{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,2]],"date-time":"2026-05-02T12:39:12Z","timestamp":1777725552661,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":56,"publisher":"IMR Press","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,21]],"date-time":"2026-04-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1776729600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Alpha Psychiatry"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: In recent years, the emergence and development of new technologies have led to an increase in problematic digital behaviors, which have been associated with lower levels of subjective well-being and reduced perceptions of happiness among young people. Methods: This cross-sectional study employed a non-experimental, descriptive, and correlational design. The aim was to examine the relationships among problematic digital behaviors, maladaptive coping, and subjective well-being, in order to develop an integrative explanatory model. Participants completed a series of online questionnaires assessing the variables of interest. A path analysis was conducted to test the hypothesized model. Results: The sample consisted of 763 young individuals aged between 18 and 30 years, with a mean age of M = 21.4 (SD = 2.76), and 66.7% were women. Results indicated that problematic internet use was positively associated with problematic pornography use, gaming disorder, and compulsive buying disorder, explaining 12%, 7%, and 13% of their variance, respectively. Moreover, all four behaviors exhibited negative relationships with psychological well-being, with procrastination acting as a mediating variable. The model accounted for 23% of the variance in procrastination and 19% in psychological well-being. Finally, psychological well-being was positively and significantly associated with happiness, explaining 46% of its variance. Conclusions: The proposed theoretical model demonstrated good fit across all goodness-of-fit indices, highlighting the importance of understanding the role of emerging problematic digital behaviors and their impact on well-being and happiness. These findings support the promotion of self-regulation strategies and healthy digital habits.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.31083\/ap47250","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T10:41:17Z","timestamp":1777459277000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Problematic Digital Behaviors, Procrastination, and Psychological Well-Being: An Integrative Explanatory Model of Happiness in Young Adults"],"prefix":"10.31083","volume":"27","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7399-2977","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Marc","family":"Carrasco-Reig","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, Universidad Europea de Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain"},{"name":"Department of Basic Psychology, Universitat de Val\u00e8ncia, 46010 Valencia, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-7241-2498","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Irene","family":"L\u00f3pez-Palanca","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, Universidad Europea de Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3305-2996","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Manuel","family":"Mart\u00ed-Vilar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Basic Psychology, Universitat de Val\u00e8ncia, 46010 Valencia, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4124-7459","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Francisco","family":"Gonz\u00e1lez-Sala","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Universitat de Val\u00e8ncia, 46010 Valencia, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0693-2963","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Javier","family":"Esparza-Reig","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, Universidad Europea de Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"16242","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Kaya F, Rosell J, Odac\u0131 H, Verg\u00e9s A, T\u00fcrkkan T. 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