Reading Skill Profiles in School-Aged Italian-Speaking Children: A Latent Profile Analysis Investigation into the Interplay of Decoding, Comprehension and Attentional Control.

Our study examined the complex relationships among reading performance (decoding, comprehension) and language, visuo-spatial, and attentional control abilities in 115 Italian-speaking children. Latent profile analysis was used to identify distinct clusters of participants showcasing quantitative differences in decoding skills, including word, pseudo-word, text reading speed and accuracy. Then, we used this classification to investigate group differences in a variety of linguistic, working memory, and visuo-spatial tasks, as well as in reading comprehension skills, by means of multivariate and univariate tests. Our results reveal significant links between reading proficiency and several key factors: language skills, visuo-spatial abilities, and attentional control. These findings illuminate the nuanced impact of domain-general processes that govern a series of linguistic and visuo-perceptive subcomponents during reading tasks. Additionally, using dominance analysis, predictors of written text comprehension were identified. Our findings suggest that effective reading comprehension relies on a synergistic interplay of adequate reading speed, attentional control, working memory, and verbal fluency, accounting for 23% of the explained variance. This study highlights the multifaceted nature of reading proficiency and suggests that a broader perspective is necessary to fully understand reading development and support its improvement.

The Subjective Experience of Autobiographical Remembering: Conceptual and Methodological Advances and Challenges.

The investigation of the phenomenology of autobiographical memories (i.e., how a memory is subjectively experienced and its meaning) has provided an important contribution to our understanding of autobiographical remembering. Over the last two decades, the study of phenomenology has received widespread scientific attention, and the field has undergone quite relevant conceptual and methodological changes. In the present work, we (1) review some basic and well-established research findings and methodological achievements; (2) discuss new theoretical and methodological challenges, with a special focus on the issue of the phenomenological experience of the retrieval process and its relationship with the phenomenology of the products of retrieval; and (3) propose an alternative way of conceptualizing and understanding it in the framework of experimental phenomenology.

The multifaceted role of emotion regulation in suicidality: Systematic reviews and meta-analytic evidence.

Despite the number of empirical contributions on the topic, scientists have offered contrasting perspectives on the role of adaptive versus maladaptive emotion regulation (ER) strategies in suicidality. Moreover, suicidal attempts and suicidal ideation are likely to be differentially related to single ER strategies. To provide more systematic knowledge that can be used to draw sound conclusions and formulate clinical indications, we carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis that we reported in compliance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) standards (Moher et al., 2009). From an initial pool of 16,530 articles retrieved from scientific databases (APA PsycInfo, APA PsycArticles, Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed) and a search for gray literature, 226 articles were selected to perform 15 meta-analyses. In addition, metaregressions were carried out to test a series of moderators, including the type of suicidality investigated. Among adaptive strategies, results evidenced the role of reappraisal, mindfulness, and several aspects of problem solving. In contrast to our hypothesis, reflective attitude was positively associated with suicidality, calling into question the traditional distinction between adaptive and maladaptive strategies. Regarding maladaptive ER strategies, suppression, avoidance, rumination, brooding, negative problem orientation, and both impulsive and avoidant problem solving proved to be significantly associated with suicidality. Finally, several moderation effects involving age, gender composition, and type of suicidality were observed, supporting the importance of adopting a complex perspective when approaching the topic. Despite the interesting preliminary results, additional research is needed to provide a greater understanding of the interplay between the different ER strategies and suicidality and to develop effective protocols of intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Memory Phenotypes In Early, De Novo Parkinson's Disease Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment.

BACKGROUND: Memory deficits in mild cognitive impairment related to Parkinson's disease (PD-MCI) are quite heterogeneous, and there is no general agreement on their genesis. OBJECTIVES: To define memory phenotypes in de novo PD-MCI and their associations with motor and non-motor features and patients' quality of life. METHODS: From a sample of 183 early de novo patients with PD, cluster analysis was applied to neuropsychological measures of memory function of 82 patients with PD-MCI (44.8%). The remaining patients free of cognitive impairment were considered as a comparison group (n = 101). Cognitive measures and structural magnetic resonance imaging-based neural correlates of memory function were used to substantiate the results. RESULTS: A three-cluster model produced the best solution. Cluster A (65.85%) included memory unimpaired patients; Cluster B (23.17%) included patients with mild episodic memory disorder related to a "prefrontal executive-dependent phenotype"; Cluster C (10.97%) included patients with severe episodic memory disorder related to a "hybrid phenotype," where hippocampal-dependent deficits co-occurred with prefrontal executive-dependent memory dysfunctions. Cognitive and brain structural imaging correlates substantiated the findings. The three phenotypes did not differ in terms of motor and non-motor features, but the attention/executive deficits progressively increased from Cluster A, through Cluster B, to Cluster C. This last cluster had worse quality of life compared to others. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrated the memory heterogeneity of de novo PD-MCI, suggesting existence of three distinct memory-related phenotypes. Identification of such phenotypes can be fruitful in understanding the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying PD-MCI and its subtypes and in guiding appropriate treatments. © 2023 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Measurement invariance of the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale-Self-Report.

OBJECTIVE: The Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale-Self Report (LSAS-SR) is a self-report measure of social anxiety (SA), which has shown adequate psychometric properties across cultures. However, no study has systematically evaluated its measurement invariance (MI) between (a) individuals with and without a diagnosis of social anxiety disorder (SAD) and (b) males and females. The current study addresses this issue. METHODS: We collected data on 257 (158 females) Italian individuals diagnosed with SAD and 356 (232 females) community-dwelling adults. RESULTS: We initially found support for the unidimensionality of the Italian LSAS-SR measurement model in all samples. Using the Graded Response Model, we obtained evidence of partial MI and differential item functioning between community-dwelling and SAD-diagnosed individuals and evidence of strong MI between male and female participants. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that the Italian LSAS-SR measures the same trait in the same way across the symptom continuum and sexes, making it a psychometrically sound tool for assessment, screening, and research purposes.

Untying a Gordian knot: Exploring the nomological network of resilience.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigates the relations of resilience with coping, personality traits, emotional intelligence, sense of coherence and maladaptive personality traits. METHOD: The study employs network analysis techniques to the study of resilience, showcasing how these methods can estimate a model that is simple to interpret while still retaining the most important relations and that can even suggest the direction of causality despite using a cross-sectional design (N = 305). RESULTS: The results highlight several important variables that should be considered for fostering resilience, foremost among them the use of positive reappraisal coping, sense of coherence, and the social management aspect of emotional intelligence. CONCLUSIONS: The results successfully replicated known associations between resilience and other psychological constructs (emotional intelligence, personality, sense of coherence, coping) and shed light on relations between resilience and maladaptive personality traits. Network analysis considered all these constructs together, so as to take into account the complex pattern of relations between them and offer a bird's eye view of the whole network of associations centred on resilience. The resulting model is parsimonious and easy to interpret while still striving to preserve the complexity of the variables' interrelations.

Dispositional Mindfulness in Heterosexual and Lesbian/Bisexual Women: Associations with Sexual Prejudice and Internalized Sexual Stigma.

This research investigated the effect of dispositional mindfulness on the reduction of sexual prejudice and internalized sexual stigma in heterosexual and lesbian/bisexual women, who still represent a population that is under-represented in the scientific literature. Participants were 203 Italian women, both heterosexual (N = 104, 51.2%) and lesbian/bisexual (N= 99, 48.8%), ranging between 18 and 68 years old. They responded to a questionnaire containing demographic information and measures of dispositional mindfulness, need for cognitive closure, and adherence to traditional gender roles. Dominance analyses were run to test the predictive power of mindfulness' dimensions on internalized sexual stigma and on sexual prejudice over and above the other predictors. Results showed that having a mindful nonjudging attitude toward one's inner experience is associated with less internalized sexual stigma in lesbian and bisexual women. On the contrary, dispositional mindfulness was not associated with heterosexual women's sexual prejudice against gay and lesbian individuals.

The Impact of Quality of Work Organization on Distress and Absenteeism among Healthcare Workers.

The quality of work organization may be responsible not only for reduced productivity but also for an increased risk of mental and physical disorders. This study was aimed at testing this hypothesis. Workers of a local health unit in Italy were asked to fill out the Work Organization Assessment Questionnaire (WOAQ) during their periodic medical examinations in the second half of 2018. On the same occasion, they also completed the Demand/Control/Support (DCS) measure of job strain, the Effort/Reward Imbalance (ERI) questionnaire, and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ12) to assess psychological health. A total of 345 workers (85.8%) completed the survey. Linear regression analysis showed that the quality of work organization was inversely proportional to psychological health problems (p < 0.001). Occupational stress, measured both by job strain and ERI, was a moderating factor in this relationship. The relationship between the WOAQ and psychological health, moderated by job strain or ERI, remained highly significant even after adjustment for sex, age, social support, and overcommitment. Regression models explained over 40% of the shared variance of the association between quality of work organization and psychological health. The quality of work organization significantly predicted the risk of sickness absence for musculoskeletal disorders (OR = 0.984, CI95% 0.972-0.996) and for other health problems (OR = 0.977, CI95% 0.967-0.988). A continuous improvement of work organization must consider not only the clients' or production needs but also the well-being of workers.

Organizational Justice and Health: A Survey in Hospital Workers.

In complex systems such as hospitals, work organization can influence the level of occupational stress and, consequently, the physical and mental health of workers. Hospital healthcare workers were asked to complete a questionnaire during their regular occupational health examination, in order to assess the perceived level of organizational justice, and to verify whether it was associated with occupational stress, mental health, and absenteeism. The questionnaire included the Colquitt Organizational Justice (OJ) Scale, the Karasek/Theorell demand-control-support (DCS) questionnaire for occupational stress, and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ12) for mental health. Workers were also required to indicate whether they had been absent because of back pain in the past year. Organizational justice was a significant predictor of occupational stress. Stress was a mediator in the relationship between justice and mental health. Occupational stress was more closely related to perceptions of lack of distributive justice than to perceptions of procedural, informational, and interpersonal justice. Physicians perceived significantly less distributive justice than other workers. In adjusted univariate logistic regression models, the perceptions of organizational justice were associated with a significant reduction in the risk of sick leave for back pain (OR 0.96; CI95% 0.94−0.99; p < 0.001), whereas occupational stress was associated with an increased risk of sick leave (OR 6.73; CI95% 2.02−22.40; p < 0.002). Work organization is a strong predictor of occupational stress and of mental and physical health among hospital employees.

Development and Validation of a New Measure of Work Annoyance Using a Psychometric Network Approach.

Existing measures of the impact of job characteristics on workers' well-being do not directly assess the extent to which such characteristics (e.g., opportunity to learn new skills) are perceived as positive or negative. We developed a measure, the Work Annoyance Scale (WAS), of the level of annoyance that workers feel about certain aspects of the job and evaluated its psychometric properties. Using archival data from two cohorts (n = 2226 and 655) of workers that had undergone an annual medical examination for occupational hazard, we show the usefulness of the network psychometric approach to scale validation and its similarities and differences from a traditional factor analytic approach. The results revealed a two-dimensional structure (working conditions and cognitive demands) that was replicable across cohorts and bootstrapped samples. The two dimensions had adequate structural consistency and discriminant validity with respect to other questionnaires commonly used in organizational assessment, and showed a consistent pattern of association with relevant background variables. Despite the need for more extensive tests of its content and construct validity in light of the organizational changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic and of an evaluation of the generalizability of the results to cultural contexts different from the Italian one, the WAS appears as a psychometrically sound tool for assessment and research in organizational contexts.

Semantic Self-Images and Well-Being in Young and Older Adults: Does the Accessibility Matter?

In the present study we investigated whether and how age group, dimensions of well-being and their interactions predicted the phenomenological properties of semantic self-images, taking also into account the different levels of accessibility of self-images (i.e., order of generation). Results on the first self-image revealed that, independently of age, higher levels of life satisfaction predicted higher likelihood of positive than negative statement and higher levels of negative affect and life satisfaction predicted higher levels of personal relevance of the self-image. When all self-images were considered, for higher levels of life satisfaction neutral and positive self-images were more likely than negative ones, and for lower levels of positive affect, neutral images were more likely than negative ones. Moreover, young adults were more likely than older adults to report neutral rather than negative self-images and, for higher levels of positive affect, they were more likely to report neutral and positive images instead of negative ones. These results suggest that the accessibility of semantic self-images should be taken into account in the investigation of the complex association between well-being and semantic self-images. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

Validation of new diagnostic criteria for fatigue in patients with Parkinson disease.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Although disabling fatigue is common in Parkinson disease (PD), available consensus-based diagnostic criteria have not yet been empirically validated. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinimetric properties of the criteria. METHODS: A sample of outpatients with PD was evaluated for demographic, clinical, behavioral, and cognitive features. Fatigue was diagnosed according to the new diagnostic criteria and was rated by means of the Parkinson Fatigue Scale (PFS) and Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS). Acceptability, concurrent and discriminant validity, and interrater reliability were evaluated with binary logistic regression analyses and Cohen kappa (κ). RESULTS: Of 241 included patients, 17 (7.1%) met the diagnostic criteria for PD-related fatigue. Eight of nine symptoms described in Section A of the diagnostic criteria occurred in >50% of patients with fatigue. Acceptability (missing data = 0.8%) of the criteria was good, as was their concurrent validity with the PFS (odds ratio = 3.65) and FSS (odds ratio = 3.63). The discriminant validity of fatigue criteria with other PD-related behavioral and cognitive features was good (odds ratio < 1.68). The interrater reliability was excellent (κ = 0.92). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to test the clinimetric properties of case definition diagnostic criteria for PD-related fatigue. Our results suggest that current diagnostic criteria may be useful in both clinical practice and research. Future longitudinal studies should examine their long-term stability.

Preliminary validation of a questionnaire assessing psychological distress in caregivers of patients with malignant mesothelioma: Mesothelioma Psychological Distress Tool-Caregivers.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a short, flexible, and comprehensive tool to measure psychological distress in caregivers of malignant mesothelioma (MM) patients: the Mesothelioma Psychological Distress Tool-Caregivers version (MPDT-C). METHODS: Based on a systematic review of the relevant literature, aspects associated with caregiver distress were derived. Expert researchers/clinicians developed a pool of items for each identified aspect. Content validity was assessed through a multiple mixed-methods approach. A multicenter study was conducted to explore the factorial structure of the 47-item MPDT-C through Bayesian factor analysis. RESULTS: The Bayesian exploratory factor analysis revealed an underlying three-factor structure. Factors were labeled Secondary Traumatic Stress, Engagement in Caring, and Meaningful Cognitive Restructuring. All scales showed sufficient reliability and corrected item-total correlations. Females scored higher than males for Engagement in Caring. CONCLUSIONS: Taking care of malignant mesothelioma patients is a stressful process that influences the caregiver's physical, emotional, and social wellbeing. Our study offers preliminary evidence in support of the adequate psychometric properties of the MPDT-C, and these should now be replicated. Results suggest that the MPDT-C is a reliable tool with which to detect the psychological distress of this traumatized population.

Implicit evidence on the dissociation of identity and emotion recognition.

Recognition of identity and of emotional facial expressions of individuals are both based on processing of the human face. While most studies show these abilities to be dissociated, some others find evidence of a connection. One possible explanation for these contradictory results comes from neurological evidence, which points to identity recognition being mostly based on holistic processing, while emotion recognition seems to be based on both an explicit, fine-grained process, and an implicit, mostly-holistic one. Our main hypothesis, that would explain the contradictory findings, is that holistic implicit emotion recognition, specifically, would be related to identity recognition, while explicit emotion recognition would be a process separate to identity recognition. To test this hypothesis, we employed an experimental paradigm in which spatial frequencies of visual stimuli are manipulated so that automatic, holistic-based, implicit emotion recognition influences perceived friendliness of unfamiliar faces. We predicted the effect to be related to identity recognition ability, since they both require holistic face processing. After a successful replication study, we employed the paradigm with 140 participants, measuring also identity recognition ability and explicit emotion recognition ability. Results showed that the effect is not moderated by these two variables (p = .807 and .373, respectively), suggesting that the independence of identity and emotion recognition holds even when considering, specifically, implicit emotion recognition.

Inhibition and individual differences in behavior and emotional regulation in adolescence.

The Impulsivity/Reflexivity issue in inhibitory control ability has seldom been investigated in terms of individual differences in typically developing populations. Although there is evidence of changes in executive functioning (EF), including inhibition, in adolescence, very little is known about the role of individual differences. Using the data from 240 14-to-19-year-old high school students who completed a battery of EF tasks (Flanker, Go No-Go, Antisaccade, and Stop signal task), measures of emotion regulation strategies and behavioral difficulties, we performed a latent profile analysis to identify qualitatively distinct score profiles. The results showed the existence in adolescence of two inhibition profiles, Impulsive vs Reflexive, differing in performances at the inhibition tasks. The two profiles were not associated with socio-demographic characteristics, or to psychological variables, such as behavioral characteristics and emotional regulation strategies.

The psychological correlates of fatigue in Parkinson's disease: Contribution of maladaptive metacognitive beliefs.

INTRODUCTION: Psychological factors can underlie fatigue in neurological disorders, but its relationship to fatigue in Parkinson's disease (PD) has not been explored. We assessed the association between maladaptive metacognitive beliefs and presence of fatigue in PD. METHODS: Ninety-eight consecutive outpatients with PD (61% male; median age: 66.50 years) were assessed in terms of demographic, clinical, medication treatment, cognitive, or behavioural characteristics including metacognitive beliefs (Metacognitions Questionnaire-30 or MCQ). Fatigue was ascertained by PD-related diagnostic criteria. Univariate statistical approach (Mann-Whitney and Pearson chi-square tests) was used to compare PD patients with (f-PD) or without (nf-PD) fatigue in terms of demographic, clinical, medication treatment, cognitive, behavioural, and metacognitive measures. RESULTS: Twenty-one PD patients (21%) displayed fatigue. The f-PD group scored higher on the MCQ-total score, MCQ-Cognitive Confidence subscale, and all behavioral measures (ps < 0.01) relative to nf-PD. They also had a more advanced Hoehn and Yahr stage and Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale-III score. CONCLUSION: Maladaptive metacognitive beliefs such as the lack of cognitive confidence may play a key role to trigger and maintain fatigue in PD. Future studies, using a multivariate statistical approach, are needed to confirm these preliminary findings in a larger sample of patients with fatigue and to assess if modification of such metacognitive beliefs has the potential to ameliorate fatigue in PD.

Development and Validation of an Italian Adaptation of the Psychosocial Aspects of Hereditary Cancer Questionnaire.

Individuals that attend cancer genetic counseling may experience test-related psychosocial problems that deserve clinical attention. In order to provide a reliable and valid first-line screening tool for these issues, Eijzenga and coworkers developed the Psychosocial Aspects of Hereditary Cancer (PAHC) questionnaire. The aim of this work was to develop an Italian adaptation of the PAHC (I-PACH). This prospective multicenter observational study included three stages: (1) development of a provisional version of the I-PAHC; (2) pilot studies aimed at testing item readability and revising the questionnaire; and (3) a main study aimed at testing the reliability and validity of the final version of the I-PAHC with the administration of a battery comprising measures of depression, anxiety, worry, stress, and life problems to 271 counselees from four cancer genetic clinics. Adapting the original PAHC to the Italian context involved adding two further domains and expanding the emotions domain to include positive emotions. While most of the items were found to be easy to understand and score, some required revision to improve comprehensibility; others were considered irrelevant or redundant and therefore deleted. The final version showed adequate reliability and validity. The I-PAHC provides comprehensive content coverage of cancer genetic-specific psychosocial problems, is well accepted by counselees, and can be considered a sound assessment tool for psychosocial issues related to cancer genetic counseling and risk assessment in Italy.

Web-Based Assessment of the Phenomenology of Autobiographical Memories in Young and Older Adults.

Autobiographical memories (ABMs) produce rich phenomenological experiences. Although few standardized and comprehensive measures of the phenomenology of ABMs have been developed, a web-based assessment of the full range of phenomenological properties is still missing. In the present study, we aimed to fill this gap and tested the psychometric properties of a web-based version of the Assessment of the Phenomenology of Autobiographical Memory (APAM) in a group of young and older adults. Specifically, taking advantage of the flexibility of web-based assessment methodology, we tested the rating consistency of APAM items, asking participants to rate the phenomenology of their ABMs with respect to seven cues, administered in one per day in seven different days. In each session, we also collected ratings of mood and arousal. Using linear mixed modeling (LMM), we could examine whether the phenomenology ratings differed with respect to age group while controlling for sex, age of the memory, arousal, mood, and specificity of the memory. Results revealed an adequate level of consistency of ratings in both young and older adults. Moreover, LMMs revealed a more intense experience of recollection and reliving (i.e., sensory and emotional) and a higher confidence in memory accuracy in older compared to younger adults. The theoretical and practical usefulness of a web-based assessment of the phenomenology of ABMs are discussed.

Item Reduction, Psychometric and Biometric Properties of the Italian Version of the Body Perception Questionnaire-Short Form (BPQ-SF): The BPQ-22.

Body awareness disorders and reactivity are mentioned across a range of clinical problems. Constitutional differences in the control of the bodily state are thought to generate a vulnerability to psychological symptoms. Autonomic nervous system dysfunctions have been associated with anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress. Though interoception may be a transdiagnostic mechanism promoting the improvement of clinical symptomatology, few psychometrically sound, symptom-independent, self-report measures, informed by brain-body circuits, are available for research and clinical use. We validated the Italian version of the body perception questionnaire (BPQ)-short form and found that response categories could be collapsed from five to three and that the questionnaire retained a three-factor structure with items reduced from 46 to 22 (BPQ-22). The first factor was loaded by body awareness items; the second factor comprised some items from the body awareness scale and some from the subdiaphragmatic reactivity scale (but all related to bloating and digestive issues), and the third factor by supradiaphragmatic reactivity items. The BPQ-22 had sound psychometric properties, good convergent and discriminant validity and test-retest reliability and could be used in clinical and research settings in which the body perception assessment is of interest. Psychometric findings in light of the polyvagal theory are discussed.