Emerging adulthood is a transitional period involving exploration of identity, education, work, and relationships. During this period, purpose in life and relationship quality are important aspects of flourishing. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of self-concept clarity in predicting flourishing among emerging adults. A quantitative cross-sectional correlational design involved 206 participants aged 18–29 years who were students and/or workers recruited through convenience sampling. Data were collected online using the Self-Concept Clarity Scale and Flourishing Scale and analyzed through simple linear regression with 5,000 bootstrap resamples. The results showed that self-concept clarity positively and significantly predicted flourishing, B = .297, β = .374, t = 5.762, p < .001. The model explained 14% of the variance in flourishing, and the bootstrap analysis confirmed this association, 95% CI [.219, .388]. These findings indicate that clearer self-concept is associated with higher flourishing among emerging adults.
Background: Emerging adulthood is a vulnerable developmental period for suicidal ideation. Psychological pain is often associated to its occurrence, however, the factors related to the transition from psychological pain to suicidal ideation remain unclear. This study aimed to analyze the mediating capacity of entrapment and the moderating capacity of meaning in life in the relationship between psychological pain and suicidal ideation during emerging adulthood. Methods: Participants were Spanish emerging adults who completed a battery of questionnaires through LimeSurvey platform. A moderated mediation was conducted. Results: The model explained 63.8% of the variance in suicidal ideation. Entrapment mediated the relationship between psychological pain and suicidal ideation. Furthermore, at low levels of meaning in life, psychological pain was positively associated with suicidal ideation, while at high levels, the association was no longer significant. Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of assessing psychological pain and entrapment as potential risk factors of suicidal ideation during emerging adulthood, and support the development of interventions aimed at fostering their meaning in life.
Background Everyday stress and social inhibition are relevant to mental health during emerging adulthood. Daily psychological richness may help explain the temporal association between perceived stress and subsequent social inhibition. Methods In a 15-day diary study, 186 emerging adults provided 2,790 observations of perceived stress, psychological richness, and social inhibition. Perceived social support was assessed at the person level. Two-level dynamic structural equation modeling (DSEM) was used to examine lagged associations and cross-level moderation. Results Higher perceived stress was associated with lower psychological richness the following day [estimate = −0.588, 95% highest posterior density credible interval (HPD CrI) (−0.672, −0.501)]. Psychological richness was negatively associated with social inhibition on the subsequent day [estimate = −0.093, 95% HPD CrI (−0.108, −0.079)], and perceived stress showed a positive direct association with social inhibition 2 days later [estimate = 0.224, 95% HPD CrI (0.192, 0.257)]. Higher perceived social support was associated with weaker stress–richness and direct stress–inhibition associations. The credible interval for moderation of the richness–inhibition path included zero. The conditional indirect association was smaller at high than low support [difference = −0.040, 95% HPD CrI (−0.065, −0.016)]. Conclusion The findings identify a temporally ordered indirect association involving daily psychological richness and support-related differences in stress-linked pathways. They inform further research on everyday psychosocial experiences and social functioning among emerging adults.