This cross-sectional study examines the relationships among social media addiction, fear of missing out (FoMO), loneliness, and life satisfaction among young adults. Data were collected from 700 participants aged 18?29 years via an online survey administered between May and June 2024. Validated scales were used to assess key variables: the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, the Fear of Missing Out Scale, the UCLA Loneliness Scale, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale. Structural Equation Modeling revealed that life satisfaction was positively associated with loneliness. Social media addiction was strongly associated with FoMO, while FoMO had an indirect negative effect on life satisfaction through social media addiction. These findings shed light on the underlying mechanisms between social media addiction, FoMO, loneliness, and life satisfaction. Such insights can provide significant implications for developing interventions (e.g., digital well-being programs) to help young adults manage their social media use more effectively. Promoting mindful and balanced social media engagement may contribute to enhancing life satisfaction and overall mental well-being.

This study examines how individual and organizational factors predict workplace decision-making through the lens of conservation of resources theory, with a focus on the moderating role of ethical leadership. The sample consisted of 306 employees from diverse backgrounds. Results show that self-efficacy was the sole consistent predictor of a decision-making approach, whereas decision-making avoidance increased with attachment anxiety and job insecurity and decreased with self-efficacy. Psychological safety and perceived organisational support displayed only weak links to either decision facet. Ethical leadership did not strengthen proactive choices but significantly moderated avoidance: high ethical leadership reduced the steep rise in avoidance associated with low self-efficacy, high attachment avoidance, and marginally high job insecurity, yet introduced a modest increase in caution among employees low on those threats. These patterns underscore the primacy of personal resources in decision style and identify ethical leadership as a contextual regulator that tempers extreme withdrawal rather than uniformly promoting risk-taking.

Epistemic trust refers to the willingness to regard communicated knowledge as reliable, relevant, and generalizable, and has been recognized as a central factor in social learning, adaptation, and vulnerability to psychopathology. The aim of this study was to validate the epistemic trust, mistrust, and credulity questionnaire (ETMCQ) in a Serbian sample and to examine its associations with sociodemographic, psychological, and social trust variables. A total of 557 adults (86% female; average age 29.9 years) completed the ETMCQ, the depression, anxiety, and stress scale (DASS-21), the De Jong Gierveld loneliness scale, as well as measures of trust in social system scale and trust in science and scientists, alongside sociodemographic data. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the original three-factor structure (trust, mistrust, credulity), with satisfactory model fit indices (CFI = .933, NFI = .901, RMSEA = .055). Subscale reliabilities ranged from acceptable to good. Epistemic trust was positively associated with financial status and trust in science, while mistrust and credulity were negatively related to financial status and age. Furthermore, mistrust and credulity correlated positively with loneliness, depression, anxiety, and stress, whereas trust correlated negatively with loneliness. No significant associations were observed between epistemic trust dimensions and trust in the social system, possibly reflecting the complex socio-political context in Serbia at the time of data collection. These findings confirm the cross-cultural validity of the ETMCQ in Serbia and highlight the importance of epistemic trust and its maladaptive variants in psychological adjustment and social adaptation.

Religious affiliations and non-affiliations in society can grow through personality environment correlation and interaction. In Study 1, mixed-effects analyses of moderated mediation conducted on online data collected from 111 countries (N = 4,270) showed that personality factors could predict religious affiliations growing faster in tighter (vs. looser) countries between the years 2000 and 2015. Through a multi-level SEM analysis of serial mediation, Study 2 investigated the survey responses of a random sample (N = 4,963) recruited through random digit dialing from the U.S. population. Results showed that personality could anticipate preferences to live in a relatively looser (vs. tighter) country region with a higher religious non-affiliation rate by first predicting identification with the religious ingroup and then religiosity. The results have implications for showing culture and personality?s impact on religions? population growth, religiosity, and religious ingroup identification, sometimes independently of religious affiliation/non-affiliation self-reports.

This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the achievement emotions questionnaire (AEQ-S) among Persian speakers. In total, 1153 (41.4% men) academic students in the age range of 17-29 participated (M = 21.63, SD = 2.24). Participants also completed the Career Adaptability, Epistemic Emotion, Academic Buoyancy, and Academic Satisfaction Inventory. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to test the factor structure of the questionnaire. The factor structure was similar to the one obtained on the original sample. The questionnaire showed a high level of internal consistency (Cronbach?s ? = .93 and McDonald?s ? = .87). Correlations of AEQ-S with other psychological constructs were calculated as well. The findings indicate that the short form of the questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool for assessing achievement emotions during student activities and outcomes. From a therapeutic and practical point of view, student-related organizations can use this educational tool to screen students.

The purpose of this paper was to examine the validity and reliability of the Engaged Teacher Scale (ETS) in the Serbian school context. Participants were 629 Serbian primary and secondary school teachers, of which 237 were class teachers and 362 were subject teachers. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis showed that the 16-item ETS is best conceptualized through a second-order model with four first-order factors and a general teacher engagement factor. All three types of metric invariance across teaching levels were achieved, namely configural, metric, and scalar. Analysis of latent mean differences indicated that, in comparison to subject teachers, class teachers achieve significantly higher scores on almost all first-order factors and the general factor. In addition, the scores obtained on the ETS showed good internal consistency. In general, the ETS showed sound metric properties on a sample of teachers in Serbia, has a good theoretical foundation, is a relatively short scale, and therefore has great potential to be used in the assessment of teacher engagement in the Serbian education system.

Fundamental Social Motives are the most prominent taxonomy of human motives developed using an evolutionary framework. While covering several motives related to evolutionary fitness, this taxonomy does not cover an additional motivational force closely associated to fertility ? reproductive motivation. In the present research, we explored the relations between Positive and Negative Childbearing Motives, Fundamental Social Motives, and planned number of children and age of first reproduction as the proxies for reproductive fitness. The results showed that reproductive motivation largely falls outside the latent structure of Fundamental Social Motives (the only exception was Affiliation Independence which loaded on Negative Childbearing Motives), hence, they represent distinct motivations. The network model showed that Positive and Negative Childbearing Motives have different but conceptually meaningful associations with Fundamental Social Motives. Positive Childbearing Motives are strongly positively related to Kin Care Family, followed by Mate Retention Breakup Concern, while the Negative Childbearing Motives have the highest associations with Affiliation Independence, Self-Protection, Status seeking, and Affiliation Exclusion. Finally, regression models showed that reproductive motivation has additional predictive abilities in explaining the variation of planned number of children and age of first reproduction compared to Fundamental Social Motives. We believe that the current data suggest the fruitfulness of examining reproductive motivation together with the Fundamental Social Motives. This would enhance the ability of evolutionary social scientists to examine and explain current behavioral evolution.

The present study is aimed to evaluate the mediating role of sexual satisfaction in the relationship between sexual assertiveness and marital adjustment in married women. Participants were 230 married women from Tehran aged 21 to 45 years (M = 32.5, SD = 4.2). In order to obtain data, the following instruments were used: Index of Sexual Satisfaction, Hulbert Index of Sexual Assertiveness, and Dyadic Adjustment Scale. The results showed that the study's conceptual model fitted the collected data, and the path coefficient between variables was significant. The results suggest that sexual satisfaction was a partial mediator of the relationship between sexual assertiveness and marital adjustment. The study reveals that when married women engage in open discussions about their sexual needs and preferences with their partners, it not only fosters a deeper understanding but also creates more opportunities to fulfill those needs. This, in turn, leads to a consensus on key aspects of marital life, enhancing overall marital satisfaction, unity, and emotional connection. Conversely, the findings indicate that challenges in communicating about sexual matters are linked to less marital harmony. This research underscores the vital role of sexual assertiveness in enhancing marital satisfaction and adjustment. It suggests that by fostering open communication and assertiveness about sexual desires, couples may experience improved relationship dynamics and satisfaction. These insights could inform therapeutic practices and relationship counseling strategies, emphasizing the importance of sexual communication as a cornerstone of a healthy marital relationship.

The aim of this study was to test the psychometric properties of Adlerian Inferiority and Superiority Complex Shortened Scales in a Turkish sample. Exploratory factor analysis sample consisted of 331 individuals (192 female and 139 men) between the ages of 15 and 65, while confirmatory factor analysis sample consisted of 192 individuals (113 female and 79 men) between the ages of 15 and 64. As a result of exploratory factor analysis, inferiority complex showed a structure of 10 items, while superiority complex showed a structure of 9 items. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the scales had acceptable fit values in a two-factor structure. Findings related to the internal consistency coefficient, test-retest reliability and concurrent validity showed that Adlerian Inferiority Complex and Superiority Complex Shortened Scales are valid and reliable tools for evaluate the inferiority and superiority complex levels of individuals aged 15 and older in Turkey sample.

The aim of this study was to investigate the interaction among problematic smartphone use, frustration intolerance, duration of smartphone use, and gender in high school students. A total of 524 students (49.24% males) between the ages of 14?18 years attending high schools in Turkey participated in the study. The Frustration Discomfort Scale and the Smartphone Addiction Scale?Short Form were used for data collection. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was conducted to examine the mediator role of duration of smartphone use and the moderator role of gender in the relationship between frustration intolerance aspects (discomfort intolerance, entitlement, emotional intolerance, and achievement) and problematic smartphone use. Entitlement, emotional intolerance, discomfort intolerance, and duration of smartphone use positively predicted problematic smartphone use, but the duration of smartphone use didn?t have a mediating role in the relationship between frustration intolerance and problematic smartphone use. These findings highlight that entitlement, emotional intolerance, discomfort intolerance may directly predict problematic smartphone use.