The role of moral disengagement and cognitive distortions toward children among sex offenders.

This study investigated the individual and social characteristics, moral disengagement strategies and cognitive distortions toward children among 120 sex offenders in Italian jails. A semistructured interview was administered to collect data about family, social and medical histories, utilizing the Moral Disengagement Scale and the Hanson Sex Attitude Questionnaire. Results showed that sex offenders with sexual abuse trauma in their past had higher scores of moral disengagement and cognitive distortion toward children than sex offenders without sexual abuse trauma. In particular, the highest levels of moral disengagement, cognitive distortions related to children as sexual objects and sexual entitlement were shown by sex offenders who had been physically and sexually abused in their past. Moreover, moral disengagement predicted cognitive distortions related to children being sexy and sexual entitlement. Studying self-regulatory mechanisms and cognitive distortions is important to expand the literature about sexual behaviors committed by offenders and implement the promotion of effective and targeted treatment strategies.

Drug Use as a Risk Factor of Moral Disengagement: A Study on Drug Traffickers and Offenders against Other Persons.

This study investigates the moral-disengagement strategies and influence of drug use in adolescence on 49 offenders in Italian jails, 30 of which are drug traffickers and 19 of which are offenders against other persons. A semi-structured interview was conducted to collect data on family, social and medical histories and the manner in which the deviant act was carried out, and the Moral Disengagement Scale was used to identify specific moral disengagement mechanisms. The results show that the traffickers reported higher levels of general moral disengagement, dehumanization of victims, and advantageous comparison with respect to offenders against other persons. However, the offenders who used drugs in adolescence reported higher levels of advantageous comparison with respect to offenders who did not use drugs. Studying self-regulatory mechanisms is important for enriching the literature about risk factors connected with moral disengagement and deviant behaviour committed by offenders in order to implement the promotion of effective and targeted treatment and educational strategies.

Moral Disengagement Strategies in Sex Offenders.

Sexual abuse is a heterogeneous phenomenon. The literature on sexual offenders considers risk factors in the individual and familial history as well as precursors such as cognitive distortions, defence mechanisms and moral disengagement (MD) mechanisms. This study investigates the MD in sex offenders and non-sex offenders in a sample of 362 males comprising a control group of 268 non-offenders, a group of 42 detained sex offenders and a group of 52 detained non-sex offenders. Participants were administered a semi-structured interview and the Moral Disengagement Scale (MDS). The results show a significant difference between the jailed participants (non-sex offenders and sex offenders) and controls; offenders were found to generally display overall higher levels of MD. Among the jailed participants, sex offenders seem to make more use of MD mechanisms than non-sex offenders.

Intimate partner violence: relationships between alexithymia, depression, attachment styles, and coping strategies of battered women.

INTRODUCTION: One of the most common forms of violence against women is the intimate partner violence (IPV). This term includes physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and controlling behaviors by an intimate partner. AIM: This exploratory study investigates the relationship between alexithymia, adult attachment styles, depression, and coping strategies in a group of female victims of IPV and a control group. METHODS: Participants were 80 female victims of IPV with an age range from 18 years to 54 years (mean 31.62; standard deviation 9.81). The control group included 80 women with no history of IPV with an age range from 19 years to 37 years (mean 25.05; standard deviation 3.67). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: We administered the following self-report questionnaires: (i) 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20); (ii) Coping Orientation Problems Experienced; (iii) Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)-II; and (iv) Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ). RESULTS: Compared with control group, the IPV group showed higher mean scores on TAS-20 (52.9 vs. 41.1, P < 0.001) and BDI-II (19.50 vs. 9.95, P < 0.001). In both groups, we found significant correlations between BDI-II and TAS-20 total scores (P < 0.001) and between BDI-II and the following dimensions of ASQ: confidence (P < 0.001), discomfort with closeness (P = 0.002), relationships as secondary (P < 0.001), need for approval (P < 0.001), and preoccupation with relationships (P < 0.001). Differently from the control group, in the IPV group, social support correlated significantly and positively (P < 0.001) with the dimension preoccupation with relationships on ASQ, but not with the secure attachment style. CONCLUSIONS: In comparison to the control group, alexithymia, depressive symptoms, and an insecure attachment style were negatively correlated with the ability to cope with stress for women in the IPV group.

Health-related characteristics and unmet needs of men with erectile dysfunction: a survey in five European countries.

INTRODUCTION: Data suggest that ED is still an underdiagnosed and undertreated condition. In addition, it seems that men with ED are unsatisfied about their relationship with their physician and with the available drugs. AIM: The study aims to identify health-related characteristics and unmet needs of patients suffering from erectile dysfunction (ED) in big 5 European Union (EU) nations (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and UK). METHODS: Data were collected from the 2011 5EU National Health and Wellness-Survey on a population of 28,511 adult men (mean age: 47.18; SD 16.07) and was focused on men (5,184) who self-reported ED in the past 6 months. In addition, the quality of life (QoL) and work productivity/activity were explored. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Health-related QoL (HRQoL) and work productivity were measured with SF-12v2 and WPAI validated psychometric tools. RESULTS: One in every 20 young men (age 18-39) across 5EU experienced ED in the past 6 months. About half of men (2,702/5,184; [52%]) with ED across all ages did not discuss their condition with their physician. Interestingly, among those men who did discuss their condition with their physician, 68% (1,668/2,465) do not currently use medication. These findings were more evident in the age group of 18-39 years. Only 48% (2,465/5,184) had a closer relationship with their physician, suggesting that this quality of relationship may be unsatisfactory. Compared with controls, ED patients have a significantly higher intrapsychic and relational psychopathological comorbid burden and relevant decreasing in HRQoL, with a significantly higher impairment on work productivity/activity. CONCLUSION: Data suggest that there is a need for a new therapeutic paradigm in ED treatment which images the achievement of a new alliance between physician and patient. Hence, alternative drug delivery strategies may reduce the psychological and social impact of this disease.

Food Reputation and Food Preferences: Application of the Food Reputation Map (FRM) in Italy, USA, and China.

Given the food challenges that society is facing, we draw upon recent developments in the study of how food reputation affects food preferences and food choices, providing here a starting standard point for measuring every aspect of food reputation in different cultural contexts across the world. Specifically, while previous attempts focused either on specific aspects of food or on measures of food features validated in one language only, the present research validates the Food Reputation Map (FRM) in Italian, English and Chinese over 2,250 participants worldwide. Here we successfully measure food reputation across 23 specific indicators, further grouped into six synthetic indicators of food reputation. Critically, results show that: (a) the specific measurement tool of food reputation can vary across cultural contexts, and that (b) people's reputation of food products or categories changes significantly across different cultural contexts. Therefore, in order to understand people's food preferences and consumption, it is important to take into account the repertoire of cultural differences that underlies the contexts of analysis: the three context-specific versions of the FRM presented here effectively deal with this issue and provide reliable context-specific insights on stakeholders' interests, perspectives, attitudes and behaviors related to food perceptions, assessment, and consumption, which can be effectively leveraged to foster food sustainability.

Green Breaks: The Restorative Effect of the School Environment's Green Areas on Children's Cognitive Performance.

Restoration involves individuals' physical, psychological, and social resources, which have diminished over the years in the process of meeting the demands of everyday life. Psychological restoration can be provided by specific environments, in particular by natural environments. Studies report a restorative effect of nature on human beings, specifically in terms of the psychological recovery from attention fatigue and restored mental resources that were previously spent in activities that require attention. Two field studies in two Italian primary schools tested the hypothesized positive effect of recess time spent in a natural (vs. built) environment on pupils' cognitive performance and their perceived restorativeness, using standardized tests. In Study 1, children's psychological restoration was assessed by measuring sustained and selective attention, working memory, and impulse control, before and after the morning recess time. Team standardized playtime was conducted in a natural (vs. built) environment, and the perceived restorativeness was measured after each recess time. Results showed a greater increase in sustained and selective attention, concentration, and perceived restorativeness from pretest to posttest after the natural environment condition. In Study 2, the positive effect of free play recess time in a natural (vs. built) environment was assessed during the afternoon school time on sustained and selective attention and perceived restorativeness. Results showed an increase in sustained and selective attention after the natural environment condition (vs. built) and a decrease after the built environment break. Higher scores in perceived restorativeness were registered after the natural (vs. built) environment condition. Team standardized playtime and individual free play recess in a natural environment (vs. built) support pupils' attention restoration during both morning and afternoon school times, as well as their perceived restorativeness of the recess environment. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in terms of nature's role both for the school ground design or redesign and for the organization of the school's activities.

Psychometric Properties of the Italian Version of the Young Schema Questionnaire L-3: Preliminary Results.

Schema Therapy (ST) is a well-known approach for the treatment of personality disorders. This therapy integrates different theories and techniques into an original and systematic treatment model. The Young Schema Questionnaire L-3 (YSQ-L3) is a self-report instrument, based on the ST model, designed to assess 18 Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMSs). During the last decade, it has been translated and validated in different countries and languages. This study aims to establish the psychometric properties of the Italian Version of the YSQ-L3. We enrolled two groups: a clinical (n = 148) and a non-clinical one (n = 918). We investigated the factor structure, reliability and convergent validity with anxiety and depression between clinical and non-clinical groups. The results highlighted a few relevant findings. Cronbach's alpha showed significant values for all the schemas. All of the factor models do not seem highly adequate, even if the hierarchical model has proven to be the most significant one. Furthermore, the questionnaire confirms the ability to discriminate between clinical and non-clinical groups and could represent a useful tool in the clinical practice. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

Alcohol drinking patterns in young people: A survey-based study.

Binge drinking represents a major clinical and public health concern. Here, we investigated the prevalence of binge drinking and its related consequences, in a population of young adults. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of 4275 healthy subjects. In the overall sample, the percentage of binge drinkers was 67.6 per cent; among regular alcohol users, 79.5 per cent reported episodes of binge drinking. Among binge drinkers, several serious consequences were identified (staggering and stuttering, amnesia, loss of control, aggressiveness, sexual disinhibition). Raising awareness about the seriousness of binge drinking may help health care providers to identify cases early on and provide appropriate treatments.

Self-Serving Bias in the Implicit and Explicit Evaluation of Partners and Exes as Parents: A Pilot Study.

The quality of partners' relationship can be influenced by the reciprocal respect of the other's parenting role, especially when the couple breaks up. This study is aimed at investigating the implicit versus explicit self-serving biases in the evaluation of partners and exes as parents (or potential parents), exploring sex differences and possible relationships with dyadic cohesion. Two Implicit Association Tests and two semantic differentials, comparing each respondent with current partners and last significant exes, and also a scale measuring dyadic cohesion were administered to 108 participants (40 men; M age = 28.1 yr., SD = 8.7). As expected, participants assessed themselves as better than others on both IAT and self-report evaluations, with larger effects toward exes than toward partners and on implicit than explicit measures. Women devalued exes, but not partners, more than men. Dyadic cohesion scores were negatively correlated with the explicit evaluations of partners but not with implicit ones. Theoretical interpretations in terms of self-serving bias were discussed.

Posttraumatic stress symptoms, dissociation, and alexithymia in an Italian sample of flood victims.

BACKGROUND: Several studies have demonstrated a significant association between dissociation and posttraumatic symptoms. A dissociative reaction during a traumatic event may seem to predict the later development of posttraumatic stress symptoms. Moreover, several researchers also observed an alexithymic condition in a variety of traumatized samples. METHODS: A total of 287 flood victims (men =159, 55.4%; women =128, 44.6%) with an age range of 17-21 years (mean =18.33; standard deviation =0.68) completed the following: Impact of Event Scale-Revised, Dissociative Experiences Scale II, Twenty-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale, and Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire. RESULTS: We found significant correlations among all variables. Linear regression showed that peritraumatic dissociation plays a mediator role between alexithymia, dissociation, and post-traumatic stress symptoms. CONCLUSION: Our results seem to confirm the significant roles of both dissociation and alexithymia for the development of posttraumatic symptoms.

Affective dependence and aggression: an exploratory study.

INTRODUCTION: Emotionally dependent subjects may engage in controlling, restrictive, and aggressive behaviours, which limit their partner's autonomy. The underlying causes of such behaviours are not solely based on levels of aggression, but act as a mean of maintaining the subject's own sense of self-worth, identity, and general functioning. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the paper is to explore the correlation between affective dependency and reactive/proactive aggression and to evaluate individual differences as predisposing factors for aggressive behaviour and emotional dependency. METHODS: The Spouse-Specific Dependency Scale (SSDS) and the Reactive Proactive Questionnaire (RPQ) were administered to a sample of 3375 subjects. RESULTS: In the whole sample, a positive correlation between emotional dependency and proactive aggression was identified. Differences with regard to sex, age group, and geographical distribution were evidenced for the scores of the different scales. CONCLUSION: A fundamental distinction between reactive and proactive aggression was observed, anchoring proactive aggression more strictly to emotional dependency. Sociocultural and demographical variables, together with the previous structuring of attachment styles, help to determine the scope, frequency, and intensity of the demands made to the partner, as well as to feed the fears of loss, abandonment, or betrayal.

Obsessive-compulsive aspects and pathological gambling in an Italian sample.

INTRODUCTION: Gambling behaviour appears as repetitive and difficult to resist and seems to be aimed at neutralizing or reducing negative feelings such as anxiety and tension, confirming its similarities with the obsessive-compulsive spectrum. Aims. Estimating the prevalence of gambling behaviour in an Italian sample and assessing the effects of sociodemographic variables and the correlations between gambling behaviour and obsessive-compulsive features. METHODS: A sample of 300 Italian subjects was evaluated based on gambling behaviours and obsessive-compulsive attitudes. The assessment was carried out in small centers in Italy, mainly in coffee and tobacco shops, where slot machines are located, using the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) and the MOCQ-R, a reduced form of Maudsley Obsessional-Compulsive Questionnaire. RESULTS: A negative correlation between SOGS and MOPQ-R, with reference to the control and cleaning subscales, was evidenced in the majority of the examined subjects. Both evaluating instruments showed reliability and a good discriminative capacity. CONCLUSIONS: Our study evidenced that the sample of gamblers we analysed did not belong to the obsessive-compulsive disorders area, supporting the validity of the model proposed by DSM-5 for the classification of PG. These data confirm the importance of investing in treatments similar to those used for substance use disorders.

Factor structure and criterion validity of an enlarged version of the parental bonding instrument

Factorial structure and criterion validity of an enlarged version of the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI-E) were evaluated in a community sample of young adults. This enlarged version was obtained by adding parental favouritism (FAV) and put-down/shaming (PUT_D) to the original care and overprotection (OV) scales as recalled by the offspring. Factor analysis suggested a five factor model as the best solution, identifying CARE, FAV and PUT_D and splitting the overprotection items into two factors, denial of psychological autonomy (DPA) and discouragement of behavioural freedom, (DBF) with Cronbach’s alphas ranging from .77 to .92. These five scales were correlated with depression and anxiety of the offspring, measured by BDI and STAI. Both of them correlated negatively with care and positively with the other parental scales, as expected by Parker’s theory on the role of affectionless control for the psychopathological vulnerability of the children. A series of hierarchical regression analyses, including CARE, DPA and DBF at the first step and FAV and PUT_D at the second step, showed that the latter enhanced the predictive power of the instrument. Overall these findings: (1) suggest a five factor structure for the PBI-E and (2) confirm the criterion validity of the PBI scales in respect to children’s depression and anxiety, providing also compelling evidence for the incremental validity of Gilbert’s scales (AU)

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Relationship between parental narcissism and children’s mental vulnerability: mediation role of rearing style

The hypothesis that parental narcissism is related to depression and anxiety of the young adult children and that this relationship is mediated by the parental rearing style as reported by the offspring was investigated. Subjects were 409 young adults (264 females), aged 22.85 (SD= 2.00) and their parents. Parental narcissism was measured with the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI); the rearing style, as remembered by the offspring, was measured with the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) that includes Parkers’s scales of care and overprotection and Gilbert’s scales of put-down/shaming and favouritism; depression and anxiety were assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) respectively. Two total mediation models (one for fathers and one for mothers), including parental NPI as a predictor, PBI scales as mediators and children’s scores on BDI and STAI as criteria, showed adequate goodness of fit indices. The sums of indirect effects of both paternal and maternal narcissism on children’s depression and anxiety, via all rearing style dimensions, were significant. These results suggest that parental narcissism is related to children’s depression and anxiety and that this relationships is mediated by the rearing style as recalled by the offspring (AU)

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