The psychological impact of the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy: The moderating role of gender and emotion regulation.

Many researchers suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic may have more negative effects on women than men. Accordingly, we hypothesized that women would experience greater COVID-19 related distress and more psychopathological symptoms than men during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Italy. Moreover, we expected emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, as protective and risk factors respectively) to interact with gender in shaping psychological health. We administered an online questionnaire to 1519 participants during the first national COVID-19 lockdown in Italy. As predicted, women reported greater COVID-19 related distress and more psychopathological symptoms than men. Furthermore, women who made greater use of reappraisal reported lower levels of distress and fewer psychopathological symptoms. Suppression was associated with more psychopathological symptoms, but there were no interaction effects with gender. Our findings have implications for policymakers wishing to sustain women's health during stressful situations such as the COVID-19 outbreak and beyond.

My partner looks, swims, and quacks like a duck: The need for cognitive closure in the interpersonal perception of romantic engagement in close relationships.

Individuals are motivated to have a reassuring vision of their partners' characteristics that are central to the relationship such as romantic engagement. This can be particularly true for individuals with high levels of need for closure (NFC). In order to preserve a comforting and stable view of the relationship, they might be motivated by greater assumed similarity and lesser accuracy in perceiving partners' romantic engagement. Three-hundred-fifteen heterosexual couples filled out a questionnaire with measures of NFC and self- and other-reported romantic engagement (harmonious and obsessive). Results showed that, for both types of romantic engagement, assumed similarity and accuracy effects were positive and significant. Moreover, NFC had a moderating role in the assumed similarity and accuracy effects in harmonious romantic engagement. In particular, high NFC individuals showed greater assumed similarity and lower accuracy compared to low NFC individuals.

Stay home, stay safe, stay green: The role of gardening activities on mental health during the Covid-19 home confinement.

Social distancing and home confinement during the first wave of Covid-19 have been essential to helping governments to flatten the infection curve but raised concerns on possible negative consequences such as prolonged isolation or sedentary lifestyles. In this scenario, gardening activities have been identified as a plausible tool to buffer the mental health consequences of forced home confinement. In this paper, we investigate the relation between gardening and psychopathological distress during the lockdown of the first wave of Covid-19 in Italy. It is hypothesized that engagement in gardening activities promotes psychological health, through a reduction of Covid-related stress. An online survey was administered through sharing using social media to N = 303 participants during the March-May 2020 lockdown in Italy, measuring Covid-19 related distress, psychopathological distress, engagement in gardening activities plus a series of socio-demographic and residential covariates. As expected, a mediation model tested using a bootstrapping procedure showed that gardening is related to lower psychopathological distress through decreased Covid-19 related distress. Interestingly, results also showed that psychopathological distress was higher for women and unmarried respondents, and negatively associated with age and square meters per person at home. The theoretical and practical implications for social policies contrasting the Covid-19 pandemic are discussed.

Second-Order Growth Mixture Modeling in Organizational Psychology: An Application in the Study of Job Performance Using the Cusp Catastrophe Model.

In recent years, research in organizational psychology has witnessed a shift in attention from a mostly variable-focused approach, to a mostly person-focused approach. Indeed, it has been widely recognized that the study of worker's heterogeneity is a meaningful and necessary task of researchers dealing with human behavior in organizational contexts. As a consequence, there has been growing interest in the application of statistical analyses able to uncover latent sub-groups of workers. The present contribution was conceived as a tutorial for the application of one of these statistical analyses, namely second-order growth mixture modeling, and to illustrate its inner links with concepts from non-linear dynamic models. Throughout the paper, we provided (a) a discussion on the relationships between growth mixture modeling and the cusp catastrophe model; (b) Mplus syntaxes and output excerpts of a longitudinal analysis conducted on job performance (N = 420 employees rated once a year for four consecutive years);

Personal dispositions explain differences in physical health benefits of nature exposure: the role of restorativeness and affect.

Introduction: Urbanization processes are constantly increasing, and most of the European population currently live in urban areas. Nevertheless, evidence is consistent in highlighting the positive association between nature exposure and human wellbeing, although individual differences might affect this association. Methods: The present study aimed to investigate the association among nature connectedness, conceptualized as Love and Care for Nature, place identity, and physical wellbeing, via restorativeness and positive and negative affect. A total of 312 visitors of an urban green area (i.e., Milan's Parco Nord) participated in the study. They completed an anonymous questionnaire. Results: Findings showed that nature connectedness and place identity positively affect physical wellbeing, via restorativeness and positive affect, but not through the negative ones. Discussion: Results highlight the importance of the joint role of exposure to nature and individual differences in promoting wellbeing. This study offers implications for interventions aimed at enhancing individuals' health through exposure to nature. Limitations of the study and future research developments are discussed.

Sexual Satisfaction Mediates the Effects of the Quality of Dyadic Sexual Communication on the Degree of Perceived Sexual Desire Discrepancy.

Difficulties related to sexual desire discrepancy are among the most common complaints in people seeking help in therapy. The aims of the current study were to test a mediation model using a bootstrapping procedure where the quality of the dyadic sexual communication plays a key role in increasing or diminishing the degree of perceived sexual desire discrepancy through sexual satisfaction. An online survey was administered through social media to N = 369 participants involved in a romantic relationship, measuring the quality of dyadic sexual communication, sexual satisfaction, the degree of the perceived sexual desire discrepancy, and a series of relevant covariates. As expected, the mediation model showed that a better quality of dyadic sexual communication is related to a lower degree of perceived sexual desire discrepancy through increased sexual satisfaction (ß = -0.17, SE = 0.05, [95% CI = -0.27, -0.07]). The effect held over and above the effect of the relevant covariates. The theoretical and practical implications of the present study are discussed.

Objective greenness, connectedness to nature and sunlight levels towards perceived restorativeness in urban nature.

The beneficial effect of exposure to nature and immersion in natural environments on perceived well-being is well established. Nevertheless, we acknowledge an emerging need to disentangle the role of specific environmental features from individual factors that encourage a positive person-environment interaction. This study aimed at evaluating the associations between four buffer distances of greenness and dimensions of perceived restorativeness, with connectedness towards nature (CTN) as a confounder variable, in a sample of 312 visitors to a large urban park. Variables investigating ecosystem services (ES, e.g., thermal comfort) were included as covariates. Results revealed differentiated effects of greenness level, sunlight intensity, and connectedness to nature in the pathways towards dimensions of restorativeness. Greenness level at 300 m was associated with Fascination, Scope, and Being Away, while at 500 m was associated with Coherence, Scope, and Being Away. ES was found to be associated with Coherence, while CTN with the other three dimensions of restorativeness. The moderating effect of sunlight level in the relationship between NDVI buffer distances and the total score of perceived restorativeness was also confirmed. The present work is intended to offer insights on the interplay between environmental features and individual differences for implications in several contexts, including the opportunity to develop tailor-made planning for urban forestry.

Emotion regulation and virtual nature: cognitive reappraisal as an individual-level moderator for impacts on subjective vitality.

People who make habitual use of an emotion regulation strategy such as cognitive reappraisal may be more sensitive to the emotion cues coming from a surrounding natural environment and, thus, get more benefits from virtual nature exposure such as enhanced subjective vitality. However, no previous study investigated the moderating role of cognitive reappraisal in the relationship between exposure to different types of natural environments (a national park, a lacustrine environment, and an arctic environment vs. an urban environment) and subjective vitality. We designed a between-subject design (four conditions, one per type of environment) with a sample of 187 university students (Mage = 21.17, SD = 2.55). Participants were exposed to four 360° panoramic photos of the environment for one minute each with a virtual reality head-mounted display. The results of a multicategorical moderation analysis attested that there were two significant interactions, respectively between lacustrine and arctic environments and cognitive reappraisal. More specifically, for participants with low levels of habitual use of cognitive reappraisal, the effects of virtual nature (vs. urban) exposure on subjective vitality were not significant, while for participants with high levels, the effects were significant and positive. Findings show how the potential of virtual nature may be boosted with training aimed at increasing the general use of cognitive reappraisal, supports enhancing the applications of virtual nature, and demonstrates the need to take individual differences into account when determining the benefits of these applications.

Exposure to nature is associated with decreased functional connectivity within the distress network: A resting state EEG study.

Introduction: Despite the well-established evidence supporting the restorative potential of nature exposure, the neurophysiological underpinnings of the restorative cognitive/emotional effect of nature are not yet fully understood. The main purpose of the current study was to investigate the association between exposure to nature and electroencephalography (EEG) functional connectivity in the distress network. Methods: Fifty-three individuals (11 men and 42 women; mean age 21.38 ± 1.54 years) were randomly assigned to two groups: (i) a green group and (ii) a gray group. A slideshow consisting of images depicting natural and urban scenarios were, respectively, presented to the green and the gray group. Before and after the slideshow, 5 min resting state (RS) EEG recordings were performed. The exact low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (eLORETA) software was used to execute all EEG analyses. Results: Compared to the gray group, the green group showed a significant increase in positive emotions (F 1; 50 = 9.50 p = 0.003) and in the subjective experience of being full of energy and alive (F 1; 50 = 4.72 p = 0.035). Furthermore, as compared to urban pictures, the exposure to natural images was associated with a decrease of delta functional connectivity in the distress network, specifically between the left insula and left subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (T = -3.70, p = 0.023). Discussion: Our results would seem to be in accordance with previous neurophysiological studies suggesting that experiencing natural environments is associated with brain functional dynamics linked to emotional restorative processes.

Can We Barter Local Taxes for Maintaining Our Green? A Psychological Perspective.

Previous research highlighted that the desire for neighborhood improvement is an antecedent of the citizens' involvement in green urban areas maintenance. Nevertheless, the topic of civic participation in the maintenance of green areas is not yet well developed in the literature and a link with local legislation is missing. We investigate the intention of participation in such maintenance through a web-based experiment. We hypothesize that stimuli of poor (vs. good) maintenance will be associated with a higher intention of contributing to the upkeep of green areas following the administrative barter law. The administrative barter is a law approved in Italy, which gives citizens the possibility of a reduction of local taxes in exchange for their involvement in the improvement of the territory. One hundred ninety-six participants (M age = 33.81) were assigned randomly to good maintenance condition (n = 100) or poor maintenance condition (n = 96). The level of maintenance was manipulated through photographs of a neighborhood depicting good or poor maintenance of the urban green ornamentation. Results pointed out that people showed a greater willingness to engage in the improvement of green urban areas in the poor condition as compared to the good condition, according to the administrative barter law. This study suggests that local legislation may provide an incentive fostering citizens' involvement in green urban areas maintenance.

Nature Reappraisers, Benefits for the Environment: A Model Linking Cognitive Reappraisal, the "Being Away" Dimension of Restorativeness and Eco-Friendly Behavior.

In the last decades, an increasingly prominent role has been given to the motivational factors that can promote pro-environmental behavior. In this contribution, we focus on the role of the individual's ability to shape the emotions originating from nature in engaging in pro-environmental behavior. In particular, we expect that an emotion regulation strategy as cognitive reappraisal should positively predict pro-environmental behavior, through enhanced perceived restorativeness attributed to the natural environment in terms of the experience of "being away." One-hundred and fifteen visitors to an urban park (Parco Nord Milano) filled out a questionnaire including measures of cognitive reappraisal, the experience of "being away," and pro-environmental behavior while in the park. Results confirmed that cognitive reappraisal was positively and significantly related to pro-environmental behavior. Importantly, the indirect effect of cognitive reappraisal on pro-environmental behavior through the experience of "being away" was significant. Findings suggest the importance of implementing interventions aimed at promoting the habitual use of cognitive reappraisal to enhance the experience of "being away" and, thus, sustain pro-environmental behavior.

The rocky road to prosocial behavior at work: The role of positivity and organizational socialization in preventing interpersonal strain.

Among relevant consequences of organizational socialization, a key factor is the promotion of organizational citizenship behaviors toward individuals (i.e. OCBI). However, the relation between organizational socialization and OCBI has received little attention. This study tests the validity of a moderated mediation model in which we examine the mediating effect of a decreased interpersonal strain on the relationship between organizational socialization and OCBI, and the moderation role of a positive personal resource in reducing interpersonal strain when an unsuccessful socialization subsists. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 765 new recruits of the Guardia di Finanza-a military Police Force reporting to the Italian Minister of Economy. Findings confirm our hypothesis that interpersonal strain mediates the relationship between organizational socialization and OCBI. The index of moderated mediation results significant, showing that this effect exists at different levels of positivity. Theoretical and practical implications for promoting pro-organizational behaviors are discussed.

The costly burden of an inauthentic self: insecure self-esteem predisposes to emotional exhaustion by increasing reactivity to negative events.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: A long research tradition has investigated the impact of stress on university students by assuming that individuals have a limited reservoir of resources, and that negative events and circumstances progressively drain resources thereby producing exhaustion. A recent research tradition, instead, has focused on the detrimental consequences of discrepant levels of implicit (ISE) and explicit (ESE) self-esteem on the development of stress-related symptoms. The present research attempted to merge the aforementioned approaches, with the aim of explaining significant predictors of stress. DESIGN: Within the framework of a Longitudinal Structural Equation Model, we followed a moderated-mediated approach. METHOD: A sample of university students (N = 209; 66% females) completed a questionnaire battery including measures of ISE, ESE, perceptions of negative events, and emotional exhaustion. Participants were assessed once a week for eight consecutive weeks. RESULTS: ISE significantly moderated the relationship between ESE and negative events; in turn, the latter significantly predicted emotional exhaustion. Monte Carlo method for assessing mediation showed that negative events significantly mediated the relationship between incongruent self-esteem and emotional exhaustion. CONCLUSIONS: The detrimental role of incongruent self-esteem has been corroborated. Practical implications and suggestions for future research dealing with stress in a university setting were provided.