The Role of Pre-Pandemic Mental Health Status and Personality Traits on Psychological Distress during the COVID-19 Lockdown among Italian Young Adults.

The COVID-19 pandemic imposed changes on day-to-day activities and had a detrimental psychological effect on the population, especially among vulnerable individuals, such as adolescents and young adults. The current study aimed to explore variables associated with anxiety, depressive and somatic symptoms in a sample of 608 Italian young adults aged 18 to 25. Data were collected using an online questionnaire administered two months into the COVID-19 lockdown, which explored several areas including sociodemographic information, pre-pandemic and current psychological distress, pre-pandemic and current levels of loneliness, and the traits of intolerance of uncertainty and boredom susceptibility.

The CPS Workers' Child Removal Decision in Cases of Domestic and Witnessed Violence.

This study aimed to explore maternal and paternal risks and protective factors that may influence the Child Protection Service (CPS) workers' child removal decision in case of domestic and witnessed violence. In all, 218 case reports of Italian CPSs were retrospectively analyzed through the Protocol of Risk and Protective Factors. The sample was then split up into two groups on the basis of the CPS professionals' placement decision after the investigation (child removal decision versus parents support and monitoring intervention).

An Examination of the Synergy of Age and PTSD on Narrative Coherence in Child Sexual Abuse Testimony.

In a criminal proceeding, a witness is considered as reliable if he/she can recall in narrative form the events, chronologically ordered, with salient contextual (place and time) details, and essential evaluations for the definition of meanings. This study aimed to confirm the effects of age and PTSD on narrative coherence and to investigate the moderating role of age on the association between PTSD and narrative coherence. Narrative coherence was analyzed in 92 allegations of children ( = 10.

Difficulties in emotion regulation in child abuse potential: Gender differences in parents.

Background: The Social Information Processing model (SIP; Milner, 1993, 2000, 2003) suggests that emotion dysregulation can be a moderating factor in Child Abuse Potential (CAP), influencing the processes of perception, interpretation and attribution of child's behavior.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate comprehensively emotion dysregulation in CAP and to examine gender differences between fathers and mother at risk.

Participants And Setting: Participants were 186 mothers and 110 fathers of Italian pupils, aged 6-14 years (M = 9.

Children's Cognitive and Emotional Processes in Adult Versus Child-Related Inter-Parental Conflicts.

In the literature, little attention has been paid to the specific impact of child-related versus adult-related inter-parental conflicts on children's intrapersonal processes and adjustment. Aimed to advance knowledge on this topic, the cross-sectional study explores: 1) the predictive effects of the two forms of inter-parental conflicts on: a) children's internalizing/externalizing behaviors and b) children's cognitive appraisals, emotional distress, and triangulation; 2) the mediating role of children's cognitive appraisals, emotional distress, and triangulation, in the association between adult-related vs child-related conflict and children's adjustment. Seventy-five school-aged children and their parents completed measures of inter-parental conflict, cognitive, emotional and behavioral processes and child adjustment.

Video games use in childhood and adolescence: Social phobia and differential susceptibility to media effects.

Literature established a correlation between heavy exposure with video games (VGs) and withdrawal, loneliness, worse social skills, and social phobia. The present study hypothesizes that children with social phobia are more vulnerable to higher exposure in video gaming. Moreover, it hypothesizes that children with social phobia and higher exposure with VGs will be more at risk of developing negative outcomes such as externalizing problems.

Investigating linguistic coherence relations in child sexual abuse: A comparison of PTSD and non-PTSD children.

Background: Language is the most common way to communicate internal states and emotions into a narrative form. Studies on the use of language provide a useful understanding of how people process an event and interpret it.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of PTSD on the narrative coherence of children's reports of sexual abuse.

Childbirth Related Post-traumatic Stress Symptoms and Maternal Sleep Difficulties: Associations With Parenting Stress.

In the literature, increasing evidence is showing the importance of sleep difficulties in the development or maintenance of posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms as well as the association between childbirth-related PTS symptoms and early maternal emotions and perceptions of their children. However, little is known regarding the effects of maternal sleep difficulties on parenting or about the mediational role of childbirth-related PTS symptoms in this association. The present study (pregnancy: T0; 1 month postpartum: T1; 3 months postpartum: T2) had two aims.

Parents' perception of child behavior, parenting stress, and child abuse potential: Individual and partner influences.

Based on the Social Information Processing model of parenting risk for child abuse, the present study examined the associations between mothers' and fathers' perception of child behavior and child abuse potential, as well as whether parenting stress mediates the association between these constructs. Two hundred and fifty-nine mother-father couples raising preschool children answered the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), the Parenting Stress Index (PSI), and the Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAPI). The results of dyadic path analysis showed that perception of child behavior was related to heightened parenting stress and abuse potential in both mothers and fathers.

Narrative fragmentation in child sexual abuse: The role of age and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The present study aimed to assess the effects of age and PTSD on the narrative fragmentation in memories for child sexual abuse. Lexical complexity, cohesion and coherence were analyzed within a group of 86 allegations of children (M=10years; SD=3.7; range: 4-17) who were victims of sexual abuse.

Facing Death in Adolescence: What Leads to Internalization and Externalization Problems?

The aim of this study was to test a model to better explain which factors are linked to the development of internalized and externalized problems in adolescents experiencing death through structural equation model. Internalizing problems were predicted by low self-esteem, high PTSD symptomatology and by being a female, whereas externalizing problems were predicted by low self-esteem, by the experience of the loss as central in their own life and by being a male. Our results pointed out the potential importance of controlling this factors in order to provide focused interventions for adolescents after the death of a significant one.

Child Sexual Behaviors in School Context: Age and Gender Differences.

The main purpose of the study was to explore the child sexual behaviors that Italian teachers have observed in the school context. A representative sample of 227 children, from 5 to 10 years old, was rated by their teachers through the Child Sexual Behavior Inventory. Frequencies of sexual behaviors among children aged 5 to 6, 7 to 8, and 9 to 10 are presented.

Maternal mind-mindedness as a linking mechanism between childbirth-related posttraumatic stress symptoms and parenting stress.

The researchers of this study have two aims. The first aim is to verify whether posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms, evaluated at 87 hours and at 3 months postpartum, are associated with maternal mind-mindedness (MM) and parenting stress, measured at 17 months postpartum. The second aim is to investigate, at 17 months, the predictive effects of PTS symptoms on the dimensions of parenting stress and to explore whether MM mediates these associations.

Emotional Distress Following Childbirth: An Intervention to Buffer Depressive and PTSD Symptoms.

Childbirth for some women is a negative experience associated with depressive and post-traumatic symptoms. The preventive actions focusing on helping mothers to cope with negative emotions experienced after childbirth are strongly recommended. It is also recommended both to intervene early and on all women to avoid the risk that these symptoms can worsen in the months after childbirth.