Protective Role of Self-Regulatory Efficacy: A Moderated Mediation Model on the Influence of Impulsivity on Cyberbullying through Moral Disengagement.

During online interactions, adolescents are often exposed to deviant opportunities. In this context, the capacity to regulate one's behavior is essential to prevent cyberbullying. Among adolescents, this online aggressive behavior is a growing phenomenon, and its deleterious effects on teenagers' mental health are well known. The present work argues the importance of self-regulatory capabilities under deviant peer pressure in preventing cyberbullying. In particular, focusing on two relevant risk factors, i.e., impulsivity and moral disengagement, we examine (1) the mediation role of moral disengagement in the process leading to cyberbullying from impulsivity; (2) the buffering effect of the perceived self-regulatory capability to resist deviant peer pressure in mitigating the effect of these impulsive and social-cognitive dimensions on cyberbullying. Moderated mediation analysis was performed on a sample of 856 adolescents; the results confirm that the perceived self-regulatory capability to resist peer pressure effectively mitigates the indirect effect of impulsivity through moral disengagement on cyberbullying. The practical implications of designing interventions to make adolescents more aware and self-regulated in their online social lives to counter cyberbullying are discussed.

How many cyberbullying(s)? A non-unitary perspective for offensive online behaviours.

Research has usually considered cyberbullying as a unitary phenomenon. Thus, it has been neglected to explore whether the specific online aggressive behaviours relate differentially to demographic features of the perpetrators of online aggressive actions, their personality characteristics, or to the ways in which they interact with the Internet. To bridge this gap, a study was conducted through a questionnaire administered online to 1228 Italian high-school students (Female: 61.1%; 14-15 yo: 48.%; 16-17 yo: 29.1%; 18-20 yo: 20.4%, 21-25 yo: 1.6%; Northern Italy: 4.1%; Central Italy: 59.2%; Southern Italy: 36.4%). The questionnaire, in addition to items about the use of social media, mechanisms of Moral Disengagement and personality characteristics of the participants in the study, also included a scale for the measurement of cyberbullying through the reference to six aggressive behaviours. The results indicate that cyberbullying can be considered as a non-unitary phenomenon in which the different aggressive behaviours can be related to different individual characteristics such as gender, personality traits and the different ways of interacting with social media. Moreover, the existence of two components of cyberbullying has been highlighted, one related to virtual offensive actions directly aimed at a victim, the other to indirect actions, more likely conducted involving bystanders. These findings open important perspectives for understanding, preventing, and mitigating cyberbullying among adolescents.

University Teachers During the First Lockdown Due to SARS-CoV-2 in Italy: Stress, Issues and Perceptions of Misconduct.

With the spread of the pandemic and the introduction of measures aimed at its containment, it is necessary to understand in specific national contexts how home quarantine has affected the psychophysical well-being of academics, and their ability to maintain integrity. To this end we constructed an online questionnaire to investigate the levels of stress, well-being, and work-life balance in relationship with living and working conditions. Moreover, the questionnaire was designed to obtain information about the perceived occurrence, increase or decrease of misconduct in research (e.g., research misconduct by colleagues) and professional relationships (e.g., misbehaviors between colleagues, from students and toward students). The questionnaire was administered online by contacting faculty at three universities in Tuscany, Italy, asking them to relate their experience during the first lockdown (March-May 2020). Faculty members were invited to complete the questionnaire by their institutional e-mail account. The final sample consisted of 581 respondents. The results showed that inadequacies of the equipment, and particularly poor internet connection, were significantly correlated with main issues reported, such as relationships with students and research activities. Female teachers primarily suffered from stressful conditions, lacked well-being, and experienced work-life imbalance. Stress levels were related to perceptions of the frequency of misconduct and of an increase in their frequency during the period of home quarantine. Female professors, when compared to their male counterparts, perceived misconduct from students as increased and more frequent in the period of quarantine. Results point to a gender issue that is likely to arise from conditions of domestic activities imbalance and that increases stress and misconduct perception.

Antipsychotic treatment and the Rorschach Perceptual Thinking Index (PTI) in psychotic disorder patients: Effects of treatment.

The Rorschach-based Perceptual Thinking Index (PTI) is used to identify and rate features of psychotic disorders, but effects of antipsychotic treatment on such ratings is not clear. Accordingly, we examined potential effects of antipsychotic drugs on PTI measures in 114 patients with a psychotic or bipolar-I disorder. Use and doses of antipsychotic drugs (as chlorpromazine-equivalent [CPZ-eq] mg/day) were unrelated to PTI total or subscale scores in any diagnostic group. PTI scores were independently and significantly associated with psychotic symptomatic severity (PANSS score) and less with female sex. These findings support the validity and value of the PTI in identifying features of psychosis even in the presence of antipsychotic treatment.

Relationship between the Rorschach Perceptual Thinking Index (PTI) and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) in psychotic patients: a validity study.

The aim of this study is to demonstrate the validity of the Rorschach Perceptual Thinking Index (PTI) in the assessment of reality testing in patients with psychosis. We evaluated the relationship between the PTI criteria and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) scores in 98 psychotic disorder affected patients. Thirty four were evaluated during the acute episode (AP) and 64 were chronically treated and stable (CP). The PANSS positive score resulted significantly higher in AP than in CP group, but no significant difference was found in the PTI score. The PTI positively correlated with the PANSS total score. The PTI1 and PTI2 criteria significantly correlated with the PANSS negative score, the PTI4 and PTI5 with the positive. The Rorschach variable X-% significantly correlated with the negative symptoms; the WSum6 with thought disorders; and the M- with delusions. PTI score, X-% and WSum6 predicted impaired judgment and insight. These results suggest that PTI is a valid instrument to assess impairment in reality testing, regardless of the patient׳s current psychiatric presentation. The presence of conceptual disorganization, delusions, lack of judgment and insight don׳t have effects on the PTI, supporting its strength as an assessment tool for psychotic disorders.

Self-disclosure to the best friend: friendship quality and internalized sexual stigma in Italian lesbian and gay adolescents.

This study is the first contribution to the understanding of gender differences in best friendship patterns of adolescents sexual minorities. We explored friendship patterns, self-disclosure, and internalized sexual stigma in an Italian sample of lesbian (N = 202) and gay (N = 201) adolescents (aged 14-22 years). We found gender differences in cross-sex and cross-orientation patterns of best friendship. Gay men (52%) reported more cross-sex friendships than lesbians (20%). The 52% of participants had cross-orientation friendships, and no differences were found between lesbians and gay men. Lesbian and gay men with a cross-orientation best friend showed a lower level of internalized sexual stigma. Gay men with cross-orientation friendship showed a low level of internalized sexual stigma and less conflict with a best friend. For gay men and lesbian participants, self-disclosure to the best friend was better predicted by internalized sexual stigma and self-disclosure. Future studies may provide direct comparisons between heterosexual and sexual minority individuals.