Emotional wellbeing in adolescence develops within interconnected personal and relational systems, but the relative salience of family, peer, and school contexts may vary across sociocultural experiences. The present study examined associations among perceived functioning in school, family, and peer domains, everyday emotion-regulation difficulties, and affective emotional wellbeing in 79 third-year middle-school students in Rome (M age = 13.80 years, SD = 0.45; 45.6% female), including 42 adolescents without and 37 with a migratory background, defined as having at least one foreign-born parent. Participants completed self-report assessments of relational functioning across the three domains, emotion-regulation difficulties, and positive and negative affect. Two separately estimated observed-variable path models were used for exploratory purposes. Among adolescents with a migratory background, school ( β = 0.44, p = 0.002) and family ( β = 0.53, p < 0.001) indicators were independently associated with greater emotional wellbeing. No direct relational-context path to emotional wellbeing reached significance in the group without a migratory background. Emotion-regulation difficulties were not independently associated with emotional wellbeing in either group, and percentile bootstrap confidence intervals based on 5,000 resamples did not support indirect pathways through emotion regulation. The findings point to the possible importance of family and school as interconnected relational systems while providing no support for the hypothesized regulatory pathway in this sample. Given the modest subgroup sizes, cross-sectional design, single-item contextual indicators, and heterogeneous migratory-background category, the results should be considered exploratory and hypothesis-generating.
Francesca Federico, Michela Mellone, Sergio Melogno et al.
Armed conflict represents one of the most profound threats to the health, development, education, and future well-being of children and adolescents. Unlike adults, children experience war during critical periods of physical growth, neurological development, emotional maturation, education, and social formation. The consequences therefore extend beyond immediate injury or death and may influence nutrition, sleep, mental health, cognitive development, physical activity, education, family functioning, and long-term social participation. This comprehensive narrative review examines the multidimensional effects of armed conflict on children and adolescents, integrating evidence from child health, developmental science, mental health, public health, education, physical activity, sport science, resilience research, and humanitarian intervention literature. Particular attention is given to direct physical consequences, indirect health effects, psychological trauma, chronic stress, sleep disruption, developmental consequences, displacement, disruption of education and healthcare, nutrition, physical inactivity, and the potential role of sport and structured physical activity as protective environments. The review also examines evidence concerning resilience and interventions for conflict-affected children, emphasizing that resilience is not an individual trait alone but a dynamic process influenced by family, school, community, social protection, education, healthcare, and opportunities for safe physical activity. A contemporary case study concerning Iran in 2026 is included to illustrate how children may be directly affected in schools and civilian environments. The case study incorporates official UNICEF reporting and findings presented by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran concerning the Minab school and Lamerd sports-center attacks. The evidence indicates that protecting children during armed conflict requires an integrated approach extending beyond emergency medical care. Child protection, education continuity, mental-health and psychosocial support, nutrition, sleep, physical activity, sport, family support, healthcare access, and protection of civilian infrastructure should be considered interconnected components of child health.
Early childhood classrooms are developmentally heterogeneous, making instruction and classroom management inseparable challenges. This study examined how differentiated instruction was enacted within science-based learning and how teachers perceived and managed the resulting classroom dynamics. A qualitative multi-site case study was conducted across four early childhood education institutions in Brebes Regency, Central Java, Indonesia. Participating teachers were purposively selected because they implemented differentiated instruction, used inquiry-oriented science activities, and had at least two years of early childhood teaching experience. Data were generated through non-participant classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, and analysis of daily lesson plans and instructional materials, then examined thematically. Three interconnected findings emerged. First, differentiation was enacted through adjusted task complexity, flexible grouping, varied hands-on activities, and responsive scaffolding. Second, these practices were associated with more sustained engagement, clearer routines and transitions, and less need for reactive behavior correction, suggesting that instructional design functioned as a form of proactive classroom management. Third, teacher competence and instructional flexibility supported implementation, whereas planning time and high teacher–child ratios constrained individualized support. The study proposes that differentiated science learning can support classroom management when differentiation, inquiry, routines, and responsive interaction are deliberately aligned. The findings offer implications for teacher professional learning, lesson planning, staffing, and inclusive early childhood practice.
Nurnaningsih Nurnaningsih, Edi Waluyo, Deni Setiawan
Abstract This study examined how adolescent and parent emotional reactivity to daily parent–adolescent conflict is associated with adolescent psychopathology over time. A community sample of 237 Taiwanese parent–adolescent dyads (adolescents: M age = 14.80, SD age = 2.08; 58% female; parents: M age = 42.36, SD age = 8.57; 68% female) completed 10 days of daily reports on parent–adolescent conflict and emotions, and adolescents reported depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and externalizing problems at baseline and six-month follow-up. The results showed that greater adolescent negative emotional (NE) reactivity predicted higher depressive ( β = .17) and anxiety symptoms ( β = .21), and adolescent positive emotional (PE) reactivity predicted higher depressive symptoms ( β = .13), anxiety symptoms ( β = .19), and externalizing problems ( β = .17). Parent NE reactivity predicted higher adolescent depressive symptoms ( β = .29) and externalizing problems ( β = .15). Age moderated the associations between parent reactivity and anxiety symptoms, such that higher parent NE and PE reactivity were associated with greater anxiety only among younger adolescents. Findings highlight that daily emotional reactivity to parent–adolescent conflict is associated with adolescent psychopathology and underscore that parent reactivity represents a distinct risk process, especially consequential for anxiety in early adolescence.
Background Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly pastoralist communities, experiences high levels of household food insecurity. Household food insecurity adversely affects both short- and long-term health and nutritional outcomes of mothers and their children. However, despite a growing body of research, evidence on food insecurity in Ethiopia remains limited among pastoralist populations. Therefore, this study assessed the prevalence and associated factors of household food insecurity among lactating mothers in pastoralist communities of Jigjiga town, Somali Region, Eastern Ethiopia, from 20 July to 03 September 2024. Methods A community based cross sectional study was conducted among 458 randomly selected households with lactating mothers. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire through face to face interviews. Household food insecurity was measured using the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS). Data were analyzed using SPSS version 26. Binary logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with household food insecurity. All relevant statistical assumptions were tested. A p value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The strength of associations was reported using adjusted odds ratios (AORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results Of the 439 lactating mothers, 305 (69.4%; 95% CI 65.8–74.9) households were food insecure. The mean HFIAS score was 20.82 (SD = 4.0). Poor (AOR = 2.63; 95% CI 1.68–4.12) and medium (AOR = 2.07; 95% CI 1.27–3.39) household wealth index, consumption of fewer than three meals per day (AOR = 1.63; 95% CI 1.21–3.75), and poor dietary diversity (AOR = 1.81; 95% CI 1.22–2.68) were associated with higher odds of household food insecurity. In contrast, maternal age of 25–34 years (AOR = 0.25; 95% CI 0.13–0.50) and attainment of secondary education (AOR = 0.41; 95% CI 0.19–0.89) or college level and above education (AOR = 0.29; 95% CI 0.14–0.60) were associated with lower odds of household food insecurity. Conclusion Nearly two-third of households with lactating mothers experienced food insecurity. Maternal age, educational attainment, household wealth status, meal frequency, and dietary diversity were key predictors. Targeted multisectoral interventions aimed at improving maternal education, household economic status, and dietary diversity may help reduce household food insecurity in Ethiopia’s pastoralist settings Furthermore, integration of food security screening into the existing maternal and child health service may be important to early diagnostic and take action.
Kadra Ahmed Omar, Hayimanot Mezmur, Berhe Gebremichael et al.
Background Smartphone addiction is closely associated with adolescents’ mental health and educational outcomes. Current research lacks comprehensive machine learning studies for predicting smartphone addiction factors, and studies examining relationships between various factors including mediation effects are also insufficient. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 3,405 adolescents in China (1,853 boys, 54.4%; 1,552 girls, 45.6%; mean age = 14.50 years, SD = 1.18). Eight machine learning algorithms (Linear Regression, Ridge Regression, Random Forest, XGBoost, LightGBM, CatBoost, Support Vector Regression, Bayesian Ridge Regression) were employed with SHAP analysis for interpretability. Predictive variables included demographic characteristics, social support, experiential avoidance, self-efficacy, and emotional symptoms. Baron and Kenny’s method was used for mediation effect analysis. Results Linear models demonstrated optimal performance (R 2 = 0.478, RMSE = 8.66). SHAP analysis identified experiential avoidance as the strongest predictor (SHAP value = 5.472), followed by depressive symptoms (1.723), BMI category (1.438), age (1.394), and anxiety symptoms (1.337). Mediation analysis revealed that social support’s negative association with smartphone addiction (total effect = −0.231) was almost indirect (−0.252), with experiential avoidance mediating the majority of the total effect. The final model explained 49.4% of variance in smartphone addiction. Conclusion Experiential avoidance is a strong correlate of adolescent smartphone addiction and plays a mediating role in the association between social support and smartphone addiction. This finding is consistent with the “reality deficit-virtual compensation” theoretical framework. Additionally, depressive symptoms, BMI category, age, and anxiety symptoms were also independently associated with smartphone addiction.
Background: A first unprovoked seizure is a common neurological presentation in childhood, and the electroencephalogram (EEG) is recommended as a key investigation in its evaluation.Data on the EEG profile of such children from Eastern India and its relationship with early seizure recurrence remain limited.This study aimed to evaluate the seizure semiology and EEG findings in neurologically normal children presenting with a first unprovoked seizure and to determine their association with recurrence within three months.Methods: This single-centre, prospective, observational study enrolled 176 neurologically and developmentally normal children aged 1-18 years presenting with a first unprovoked seizure to a tertiary care hospital in Kolkata between May 2022 and April 2023.All children underwent EEG within 24 hours of the seizure and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain.Participants were followed up for three months to detect seizure recurrence.Associations were tested using the chi-square test, with p<0.05 considered significant.Results: The mean age was 6.8 (±4.9) years with a male preponderance (60.2%;M:F 1.4:1).Generalized seizures occurred in 61.4% and focal seizures in 38.6% of children.An abnormal EEG was found in 58.0%, of which 79.4% showed epileptiform discharges.Among the 160 children (90.9%) who completed follow-up, seizure recurred in 45.0%.Recurrence was significantly higher in children with an abnormal EEG (58.5% vs 25.8%; p<0.001) and with focal seizure semiology (54.8% vs 38.8%; p=0.047).Conclusion: An abnormal EEG was present in more than half of children after a first unprovoked seizure and was the strongest predictor of early recurrence.EEG, particularly when combining awake and sleep recordings, is a valuable tool for risk stratification in this population.
Abstract Early adolescence is a common period of onset for depressive symptoms. In part, this may reflect a developmental expression of individuals’ genetic propensities as they undergo physiological and hormonal changes and interact with new environments. Many commonly proposed mechanisms assume direct effects of an individual’s own genes on emerging variation in their depressive symptomatology. However, estimates of genetic influence based on analyses in unrelated individuals capture not only direct genetic effects but also genetic effects from parents and other biologically related family members. In data from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort (MoBa), we used linear mixed models to distinguish developmentally-stable and adolescence-specific direct and parental indirect genetic effects. In within-family models, we examined effects of polygenic scores for major depressive disorder (MDD), ADHD, anxiety disorders, and educational attainment (EA) on depressive symptoms measured at ages 8 and 14. Children’s own MDD polygenic scores showed adolescence-specific effects on depressive symptoms (β PGS*wave =0.041, [95% CI: 0.017, 0.065]). Developmentally-stable direct effects from children’s polygenic scores for MDD (β = 0.016, [0.006, 0.039]), ADHD (β = 0.024, [0.008, 0.041]) and EA (β=-0.02, [ -0.038, -0.002]) were also evident. The only evidence of indirect genetic effects was a stable effect of maternal EA polygenic scores (β = 0.04, [0.024, 0.054]). Direct genetic effects linked to genetic liability to MDD accounted for emerging variation in depressive symptoms in adolescence. These results imply that specific etiological mechanisms related to MDD may become particularly relevant for depressive symptoms during early adolescence compared to at earlier ages.
Meseret Mamo Bazezew, Bernt Damian Glaser, Laura Hegemann et al.
Objective To describe pulmonary involvement in childhood-onset primary Sjögren’s syndrome (cSS). Methods This retrospective study included 17 children with cSS diagnosed at Jiangxi Provincial Children’s Hospital between August 2021 and August 2025. Patients were classified by baseline chest high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT)as normal CT (n=8) or abnormal CT (n=9); among patients with abnormal CT, 5 had interstitial lung involvement. Clinical, laboratory, radiological, and outcome data were compared. Results Among 17 children, 14 were female (82.4%), and the mean age at onset was 10.83 ± 3.12 years. Abnormal chest CT findings were detected in 9 patients (52.9%). Age at onset was younger in the abnormal CT group than in the normal CT group (9.37 ± 2.67 vs. 12.48 ± 2.88 years, P = 0.036), and was lowest in the interstitial lung involvement subgroup (8.30 ± 2.51 years, P = 0.022). This subgroup had higher total T and CD4+ T lymphocyte proportions and a lower B lymphocyte proportion P = 0.026, 0.027, and 0.023, respectively. Pleural thickening was the most common CT abnormality (77.8%), followed by ground-glass opacities and nodules >3 mm (33.3% each). Among the 5 patients with interstitial lung involvement, 3 met radiological criteria for ILD, comprising 2 with organizing pneumonia and 1 with nonspecific interstitial pneumonia. During follow-up, 3 of 7 patients with longitudinal imaging achieved complete radiological normalization, 2 improved, and 2 remained stable. Conclusion Pulmonary abnormalities were common in children with cSS. Younger onset and aberrant T/B lymphocyte subsets showed exploratory associations with pulmonary involvement, which appeared mainly inflammatory and demonstrated favorable radiological evolution during follow-up.
Abstract Tang Sanzang, a central figure in the Chinese classic Journey to the West , has experienced significant reinterpretation and psychological projection throughout various historical periods. This article offers a critical analysis of the evolution of Tang Sanzang’s character, tracing his transformation from the revered “sacred monk” of traditional literature to the more subversive “darkened” incarnation prevalent in contemporary digital culture. By situating this transformation within current discussions on youth identity, psychological projection, and cultural hybridity, the study employs a Jungian analytical framework to explore the archetypal meanings and aspects of the collective unconscious reflected in these changing representations. The findings suggest that the reimagining of Tang Sanzang mirrors the complex psychological negotiations of identity, authority, and internal conflict faced by Chinese youth amid rapid social change. Moreover, these evolving portrayals highlight the ways in which younger generations creatively engage with and reinterpret tradition against a backdrop of increasing Sino‐Western cultural interaction. Through an examination of the cultural and psychological dynamics at play in the construction of Tang Sanzang’s image, this paper contributes to broader theoretical debates in cultural psychology and offers new empirical perspectives on the interplay between individuality and collectivity, tradition and modernity, and Eastern and Western influences in the formation of contemporary youth subjectivities.
