Young adults face different stressors in their transition to college. Negative emotions such as stress can emerge from the demands they face. This study aimed at gaining an improved understanding of the role that gender and age play in the well-being of young adults. Coping strategies, resilience, self-regulation, and positivity were selected as indicators of well-being. Descriptive and inferential analysis have been conducted. Results show that well-being varies significantly with age and gender. Gender was predominantly involved in the acquisition of the well-being outcomes, highly predicting problem-focused coping strategies. No interaction effects were found between gender and age. An improved understanding of the developmental factors involved in well-being outcomes will enlighten future interventions aimed at improving young people’s resources to face adversity.

The smartphone revolution has placed powerful, multipurpose devices in the hands of youth across the globe, prompting worries about the potential negative consequences of these technologies on mental health. Many assessment tools have been created, seeking to classify individuals into problematic and non-problematic smartphone users. These are identified using a cutoff value: a threshold, within the scale range, at which higher scores are expected to be associated with negative outcomes. Lacking a clinical assessment of individuals, the establishment of this threshold is challenging. We illustrate this difficulty by calculating cutoff values for the Short Version of the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS-SV) in 13 Spanish-speaking samples in 11 countries, using common procedures (i.e., reliability, validity, ROC methodology). After showing that results can be very heterogeneous (i.e., they lead to diverse cutoff points and rates of addiction) depending on the decisions made by the researchers, we call for caution in the use of these classifications, particularly when researchers lack a clinical definition of true addiction—as is the case with most available scales in the field of behavioral addictions—which can cause an unnecessary public health alert.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the lives of millions of people worldwide. This study aimed to analyze the effects of several psychological factors (self-esteem, self-control, and emotional stability) over lifestyle-related variables (time spent on leisure activities) and the levels of satisfaction (family, friends, work, and leisure satisfaction) experienced during the COVID-19 outbreak. Data for this article were retrieved as part of a cross-sectional international study conducted in eleven Spanish-speaking countries between March and September 2020. The analyses were conducted using the responses of 9500 persons (65.95% women, 34.05% men). Structural equation modeling was used to test the direct and indirect effects of the psychological variables on satisfaction variables mediated by the time engaged in leisure activities. Our model indicated that psychological factors significantly predicted the amount of time spent in leisure activities and satisfaction. Overall, results indicate that self-esteem is a relevant psychological factor to consider in the development of psychological interventions directed at promoting healthy lifestyles. Nevertheless, further research is needed to validate the direction of the associations found in this study.

Para prevenir el avance de la COVID-19, países como Ecuador adoptaron medidas de confinamiento obligatorio, el teletrabajo y la educación remota. Durante estos periodos, las personas recurrieron al uso de sus teléfonos móviles, al igual que a otros dispositivos, con el fin de informarse, socializar y trabajar. Este estudio buscó identificar los efectos del uso de estos dispositivos sobre los niveles de malestar psicológico. Se reclutó una muestra de 766 personas quienes respondieron una encuesta en línea durante la primera fase de confinamiento por COVID-19 en Ecuador. Los resultados sugieren que las personas estuvieron aproximadamente 9.75 horas al día conectadas a sus dispositivos tecnológicos, incluido el teléfono móvil. Igualmente, se encontró que el nivel de malestar de las personas aumenta conforme incrementa el uso problemático del teléfono móvil, el número total de minutos empleados por día conectados a dispositivos tecnológicos y el número de minutos empleados en redes sociales. Asimismo, el uso problemático del teléfono móvil, usarlo para distraerse de algo incómodo y para expresar o buscar afecto se asociaron con mayores niveles en cuanto al grado de malestar de los participantes. Por el contrario, el uso del teléfono móvil para hacer compras en línea y percibir mayores niveles de control del uso se asoció con una disminución del malestar. Se discuten las implicaciones de estos hallazgos a la luz de las condiciones actuales de la pandemia, las nuevas variantes del coronavirus y las cuarentenas obligatorias para aquellas personas diagnosticadas con el virus.

Emerging adulthood has been defined as a critical life stage. According to Erikson’s psychosocial theory, developing a sense of self and a personal identity is a critical task of adolescence and emerging adulthood. A well-integrated identity is critical for emerging adults because such identity provides a meaningful and consistent self-structure despite the inevitable events encountered in life. The aim of the present study was to translate and validate the Multi-Measure Agentic Personality Scale (MAPS20) and Identity Stage Resolution Index (ISRI) scales into Spanish. Both scales are key measures to assess identity capital, which refers to the assumption of identity commitments and adult roles during emerging adulthood. Back-translation procedures were performed to create Spanish versions of both scales. The scales were administered to a nationally representative sample of 1,200 Spanish emerging adults aged 18–32 years ( M = 25.3, SD = 4.13). Confirmatory factor analyses (CFI) were conducted to assess the factor structure, validity, and reliability of scores generated by these measures. The results suggested adequate model fit [MAPS20 (RMSEA = .066, CFI = .953, and TLI = .945); ISRI (RMSEA = .052, CFI = .999 and TLI = .997)] and evidence for convergent and discriminant validity. We therefore concluded that the Spanish versions of the MAPS20 and ISRI scales are valid and reliable for evaluating intangible agentic resources and identity resolution in emerging adults. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

Previous literature has established the importance of personal and contextual factors in college students’ trajectories. Following the Self- vs. External-Regulation Behavior Theory (2021) and the 3P Biggs Model, the present study aimed at analyzing a structural linear model that validates the joint effect of self-regulation, educational context, age, and gender (as personal and contextual presage variables) with other meta-abilities, such as coping strategies, resilience, and positivity (process variables), and specific well-being outcomes, such as flourishing and health (product variables). A sample of 1310 Spanish college students was analyzed, aged 17 to 25, and a cross-sectional study with an ex post facto design was performed. Association and structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed using SPSS software (v.26) and AMOS (v.23). Results show that individual and contextual factors have an important role in the acquisition of psychological competencies in young adults. Self-regulation was proven to be an important meta-ability that predicts personal well-being and behavioral health outcomes. Complementarily, educational context was shown to be an external predictor of other skills, such as problem-focused strategies, and positive outcomes such as flourishing and behavioral health. Practical implications and limitations are discussed.