Clinically Oriented Subtyping of Chronic Insomnia of Childhood.

OBJECTIVES: To identify different profiles of pediatric insomnia, based on the most frequent clinical presentations (nocturnal awakenings, difficulty in falling asleep, nocturnal restlessness, early morning awakenings). STUDY DESIGN: A structured parent interview was conducted in 338 children (mean age 21.29 months, SD 10.56) referred by pediatricians because of insomnia resistant to behavioral approaches and common drug treatments. The aim was to assess the characteristics of insomnia in children, together with family sleep-related history. A latent class analysis was run to identify profiles of insomnia. ANOVA and the χ2 test were used to examine differences between profiles. RESULTS: A 3-class model was built by latent class analysis: 17% (n = 58) of children constituted the first class, characterized by difficulties in falling asleep, with restlessness, nocturnal restlessness, and awakenings during the night; the second class, characterized by early morning awakenings, comprised 21% (n = 71) of children; 62% (n = 209) of children fell within the third class because of their high frequency of nocturnal awakenings and difficulties in falling asleep. The first class reported longer sleep latency and the presence of restless legs syndrome and anemia in the family history; depression and/or mood disorders were more frequent in class 2 and allergies and/or food intolerance were more frequent in class 3. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests the existence of 3 different phenotypes of insomnia in children, based on clinical, personal, and familial data. The identification of these different phenotypes might help to optimize the assessment and treatment of insomnia in young children.

Persuasion in school-aged children: How does it change if the persuadee is the mother or the peer?

The present study was designed to verify how school-aged children's persuasive tactics changed if the persuadee was the mother or the peer. One hundred and forty-nine children at two grade levels (4th and 5th) were enrolled in the study. Persuasive strategies were investigated using pictures representing two common situations in which each child had to convince his/her playmate and his/her mother to obtain a toy. As predicted, with mothers children engaged more frequently in strategies aimed at encouraging cognitive reappraisal of the situation and offering guarantees. Conversely, with the peers, children adopted a greater variety of persuasive strategies, engaging in lower-order tactics. Implications and limitations of the study were discussed.

The moderating role of internalising negative emotionality in the relation of self-regulation to social adjustment in Italian preschool-aged children.

The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating role of internalising negative emotionality (i.e., anxious, concerned, and embarrassed displays) in the association between children's self-regulation and social adjustment. Seventy-four Italian children (44 girls, 30 boys; M age = 35.05 months, SD = 3.57) were assessed using two self-regulation tasks. Internalising negative emotionality was assessed through observations of children's emotion expressions during the tasks. Teachers evaluated children's social competence and internalising and externalising problems. Results demonstrated that among children who exhibited internalising negative emotionality, self-regulation was positively associated with social competence and negatively related to externalising problems. Our results suggest that self-regulation may play a crucial role for social adjustment when children show emotions such as anxiety and embarrassment during challenging situations.

Family Functioning and Dysfunctional Eating Among Italian Adolescents: The Moderating Role of Gender.

The first aim of this study was to examine the association between different dimensions of family functioning and dysfunctional eating in a sample of Italian adolescent boys and girls. The second aim was to investigate whether gender moderates the relationship between family functioning and dysfunctional eating. Seven hundred and twenty seven adolescents (500 boys and 227 girls) with ages ranging from 15 to 18 years completed a survey of self-report measures. Findings from hierarchical multiple regression analysis suggested that aspects of family functioning such as flexibility, cohesion, disengagement, enmeshment, rigidity and chaotic were related to dysfunctional eating in adolescents. Additionally the results indicated differences between boys and girls, in particular dysfunctional eating in adolescent boys seemed to be more affected by dimensions of enmeshment and disengagement than dysfunctional eating in girls. This research highlights the important role of various aspects of family functioning in relation to dysfunctional eating in adolescents.

Are adolescents with anorexia nervosa better at reading minds?

INTRODUCTION: The present study aimed to investigate mindreading abilities in female adolescent patients with AN compared to healthy controls (HCs), analysing differences for emotional valence of facial stimuli. METHODS: The Eating Disorder Inventory) for evaluating psychological traits associated with eating disorders and the Children's version of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test for evaluating mindreading abilities were administered to 40 Italian female patients (mean age = 14.93; SD = 1.48) with restrictive diagnosis of anorexia nervosa (AN) and 40 healthy females (mean age = 14.88; SD = 0.56). RESULTS: No significant differences between the AN group and HCs for the Eyes Total score were found. Even when analysing emotional valence of the items, the two groups were equally successful in the facial recognition of positive, negative and neutral emotions. A significant difference was revealed for the percentage of correct responses of item 10 and item 15, where the AN group was less able to correctly identify the target descriptor (Not believing) over the foils than HCs. A significant difference was revealed in discriminating for affective emotions versus cognitive states; only for affective but not for cognitive states, patients with AN were found to perform better than controls on the mindreading task. CONCLUSIONS: Our study highlighted the importance of analysing and discriminating for different valences of facial stimuli when assessing mindreading abilities in adolescents with AN, so that more precise and specific treatment approaches could be developed for female adolescents with AN.

Emotion understanding, pictorial representations of friendship and reciprocity in school-aged children.

This study examined the relationship between emotional understanding, friendship representation and reciprocity in school-aged children. Two hundred and fifty-one Caucasian 6-year-old children (111 males and 140 females) took part in the study. The Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC) and the Pictorial Assessment of Interpersonal Relationships (PAIR) were used. Children having a reciprocal friendship and children having a unilateral friendship with a child named as their "best friend" were compared on the emotional understanding task and on their pictorial representations of friendship. Multilevel analyses indicated that friendship status effects were not influenced by classroom-level differences. Results showed that children with reciprocal friendships drew themselves as more similar to and more cohesive with their best friends, and they showed better understanding of emotions, than children having a unilateral friendship. Finally, the implications of these findings for theoretical and empirical research development on friendship are discussed.

Links Among Italian Preschoolers' Socio-Emotional Competence, Teacher-Child Relationship Quality and Peer Acceptance.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relations of teacher-child relationship quality (close, conflictive, and dependent), children's social behavior, and peer likability in a sample of Italian preschool-aged children (46 boys; 42 girls). Preschool teachers evaluated the quality of the teacher-child relationship and children's social behaviors (i.e., social competence, anger-aggression, and anxiety-withdrawal). Peer-rated likability was measured using a sociometric procedure. Results indicated that conflictual teacher-child relationships were related to high aggressive behavior, and dependent teacher-child relationships were positively associated with children's anxiety-withdrawal. Moreover, we found an indirect association between close teacher-child relationship quality and peer likability through children's social competence. The findings provide evidence that the teacher-child relationship is critical for children's social behaviors, and that social competence was uniquely related to peer likability.

Exploring the relationship between identity status development and alcohol consumption among Italian adolescents.

The main aim of this study was to explore the relationship between identity statuses and alcohol use and misuse in adolescence. A sample of 440 Italian students completed the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status-Version 2 (EOM-EIS-II) and the Alcohol Addiction Scale of the Shorter Promise Questionnaire (SPQ-ALC). The results suggested that problematic alcohol use during early and middle adolescence is associated with developmentally less sophisticated identity development. Foreclosed and diffused adolescents were classified as binge drinkers and heavy drinkers. The latter reported a higher mean dependence score than other identity groups. The risk and mediating factors about alcohol misuse and dependence are provided.

Time perspective and psychosocial positive functioning among Italian adolescents who binge eat and drink.

Evidence of an association between binge eating and binge drinking and of related health consequences have stimulated investigators to examine and explore risk and protective factors plus the reasons why individuals engage in these risky behaviours (Benjamin & Wulfert, 2003; Ferriter & Ray, 2011). This study examined the relationship between binge drinking and eating, time perspective and psychological functioning. A cross-sectional survey of 1350 17-19 year-old adolescents was conducted. Findings suggested that adolescents engaged in both binge eating and binge drinking behaviours reported negative experiences in the past, and they showed a lower future orientation and a greater inclination to fatalism than did the other students Additionally, they were more likely to report lower feelings of satisfaction with life and self-esteem than the others. The pattern of results allows to conclude that time perspective may be a salient dimension when exploring the psychosocial correlates of binge behaviours, particularly within adolescents.

Affective responses to movie posters: differences between adolescents and young adults.

Although the link between cognition and affect in the advertising context has been demonstrated in several studies, no research to date has considered adolescents' affective responses to movie posters and their attitudes to negative and positive images. A 2 (between subjects) × 4 (within subjects) mixed-factorial experiment design comprising two groups of subjects (80 adolescents and 80 young adults) and four advertising stimuli (two highly positive images and two highly negative images) was used to test the differences in the subjects' attitudes to advertising, positive and negative affect, and viewing intentions. Although the adolescents, compared to the young adults, did not appear to have significantly stronger attitudes to emotional advertisements (ads), they showed a similar level of intensity of affective response when exposed to negative and positive images.

Shyness and empathy in early childhood: Examining links between feelings of empathy and empathetic behaviours.

Although shy children have been described as less empathetic than their more sociable peers, this may be due to a performance rather than a competence deficit. The aim of this study was to explore the moderating role of shyness in the association between empathic feelings and empathic-related reactions. Participants were 212 preschoolers (Mage  = 58.32 months, SD = 10.72). Children provided self-reports of empathetic feelings, parents rated child shyness and empathic behaviours (e.g., reparative behaviours), and teachers assessed indices of socio-emotional functioning (e.g., prosocial behaviours). Results revealed interaction effects between empathic feelings and shyness in the prediction of outcome variables. Among children with lower levels of shyness, empathy rated by children was positively related to empathetic and reparative behaviours (rated by parents) and prosocial behaviours (rated by teachers). At higher levels of shyness, these relations were attenuated. These results can be interpreted to suggest that although shy children may not differ from their more sociable counterparts in experiencing empathy, they seem to be less likely to act empathically.

Verbal, physical, and relational peer victimization: The role of immigrant status and gender.

BACKGROUND: Most studies suggest that immigrant youth are more likely to be victimized than their non-immigrant counterparts. In Italy, a country in which the number of foreign migrants has grown exponentially over recent decades, this line of research is particularly interesting. Thus, the main objective of the present study was to examine the relationship between peer victimization, gender, and immigrant status in a large sample of students. METHOD: The research used data from a cross-sectional Italian survey on the "Integration of Second Generations", which was administered to 68,127 students in grades 6 through 13 (49% female; 47% immigrant). Multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to examine the association between immigrant status and gender with verbal, physical, and relational victimization, after adjusting for socio-demographic variables. RESULTS: Immigrant and male participants were more likely to be classified as frequently victimized. The significant interaction effect between immigrant status and gender revealed that male immigrant students were more likely to belong to the frequently relationally victimized category compared to their counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: The study highlights the importance of including immigrant status disparities in peer victimization research. Prevention efforts and intervention strategies should be implemented to create safe environments in Italy.

Preschoolers' Anticipation of Sadness for Excluded Peers, Sympathy, and Prosocial Behavior.

We investigated the relations between anticipation of sadness for excluded peers, sympathy, and prosocial behavior in a sample of 127 Italian preschoolers (Mage = 4.84 years, SD = 0.85). Children attributed emotions to hypothetical excluded peers who exhibited withdrawn versus aggressive behavior, and these attributions were coded for the presence and intensity of sadness. Teachers rated children's sympathy and prosocial behavior via questionnaire. In general, children attributed more sadness to the withdrawn excluded peer than the aggressive excluded peer. A path analysis revealed that those who anticipated higher levels of sadness for the withdrawn excluded peer were rated higher in sympathy and, in turn, higher in prosocial behavior. Attributing high levels of sadness to withdrawn excluded peers-who portray relatively heightened need-may be an early social-emotional characteristic of children who are more sympathetic and more likely to channel other-oriented concerns into prosocial actions.

Trajectories of Italian Children's Peer Rejection: Associations with Aggression, Prosocial Behavior, Physical Attractiveness, and Adolescent Adjustment.

In the present study, the predictors and outcomes associated with the trajectories of peer rejection were examined in a longitudinal sample of Italian children (338 boys, 269 girls) ages 10 to 14 years. Follow-up assessments included 60% of the original sample at age 16-17. Low, medium, and high rejection trajectory groups were identified using growth mixture models. Consistent with previous studies, we found that (a) being less prosocial and more physically aggressive at age 10 was characteristic of those children with the high rejection trajectory; (b) being less attractive was related to higher peer rejection from age 10 to 14; and (c) boys with a high rejection trajectory showed high levels of delinquency and anxiety-depression and low levels of academic aspiration at age 16-17, whereas girls with a high rejection trajectory showed low levels of academic aspiration and social competence at age 16-17. Our findings indicate the detrimental consequences of peer rejection on children's development and adjustment and shed light on the mechanisms that contribute to maintaining or worsening (e.g., being attractive, prosocial, and aggressive) a child's negative status (e.g., being rejected) within his or her peer group over time.

The Relations of Preschool Children's Emotion Knowledge and Socially Appropriate Behaviors to Peer Likability.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relations of children's emotion knowledge (and its components) and socially appropriate behavior to peer likability in a sample of Italian preschool children at two time-points. At both Time 1 (T1; n = 46 boys, 42 girls) and a year later at Time 2 (T2; n = 26 boys, 22 girls), children's emotion knowledge (i.e., emotion recognition, situation knowledge) was assessed, teachers evaluated children's socially appropriate behavior, and peer likability was measured using a sociometric procedure. A two-wave Autoregressive Cross-lagged (ARC) model indicated that children's T1 emotion recognition was associated with higher T2 socially appropriate behavior, and children's T1 socially appropriate behavior was related to higher T2 peer likability, even after controlling for stability in the constructs. Socially appropriate behavior mediated the relation between preschool children's emotion recognition and peer likability. No bidirectional associations were found. The results support the notion that teacher training should focus on promoting children's emotion knowledge to create a classroom atmosphere characterized by positive social behaviors and harmonious peer relationships across the preschool years.

Predictors of sleep disturbances in the first year of life: a longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to identify early predictors of nocturnal awakenings and short sleep duration during the first year of life, in terms of sleep habits and patterns. We also analyzed the trend of nocturnal awakenings and total sleep duration from 3 to 12 months of age. METHODS: The parents of 704 infants (49.3% female) were interviewed during their first year of life. The interview included questions on infant sleep (eg, sleep habits, sleep duration, number of nocturnal awakenings) and maternal perception of infant sleep difficulties. RESULTS: The study results indicate that most of the infants at risk, with three or more nocturnal awakenings or ≤10 h of total sleep duration in the early months of life, tend to display a similar pattern of sleep problems at 12 months. The main early predictors of sleep problems at 12 months were sleep duration, sleep initiation method, and nocturnal awakenings. More specifically, infants with three or more nocturnal awakenings or ≤10 h of total sleep duration at 12 months were those with a higher number of awakenings during the night and a shorter sleep duration, at both three and six months. In addition, infants at risk for sleep problems at 12 months had an independent sleep initiation method at three months, whereas these same infants had a nonindependent sleep initiation method at six months. CONCLUSIONS: Our study identified the early predictors of sleep problems at 12 months. Caregivers should identify these early symptoms in infants to prevent possible sleep difficulties in later years.

The role of emotion knowledge in the links between shyness and children's socio-emotional functioning at preschool.

The present study investigated the potential protective role of components of emotion knowledge (i.e., emotion recognition, situation knowledge) in the links between young children's shyness and indices of socio-emotional functioning. Participants were n = 163 children (82 boys and 81 girls) aged 23-77 months (M = 53.29, SD = 14.48), recruited from preschools in Italy. Parents provided ratings of child shyness and teachers rated children's socio-emotional functioning at preschool (i.e., social competence, anxiety-withdrawal, peer rejection). Children were also interviewed to assess their abilities to recognize facial emotional expressions and identify situations that affect emotions. Among the results, shyness was positively related to anxiety-withdrawal and peer rejection. In addition, emotion recognition was found to significantly moderate the links between shyness and preschool socio-emotional functioning, appearing to serve a buffering role. For example, at lower levels of emotion recognition, shyness was positively associated with both anxiety-withdrawal and rejection by peers, but at higher levels of emotion recognition, these associations were attenuated. Results are discussed in terms of the protective role of emotion recognition in promoting shy children's positive socio-emotional functioning within the classroom context.

Coming out during adolescence: Perceived parents' reactions and internalized sexual stigma.

Disclosing sexual orientation to parents is a challenging developmental task for lesbian and gay adolescents. The aim of the study is to investigate parental negative reaction to coming out, which is associated with high levels of internalized sexual stigma and psychological problems. Participants' perceptions of their parents' reactions, age at coming out, gender, parental political orientation and religiosity, family functioning, and internalized sexual stigma were assessed in 150 Italian homosexual adolescents. Findings confirm that negative parental reactions are connected to poor family functioning and strong beliefs in traditional values. Path analysis results identified that negative reaction to coming out mediates the effect between a more rigid family functioning and internalized sexual stigma. Implications for clinical and social fields are discussed.

Peer and Teacher-Selected Peer Buddies for Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorders: The Role of Social, Emotional, and Mentalizing Abilities.

This study examined mentalizing abilities, social behavior, and social impact of adolescents who expressed the willingness to become peer buddies for adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders, and adolescents selected by their teachers and peers. Twenty-seven teachers and 395 adolescents from public high schools completed mentalizing abilities, social status, behavioral, and peer buddy nomination measures. Findings suggest that social status and preference play a significant role in the selection of peer buddies by both teachers and classmates. Furthermore, more advanced Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities and the engagement in prosocial behaviors differentiated peers selected as buddies from other classmates. When compared with nonparticipating students, adolescents who expressed willingness to participate were more often girls, and were more prosocial. Agreement between teacher and peer nominations of best peer was moderate.

Alcohol intake and binge drinking among Italian adolescents: The role of drinking motives.

Binge drinking, a pattern associated with worse outcome, is becoming increasingly popular among youths, thus negatively impacting social life. To investigate drinking patterns and their underlying motives in Italian adolescents, the Alcohol Use Questionnaire and the Drinking Motive Questionnaire Revised Short Form were administered to 332 school-age teenagers (16-19 years; 139 girls, 193 boys) from a single Roman school, recruited at their classrooms through the intermediation of their teachers. Boys scored higher than girls on all drinking and binge measures. They also scored higher on the Enhancement, Social, and Conformity Drinking Motive Questionnaire-Revised Short Form subscales. Binge drinking scores positively correlated with gender, alcohol consumption, and with all Drinking Motive Questionnaire Revised Short Form subscales. In the two-step hierarchical model, Drinking Motive Questionnaire-Revised Short Form enhancement and conformity predicted alcohol use and Drinking Motive Questionnaire-Revised Short Form coping motives significantly predicted binge drinking. Binge drinking is prevalent among Italian adolescents, who mainly drink to enhance perceived positive effects of alcohol, conform to their social groups, and face their problems. Boys binge more than girls.