Article

Received 18.11.2025

Revised 27.05.2026

Accepted 29.06.2026

Published 13.07.2026

Retrieved from Vol. 16, No. 1, 2026

Pages 9 -19

Varis, I., Lohvina, O., Danchuk, Yu., & Kurytsia, D. (2026). Psychological maladaptation of youth: A continuum-based approach. Psychology and Personality, 16(1), 9-19. https://doi.org/10.33989/2226-4078.2026.1.09

Psychological maladaptation of youth: A continuum-based approach

Iryna Varis*, Oksana Lohvina, Yuliia Danchuk, Denys Kurytsia

iryna.varis@kneu.edu.ua

The study is determined by the growing manifestations of psychological instability among young people during the transition to adulthood and the fragmented nature of contemporary scholarly approaches to explaining psychological maladaptation in this age period. Increased variability in psychological functioning under conditions of intensive developmental changes, social uncertainty, digital transformation of interpersonal interaction, and rising social expectations highlights the need for an integrative conceptual approach capable of combining individual and contextual determinants. The purpose of the article was to refine the concept of psychological maladaptation in youth and to substantiate a continuum approach to its understanding. The study was based on a theoretical and conceptual design involving systematic analysis, comparison, and synthesis of contemporary interpretations of maladaptation, as well as interpretation of empirical findings concerning psychological functioning in early adulthood. A conceptual synthesis of perspectives on the interaction between individual-dispositional characteristics, self-regulation resources, and socio-psychological contexts was conducted. An authorial definition of youth psychological maladaptation has been formulated as a processual, non-clinical, and gradational phenomenon arising from a mismatch between developmental challenges and available personal resources together with supportive environmental conditions. The continuum of psychological functioning “adaptation – strained adaptation – maladaptation” has been substantiated, allowing avoidance of both pathologising normative age-related difficulties and underestimating their significance. Theoretical approaches to explaining maladaptation have been systematised and their specificity in youth has been clarified.The practical value of the study lies in providing a theoretical basis for operationalising criteria of the psychological functioning continuum, developing tools for early identification of strained adaptation, and designing preventive psychological support programmes for youth under conditions of social instability

strained adaptation; emerging adulthood; individual-dispositional factors; socio-contextual determinants; self-regulation; psychological well-being in youth
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https://doi.org/10.33989/2226-4078.2026.1.09