Search Results (13)

This study investigates the dropout risk among first- and second-year high school students in the peripheral areas of Southern Italy, where the dropout rates are extremely high. It focuses on individual and relational factors associated with dropout, analyzing data from 645 students (M_age = 14.64) who completed a self-report questionnaire. The examined variables include self-efficacy, amotivation, future orientation, peer relationships, and students’ trust in teachers. Hierarchical regressions assessed the influence of grade levels on these dimensions. Our findings show a positive developmental trend in second-year students, including higher self-efficacy, better peer relationships, and reduced intentions to drop out. However, trust in teachers declines during this transition. Moreover, relationships with teachers show no significant improvement across grades. Therefore, this study underscores the importance of fostering trust between students and teachers as a protective factor against dropout. It also reveals the need for interventions targeting both students and the educational environment to improve teacher–student relationships and support students’ educational aspirations. By addressing these relational aspects, stakeholders can better mitigate dropout risks and promote school engagement during critical transitions in adolescence. Full article

The aim of this study was to analyze the reciprocal effects between prosociality, peer support and psychological well-being using a four-wave longitudinal study and a within-person analytical approach (random intercept cross-lagged panel model, RI-CLPM). A sample of 587 adolescents (males = 308; M_age = 14.23, SD = 0.58) enrolled in the first year of high school (9th grade) were recruited and followed over four years from 2016 (Time 1 [T1]) to 2019 (Time 4 [T4]). Once a year, they filled in a questionnaire measuring prosociality, peer support, and psychological well-being. The results from the RI-CLPM revealed that, at the between-person level, prosociality, peer support and psychological well-being were all positively associated. Conversely, at the within-person level and at all survey points, only psychological well-being positively predicted prosociality one year later. Specifically, we found that adolescents with higher levels of psychological well-being were more likely to show a tendency for prosocial behaviors over time. Promoting interventions aimed at enhancing psychological well-being may make adolescents more likely to engage in positive behaviors, such as prosocial ones, in a variety of contexts, thereby creating favorable social environments. Full article

School bullying represents a widespread expression of violence in the peer context. Guided by the social-ecological model, this study investigated the longitudinal and transactional pathways linking domestic and neighborhood/community violence exposure (through direct victimization and witnessing), self-serving cognitive distortions (CDs), and school bullying perpetration. Furthermore, consistent with the previous literature, we tested the cognitive desensitization process that could develop in response to chronically violent contexts. Two four-wave cross-lagged panel mediation models were tested in a sample of 778 high school students (28.1% males; M_age [Time 1; T1] = 14.20, SD = 0.58). The results showed differential effects of multiple contexts and forms of violence exposure, with domestic violence victimization and community violence witnessing being associated with self-serving CDs and bullying perpetration over time. Moreover, significant associations between CDs and bullying perpetration over time were found, with bidirectional effects for each of these longitudinal patterns. Finally, self-serving CDs significantly mediated the relationships between both domestic violence victimization and community violence witnessing and school bullying perpetration. These findings highlight the need to consider school bullying as a social phenomenon stemming from a complex and bidirectional interplay between individuals and the environments they inhabit, confirming a basic postulate that “violence breeds violence”. Full article

Framed within the evolutionary framework, the Interpersonal Motivational System (IMS) theory suggests that eight distinct motivational impulses drive interpersonal human relationships, namely caregiving, social affiliation, attachment, rank-dominance, rank-submission, social play, cooperation, and sexuality. This theory has been widely applied in clinical practice, where psychopathology is viewed as the result of non-flexible or excessive activation of one system over another. Despite its clinical relevance, empirical studies aimed at measuring IMSs are scarce. This paper contributed to filling this gap by proposing a questionnaire to measure individuals’ activation of the eight IMSs. Two studies involving large samples of adults were conducted. The first study (N = 455; 76.5% females) concerned the development of the questionnaire and examination of its content validity through explorative factor analysis. In the second study (N = 635; 54.8% females), confirmatory factor analyses were performed to further refine and confirm the instrument’s factor structure. The final version consisted of 50 items. Empirical validity was established by investigating the correlations between the eight IMSs and other related measures (i.e., personality traits, human basic values, and attachment dimensions). The findings suggest that the IMS framework can be used to understand individual differences in motivation and behavior in different social contexts. Full article

School bullying is a serious public health concern in many countries worldwide. Over recent decades, several effective anti-bullying prevention programs have been developed. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an adapted version of the “Equipping Youth to Help One Another (EQUIP) for Educators” (EfE) program in reducing adolescents’ engagement in school bullying perpetration by correcting their use of self-serving cognitive distortions (CDs). Furthermore, guided by the vantage sensitivity framework, we investigated whether the intervention effects varied depending on the adolescents’ gender and environmental sensitivity. A quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test with a control group design involved 354 Italian middle and high school adolescents (51.7% males; M_age = 14.86, SD = 2.54). Both the control (n = 187) and experimental group (n = 167) completed self-report questionnaires, before and after the intervention. Structural equation modeling revealed a significant moderated mediation effect: highly sensitive males participating in the EfE program decreased their engagement in bullying by reducing CDs, compared to females and those with low- and medium- sensitivity. These findings support the effectiveness of the EfE program in equipping youth to think and act more responsible and shed light on “why” and “for whom” the intervention might work better to counteract school bullying during adolescence. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many young adults’ lives educationally, economically, and personally. This study investigated associations between COVID-19-related disruption and perception of increases in internalising symptoms among young adults and whether these associations were moderated by earlier measures of adolescent positivity and future orientation and parental psychological control. Participants included 1329 adolescents at Time 1, and 810 of those participants as young adults (M age = 20, 50.4% female) at Time 2 from 9 countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States). Drawing from a larger longitudinal study of adolescent risk taking and young adult competence, this study controlled for earlier levels of internalising symptoms during adolescence in examining these associations. Higher levels of adolescent positivity and future orientation as well as parent psychological control during late adolescence helped protect young adults from sharper perceived increases in anxiety and depression during the first nine months of widespread pandemic lockdowns in all nine countries. Findings are discussed in terms of how families in the 21st century can foster greater resilience during and after adolescence when faced with community-wide stressors, and the results provide new information about how psychological control may play a protective role during times of significant community-wide threats to personal health and welfare. Full article

Cultures and families are not static over time but evolve in response to social transformations, such as changing gender roles, urbanization, globalization, and technology uptake. Historically, individualism and collectivism have been widely used heuristics guiding cross-cultural comparisons, yet these orientations may evolve over time, and individuals within cultures and cultures themselves can have both individualist and collectivist orientations. Historical shifts in parents’ attitudes also have occurred within families in several cultures. As a way of understanding mothers’ and fathers’ individualism, collectivism, and parenting attitudes at this point in history, we examined parents in nine countries that varied widely in country-level individualism rankings. Data included mothers’ and fathers’ reports (N = 1338 families) at three time points in China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States. More variance was accounted for by within-culture than between-culture factors for parents’ individualism, collectivism, progressive parenting attitudes, and authoritarian parenting attitudes, which were predicted by a range of sociodemographic factors that were largely similar for mothers and fathers and across cultural groups. Social changes from the 20th to the 21st century may have contributed to some of the similarities between mothers and fathers and across the nine countries. Full article

Despite the growing social alarm generated by the recurrent news concerning violent episodes involving youth gangs, systematic research in Italy in this field, especially within a psychological framework, is still limited. Following a social-ecological approach, the present study aimed at investigating the role of self-serving cognitive distortions (CDs), parental rejection, and community violence witnessing in youth gang membership (YGM). Furthermore, we examined the mediating and/or moderating role of YGM in the association between risk factors and involvement in antisocial behaviors (ASBs). A community sample of 817 adolescents attending middle and high schools in a high-risk urban area in Southern Italy (46.9% males; 53% middle school students; M_age = 14.67; SD = 1.65) were involved in the study. One hundred and fifty-seven participants (19.2%) were found to be gang members. Employing counterfactual-based mediation analysis, we found that CDs and community violence witnessing were directly associated with YGM and ASBs. The association between CDs and ASBs was mediated by YGM. Parental rejection was directly related to ASBs but not to YGM. A significant interaction effect between parental rejection and YGM was found, revealing that high levels of parental rejection, along with being a gang member, amplified the involvement in ASBs. These findings pointed out that distorted moral cognitions and the experience of violence witnessing within the community may represent a fertile ground for gang involvement. Both individual and contextual factors should be considered in order to implement interventions aimed to prevent adolescents’ risk of joining a gang. Full article

Students from sexual minorities generally describe Higher Education contexts as unwelcoming and chilly environments. Based on the Minority Stress theory, these disparities in climate perceptions may lead sexual minority students to negative health and academic outcomes. To date, research documenting the experience of sexual minority students within European Higher Education Institutions is limited. Framed within campus climate literature, the current study aimed to expand on previous knowledge by investigating the associations between sexual minority status, students’ perceptions of campus climate and psychological (i.e., anxiety–depression), and academic outcomes (i.e., intellectual and academic success and considering leaving the university) using a self-selected sample of 868 Italian university students (17.9% sexual minority students). The results showed that sexual minority status was associated with negative perceptions of campus climate, which, in turn, were associated with higher levels of anxiety–depression symptoms, lowered academic success, and a high probability of considering leaving university. Further research is needed to investigate the experience of sexual minority students within European Higher Education contexts and to explore possible actions that could contribute to fostering a greater sense of belonging to the campus community for all students, and particularly for students from sexual minority groups. Full article

School bullying is a social phenomenon stemming from a complex interrelationship between the individuals and their environments. Underpinned by the social-ecological models, this study investigated the mediation of self-serving cognitive distortions (CDs) in the relationship between community violence exposure, as a victim and as a witness, and bullying perpetration. Bidirectional associations between violence exposure and bullying perpetration, and between CDs and bullying perpetration over time were also hypothesized. The study used a three-waves cross-lagged panel modeling in a sample of 829 Italian high school adolescents (46% males; M_age [Time 1; T1] = 12.71; Standard deviation [SD] = 1.68). The results showed that being exposed to community violence as a witness at T1 increased the development of CDs at Time 2 (T2), which in turn promoted the bullying perpetration at Time 3 (T3). Being exposed to community violence as a victim was not a significant predictor of CDs and bullying perpetration over time. Bidirectional associations were found between witnessing violence and bullying perpetration, and between CDs and bullying perpetration. The association between community violence exposure and individual moral cognitions over time plays a crucial role in predicting bullying perpetration. These findings highlight the need to consider both contextual and individual factors in understanding and preventing bullying perpetration. Full article

Despite the rapid increase in lesbian and gay (LG) people who desire and decide to become parents, LG childless individuals may encounter serious obstacles in the parenthood process, such as minority stress. Notwithstanding, the psychological processes by which prejudice events might affect the desire to become parents are still understudied. As an extension of the minority stress theory, the psychological mediation framework sheds light on these psychological processes, as it encompasses a more clinical view of stress. Within this framework, the current study aimed at assessing the role of prejudice events in affecting parenting desire in 290 childless Italian LG individuals (120 lesbians and 170 gay men), as well as the role of internalized heterosexism and sexual orientation concealment in mediating the relationship between prejudice events and parenting desire. The results suggest that only in lesbians prejudice events were negatively associated with parenting desire, and that sexual orientation concealment and internalized heterosexism were also negatively associated with parenting desire. Furthermore, sexual orientation concealment, and not internalized heterosexism, mediated the relationship between prejudice events and parenting desire in lesbians, but not gay men. The findings have important implications for clinical practice. Full article

Transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people are a highly-stigmatized population. For this reason, they might internalize society’s normative gender attitudes and develop negative mental health outcomes. As an extension of the minority stress model, the psychological mediation framework sheds light on psychological processes through which anti-transgender discrimination might affect mental health. Within this framework, the current study aimed at assessing in 149 TGNC Italian individuals the role of internalized transphobia as a mediator between anti-transgender discrimination and mental health, considering resilience as the individual-level coping mechanism buffering this relationship. The results suggest that both indicators of internalized transphobia (i.e., shame and alienation) mediate the relationship between anti-transgender discrimination and depression, while only alienation mediates the relationship between anti-transgender discrimination and anxiety. Furthermore, the results suggest that the indirect relation between anti-transgender discrimination and anxiety through alienation is conditional on low and moderate levels of resilience. Findings have important implications for clinical practice and psycho-social interventions to reduce stigma and stress caused by interpersonal and individual stigma. Full article

Exposure to neighborhood danger during childhood has negative effects that permeate multiple dimensions of childhood. The current study examined whether mothers’, fathers’, and children’s perceptions of neighborhood danger are related to child aggression, whether parental monitoring moderates this relation, and whether harsh parenting mediates this relation. Interviews were conducted with a sample of 1293 children (age M = 10.68, SD = 0.66; 51% girls) and their mothers (n = 1282) and fathers (n = 1075) in nine countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States). Perceptions of greater neighborhood danger were associated with more child aggression in all nine countries according to mothers’ and fathers’ reports and in five of the nine countries according to children’s reports. Parental monitoring did not moderate the relation between perception of neighborhood danger and child aggression. The mediating role of harsh parenting was inconsistent across countries and reporters. Implications for further research are discussed, and include examination of more specific aspects of parental monitoring as well as more objective measures of neighborhood danger. Full article