Background: The recent decline in adolescents’ mental health observed in Europe and North America is often attributed to the parallel increase in digital technology use (Twenge et al. 2020). However, research evidence for this link remains weak and inconclusive (Orben et al. 2024). The lack of clear findings may, in part, be a consequence of using screen time as an estimate of digital activity, which overlooks the specific nature of adolescent digital experiences. We created the Digital Activity and Feelings Inventory (DAFI), a detailed measure of adolescent digital experience, which captures what adolescents do online (activities) and the affective and cognitive reactions evoked by digital activity (feelings).

Method: We analysed data of 383 adolescents (mean age = 19 years) using multiple regression to examine the associations between digital experiences (the DAFI and screen time estimates), depression and anxiety symptoms, and wellbeing.

Results: The sample was 75.5% female, and 49.3% were from an ethnic minority. The DAFI resolved to five activity factors: Risky Content, Risky Interactions, Social Engagement, Leisure Activity, and Social Comparison and three feelings factors: Negative Self-Reactions, Negative Stress-Reactions, and Positive Reactions. Risky content and social comparison, but not screen time, independently predicted depression (b = .29, b = .32, respectively) and anxiety (b = .24, b = .30, respectively) symptoms. When psychological reactions were added to the model, negative self-reactions was the strongest depression (b= .39) and anxiety (b = .30) predictor. Screen time did not independently predict depression or anxiety symptoms. Positive reactions (b = .35), lack of negative self-reactions (b = -.34) screen time (b = -.13) and social engagement (b = .10) predicted wellbeing.

Conclusion: Self-reported digital activities and feelings better predicted mental health than screen time. Future studies should look beyond screen time exposure to measure adolescent digital experiences in more detail.

Introduction:Adolescence is a critical period for emotional development. Difficulties in regulating negative emotions contribute to depressive symptoms (Maciejewski et al. 2017). Depression is estimated to occur among 5% of adolescents (WHO, 2024). Depressive rumination intensifies sadness and exacerbates depressive symptoms (Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 2008). Additionally, poor self-efficacy in regulating negative emotions has been linked to increased emotional distress (Bandura et al., 2003; Caprara et al., 2008, 2010; Di Giunta et al., 2017, 2018, 2020). There is limited understanding of how these mechanisms interact in daily life. Investigating these processes dynamically can provide insights for interventions targeting maladaptive cognitive-emotional patterns in daily life.

This study examines how self-efficacy in sadness regulation moderates and mediates the daily associations between rumination and depressive symptoms.

Method:Participants were 80 italian clinical adolescents (M_age = 14.97, SD = 2.27; 44% girls) in treatment for anxiety-depressive disorders, learning difficulties, or conduct problems. Using the Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA), participants reported their depressive rumination, self-efficacy about sadness regulation, and depressive symptoms for 15 days.

Results:Preliminary Multilevel Modeling (MLM) analyses suggest that on days when adolescents engaged in higher-than-usual depressive rumination, they also reported increased depressive symptoms. Self-efficacy about sadness regulation moderated and mediated these associations. The intraclass correlation (ICC; r=0.46; p<0.01) indicates that approximately 54% of the variability in depressive symptoms existed at the within-person level. Depressive rumination was positively associated with depressive symptoms, while self-efficacy was negatively associated. The interaction was significant, supporting a moderating effect. Mediation analysis showed that higher daily rumination was linked to lower self-efficacy, which in turn predicted depressive symptoms.

Discussion:These findings highlight the importance of assessment of cognitive-emotional processes in adolescents’ daily lives. Interventions that focus on self-efficacy in sadness regulation could help break the cycle of rumination and depressive symptoms, offering a strategy for improving mental health outcomes.

Introduction: Adolescence is one of the most critical periods for individual development, and one of the most salient domains of functioning that normatively changes is the emotional domain (Salmela-Aro, 2011). Many studies indicate that starting from early adolescence, youths are frequently involved in emotional and internalizing problems, such as anxious and/or depressive feelings, withdrawal, and, with a critically increasing trend in recent years, Fear of Missing Out problems (FOMO; Brunetti et al., 2024; Ghul et al., 2021). One of the most influencing variables nowadays that crucially impacts youths’ mental health is the online context, and a lot of previous research evidenced how excessive use of ICT (i.e., Information and Communication Technologies) plays an important role in increasing individual vulnerability for internalizing problems (Meynadier et al., 2025).

Aims: The general aim of the present work is to investigate short-longitudinal associations between excessive ICT use and internalizing problems in adolescence, controlling for youths’ age and gender. We considered smartphone and Social Network addictive behaviors as indicators of excessive ICT use, and we accounted for anxiety, depression, withdrawal, FOMO fear, and FOMO control for internalizing problems.

Method: 372 Italian youths (M_age=15.25; SD=0.51; 57%males) completed at T1 the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS; Andreassen et al., 2016) and the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS; Kwon et al., 2013), and at T2, the Youth Self-Report (YSR; Achenbach, 1991) for Anxiety, Depression and Withdrawal, and the Fear of Missing Out Scale (FOMO; Przybylski et al., 2013) for FOMO fear and FOMO control.

Results: The path analysis model showed that the two excessive ICT use differently predicted specific internalizing problems after three months. In particular, smartphone addictive behaviors significantly predicted higher FOMO control, especially in younger adolescents. Differently, SN addictive behaviors predicted higher anxiety, especially in younger adolescents, and higher FOMO fear, especially in adolescent girls.

Internalizing and externalizing forms of psychopathological problems often co-occur in children and adolescents. The p-factor theory hypothesized a general and several specific factors underlying internalizing and externalizing problems. The general factor, or the p factor, represents the liability contributing to co-occurrence of psychopathologies. Although the developmental trend of externalizing and internalizing has been examined by prior studies, the development of the p factor and specific psychopathological factors is less investigated.

The current study addressed the gap with a longitudinal design. Participants were 2,144 Chinese school students (Mage =12.20±0.37 years old, 51.83% boys) followed from sixth grade to eighth grade and assessed annually. Data were collected using a questionnaire assessment. The results of multilevel confirmatory factor model and multilevel growth analysis showed that: (1) bi-factor model portrayed the underlying structure of the development of psychopathological problems in early adolescence; (2) The p-factor and specific internalizing factor in early adolescents’ psychopathological problems showed an increasing trend. The increasing trend was stronger for adolescents with lower initial levels of the specific internalizing factor; (3) Gender, family socioeconomic status, negative maternal parenting, and peer victimization all associated with initial levels of psychopathological problems, i.e., with the p factor or specific factors. Only socioeconomic status positive predicted the developmental rate of the specific internalizing factor.

These findings revealed the developmental pattern of p factor in youth and its related factors, providing a theoretical insights and practical basis for the prevention and intervention of psychopathological problems and their co-occurring development in children and adolescents.

Conduct problems and associated juvenile delinquencies have become one of the major societal concerns in Bangladesh. Such issues contributed to considerable personal and societal costs including frequent encounters with law enforcing authority and human sufferings. Past findings indicated that parenting styles may influence the development and maintenance of conduct problems. Nevertheless, it is relatively unexplored whether parenting style could influence frequency and severity of conduct problems in a non-Western context, especially in Bangladesh. Thus, our primary aim was to ascertain the role of parenting styles in conduct disorder amongst Bangladeshi youths. Based on the previous findings we hypothesized that; positive parenting (e.g., high involvement) would be negatively associated with frequency and severity of conduct problems. We also hypothesized that negative parenting (e.g., corporal punishment) would be positively associated with conduct problems. A sum of 165 (Mean age 13.39, age range 8-16, 82% male) youths who are currently detained in correction facilities were recruited alongside their parents. Participants were recruited from different institutes in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Conduct disorder was assessed through a checklist that was developed by following DSM and ICD diagnostic criteria, and parenting style was assessed through Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ). Both children and parents completed these questionnaires as part of the data collection procedure. We conducted a series of Multiple Regression Analysis (MRA) to test hypotheses. We found that high involvement was negatively associated with conduct disorder symptoms both through parent (ß=-0.39, t=-2.88, p=.005), and children (ß=-9.73, t=-3.79, p <.001) report. Relatedly, corporal punishment was positively associated with conduct disorder both through parent (ß= 0.24, t= 2.66, p=.009), and children (ß=-2.58, t=-4.05, p <.001) report.

Our findings corroborated with previous findings from western societies. It highlighted the potential importance of positive parenting to reduce behavioural and emotional problems in children in Bangladesh.