The role of late adolescents' emotion regulation in the experience of COVID-19 lockdown: A longitudinal study.

The COVID-19 pandemic may be considered a unique mass-trauma experience. This study examined the relations between Italian late adolescents' emotion regulation strategies, their anxiety states, and their experience of the lockdown (in terms of discomfort related to restrictions, capacities to create new functional daily routines, and to find positive changes in one's own life) during the first wave of this pandemic. We analysed how participants' reports of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression were associated with anxiety states during the 2020 Italian COVID-19 lockdown (large scale physical distancing and movement restrictions) and one month after the lockdown restrictions had been removed. We also examined how cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression, and anxiety states were linked to late adolescents' experience of lockdown. The participants were 497 Italian adolescents, aged from 17 to 24 years (Mage  = 21.11, SD = 1.83). A longitudinal structural equation modelling showed that emotion regulation strategies and anxiety states were not associated across time. Cognitive reappraisal was positively associated with routine reorganization and positive changes. In contrast, participants' expressive suppression was negatively related to their discomfort related to restrictions, ability to functionally reorganise their daily routine, and ability to find positive changes related to the COVID-19 emergency. Anxiety was positively linked to discomfort related to restrictions. The findings are discussed in light of the current literature related to emotion regulation and anxiety. Limitations and implications for practice are presented.

Peer Reputation Configurations and Associations with Friendship Adjustment.

Peer reputation (PR) refers to how peer groups collectively view an individual in terms of socio-behavioral characteristics, such as aggression, social withdrawal, leadership, and prosociality. Despite considerable research on PR, few studies have considered PRs in relation to indices of friendship, particularly with a person-centered approach. The goal of the current study was to adopt such an approach and identify peer reputation configurations and their defining characteristics, and to examine how such configurations are linked to friendship prevalence and quality. Four hundred and twenty-six Italian seventh-grade students (57.3% male, Mage = 12.07) completed peer nomination measures of PR and reported on their friendships. Their mutual best friends were subsequently determined, and a friendship quality measure was completed. Teachers rated participants' problem behaviors and competencies. Cluster analytic methods produced four PR configurations that were defined by the following characteristics: (1) Shy/Excluded/Victimized, (2) Normative, (3) Aggressive/Arrogant, and (4) Prosocial/Popular. Teacher ratings supported these configurations such that Prosocial/Popular students were rated the lowest in problem behaviors and Shy/Excluded/Victimized and Aggressive/Arrogant were the highest in learning problems. Additional analyses showed numerous linkages between the configurations and friendship. For instance, Prosocial/Popular students were more likely to have mutual and satisfying friendships relative to students in the other groups. These findings provide new insights into the complex linkages between group- and dyadic-level peer experiences during early adolescence and may inform prevention and intervention efforts aimed at Shy/Excluded/Victimized youth struggling with peers.

Eating behaviors and body self-esteem in couple's satisfaction during COVID-19 quarantine.

Background: Many experts agree that the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown restriction have had an impact on relationships and eating habits in couples, but this hypothesis lacks evidence and empirical studies. Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between satisfaction with the couple's relationship, body self-esteem, and eating behaviors during the Covid-19 lockdown. Method: Three hundred and eighty-one subjects, aged between 18 and 60 years (M = 26.88; SD = 9.22), of whom 89.8% women, participated in the survey. The online assessment included: the Relationship Assessment Scale; the Multidimensional Self Concept Scale and the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire. Results: The results showed that the relationship and the levels of couple's satisfaction are independent of respect to body experience and eating behavior. On the contrary, bodily experience is negatively correlated with diet, weight, body shape, and restriction attempts. However, the eating style of couple showed a change during the quarantine period, both in healthy and at-risk of ED subjects. Conclusion: The psychological impact of Covid-19 and its lockdown has had profound repercussions on the subjective relationship with body and food but have apparently preserved stable and satisfying bonds. The importance of the study confirmed the primary relation between self and body's satisfaction in subjective dimensions of life.

Emotion recognition in individuals wearing facemasks: a preliminary analysis of age-related differences.

COVID-19 is severely affecting individuals' lives worldwide. Previous research warned that facial occlusion may impair facial emotion recognition, whilst other findings suggested that age-related differences may be relevant in emotion recognition in others' faces. However, studies observing individuals' ability to interpret others' facial mimicry are heterogenous, thus precluding the generalizability of the findings. This preliminary study examined age-related differences and the influence of different covering types (with and without face masks) in determining different levels of facial emotion recognition. 131 participants were split into 3 age-groups (10-14; 15-17; 20-25) and were asked to complete an emotion recognition task. Participants were better able to recognize facial emotions without any occlusion, and happiness was the most recognizable emotion. Moreover, adolescent group performed better in recognizing anger and fear in stimuli depicting masked and unmasked faces. Current results suggest the importance of monitoring emotion recognition abilities in developing individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Adherence to social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy: The role of autonomous motivation and defiance.

To maintain social distancing in the long term, in the current COVID-19 scenario, people's motivation must be strong and of high quality. Many governments adopted measures enforcing social distancing. Enforcement, however, can produce feelings of defiance and backfiring effects. The present work aims at investigating the relationship between autonomous motivation and intentions to maintain social distancing, through adherence to recommendations and feelings of defiance. A sample of 502 Italian residents, from different parts of Italy, completed an online survey assessing their present behavior, levels of autonomous motivation and feelings of defiance, as well as intentions to observe social distancing in the short and long term. Results support the hypotheses that autonomous motivation is related to stronger intentions to maintain social distancing, particularly in the long term, and that feelings of defiance mediate this relationship. These results underline importance of promoting understanding and internalizing reasons for social distancing, beyond norms.

Evaluating the filial behaviour scale across three cultural groups using exploratory structural equation modelling.

Filial piety is a Confucian concept that guides how children treat and take care of their parents. The Filial Behaviour Scale (FBS) is a 25-item instrument developed in the Chinese context measuring behavioural manifestations of filial piety. Although the components of filial piety have been found to be relevant across cultures, little research has investigated the psychometric properties of the FBS in other cultural contexts. The present study evaluated the factor structure, internal consistency, measurement invariance and construct validity of the FBS across three cultural groups: the United States, Italy and Malaysia. Participants were 1090 emerging adults (67% females; Mage  = 21.29 years, SD = 1.97; White Americans: n = 455, White Italians: n = 428, Malays: n = 328). A two-factor structure emerged across groups: Obedience/Obligation (behaviours showing obedience and obligation towards parents) and Relationship (behaviours expressing affection and promoting positive parent-child relationships). The two factors demonstrated adequate internal consistency, full configural, partial metric and partial scalar invariance, as well as unique associations with depressive symptoms and parent-child relationships across groups. These findings yielded a more nuanced understanding of filial behaviour and supported the utility of a two-factor FBS among emerging adults in various cultural contexts.

The Relation Between Empathy and Aggression: The Role of Attachment Style.

This study aimed to examine the explaining and moderating role of attachment style profiles on the association between empathy and aggression. Participants were 548 Italian adults (M = 47.62 years, SD = 6.14) who completed a survey measuring attachment, empathy, and aggression. Using cluster analytic methods, initial results indicated two attachment style profiles to be considered (secure vs. insecure). However, we also extracted a more theoretically guided four-cluster solution including preoccupied, secure, fearful, and dismissing profiles. Moreover, structural equation modelling showed that higher levels of empathy linked to lower levels of aggression. Nonetheless, when introducing in the model the dichotomous or the multi-categorical attachment style profile variable as predictive of both empathy and aggression, their association became not significant, while secure attachment profile significantly presented higher levels of empathy and lower levels of aggression compared to the other profiles. Furthermore, attachment style profile moderated the link between empathy and aggression. Specifically, in the secure group empathy and aggression were negatively related, but no significant association was evidenced in the other groups. Findings are discussed in the light of the literature.

Aligning personal and collective interests in emerging adults during the COVID-19 emergency in Italy.

This study investigated the relations of emerging adults' personal (civic competence and interdependent self-construal) and community-based (sense of community and civic engagement) resources as predictors of appraisal of COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Management (PHEM) and attitudes toward preventing contagion in Italy. Participants were 2873 Italian emerging adults (71% females) aged 19-30 years (M = 22.67, SD = 2.82). Structural equation modeling revealed both direct and indirect positive associations among study variables. Civic competence and interdependent self-construal were related to sense of community and civic engagement behavior which, in turn, predicted appraisal of PHEM. Appraisal of PHEM in turn predicted attitudes toward preventing contagion. Overall, findings highlight the importance of examining the alignment between personal and collective interests to understand emerging adults' evaluative and attitudinal experiences during a period of crisis, such as that created by COVID-19.

Adolescents' well-being: The role of basic needs fulfilment in family context.

Although there is an increasing interest in studying the relations between the satisfaction of basic psychological needs and well-being, this association for both parents and adolescents has been to some extent disregarded within the self-determination theory. The present study was aimed at testing a model of relations between father, mother, and adolescent's perception of basic needs fulfilment and well-being. Participants were 98 co-living family units of mother, father, and adolescents (54% males) aged from 12 to 18 years (M = 15.11, SD = 1.44). Results confirm that basic needs fulfilment was predictive of well-being in all participants. Moreover, the needs fulfilment of both parents seemed to play a relevant role directly on the perceived needs satisfaction of their adolescents, and indirectly on their well-being, through the adolescent's needs satisfaction. Results are discussed in terms of practical implications for the promotion of positive youth development.

The Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale: Construct and Predictive Validity in the Italian Context.

The Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (BPNSFS) is a self-report instrument assessing the satisfaction and frustration of the three basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness defined by self-determination theory. The aim of this study was to examine the dimensionality, the predictive validity, and the measurement invariance across different age groups of the Italian version of the BPNSFS. The participants were 2,204 Italian adolescents and young adults (41% males) from 14 to 28 years old (M age = 20.23, SD = 4.25). The invariance across age demonstrated adequate equivalence of the 6-factor model of scales across adolescents (14-18 years) and young adults (20-24 years), showing general homogeneity with respect to the constructs measured in the Italian context. Results of this study suggest that the satisfaction and frustration subscales for each need might be treated separately, because they might have unique effects that should be explored. For this reason, the BPNSFS could be a useful instrument in the counseling context because it can be easily used by operators both for assessment and for evaluation of the effects and results of counseling intervention.

Examination of the Psychometric Characteristics of the Italian Version of the Game Addiction Scale for Adolescents.

In the last years, the interest in Internet Gaming Disorder has grown considerably, which has necessitated the development of valid and reliable tools in different cultural contexts. Although, in the scientific literature, there are several measures that evaluate the Internet Gaming Disorder, the Game Addiction Scale has shown to be a valid questionnaire specifically designed for adolescents and based on the Griffiths' theory of components model of behavioral addiction. For this reason, the aim of this study is to verify the psychometric characteristics of the Italian translation of the full and short form of the Game Addiction Scale in a sample of 452 Italian adolescents (190 males and 262 females), aged between 13 and 17 years (M = 14.75; SD = 1.21). A series of confirmatory factor analyses was used to assess the Game Addiction Scale factorial structure, and the comparison of the models showed that the best fitting model was the Bifactor Model for the full form, while the unidimensional structure showed good fit for the short form of the Game Addiction Scale. Furthermore, both versions showed good reliability and correlations with Internet Addiction and hours of gaming. In sum, the Game Addiction Scale can be considered a relevant instrument for investigating Internet Gaming Disorder in Italian adolescents.

The socialization of coping strategies in adolescence: the modeling role of parents.

Background and Objectives: The main aim of this study is to test the intergenerational transmission of the relations between coping strategies to well-being from parents to adolescents through the modeling of the coping strategies of the parents to those of the child.Methods: 154 cohabitating families composed by father, mother, and adolescent in age range between 14 and 18 (M = 16.40; SD = 1.53) took part to the research. To test the proposed model, SEM with observed variables and the integration of the APIM approach and the Bootstrapping approach was used.Results: Findings showed in both parents and adolescents significant positively relations between coping task strategy and well-being, and significant negatively relations between coping emotion strategy and well-being. Furthermore, direct positively relations between the use of specific coping strategies of father and mother and the use of the same strategies in adolescents was found. Finally, results showed the mediation of adolescents coping strategies in the relations between parental coping strategies and adolescents well-being.Conclusion: Taken as whole, our results demonstrated that coping strategies in parents were directly related to coping strategies in children and that both mothers and fathers contribute in unique ways to shape children's coping.

Associations Between Peer Pressure and Adolescents' Binge Behaviors: The Role of Basic Needs and Coping.

Framed from a framework based on the integration of self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000 ) and Endler and Parker's (1990) conception of coping strategies, the authors analyzed the relationships between peer pressure and binge behaviors (binge eating and binge drinking) in adolescence. Moreover, the authors explored the mediating role of satisfaction/frustration of basic psychological needs and coping strategies in these associations. Participants were 570 high school students (M = 15.75 years, SD = 1.14 years) living in Italy. The study design was cross-sectional and adolescents were administered self-report questionnaires. Path analysis showed significant and positive direct associations of peer pressure with both binge eating and binge drinking. Moreover, findings show that there is an indirect path in which peer pressure is positively associated with need frustration that is related to the use of emotion-oriented coping strategies that, on their turn, are associated with binge eating. Differently, binge drinking seems to be only directly related to peer pressure. The authors put light to the complex nature of the relationships between peer pressure and binge behaviors in adolescence, taking into account the separate contribution of need satisfaction and need frustration, as well as of coping strategies. Finally, practical implications of the study are discussed.

Self-Other Differentiation Scale: Dimensionality, IRT Parameterization, and Measurement Invariance.

The Self-Other Differentiation Scale (Olver, Aries, & Batgos, 1989 ) is a self-report instrument assessing the experience of a separate sense of self from others. The authors aimed to examine its dimensionality, reliability, and measurement invariance across gender. It was completed by 348 participants (48% men) from 17 to 30 years old in Study 1, 348 participants (40% men) from 18 to 28 years old in Study 2, and 1,068 participants (49% men) from 17 to 28 years old in Study 3. The results supported the hypothesis of just one factor underlying the scale; they also showed an appropriate internal consistency and a partial measurement invariance across gender. Results also showed evidence for a 10-item version of the scale. Globally, the Self-Other Differentiation Scale can be considered a good scale to assess individual's sense of differentiation of one's own sense of self from others.

Adolescents who binge eat and drink: The role of emotion regulation.

This cross-sectional study examined binge eating and binge drinking behaviors exploring their association with the strategies of Emotion Regulation, such as Cognitive Reappraisal (CR) and Expression Suppression (ES). The sample consisted of 1004 Italian students (395 males and 609 females) attending high school. The average age of the students was 17.9 years (SD =0.8; range: 16-21). They completed self-report measures assessing binge behaviors and Emotion Regulation strategies. No differences resulted between adolescents assuming binge behaviors and no bingers as regards CR; conversely, adolescents engaging in binge eating and in both binge behaviors reported the highest levels of ES. Furthermore, both Emotion Regulation strategies were significant predictors of binge eating. The present study suggested that binge behaviors were strongly associated with adolescent's ability to evaluate and manage their emotions, so that adolescents may benefit from more precise and specific prevention and treatment approaches focused on training to use more adaptive and effective strategies to regulate their emotions.

Associations Among Psychologically Controlling Parenting, Autonomy, Relatedness, and Problem Behaviors During Emerging Adulthood.

The present study aimed to investigate the relations among perceived parental psychological control (PPC), autonomy and relatedness, and negative outcomes during emerging adulthood in two cultural contexts: Italy and the USA. More specifically, we explored the mechanisms through which dependency-oriented PPC (DPPC) and achievement-oriented PPC (APPC) are associated with both internalizing and externalizing difficulties, focusing on the mediating role of autonomy and relatedness. Participants were 418 European-American and 359 Italian college students. Results indicated that the expressions of PPC with regard to dependency and achievement were related to emerging adults' negative outcomes through different pathways, and these effects were moderated by the cultural group. The implications of the findings for future related empirical investigations and clinical interventions were discussed.

Binge eating and binge drinking behaviors: individual differences in adolescents' identity styles.

Considering the significant negative consequences that are directly related to binge eating and drinking behaviors, many studies have explored the reasons why adolescents engage in them. This study examined the differences in the development, maintenance, and co-occurrence of "binge" behaviors associated with adolescent's identity style and the level of commitment. One thousand four hundred Italian adolescents completed self-report measures assessing binge behaviors and identity styles. Overall, results show that diffused adolescents were more likely to be engaged in binge eating and binge drinking behaviors than others, validating the idea that the achievement of a consolidated ego identity is important for enhancing well-being.

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.