Publications by authors named "Iacopo Bertacchi"

Empathy is crucial to the development of socio-emotional skills in youth and empathy development is central to understanding and subtyping youth with externalizing problems. This study explored for the first time the psychometric properties of the Measure of Empathy in Early Childhood (MEEC) in a sample of 652 Italian children aged 6 to 8 years. The gender invariance of MEEC scores and their associations with other measures of empathy and prosocial behavior, and children's externalizing problems and callous-unemotional (CU) traits were also evaluated.

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The coping power universal (CPU) is an evidence-based universal prevention program delivered by teachers, and completely integrated into the school agenda. Previous studies have shown its positive effects, though little is known about its longer-term effects, and no previous study has explored whether teachers' occupational stress could influence the CPU efficacy. The current study aimed to explore the 1 year follow up of the CPU on students' externalizing and internalizing problems and prosocial behavior, and the influence of baseline levels of teachers' stress in a sample of 316 3rd graders and their teachers ( = 32).

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Introduction: The present study examined the efficacy of the universal prevention version of the Coping Power Program in reducing behavioral and emotional problems and in promoting prosocial behaviors in middle-school classrooms.

Methods: The study used a randomized control study design; and the sample included 839 middle-school Italian youths (411 males), attending 40 middle-school classrooms. The students were in seventh or eighth grade, and they had an average age of 13.

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Universal prevention approaches have significantly reduced children's conduct problems and aggressive behavior in the school setting, but it has not been clear whether the effects generalize into children's behavior in home and community settings in later elementary school years. The present study examined this issue using a classroom-randomized design, with 1030 students in 70 fourth and fifth grade Italian classes. The intervention model is the Coping Power Universal and the classroom teachers delivered it.

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Behavioral problems in schools can cause serious harm to the emotional and social well-being of students and limit their ability to achieve their full academic potential. A prior pilot study on the universal application of Coping Power showed a significant decrease in the hyperactivity behaviors of five classes. The next step was to test whether Coping Power Universal could be successfully implemented by teachers in a variety of Italian schools.

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Aim: Preschoolers with behavioural difficulties, both at clinical and sub-clinical levels, are at higher risk for several negative outcomes. The current paper reports the results from a randomized clinical trial evaluating an adaptation of the Coping Power for preschool-aged children. In the present study, Coping Power is adapted as a universal prevention intervention, in which teachers deliver a curriculum that is designed to improve children's social competence and reduce problem behaviours.

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Aggressive behaviors in schools have the potential to cause serious harm to students' emotional and social well-being and to limit their ability to achieve their full academic potential. Prevention programs developed to reduce children's aggressive behaviors in school settings can provide interventions at a universal or targeted level. The main aim of our randomized control study was to examine the efficacy of Coping Power, adapted as a universal prevention program, in reducing children's behavioral problems and improving school grades.

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Children with high levels of aggressive behavior create a major management problem in school settings and interfere with the learning environment of their classmates. We report results from a group-randomized trial of a program aimed at preventing aggressive behaviors. The purpose of the current study, therefore, was to determine the extent to which an indicated prevention program, Coping Power Program, is capable of reducing behavioral problems and improving pro-social behavior when delivered as a universal classroom-based prevention intervention.

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