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.

Maternal Attachment Representations during Pregnancy, Perinatal Maternal Depression, and Parenting Stress: Relations to Child's Attachment.

Background: This paper aimed to explore the associations between maternal representations of attachment evaluated during pregnancy, pre and postnatal maternal depression, parenting stress and child's attachment at 15 months after childbirth.

Methods: Mothers ( = 71), and their infants participated in a longitudinal study of maternal attachment, pre and postnatal depression, parenting stress and child attachment. Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) was conducted between 24 and 26 weeks of pregnancy (Time 1), depression was assessed using the Edinburgh Perinatal Depression Scale (EPDS) (at Time 1 and 6 months after childbirth, i.

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.

First-Time Mothers' and Fathers' Developmental Changes in the Perception of Their Daughters' and Sons' Temperament: Its Association With Parents' Mental Health.

Objective: Most studies investigating the role of parenting behaviors on a child's development are directed to mothers. However, recent analyses show that mothers and fathers have a different influence on a child's functioning, specifically her/his temperament. The present study explored the developmental change of parents' perception of their daughters' and sons' temperament and its association with parental mental health problems.

Early styles of interaction in mother-twin infant dyads and maternal mental health.

Transition to parenthood is considered a critical process for mothers of twins. There are, however, few studies on the subject. This study aims to evaluate the differences between mother-twin infant dyads and mother-singleton infant dyads with regard to maternal depression, anxiety, parenting stress, and the quality of mother-infant interaction.

The Role of Body Image Concerns in Online Sexual Victimization among Female Adolescents: The Mediating Effect of Risky Online Behaviors.

Female adolescents are particularly at risk of body image concerns. These individuals tend to make greater use of Social Networks and this could lead adolescents into behaviors that increase the risk of online sexual victimization (OSV). This cross-sectional study seeks to investigate the relation between body image concerns and OSV in a sample of female adolescents ( = 229) and the mediating role of three types of risky online behaviors in this link.

Physical, Emotional, and Sexual Victimization Across Three Generations: a Cross-Sectional Study.

Using data gathered from grandparents (G1), parents (G2), and young adults (G3), this study examines the continuity of intergenerational victimization (physical, emotional, and sexual) across three generations. The study included data from 168 participants within three generations: grandparents, G1 (19.2% male, 80.

Students' Psychological Adjustment in Normative School Transitions From Kindergarten to High School: Investigating the Role of Teacher-Student Relationship Quality.

School transitions require students to adapt to new challenges and situations and can increase the risk of externalizing and internalizing psychological symptoms. The teacher-student relationship seems to be a protective factor for the risk of developing psychological symptoms during school transitions. The aim of the present study is to investigate whether the quality of the teacher-student relationship predicts the decrease of internalizing and externalizing symptoms during three school transitions, namely: from kindergarten to primary school (T1), from primary to middle school (T2), and from middle to high school (T3).

Parent and peer attachment as predictors of facebook addiction symptoms in different developmental stages (early adolescents and adolescents).

Facebook Addiction (FA) is a problem that concerns minors all over the world. The attachment bond with peers and parents has been proven to be a risk factor for the onset of FA. However, the family and peer group can have a different importance depending on the developmental period of the minor.

Exploring the Dimensional Structure of Bullying Victimization Among Primary and Lower-Secondary School Students: Is One Factor Enough, or Do We Need More?

In adolescence, bullying victimization is typically represented in terms of a three-fold factor structure reflecting three components of verbal, physical, and social victimization. Recent studies have suggested the usefulness of alternativte models including both general and component-specific factors. In this study, we assessed the empirical and theoretical validity of an instrument assessing verbal, physical and social victimization using a set of alternative models of victimization: a unidimensional model, a three-factor model, and a bifactor model.

Examining the selection of university courses in young adults with learning disabilities.

The literature contains a great deal of research on Specific Learning Disorders (SpLDs). However, almost all of the studies related to SpLDs deal with the difficulties that said disorders cause during childhood or adolescence. An interest in adults with SpLDs is only recent, especially in university students like those in this study.

Soap bubbles as a distraction technique in the management of pain, anxiety, and fear in children at the paediatric emergency room: A pilot study.

Background: Hospitals can cause anxiety, pain, and fear in children perceiving medical procedures as intrusive and painful. Among the nonpharmacological strategies, distraction techniques have proved to be effective in the management of pain and distress.

Methods: The aim of the present study is to assess the effectiveness of soap bubbles as a distraction technique for the management of anxiety, fear, and pain in children waiting for a medical examination at the paediatric emergency room.

From Their Point of View: Identifying Socio-Behavioral Profiles of Primary School Pupils Based on Peer Group Perception.

Our study adopted a person-based approach with the aim to identify socio-behavioral profiles of primary school students based on peer group perception. The study involved 109 classes and their teachers, from the first three grades of elementary school. The final student sample consisted of 424 children, aged 6-9 years ( = 94.

Young Adult Retrospective Reports of Adverse Childhood Experiences: Prevalence of Physical, Emotional, and Sexual Abuse in Italy.

This study sought to understand the prevalence of childhood abuse in Italy using an instrument developed by the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN) and adapted to the Italian context. The study participants were 312 young adults, 106 males (34%), and 206 females (64%), aged 18-24 years, from various northwest Italian universities and workplaces, using an ISPCAN Child Abuse Screening Tool retrospective questionnaire (ICAST-R). With reference to comparative data from other countries, the Italian context reveals a high incidence of emotional abuse (62%) followed by physical abuse (44%) and sexual abuse (18%).

Fear of childbirth in primiparous Italian pregnant women: The role of anxiety, depression, and couple adjustment.

Background: The prevalence of fear of childbirth in pregnant women is described to be about 20-25%, while 6-10% of expectant mothers report a severe fear that impairs their daily activities as well as their ability to cope with labour and childbirth. Research on fear of childbirth risk factors has produced heterogeneous results while being mostly done with expectant mothers from northern Europe, northern America, and Australia.

Aims: The present research investigates whether fear of childbirth can be predicted by socio-demographic variables, distressing experiences before pregnancy, medical-obstetric factors and psychological variables with a sample of 426 Italian primiparous pregnant women.

Muscle dysmorphia and psychopathology: Findings from an Italian sample of male bodybuilders.

Unlabelled: The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the risk of muscle dysmorphia and psychopathological symptoms in an Italian sample of male bodybuilders.

Method: The sample was recruited online (145 men with a mean age of 30.0 years) and participants were asked to fill out the Muscle Dysmorphic Disorder Inventory (MDDI), Symptom Cheklist-90-R (SCL-90-R), Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES-II), and to provide other socio-demographic data.

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.

Parenting Stress, Mental Health, Dyadic Adjustment: A Structural Equation Model.

In the 1st year of the post-partum period, parenting stress, mental health, and dyadic adjustment are important for the wellbeing of both parents and the child. However, there are few studies that analyze the relationship among these three dimensions. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationships between parenting stress, mental health (depressive and anxiety symptoms), and dyadic adjustment among first-time parents.

Student-Teacher Relationships As a Protective Factor for School Adjustment during the Transition from Middle to High School.

A robust body of research has identified school transitions during adolescence, and in particular the transition from middle to high school, as one of the riskiest phases for school failure, being characterized by significant social, emotional and behavioral changes. This transition is critical even with respect to academic achievement: in Italy, the highest frequency of school dropout can be observed in the 9th and 10th grades, partly as a consequence of poor adjustment to the new school context. The impact of students' relationships with their teachers may be particularly relevant during critical developmental periods.

Parental Relationship with Twins from Pregnancy to 3 Months: The Relation Among Parenting Stress, Infant Temperament, and Well-Being.

The transition to parenthood, from pregnancy to postpartum period, is a critical process, particularly for couples expecting twins. There is very little literature regarding the links between anxiety, depression, dyadic adjustment, parental stress, and infant temperament spanning from pregnancy to postpartum. This study has two aims: first, to examine whether mothers' and fathers' anxiety, depression, and dyadic adjustment, assessed at the sixth month of pregnancy and 3 months postpartum, are associated with infants' negative affectivity (NA) and parenting stress; second, to examine whether there is any difference between fathers' and mothers' levels of parenting stress and perception of the twins' temperament, as well as to evaluate, separately for mothers and fathers, whether the levels of parenting stress and perception of child temperament differ for each twin.

Perinatal Parenting Stress, Anxiety, and Depression Outcomes in First-Time Mothers and Fathers: A 3- to 6-Months Postpartum Follow-Up Study.

Objective: Although there is an established link between parenting stress, postnatal depression, and anxiety, no study has yet investigated this link in first-time parental couples. The specific aims of this study were 1) to investigate whether there were any differences between first-time fathers' and mothers' postnatal parenting stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms and to see their evolution between three and 6 months after their child's birth; and 2) to explore how each parent's parenting stress and anxiety levels and the anxiety levels and depressive symptoms of their partners contributed to parental postnatal depression.

Method: The sample included 362 parents (181 couples; mothers' M Age = 35.

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.

Emotionally Abusive Behavior in Italian Middle School Teachers as Identified by Students.

The aim of this article was to estimate the prevalence of psychological maltreatment in Italian middle school students by their teachers, and to test the applicability of surveying instruments for this phenomenon in Italian educational settings. The sample consisted of 105 teachers and 128 middle school students, who were asked about their experiences with emotionally abusive behaviors (i.e.