Preschool Emotional Problems in the Post-Pandemic Era between Parental Risk and Protective Factors.

The psychosocial adaptation of children born or experiencing their early years during the COVID-19 pandemic remains uncertain. In order to implement prevention strategies, it is, therefore, a priority to deeply analyze children's mental health in this post-pandemic phase and to identify family risk and protective factors. Indeed, recent studies reveal that children's emotional distress increased with the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in situations of high parental stress.

The Relationship between Paternal Alexithymia and Children's Internalizing and Externalizing Behavioral Problems during Early Childhood.

The literature has long recognized that parental emotional competence, that is, the ability to express, understand, and regulate emotions, plays a key role in children's development from early childhood. Nevertheless, the effect of parental alexithymia, which can be understood as a deficit in emotional competence, has not been thoroughly studied. In particular, the association between paternal alexithymia and behavioral problems in young children is still a neglected area of research.

Emotional Competence of Early Childhood Educators and Child Socio-Emotional Wellbeing.

Background: Early childhood educators are attachment figures for babies and play an important role in emotion socialization. This study aims to analyze the role of educators as emotional socializers and its relationship with infants' social competence and attachment security, considering various characteristics of educators (age, years of experience, level of knowledge of development and parenting) and the context (day-care center-family communication).

Methods: 563 infants attending day-care centers (age: M = 25.

The evaluation of behavioural problems in the first three years of life: Comparing parents and early childhood educators.

The study investigates the degree of agreement between mothers, fathers and educators in the evaluation of early childhood behavioural problems, through the CBCL 1½-5. Data analysis indicates a good level of agreement between mothers and fathers, along with a significant divergence between parents and educators.

Parental practices of Italian mothers and fathers during early infancy: The role of knowledge about parenting and child development.

Our contribution aims to verify whether parental knowledge about child development and parenting constitutes a protective factor in the application of dysfunctional educational practices. Numerous studies have found that parental knowledge has a great influence on parenting, however it remains unclear whether both are casually linked in a direct and linear way. Data currently available on parental knowledge almost exclusively refers to mothers and subjects at risk.