Psychological well-being of Russian adolescents: strengths and areas for development within the EPOCH model

<jats:p>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Context and relevance&lt;/strong&gt;. Adolescence is characterized by high vulnerability to stressors, which, against the backdrop of digitalization and social changes, makes the task of supporting adolescents&amp;rsquo; psychological well-being (PWB) particularly significant. Despite the existence of international studies on PWB within the EPOCH model framework, data on the structure and characteristics of PWB among Russian adolescents, as well as on the associations between PWB components and gender, age, and place of residence, are lacking. This hinders the design of targeted psychological and educational programs that account for the specifics of the Russian context.&lt;strong&gt; Objective.&lt;/strong&gt; This study aims to identify the characteristics of psychological well-being among Russian adolescents within the EPOCH model framework, as well as to determine the nature of the associations between its components and socio-demographic factors (gender, age, place of residence) in comparison with data from international samples. &lt;strong&gt;Hypothesis.&lt;/strong&gt; We hypothesized that the psychological well-being of Russian adolescents is culturally determined and is associated with gender, age, and place of residence. &lt;strong&gt;Methods and materials.&lt;/strong&gt; An online survey involved 1332 adolescents (48,3% boys, 51,7% girls; 52,4% from large cities, 47,6% from villages/small towns; M = 15,30, SD = 1,20) from 6 regions of the Russian Federation. The Russian-language version of the EPOCH Measure, adapted by E.N. Volkova and I.V. Volkova, was used. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and correlation analysis were applied. &lt;strong&gt;Results. &lt;/strong&gt;The overall psychological well-being score was M = 3,84 (SD = 0,63). The highest scores were obtained on the Engagement (M = 4,19, SD = 0,79) and Optimism (M = 4,01, SD = 0,82) scales; the lowest scores were on the Perseverance (M = 3,55, SD = 0,77) and Happiness (M = 3,63, SD = 0,78) scales. Girls scored significantly higher than boys on the Optimism, Connectedness scales and on the overall well-being score (p &amp;lt; 0,01, &amp;eta;&amp;sup2; ranging from 0,006 to 0,033). Age differences were minimal (only Happiness was higher in younger adolescents, p = 0,019, &amp;eta;&amp;sup2; = 0,006). Adolescents from villages/small towns had more pronounced scores on the Engagement scale (p = 0,025, &amp;eta;&amp;sup2; = 0,004). &lt;strong&gt;Conclusions.&lt;/strong&gt; The conducted study allows us to conclude that the psychological well-being of Russian adolescents indeed has culturally determined specificity: the high expression of the &amp;ldquo;Connectedness&amp;rdquo; and &amp;ldquo;Happiness&amp;rdquo; components brings the Russian sample closer to collectivistic cultures, while the relatively low scores on &amp;ldquo;Engagement&amp;rdquo; and &amp;ldquo;Perseverance&amp;rdquo; indicate resource areas for development related to the formation of a subjective agency. The hypothesis regarding the association of PWB with socio-demographic factors was partially confirmed: significant gender differences were found (girls outperformed boys on Optimism, Connectedness, and the overall well-being score), whereas the influence of age and place of residence was minimal. The identified differences are consistent with data obtained from samples in other countries (Kern et al., 2019; Burger et al., 2023; Zeng et al., 2019). The results substantiate the need to develop and implement programs aimed at enhancing engagement, perseverance, and optimism, taking into account the identified gender and cultural characteristics.&lt;/p&gt;</jats:p>