# Psychological Resources, Stress, and Well-Being in Adolescence: An Integrative Structural Model

## TL;DR

Psychological resources like self-efficacy and mindfulness help adolescents cope with stress and improve their quality of life, with similar effects across age and gender.

## Contribution

This study proposes an integrative model showing how psychological resources indirectly improve well-being through reduced stress and emotional difficulties.

## Key findings

- Psychological resources are linked to better quality of life via reduced stress and fewer emotional difficulties.
- The structural pathways are consistent across gender and age groups, including 10–12-year-olds.
- Perceived stress strongly predicts emotional-behavioral difficulties and lower quality of life.

## Abstract

What are the main findings?
Psychological resources (self-efficacy, mindfulness, and reflective functioning) were indirectly associated with better health-related quality of life through lower perceived stress and fewer emotional–behavioral difficulties.The structural pathways linking resources, stress, difficulties, and HRQoL were highly similar across gender and age groups, and all measures showed good reliability even in 10–12-year-olds.

Psychological resources (self-efficacy, mindfulness, and reflective functioning) were indirectly associated with better health-related quality of life through lower perceived stress and fewer emotional–behavioral difficulties.

The structural pathways linking resources, stress, difficulties, and HRQoL were highly similar across gender and age groups, and all measures showed good reliability even in 10–12-year-olds.

What are the implications of the main findings?
Interventions aiming to strengthen adolescents’ socio-emotional competences may improve well-being most effectively by targeting stress reduction and emotional/behavioral regulation, not by focusing solely on resource enhancement.These psychological measures and frameworks appear suitable for both early and mid-adolescence, supporting timely identification and prevention efforts.

Interventions aiming to strengthen adolescents’ socio-emotional competences may improve well-being most effectively by targeting stress reduction and emotional/behavioral regulation, not by focusing solely on resource enhancement.

These psychological measures and frameworks appear suitable for both early and mid-adolescence, supporting timely identification and prevention efforts.

Background/Objectives: Emotional and behavioral difficulties are common during adolescence and have lasting implications for well-being. Although several psychological resources—such as self-efficacy, mindfulness, and reflective functioning—have been individually linked to better adjustment, less is known about how these strengths jointly relate to perceived stress, difficulties, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). This study aimed to develop and test an integrative structural model capturing the interplay of these factors during early and mid-adolescence. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among 395 adolescents (222 girls, 173 boys; aged 10–16 years) who completed self-report questionnaires assessing HRQoL (KIDSCREEN-10), emotional–behavioral difficulties (SDQ), perceived stress (PSS), self-efficacy (GSE), mindfulness (CAMM), and reflective functioning (RFQY-5). After descriptive analyses and correlation testing, the structural path model using observed variables examined how these variables were interrelated. Multi-group analyses assessed whether structural pathways were invariant across gender and age groups. Results: Mindfulness, self-efficacy, and reflective functioning were each indirectly associated with better HRQoL, mainly through lower perceived stress and fewer emotional–behavioral difficulties. Perceived stress showed a strong positive association with difficulties, and both constructs uniquely predicted lower HRQoL. The overall pattern of associations was fully consistent across age and broadly comparable across gender. Conclusions: The findings highlight the interconnected role of psychological resources, stress, and emotional–behavioral difficulties in adolescents’ well-being. However, the cross-sectional design, convenience sampling, reliance on self-report measures, and single-country sample limit the generalizability and causal interpretation of the results. The robustness of these pathways across age and their broad comparability across gender underscore their developmental relevance and suggest that programs aimed at strengthening socio-emotional competences may be meaningfully applied to support adolescents’ well-being already from early adolescence.