EDITORIAL article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Personality and Social Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1648176
This article is part of the Research TopicPersonal Competences in the Academic and Work Environment: Advancing Towards Psychological WellbeingView all 11 articles
Editorial: Personal Competences in the Academic and Work Environment: Advancing Towards Psychological Wellbeing
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Almeria, Almería, Spain
- 2University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, United States
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Psychological well-being and individual development are core aspects of human development, understood as ongoing processes of self-realization and life satisfaction. In this context, personal competencies -such as emotional intelligence, self-esteem, resilience, assertiveness, and autonomy -are recognized as essential resources for maintaining healthy psychological functioning. These skills support adaptation to change, effective stress regulation, and the ability to navigate everyday challenges, thereby fostering a more fulfilling and meaningful life across personal, academic, and professional areas.Alongside these competencies, cultural, artistic, and humanities-based experiences have shown transformative potential, enabling expression, self-reflection, and meaningmaking processes that enhance psychological well-being. Well-being is thus understood not merely as the absence of psychological distress, but as an active, dynamic journey of personal growth and fulfillment throughout the lifespan. The integration of personal competencies and enriching life experiences provides a promising foundation for the design of interventions, educational programs, and preventive strategies aimed at strengthening mental health and promoting personal growth.This special issue provides an in-depth analysis of the ways in which personal competencies and cultural and artistic engagement contribute to psychological well-being from a positive perspective. It brings together empirical studies that, through an integrative lens, explore protective factors, theoretical models, and intervention approaches aimed at enhancing personal growth and mental health across diverse populations and settings. The following section offers a thematic synthesis of the key contributions.The ten studies included in this special issue can be grouped into four thematic areas.First is how personal competencies promote psychological well-being in young people during formative stages. Second is on effects for teachers, particularly in relation to reducing burnout, supporting career decision-making, and managing stress. Third are contributions that highlight the influence of cultural identity, emotional intelligence, and critical thinking in populations engaged in the arts, music, or sports. Lastly is a methodological contribution involving the validation of an assessment instrument.Four studies explore the well-being of young adults during their higher education years, From a methodological perspective, the contribution by Doshi, Antens, & Daukantaitė (2024) validates the Swedish version of the IPP30 scale for assessing the impostor phenomenon, opening new avenues for understanding its impact on self-perception and emotional adjustment.The studies gathered in this special issue reinforce the idea that psychological well-being is built through personal competencies and cultural experiences that help individuals confront contemporary challenges, strengthen their identity, and support integral development. Resources such as self-compassion, self-efficacy, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence show positive effects among both student and teacher populations, acting as protective factors against stress, impulsivity, and burnout. In addition, the role of cultural, artistic, and contextual elements in shaping well-being is evident, offering a broader and more sensitive perspective on diversity of experience. This collection of studies not only expands our understanding of the mechanisms that underpin well-being and personal development but also provides practical tools for educators, psychologists, and professionals.Looking ahead, there is a need for longitudinal studies that capture the dynamic evolution of these competencies over time. Equally important is the development of training programs and interventions that integrate these variables across educational, professional, and community settings, with the aim of not only preventing psychological distress but also promoting personal and social development. This special issue also highlights the importance of advancing innovative methodological approaches that can provide deeper insight into these complex processes.
Keywords: psychological well-being, Personal competencies, Emotional Intelligence, self-efficacy, Academic and work environment, cultural engagement, mental health promotion
Received: 16 Jun 2025; Accepted: 07 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Molero Jurado, Pérez-Fuentes, Ryff and Molina Moreno. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: María del Mar Molero Jurado, University of Almeria, Almería, Spain
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