Background/Objectives: Academic stress is a major factor affecting university students’ psychological well-being and overall functioning. This study examined whether three active coping strategies—positive reappraisal, social support seeking, and strategic planning—mediate the relationship between academic stressors and self-reported stress responses. Methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional, non-experimental design was employed. The sample comprised 1014 students from the University of Extremadura (M_age = 20.56, SD = 3.50). Three subscales of the Academic Stress Questionnaire (CEA) were administered: Academic Stressors (E-CEA), Stress Responses (R-CEA), and Coping Strategies (A-CEA). Descriptive statistics, correlation analyses, and a multiple mediation model using structural equation modeling (SEM) tested direct and indirect effects, controlling for gender, study year, and academic field. Results: (1) Academic stressors were inversely related to positive reappraisal (β = −0.34, p < 0.001), planning (β = −0.12, p < 0.001), and social support seeking (β = −0.09, p < 0.01). (2) All three coping strategies were significantly associated with fewer stress symptoms, with positive reappraisal showing the strongest effect (β = −0.13, p < 0.001), followed by social support seeking (β = −0.06, p < 0.05) and planning (β = −0.03, p < 0.05). (3) Stressors had a strong positive direct effect on stress responses (β = 0.54, p < 0.001). (4) Coping strategies partially mediated the stressor–symptom link (total indirect effect: β = 0.12, p < 0.001, 95% CI [0.08, 0.16]). Conclusions: Active coping partially buffers the negative effects of academic stressors on perceived distress. Findings underscore the importance of enhancing students’ coping skills and implementing institutional policies that reduce structural stress and support psychological well-being.

Informal caregivers of persons with dementia often report high levels of anxiety, depression and burden. Nonetheless, other less evaluated psychological symptoms might also influence their health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The aim of this study was to comprehensively analyse other psychological symptoms and their influence on the health-related quality of life of informal caregivers. Fifty-four informal women caregivers and fifty-six women non-caregivers were recruited to participate in the study. Psychological symptoms were assessed using the Symptom Check-List-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) questionnaire and the HRQoL with the EuroQoL-Five Dimensions and Three Levels (EurQoL-5D-3L) questionnaire. Significant between-group differences were found in the majority of scales in the SCL-90-R questionnaire (p < 0.01) and caregivers also reported a worse HRQoL than non-caregivers (p < 0.05). Several psychological symptoms such as obsession-compulsive (β = 0.47), hostility (β = 0.59), and somatization (β = −0.49) had a significant impact on caregivers’ HRQoL (R² explained between 0.17 and 0.30 of the variance). Caregivers are at a higher risk of suffering other psychological symptoms and show a moderate–high level of psychiatric morbidity, which therefore explains the poorer HRQoL outcomes. Supporting interventions should be provided to mitigate these psychological symptoms in order to improve their general distress and HRQoL.

Background/Objectives: Academic stress arises when students perceive that university demands exceed their coping resources, leading to cognitive, behavioral, and physiological stress responses. This study examines the predictive role of academic stressors and sociodemographic variables across five dimensions of stress response. Methods: The sample comprised 1014 Spanish university students (64.5% women, 35.5% men; M = 20.56, SD = 3.50). Participants completed the Academic Stressors Scale (E-CEA) and the Stress Responses Scale (R-CEA). Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted in two blocks: sociodemographic variables were entered in the first block, followed by academic stressors in the second. Results: Academic stressors accounted for substantial variance in all five stress response dimensions: negative thoughts (47.8%), physical exhaustion (39.5%), physical agitation (32.9%), irritability (29.7%), and sleep disturbances (26.8%). The most recurrent predictors were beliefs about performance, exams, and academic overload. In contrast, sociodemographic variables explained a much smaller portion of the variance (5.9%) and were specifically linked to higher irritability among women and younger students, more negative thoughts among students in Arts and Humanities, and fewer physical symptoms and sleep disturbances in students from science and technical fields. Conclusions: The findings reveal that academic stressors are key contributors to psychological distress among university students, highlighting the need for institutional interventions to alleviate the most frequent stressors. Identifying student groups particularly vulnerable to academic stress further supports the implementation of tailored strategies that address the diversity of students’ profiles and needs.

The educational models currently in use in higher education aim to make students active participants in their learning process, while the lecturer is seen more as a facilitator of the said process. Students’ learning strategies (superficial approach—memorizing, deep approach—looking for meaning, and achievement approach—aimed at results) and their good practices are gaining in importance and the aim of this study is to identify university students’ good practices, which are related to their learning strategies. To do so, our research covered 610 students from different science degree courses at the University of Extremadura who anonymously completed the University Students’ Good Practice Inventory (IBPEU) and the University students’ Questionnaire to Evaluate Study and Learning Processes (CEPEA). The influence of context, understood here as the center or scientific field, was discarded. The factor ‘Actively learning’ was positively associated with the deep and achievement approaches; the factor ‘Interaction with lecturers’ was positively associated with the superficial approach and negatively with the deep approach; the factor ‘Cooperative work’ was also associated with the deep approach; while the achievement approach was positively associated with the factor ‘Optimizing time’ and negatively with ‘respect for different capacities’. These associations are promising as good practices can be learnt and evaluated.

En el ámbito educativo se está imponiendo la necesidad de identificar y revisar buenas prácticas, como modelos a seguir. Sin embargo, a pesar de que en los modelos educativos actuales se pretende centrar la atención en el alumno y su proceso de aprendizaje, el foco de estos estudios se ha puesto en las instituciones o en sus docentes. Como buenas prácticas del alumno se identifican competencias relacionadas con el trabajo en equipo, la gestión del tiempo, el aprendizaje activo, etc. En este trabajo buscaremos la relación entre las buenas prácticas del alumno y su rendimiento académico. Participaron 461 alumnos de la universidad Equinocial de Ecuador quienes respondieron a una adaptación a los usos idiomáticos de la versión española del Inventario de Buenas Prácticas en Estudiantes, original de Chickering y Schlossberg (1995) y un sociodemográfico. Los resultados nos indican que el grupo de estudiantes con mejor rendimiento académico destacó en el uso de las buenas prácticas, respecto a los de rendimiento medio y bajo y además, se encontraron diferencias respecto al género, la edad y el área científica estudiada, obteniendo mayores niveles de rendimiento las mujeres estudiantes que puntuaron más alto en el factor Interactuar con los profesores y un cambio de tendencia en los estudiantes mayores de 22 años, respecto al grupo de 18 a 21.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnoses present not only cognitive, emotional, communicative, and social challenges but also movement issues that affect their everyday activities, learning, and leisure. The use of the square-stepping exercise (SSE), a motor program initially created to strengthen the lower limbs of older adults, is spreading because of its advantages (e.g., balance and lower limb strength improvements). A study protocol to assess the SSE effects on motor, sensory, and cognitive skills in Spanish children and adolescents between 6 and 12 years old with ASD diagnoses is presented. A randomised clinical will be performed, recruiting 52 children and adolescents with ASD who will be distributed into two groups: an experimental (n = 26) and a control (n = 26) group. The SSE sessions will be held for 9 weeks (two times per week). The main variable will be balance, which will be measured with the Movement Assessment Battery for Children 2 (MABC2), and secondary outcomes will include sensory processing, attention, and executive functions. Assessments will be carried out before and at the end of the program implementation, including an additional follow up one month later. If this program obtains positive results, it should be implemented in different settings (schools, clinics, associations, etc.) to improve the quality of movement and development in children and adolescents with ASD, as it is an easy-to-use and structured tool.