The negative association of perceived stress with adolescents’ life satisfaction during the pandemic period: The moderating role of school community support

Technology-Based Interventions for Promoting Well-Being in Childhood and Adolescence: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND

Well-being is crucial for children's and adolescents' mental health. Despite numerous interventions, innovative technological options are still underexplored, particularly for younger populations. This study aims to review, summarize, and discuss experimental studies on the effects of technological interventions on well-being in childhood and adolescence.

METHOD

We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis following PRISMA guidelines, including studies published since 2013. Searches were conducted in PubMed, PsycInfo, Scopus, and Web of Science including randomized and non-randomized controlled trials. The quality of studies was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias (ROB-2) and ROBINS-I tools. Meta-analyses were performed using R studio.

RESULTS

Of the 2705 articles screened by title and abstract, 55 underwent full-text review. Seventeen articles were included, showing a diversity of technology-based interventions, including apps, web-based intervention, digital intervention, and chatbots. The meta-analysis (n = 5636 participants) showed a small but statistically significant effect in promoting well-being (Hedges's g = 0.18; p < .01). App-based interventions demonstrated a notably larger effect size (Hedges's g = 0.33; p < .001).

CONCLUSIONS

The findings highlight a range of technological interventions for promoting well-being in children and adolescents, with apps showing greater effectiveness. This supports their use as valuable resources for this population.

The relationship between autistic traits and the stress of social isolation: Development of an explanatory model

Background

Social isolation can be particularly challenging for individuals with high autistic traits who struggle with social interactions. The COVID-19 pandemic led to increased isolation, exacerbating stress for those who may have difficulty in connecting with others. This study aimed to explore the relationship between autistic traits and stress associated with social isolation.

Methods

A sample of 1597 Chinese adults completed measures of autistic traits, the stress of social isolation, psychological inflexibility and core self-evaluation, during an epidemic prevention and control period of COVID-19 in Chongqing, China. Measures included the Autism-Spectrum Quotient, Coronavirus Stress Measure, Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II, and Core Self-Evaluation Scale.

Results

Autistic traits were positively correlated with the stress of social isolation, which was mediated by the chain effect of core self-evaluation and psychological inflexibility. individuals with high autistic traits reported significantly higher stress than individuals with low autistic traits.

Limitations

This was a cross-sectional study, which limits causal inference. In addition, data were self-reported, which may cause methodological effects. Finally, this study was conducted during China's quarantine policy and external validation of the findings is required.

Conclusions

Autistic traits are positively associated with the stress of social isolation. Autistic traits affected core self-evaluation first, and psychological inflexibility subsequently, leading to the stress of social isolation. individuals with high autistic traits tended to experience higher levels of stress during pandemic quarantines. The findings provide useful evidence for developing interventions and implementing preventive measures to reduce stress in individuals with high autistic traits and autism spectrum disorder.

Wellbeing, social media addiction and coping strategies among Chilean adolescents during the pandemic

Introduction

During the COVID-19 pandemic, adolescents had to deal with a range of mental health problems that has increased social media addiction levels with adverse effects on life satisfaction. Previous studies have explored coping mechanisms to deal with this addiction problem, but did not consider the need to simultaneously cope with different dimensions. Therefore, our study aimed to examine the moderating effect of various coping mechanisms on the relationship between social media addiction and adolescent life satisfaction.

Methods

Self-report questionnaires were applied to 1290 secondary school students (age mean = 16.03, SD = 1.27, range: 14 to 19; and 57% female). An exploratory and a confirmatory factor analysis were performed to determine the factor structure of the Brief-Cope 28 scale. Then, a descriptive and correlational analysis of the variables and a multiple linear regression analysis was performed.

Results

We found that the social media addiction risk was negatively associated with life satisfaction, adaptive strategies were positively correlated to life satisfaction, and maladaptive strategies were negatively correlated to it. Also, a moderation model was evaluated in which four stress management strategies, namely acceptance and perspective-taking, seeking socio-emotional support, active coping, and maladaptive strategies all conditioned the relationship between social media addiction risk and life satisfaction after controlling for demographic variables and the specific strategies of using comedy, religion and substance use. Results indicate additive and multiplicative effects of management strategies for stressful situations in the studied relationship. Seeking socio-emotional support and active coping were positively related to life satisfaction and maladaptive strategies were negatively associated with it. Multiplicative effects indicate that the relationship between the social media addiction risk and life satisfaction depends only on the acceptance and perspective taking that adolescents report. When adolescents reported having low or average levels of acceptance and perspective taking, there was a negative correlation with general life satisfaction, a connection that grew markedly stronger. In contrast, no connection between social media addiction and life satisfaction was detected for adolescents who report higher levels of acceptance and perspective-taking.

Discussion

Abuse of social media and the use of maladaptive stress coping strategies were risk factors that decreased life satisfaction among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic period.