Assessment of anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents: Italian validation of the short version of the spence children's anxiety scale for parents.

The assessment of anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents requires a valid and reliable single instrument able to detect various anxiety symptoms early and systematically collect data from other informant such as parents. The present study aimed to test the one-factor structure of the SCAS-P-8 and to examine its psychometric properties and invariance across sex and age in an Italian sample of 769 parents of children and adolescents aged 3-18 years (50.8% females).

Problematic Social Media Use Among Italian Midadolescents: Protocol and Rationale of the SMART Project.

Background: Social media (SM) use constitutes a large portion of midadolescents' daily lives as a way of peer interaction. A significant percentage of adolescents experience intense or problematic social media use (PSMU), an etiologically complex behavior potentially associated with psychological distress. To date, studies longitudinally testing for risk or protective factors of PSMU, and collecting qualitative data are still scarce among midadolescents.

Exploring the Influence of / Polymorphic Variants on Adolescent Mental Health and Response to Vitamin D Supplementation in Embryonic Hippocampal Cell Lines.

Several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the vitamin D receptor (VDR) have been observed in association with susceptibility to various pathologies, including autism, major depression, age-related changes in cognitive functioning, and Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. This study aimed to establish the association between / polymorphic variants and anxious/depressive symptoms in nonclinical adolescents from central Italy, with the goal of identifying the risk of developing both symptoms. We found no significant difference in genotype distribution or dominant/recessive models of / polymorphic variants between subjects with anxious/depressive symptoms and controls.

Health-Related Quality of Life in Children with Overweight and Obesity: An Explorative Study Focused on School Functioning and Well-being.

Overweight and obesity in childhood has reached epidemic levels, and their roles in physical and psychological health are now recognized. Recently, researchers have focused on the impact of these weight problems in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) domains, which are less investigated in children. This exploratory study examined the differences in HRQoL domains between a clinical group who were overweight/obesity treatment-seeking (n = 58) and a normal-weight group (n = 44) in a sample of 102 children, with a specific focus on school functioning and well-being.

Daily Activities in European Children and Adolescents During COVID-19 School Closure: A Longitudinal Study Exploring Physical Activity, Use of Screens, and Sleep Patterns.

This longitudinal study aimed to analyze the evolution of patterns of daily activities (physical activity time, screen usage time, and sleep hours) in European youth during school closure due to the COVID-19 health crisis. Participants were 624 caregivers of children and adolescents aged 3-18 from Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Evaluations were online, and four time-points were considered: retrospective measurement of daily activities before confinement (T1), and two (T2), five (T3), and eight (T4) weeks after starting the lockdown.

Childhood trauma and psychopathy: The moderating role of resilience.

Objective: Despite accumulating evidence of significant albeit moderate associations between childhood trauma and psychopathy, little is known about the potential moderators of these associations. To advance knowledge in this area, the present study investigated the moderating role of resilience in the childhood trauma-psychopathy link.

Method: A community sample of 521 adult participants from the Netherlands (40.

Anxiety and Stress among American, Chinese, Italian, and Russian Emerging Adults: Does Uncertainty Avoidance Matter?

Levels of anxiety and stress vary throughout the lifespan and across cultures. Uncertainty appears particularly relevant during emerging adulthood, thus potentially affecting both stress and anxiety. Uncertainty as a construct was identified by Hofstede (i.

Flourishing and Self-Control in Adolescence: The Role of Perceived Parenting.

Self-control is the ability to control thoughts, emotions, and impulses to pursuit of long-term goals. Adolescents with high self-control experience higher flourishing levels. The latter refers to the fulfillment of needs for competence, relationship, and self-acceptance, as well as the possession of psychological capital such as flow and commitment.

Italian Validation of the Delaying Gratification Inventory in Adolescents.

The delay of gratification (DoG) is defined as the willingness to forego immediate satisfaction to achieve greater long-term gratification. This ability is essential in adolescence, as its development is crucial against desirable versus undesirable behaviors. This study investigated the psychometric proprieties of the Delaying Gratification Inventory (DGI) in Italian adolescents.

Association between Familism and Mental Health in College Adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Familism, also known in the literature as allocentrism, is the cultural propensity of a society to place the family at the center of its value system. Adherence to this value has been related to less depressive symptomatology in young people; however, these results are not conclusive, since it has also been found that the influence of familism on depressive symptoms is more indirect than direct. This study aimed to explore the direct relationships between familism (allocentrism and idiocentrism) and mental health (depression, anxiety, and stress).

Brain and gut microbiota disorders in the psychopathology of anorexia nervosa.

Studies of pathophysiological mechanisms involved in eating disorders (EDs) have intensified over the past several years, revealing their unprecedented and unanticipated complexity. Results from many articles highlight critical aspects in each member of ED family. Notably, anorexia nervosa (AN) is a disorder due to undefined etiology, frequently associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsiveness, accompanied by endocrine alterations, altered immune response, increased inflammation, and dysbiosis of the gut microbiota.

Possible Stress-Neuroendocrine System-Psychological Symptoms Relationship in Pregnant Women during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic induced long-term damages that weigh on the national health systems of various countries in terms of support and care. This review aimed to highlight the mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in pregnant women. We first report data on the immune system physiopathology and the main viral infections in pregnancy, including COVID-19.

Hypercholesterolemia in Cancer and in Anorexia Nervosa: A Hypothesis for a Crosstalk.

The relationship between cholesterol and cancer has been widely demonstrated. Clinical studies have shown changes in blood cholesterol levels in cancer patients. In parallel, basic research studies have shown that cholesterol is involved in the mechanisms of onset and progression of the disease.

COVID-19: Psychological symptoms and coping strategies in preschoolers, schoolchildren, and adolescents.

The present study aimed to compare psychological symptoms and coping strategies in 1480 preschoolers, schoolchildren, and adolescents during home confinement due to COVID-19. We enrolled parents from Italy, Portugal, and Spain who completed a survey between the second and fourth week of lockdown. The results showed that preschoolers displayed more sleeping difficulties, temper tantrums, and dependency while adolescents' reactions were more related to COVID-19 worries and uncertainty.

Corrigendum: Coping Behaviors and Psychological Disturbances in Youth Affected by the COVID-19 Health Crisis.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.

A Cross-Cultural Study on Attachment and Adjustment Difficulties in Adolescence: The Mediating Role of Self-Control in Italy, Spain, China, and Poland.

From a socio-ecological perspective, individuals are influenced by the interplay of individual, relational, and societal factors operating as a broader system. Thereby, to support youth adjustment during the critical adolescence period, the interplay between these factors should be investigated. This study aimed to investigate cross-cultural differences in adolescents' maternal and paternal attachment, adolescents' adjustment difficulties and self-control, and in their association.

The Impact of Parental Stress on Italian Adolescents' Internalizing Symptoms during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Study.

The challenges and consequences of COVID-19 imposed massive changes in adolescents' daily routines (e.g., school closures, home confinement, and social distancing rules), which impacted their mental health.

Psychological Symptoms in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese Youth During the COVID-19 Health Crisis: A Longitudinal Study.

Aiming to slow down the spread of the COVID-19, a lockdown was declared in the first term of 2020 in many European countries, applying different restrictions measures. Although the psychological effects of home confinement in children have been described, there is a lack of longitudinal research examining the impact of the confinement over time. The present study analyzes the evolution of the psychological wellbeing of children and adolescents from three European countries with different restrictions.

Coping Behaviors and Psychological Disturbances in Youth Affected by the COVID-19 Health Crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the quarantine undergone by children in many countries is a stressful situation about which little is known to date. Children and adolescents' behaviors to cope with home confinement may be associated with their emotional welfare. The objectives of this study were: (1) to examine the coping strategies used out by children and adolescents during the COVID-19 health crisis, (2) to analyze the differences in these behaviors in three countries, and (3) to examine the relationship between different coping modalities and adaptation.

Parent and Child's Negative Emotions During COVID-19: The Moderating Role of Parental Attachment Style.

In February 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) appeared and spread rapidly in Italy. With the health emergency and social isolation, parents started spending more time with their children, and they might have experienced greater distress. Attachment style is considered as an effective emotion regulation strategy in the parent-child relationship.

Parenting Styles and Child's Well-Being: The Mediating Role of the Perceived Parental Stress.

In the last decades, consensus from laymen, scholars, and policy-makers has emphasized the role of child-parent relationships to promote child's development and positive well-being. Parenting style was claimed as one of the crucial factors for the child's positive adjustment. The main aim of the present study was to investigate the relationships between authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles and child's difficulties.

Early Evidence of Parental Attachment Among Polish Adolescents.

Parental attachment is important for adolescents' development as well as cultural context. Poland used to be collectivist but now is closer to individualistic due to social and economic transformation. Few studies have examined parental attachment and self-esteem among Polish adolescents.

The link between individualism-collectivism and life satisfaction among emerging adults from four countries.

The current investigation tested life satisfaction (LS), a cognitive component of subjective well-being, among emerging adults, in the context of individualism (I) and collectivism (C), by distinguishing both cultural and individual levels of analysis, considering their horizontal (H) and vertical (V) dimensions, and controlling age and gender effects. Emerging adults (N = 1760 university students, aged 18-25, M  = 19.46, SD  = 1.

Personality Features in Obesity.

Obesity is a widespread and broadly consequential health condition associated with numerous medical complications that could increase mortality rates. As personality concerned individual's patterns of feeling, behavior, and thinking, it may help in understanding how people with obesity differ from people with normal-weight status in their typical weight-relevant behavior. So far, studies about personality and BMI associations have mainly focused on broad personality traits.