73 years of age) were recruited. The Subjective Happiness Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale, Zung’s Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and Perceived Source of Stress from COVID-19 scales were used. Results. Among the various sources of stress, only that from restrictions on everyday life impacted well-being. High anxiety, but not perceived stress, decreased the feelings of Happiness and Life-satisfaction. Additionally, emotional regulation strategies played different roles in their impact on well-being: Cognitive reappraisal lowered negative emotions, but emotional suppression increased dissatisfaction with life. Conclusion. These findings suggest that people’s effective and relevant regulation of their emotions during public health emergencies and ability to avoid losses caused by crisis events, have become urgent needs, requiring the development of psychological interventions to support well-being.

Digital parental mediation has emerged as a result of the increasing popularity of electronic technologies and their active use in the education of children. Recent research on digital parental mediation highlights the various characteristics that define parental support and control over a child’s digital activity. This study is aimed at determining the relationship between digital parental mediation (parental control and parental support) and the psychological well-being (self-satisfaction and subjective happiness) of adolescents. The characteristics of digital mediation (control and support) are assumed to have opposing effects on the psychological well-being of schoolchildren. The study sample consisted of 4,011 teenagers aged 13 to 15 (M = 14.07, SD = 0.76), 42% of whom were male. In the course of the study, the Digital Parental Mediation Questionnaire, the I myself scale from the questionnaire, the Multidimensional Scale of Student Life Satisfaction, and the Scale of Subjective Happiness were utilized. Statistical processing involved exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, correlation and regression analyses. As a result, it was confirmed that parental control and support of a child’s digital activity are related, but their effects on psychological well-being vary. Thus, parental support increases a teenager’s satisfaction and happiness, whereas parental control decreases them. This effect is more pronounced in younger adolescents.

The goal of this research was to study the relationship between screen time of preschool children and their gender, age and socio-economic family features. The additional focus was on studying the differences in preschoolers' screen times between TV and digital devices. In order to reach the research goal, we have conducted a study involving 1,029 mothers of 4.5-7.5-year-olds. We have used a questionnaire with the three blocks of questions: demographics (age of the mother, age and gender of the child); use of digital devices (screen time per week); family socio-economics (socio-economic background of the family, extra activities of the child, mother's education). The study showed that that a higher level of socio-economic well-being of the family and the opportunity to provide children with additional activities are associated with shorter screen time. Moreover, parents' role models, their attitude towards digital device use and their perception of screen time norms significantly influence the time their children spend with devices. Another result is that preschool children spend more time watching TV (13 hours per week) than using digital devices (7 hours per week), regardless of the day of the week; and screen time on weekends is higher than on weekdays for both watching TV and using gadgets. Screen time has also been shown to increase between 4.5 and 7.5 years old, with the increase being related to longer time spent with gadgets rather than watching TV.

The research focuses on the Russian-language adaption of the Short Dark Tetrad questionnaire (SD4), which allows for the evaluation of four personality traits: machiavellianism, subclinical narcissism, psychopathy, and sadism. The questionnaire is a diagnostic tool for the Dark Tetrad model of personality characteristics, which is a refinement of the Dark Triad model. The study sample included 765 people between the ages of 18 and 25 (M = 19.97; SD = 1.87; 71.8% female), with 366 (47.84 %) taking part in the retest series. In addition to the SD4 questionnaire, respondents were given two questionnaires of the Dark Triad model, the Buss-Perry Aggression questionnaire and the Ten Item Personality Measure. The four-factor structure of the questionnaire was found to have appropriateness indices equivalent to those of the original SD4 questionnaire and other SD4 adaptations based on confirmatory analysis. The questionnaire's scales demonstrate adequate reliability, good convergent validity (when compared to questionnaires diagnosing machiavellian, narcissistic, and psychopathic characteristics), and divergent validity. The sadism scale revealed associations with aggressive characteristics (physical aggression, hostility, anger). The SD4 questionnaire scales showed that the responses were stable over time. Positive correlations between narcissism and extraversion were discovered, as were negative associations between Machiavellianism and agreeableness, openness to experience, and emotional stability, and psychopathy and sadism with agreeableness and conscientiousness. The results of psychometric testing of the Russian-language Short Questionnaire Dark Tetrad indicates its reliability and validity, as well as the possibilities of using it as a diagnostic tool.