European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education

28 pages, 2789 KB

Open AccessSystematic Review

Sleep and the Developing Brain: What We Know, What We Don’t, and Where to Act—A Systematic Review and Evidence and Gap Map

by Kuanysh Shonbay, Olga M. Shikhova, Yevgeniy Duplyakin, Raikhan S. Sagimova, Maiya Taushanova and Indira Karibayeva

Eur. J. Investig. Health Psychol. Educ. 2026, 16(8), 120; https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe16080120 - 20 Aug 2026

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Abstract

Sleep supports cognition across the lifespan, but its significance may differ developmentally: in adults, it largely maintains and restores functioning within mature neural systems, whereas in children and adolescents it may also support the formation of cognitive, emotional, and self-regulatory capacities. This systematic [...] Read more.

Sleep supports cognition across the lifespan, but its significance may differ developmentally: in adults, it largely maintains and restores functioning within mature neural systems, whereas in children and adolescents it may also support the formation of cognitive, emotional, and self-regulatory capacities. This systematic review and evidence and gap map, prospectively registered in PROSPERO and conducted according to PRISMA 2020, searched PubMed, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Web of Science for studies of sleep duration, quality/fragmentation, timing/regularity, and daytime sleepiness in relation to executive function/self-regulation, attention/vigilance, emotion/behavior regulation, and academic functioning among typically developing children and adolescents. Twenty-five studies contributed 46 study–outcome links. Across nearly all populated evidence cells, more adequate sleep profiles were associated with better developmental outcomes. The strongest and most experimentally supported evidence concerned sleep duration in relation to executive function, emotion/behavior regulation, and academic functioning; evidence for sleep timing/regularity and daytime sleepiness was weaker and predominantly cross-sectional. Unlike adults, for whom sleep primarily restores a mature system, children may lose not only today’s functioning but tomorrow’s developmental trajectory when sleep is chronically curtailed. Sleep duration currently provides the strongest basis for intervention, whereas the long-term developmental effects of sleep quality, timing, regularity, and sleepiness require further longitudinal and experimental investigation during this formative period. Full article

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14 pages, 297 KB

Open AccessArticle

Associations Between Emotional Competence and Emotional Empathy in Secondary-Level Vocational Nursing Students at One Croatian School: A Cross-Sectional Study

by Martina Trnčević, Ivana Pišćenec, Višnja Pranjić, Ljerka Armano and Aleksandar Racz

Eur. J. Investig. Health Psychol. Educ. 2026, 16(8), 119; https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe16080119 - 18 Aug 2026

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Abstract

Empathy is essential to humanized nursing care, yet its relationship with emotional competence before professional entry remains insufficiently specified. This single-school cross-sectional study examined whether distinct dimensions of emotional competence were differentially associated with emotional empathy among 337 secondary-level vocational nursing students enrolled [...] Read more.

Empathy is essential to humanized nursing care, yet its relationship with emotional competence before professional entry remains insufficiently specified. This single-school cross-sectional study examined whether distinct dimensions of emotional competence were differentially associated with emotional empathy among 337 secondary-level vocational nursing students enrolled in a five-year Croatian program for general care nurses/medical technicians. Students completed the Emotional Skills and Competence Questionnaire (ESCQ-45) and the Emotional Empathy Scale from the E-Questionnaire, which primarily captures affective responsiveness to others’ distress and other negative-valence states. Spearman correlations, Kruskal–Wallis tests with Dunn–Holm post hoc comparisons, Welch tests, and hierarchical linear regression with heteroscedasticity-consistent type 3 robust standard errors were used. Emotional empathy correlated with emotion perception and understanding (ρ = 0.35, p < 0.001) and emotion management (ρ = 0.28, p < 0.001), but not with emotion expression and naming (ρ = 0.10, p = 0.070). In the fully adjusted regression model, emotion perception and understanding (β = 0.254, p < 0.001), emotion management (β = 0.254, p = 0.003), and female versus male reported sex (β = 0.277, p < 0.001) were statistically significant predictors, whereas clinical exposure was not (p = 0.429). Emotion expression and naming had a negative adjusted coefficient (β = −0.158, p = 0.040) after simultaneous control for the remaining predictors. The findings support a dimensional interpretation of emotional competence and indicate that negative-valence emotional empathy is more closely associated with recognizing, understanding, and managing emotions than with expressive emotional skills considered in isolation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emotional Intelligence Development in Youth)

24 pages, 1016 KB

Open AccessReview

Knowledge and Risk Perception Regarding Skin Cancer in Immunosuppressed Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

by Luisa Leonie Brokmeier, Sophia Haas, Laura Ilic, Wolfgang Uter, Markus Vincent Heppt, Olaf Gefeller and Isabelle Kaiser

Eur. J. Investig. Health Psychol. Educ. 2026, 16(8), 118; https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe16080118 - 17 Aug 2026

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Abstract

Immunosuppressed patients have a substantially increased risk for developing skin cancer. Therefore, it is mandatory that such patients are adequately informed and aware of skin cancer and their increased risk to modify their behavior. Numerous studies have evaluated the topic, but no synthesis [...] Read more.

Immunosuppressed patients have a substantially increased risk for developing skin cancer. Therefore, it is mandatory that such patients are adequately informed and aware of skin cancer and their increased risk to modify their behavior. Numerous studies have evaluated the topic, but no synthesis of their findings exists. The protocol of this systematic review was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42024618851) and its reporting followed the PRISMA-2020 guideline. To identify all studies assessing knowledge or perception of skin cancer in immunosuppressed patients, forward and backward citation tracking was employed in addition to an electronic literature search across five databases. For the risk of bias (ROB) assessment, the Joanna Briggs Institute checklist for prevalence studies was used. Quantitatively comparable outcomes were meta-analyzed, while all others were qualitatively synthesized. Thirty-two reports comprising 4214 patients were included. Acknowledging substantial heterogeneity between studies, just over two thirds of patients recalled having been informed about their increased skin cancer risk (pooled proportion: 68.34%, 95% confidence interval (CI): 55.48–78.90). Awareness of the increased risk for skin cancer varied widely (34.5–100%), and pooled mean Skin Cancer and Sun Knowledge scores were 14.77 (CI = 8.57–20.96). About half of those patients asked about risk factors for skin cancer knew that immunosuppression was among them. This indicates that immunosuppressed patients are insufficiently educated about their increased skin cancer risk. However, the high heterogeneity in the synthesized outcomes and the minimal proportion (3%) of low ROB ratings for the included studies call for further research to better understand the awareness of skin cancer risk in this vulnerable population. Full article

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44 pages, 1407 KB

Open AccessArticle

Semantically Constrained Detection of Systemic Archetype-Inspired Patterns in Idiographic Case Formulations: A Rule-Based Framework Using FCM-FRHP Functional Semantics

by Carlos Hurtado-Martínez, Luis Botella, Alejandro Sanfeliciano, Ernesto Aranda-Escolástico and Luis Angel Saúl

Eur. J. Investig. Health Psychol. Educ. 2026, 16(8), 117; https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe16080117 - 16 Aug 2026

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Abstract

In psychotherapy, case formulation can organize clinically relevant information into a coherent account of how psychological difficulties emerge, persist, and may change. The Personal Meaning System Fuzzy Cognitive Map (PMS-FCM) represents the client’s bipolar construct system as a weighted directed graph, whereas the [...] Read more.

In psychotherapy, case formulation can organize clinically relevant information into a coherent account of how psychological difficulties emerge, persist, and may change. The Personal Meaning System Fuzzy Cognitive Map (PMS-FCM) represents the client’s bipolar construct system as a weighted directed graph, whereas the FCM-FRHP (Fuzzy Cognitive Map of Human Problem Formation and Resolution) provides a professional functional reference model for problem formation and resolution. This paper proposes a semantically constrained method for identifying systemic archetype-inspired configurations in PMS-FCM representations enriched with FCM-FRHP semantics. Rather than importing classical systemic archetypes directly, the method reformulates them as configurable graph templates adapted to intrapersonal bipolar construct systems. Detection combines FCM-FRHP functional roles, predefined semantic-affinity rules and PB-based structural criteria, edge-weight thresholds, and ranking criteria. The goal is to support the traceable identification of static structures that may inform the examination of clinically relevant systemic hypotheses, without treating them as diagnoses or evidence of observed temporal dynamics. The pipeline combines property-graph querying, RDF/SHACL conformance checking, ranked materialization, and rule-based trace generation. A local language model is used only after detection and conformance checking, as a constrained graph-to-text layer grounded in graph evidence and FCM-FRHP semantics. The approach offers a formally specified and reproducible method for conducting explicit, auditable pattern-level analysis of psychological case formulations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Contemporary Developments in Psychological Modelling)

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21 pages, 595 KB

Open AccessArticle

Pathways to Wellbeing: Differentiated Associations Across Three Forms of Campus Engagement in a Diverse UAE University Context

by Christopher Bryan, Ruba Ahmed, Tatiana Tairi, Oliver Bones, Muna Amr and Sariah Daouk

Eur. J. Investig. Health Psychol. Educ. 2026, 16(8), 116; https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe16080116 - 12 Aug 2026

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Abstract

University students in diverse higher education contexts face concurrent risks: flourishing often below optimal levels alongside elevated depression and anxiety, though these are often addressed through generic, undifferentiated wellbeing provision. In diverse settings such as United Arab Emirates (UAE) universities, where international students [...] Read more.

University students in diverse higher education contexts face concurrent risks: flourishing often below optimal levels alongside elevated depression and anxiety, though these are often addressed through generic, undifferentiated wellbeing provision. In diverse settings such as United Arab Emirates (UAE) universities, where international students constitute the majority of many student bodies, how campus activities relate to social belonging is both a wellbeing question and an equity issue. This study examined how extracurricular participation, sport (a subset of extracurricular participation), and exercise were associated with student wellbeing among 801 students across two UAE institutions. Extracurricular participation was associated with social belonging, which showed significant indirect associations with flourishing, depression, and anxiety, consistent across covariate adjustment and robustness checks. Exercise showed a similarly consistent direct association with flourishing; it was also associated with lower depression and anxiety in the primary model, though these associations were less robust than the flourishing finding and did not hold under further sensitivity checks. Sport showed a small association with stress mindset and anxiety, though this relies on a measure with low reliability and should be treated as tentative. Loneliness was not significantly associated with any engagement form. These findings point to a differentiated picture of campus engagement, in which extracurricular participation and exercise show the clearest links to wellbeing, while sport’s association with stress appraisal requires further evidence. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Well-Being, and Belonging in Education Across the Disciplines—2nd Edition)

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18 pages, 473 KB

Open AccessArticle

The Illusion of Disapproval: Pluralistic Ignorance and Attitudes Toward Tattooed Teachers

by Dániel Kormos, Attila Lengyel, Anetta Müller, Éva Bácsné Bába, Antonia Kinczel and Melinda Bíró

Eur. J. Investig. Health Psychol. Educ. 2026, 16(8), 115; https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe16080115 - 11 Aug 2026

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Abstract

Background: Tattooed teachers are increasingly visible in schools, yet the norms governing their professional acceptability remain poorly understood. This study tests whether pluralistic ignorance—private acceptance systematically exceeding the acceptance attributed to others—operates in attitudes toward tattooed teachers, and identifies individual-level predictors of this [...] Read more.

Background: Tattooed teachers are increasingly visible in schools, yet the norms governing their professional acceptability remain poorly understood. This study tests whether pluralistic ignorance—private acceptance systematically exceeding the acceptance attributed to others—operates in attitudes toward tattooed teachers, and identifies individual-level predictors of this misperception. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 1226 individuals in Hungary across four groups: physical education (PE) teacher trainees, university students from other disciplines, secondary school students, and in-service teachers. Participants rated their own acceptance of tattooed PE and academic-subject teachers and the acceptance they attributed to other teachers and to parents, and reported tattoo status, gender, and professional background. Results: Own acceptance exceeded attributed acceptance in all four groups and for both reference targets, consistent with pluralistic ignorance; gaps were largest among secondary school students and smallest—though still positive—among in-service teachers. Personal tattoo experience was the strongest individual predictor of acceptance after group membership, and among teachers both age and experience were negatively associated with acceptance. Acceptance was predominantly conditional, structured by a visibility hierarchy in which arm placements were most acceptable and facial or neck placements least so. Conclusions: The apparent disapproval of tattooed teachers reflects collective misperception more than genuine consensus, suggesting that making actual peer attitudes visible could reduce conformity pressure and support more authentic professional self-expression. Full article

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20 pages, 581 KB

Open AccessArticle

Envisioning the Future in Times of Global Uncertainty: Latent Profiles of Societal Threat Perceptions and Future-Oriented Resources Among University Students

by Giorgio Maria Regnoli, Anna Parola, Andrea Zammitti and Barbara De Rosa

Eur. J. Investig. Health Psychol. Educ. 2026, 16(8), 114; https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe16080114 - 7 Aug 2026

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Abstract

Young adults today are required to envision and plan for the future in a context marked by interconnected societal threats, such as climate change, geopolitical conflicts, and economic instability, giving rise to a condition of polycrisis. Understanding how these threats are perceived and [...] Read more.

Young adults today are required to envision and plan for the future in a context marked by interconnected societal threats, such as climate change, geopolitical conflicts, and economic instability, giving rise to a condition of polycrisis. Understanding how these threats are perceived and their relationship with future-oriented psychological functioning is essential for promoting adaptive development during emerging adulthood. This study used a person-centered approach to identify different profiles of societal threat perception among university students and examine their links to social resources, future-oriented psychological resources, and well-being. The study involved a sample of 800 Italian university students. Latent profile analysis identified five distinct profiles. These profiles ranged from students who reported consistently low levels of perceived threat (Low Threat) to those characterized by elevated levels of threat across all domains (High Threat). Other profiles reflected specific concerns, such as heightened anxiety about climate change and war (Climate–War Concern), predominant financial threat concerns (Financially Focused Threat), and moderate threat perceptions combined with adaptive functioning (Moderate Threat). R3STEP analyses revealed that perceived social support and trust in institutions were significant predictors of profile membership. The lowest levels were observed among those with a High Threat profile. BCH analyses revealed significant differences in future orientation, meaning in life, and life satisfaction across profiles. Moderate Threat profile students reported the highest levels of future-oriented resources and well-being, whereas High Threat profile students reported the lowest. These findings suggest that university students differ in both the intensity of their societal threat perceptions and the configuration of these perceptions and their associated psychological resources. The results highlight the protective role of social and institutional resources, suggesting that adaptive functioning in times of global uncertainty depends less on the absence of concern and more on the capacity to maintain future-oriented psychological resources despite perceived threats. Full article

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17 pages, 770 KB

Open AccessArticle

School Climate, Learning Behavior Patterns, and Procrastination: Emotional and Motivational Pathways to School Success

by Luana Sorrenti, Carmelo Francesco Meduri, Concettina Caparello and Pina Filippello

Eur. J. Investig. Health Psychol. Educ. 2026, 16(8), 113; https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe16080113 - 1 Aug 2026

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Abstract

The literature has shown that contextual and individual factors of an emotional and motivational nature are often associated with good academic performance and regular school attendance. The present study aimed to examine indirect associations involving Academic Procrastination and School Climate in the relationship [...] Read more.

The literature has shown that contextual and individual factors of an emotional and motivational nature are often associated with good academic performance and regular school attendance. The present study aimed to examine indirect associations involving Academic Procrastination and School Climate in the relationship between learning behavior patterns (MO-LH) and school success in a sample of 539 Italian secondary school students (M_age = 16.5). Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized relationships. The results showed that LH was positively associated with Academic Procrastination, whereas MO was negatively associated with it. Academic Procrastination was negatively associated with all dimensions of perceived School Climate (Teacher Support, Peer Connectedness, School Connectedness, Affirming Diversity, Rule Clarity, and Reporting and Seeking Help). School Achievement was positively associated with MO, School Connectedness, and Affirming Diversity, and negatively associated with Peer Connectedness. School Absence was negatively associated with MO. Mediation analyses suggested significant indirect associations between learning behavior patterns and school achievement, with Academic Procrastination and Affirming Diversity emerging as potential mediating variables. Findings highlight the importance of addressing emotional and motivational vulnerabilities and fostering a supportive school climate as potential factors associated with adaptive academic functioning and reduced maladaptive outcomes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education: 15th Anniversary)

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13 pages, 284 KB

Open AccessArticle

Predicting Anxiety in Secondary School Teachers: A Transdiagnostic Approach

by Paula Rodríguez-Fernández, Ema Di Petrillo, Matteo Villanova, Valeria Caggiano, Juana María Gutiérrez-Caballero, Luna Blázquez-Gutiérrez, Alberto Blázquez-Manzano and Jerónimo Javier Gonález-Bernal

Eur. J. Investig. Health Psychol. Educ. 2026, 16(8), 112; https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe16080112 - 31 Jul 2026

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Abstract

(1) Background: Teacher mental health is a growing concern due to the high emotional and professional demands of teaching. Anxiety is particularly prevalent among teachers, yet it is often conceptualized as a unitary construct, overlooking its multidimensional nature. This study examined the role [...] Read more.

(1) Background: Teacher mental health is a growing concern due to the high emotional and professional demands of teaching. Anxiety is particularly prevalent among teachers, yet it is often conceptualized as a unitary construct, overlooking its multidimensional nature. This study examined the role of transdiagnostic psychological variables and sociodemographic factors as predictors of different dimensions of anxiety (physical, cognitive, and social) in secondary school teachers. (2) Methods: A total of 444 Spanish secondary school teachers (Mage = 41.76, SD = 10.80; 50% women) participated. Data were collected via an online questionnaire. A quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional design was used. Pearson correlations and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to analyze associations and predictive relationships. (3) Results: Anxiety showed a multidimensional structure, with hierarchical regression models explaining a substantial proportion of variance (R² = 0.26–0.47). Transdiagnostic psychological variables accounted for the largest increases in explained variance beyond sociodemographic and work-related factors. Intolerance of uncertainty was the most consistent predictor across all anxiety dimensions, whereas fear of negative evaluation was the strongest predictor of social anxiety and was also associated with physical and cognitive anxiety. Procrastination predicted cognitive and social anxiety. Female teachers reported higher anxiety levels, while teaching experience showed a protective effect on cognitive anxiety. (4) Conclusions: Findings support a transdiagnostic framework and highlight the central role of psychological processes, particularly intolerance of uncertainty and fear of negative evaluation, in explaining teacher anxiety. Interventions targeting these shared mechanisms may contribute to improving teachers’ mental health and wellbeing. Full article

18 pages, 2052 KB

Open AccessArticle

Robust Unsupervised Analysis of Longitudinal Functional Trajectories in Older Inpatients Reveals Stable Recovery Profiles: The AIRCOT Study

by Sergio Martinez-Zujeros, Pedro J. Zufiria, Aránzazu Vázquez Sasot and María Luisa Delgado-Losada

Eur. J. Investig. Health Psychol. Educ. 2026, 16(8), 111; https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe16080111 - 30 Jul 2026

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Abstract

Functional decline in older adults represents a major challenge in geriatric rehabilitation, and machine learning (ML) clustering techniques may help identify functional recovery profiles and support personalized rehabilitation strategies. This study characterizes functional recovery profiles in older adults admitted for rehabilitation using unsupervised [...] Read more.

Functional decline in older adults represents a major challenge in geriatric rehabilitation, and machine learning (ML) clustering techniques may help identify functional recovery profiles and support personalized rehabilitation strategies. This study characterizes functional recovery profiles in older adults admitted for rehabilitation using unsupervised clustering techniques. A retrospective longitudinal study was conducted including 957 older adults admitted to a geriatric rehabilitation unit between 2019 and 2025. Clinical and functional variables, including the Modified Barthel Index (MBI), Daniels and Worthingham’s Muscle Testing, and Functional Ambulation Category, were collected from medical records. Considering the baseline functional status and the temporal changes in MBI scores, a clustering of the functional trajectories has been performed using a k-means algorithm based on the silhouette score. The robustness of the resulting segmentation has been evaluated by comparing alternative partitions obtained from bootstrap-sampling, hierarchical clustering, and the centroids of Gaussian Mixture Models. Four distinct functional recovery profiles were identified, showing different trajectories of independence, ambulation, and muscle strength during rehabilitation. Two clusters demonstrated favorable recovery and higher functional resilience, whereas the remaining profiles were characterized by chronic impairment or severe damage with limited recovery. These findings support the usefulness of unsupervised ML clustering techniques for identifying clinically meaningful recovery profiles and may facilitate patient stratification and individualized intervention planning in geriatric rehabilitation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Artificial Intelligence in Health, Psychology and Education)

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19 pages, 3818 KB

Open AccessArticle

An Exploratory Age-Adjusted Model of Individual Alpha Peak Frequency in Healthy Older Adults: A FOOOF-Based Spectral Parametrization Study

by Rubén Pérez-Elvira, Daniel Cordeiro, María Agudo Juan and Antonio Sánchez Cabaco

Eur. J. Investig. Health Psychol. Educ. 2026, 16(8), 110; https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe16080110 - 28 Jul 2026

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Abstract

Individual alpha peak frequency (iAPF) is a stable neurophysiological marker associated with cognitive processing and healthy brain aging. However, the interpretation of alpha activity in older adults remains limited by the use of fixed canonical frequency bands, which may not adequately capture age-related [...] Read more.

Individual alpha peak frequency (iAPF) is a stable neurophysiological marker associated with cognitive processing and healthy brain aging. However, the interpretation of alpha activity in older adults remains limited by the use of fixed canonical frequency bands, which may not adequately capture age-related slowing. The aim of this study was to develop an exploratory age-adjusted model of iAPF in cognitively healthy older adults using FOOOF-based spectral parameterization of resting-state EEG. Eighty-one participants aged 52–87 years were selected from the PDWAVES database. Resting-state, eyes-closed EEG recordings were analyzed over nine parieto-occipital electrodes, and iAPF was defined as the center frequency of the highest alpha peak within the 7–14 Hz range after separating periodic and aperiodic spectral components. Linear regression showed a significant negative association between age and iAPF, described by the equation iAPF = 13.22 − 0.054 × age (F(1,79) = 19.56, p < 0.001), indicating an average decrease of 0.54 Hz per decade. Age explained 19.8% of the variance (R² = 0.198), with a mean iAPF of 9.527 ± 1.064 Hz. Bootstrap resampling confirmed that the age–iAPF association was statistically reliable (95% CI for the slope excluding zero), although cross-validation indicated limited predictive performance on held-out data (10-fold mean R² = 0.019; LOOCV R² = 0.155). These findings provide a preliminary age-adjusted reference equation for describing iAPF trajectories in healthy older adults at the group level and support the use of spectral parameterization as a more specific alternative to fixed-band approaches in aging research. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education: 15th Anniversary)

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17 pages, 335 KB

Open AccessArticle

Perceived Stress in Adolescence: Structure, Stability, and Its Relationship with Mental Health

by Maja Ribar, Josip Razum and Goran Milas

Eur. J. Investig. Health Psychol. Educ. 2026, 16(8), 109; https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe16080109 - 23 Jul 2026

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Abstract

Adolescence is a developmental period characterized by increased exposure to stress and elevated vulnerability to mental health problems. The present study examined the structure of perceived stress, its longitudinal stability, and its associations with mental health in adolescents. Data were collected from a [...] Read more.

Adolescence is a developmental period characterized by increased exposure to stress and elevated vulnerability to mental health problems. The present study examined the structure of perceived stress, its longitudinal stability, and its associations with mental health in adolescents. Data were collected from a probabilistic sample of 1679 Croatian adolescents who were in the first or second year of high school at baseline and were followed across three measurement waves approximately six months apart. Perceived stress was assessed across six domains (school, future, parents, friends, romantic partners, and self), and structural equation modeling was used to test factor structure, measurement invariance across time and sex, and temporal stability. Competing models supported a hierarchical structure comprising six domain-specific factors and a higher-order general perceived stress factor. The measure demonstrated strong longitudinal and sex invariance. General perceived stress showed high stability across the three waves, despite being assessed as a current subjective experience. Perceived stress was moderately to strongly associated with depression, generalized anxiety, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, life satisfaction, and happiness, with no evidence of sex differences in these associations. These findings suggest that adolescent perceived stress is best conceptualized as a hierarchical and highly stable construct that is closely linked to multiple indicators of mental health and well-being. Full article

32 pages, 1597 KB

Open AccessReview

Bodies on Display: A Scoping Review of Appearance-Focused Social Media, Body Image, Self-Esteem, and Psychological Wellbeing in Adolescent Girls and Young Women

by Giuseppe Marano, Senad Hasaj, Oksana Di Giacomi, Marco Lanzetta, Gabriele Sani and Marianna Mazza

Eur. J. Investig. Health Psychol. Educ. 2026, 16(8), 108; https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe16080108 - 23 Jul 2026

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Abstract

Background: The widespread use of appearance-focused social media platforms has transformed how body-related attitudes are constructed, internalized, and evaluated, particularly among adolescent girls and young women, yet the existing literature remains heterogeneous in conceptual frameworks, populations, and outcome measures. Objective: This scoping review [...] Read more.

Background: The widespread use of appearance-focused social media platforms has transformed how body-related attitudes are constructed, internalized, and evaluated, particularly among adolescent girls and young women, yet the existing literature remains heterogeneous in conceptual frameworks, populations, and outcome measures. Objective: This scoping review maps the extent, nature, and characteristics of the available evidence on the relationship between appearance-focused social media use, body image, self-esteem, and psychological wellbeing in adolescent girls and young women. Methods: Following PRISMA-ScR, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched for quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods studies on female samples aged 10–30; data were charted and synthesized descriptively. Results: Fifty-eight studies (2014–2026) met the inclusion criteria. Evidence was concentrated in Australia and the United States and skewed toward emerging adults, with adolescent girls aged 10–17 examined in only nine studies. Appearance-focused engagement was consistently linked to body dissatisfaction, body surveillance, drive for thinness, and negative affect, with appearance comparison, internalization of appearance ideals, and self-objectification emerging as recurrent explanatory mechanisms. Body positive and body neutrality content emerged as the most promising protective categories. Conclusions: The review clarifies current evidence and identifies critical gaps for future research, informing clinical, educational, and preventive interventions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Body-Related Attitudes, Self-Esteem, and Psychological Wellbeing)

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Eur. J. Investig. Health Psychol. Educ., Volume 16, Issue 8 (August 2026) – 13 articles

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