Italian Validation of the Delaying Gratification Inventory in Adolescents.

The delay of gratification (DoG) is defined as the willingness to forego immediate satisfaction to achieve greater long-term gratification. This ability is essential in adolescence, as its development is crucial against desirable versus undesirable behaviors. This study investigated the psychometric proprieties of the Delaying Gratification Inventory (DGI) in Italian adolescents. A total of 621 Italian adolescents, ranging from 14 to 17 years old (M = 15.92, SD = 1.05; 47.7% boys), participated in the study. Confirmatory factor analysis identified a four-factor structure (delay of gratification concerning Food, Social Interaction, Money, and Achievement). The reliability of the Italian DGI was acceptable. Measurement invariance across gender was supported. Boys reached a higher DoG score in the Food subscale and a lower score in the Social Interaction and Achievement subscales than girls. Moreover, the Italian DGI dimensions were all positively correlated with self-control and prosocial behavior. Except for the Social Interaction subscale, positive correlations were found between the Food, Money, and Achievement subscales and self-esteem. The present findings suggest that the Italian DGI could be used for assessing DoG ability, a key regulatory ability that promotes healthy behaviors in adolescence.

Linking Self-Control to Negative Risk-Taking Behavior among Chinese Late Adolescents: A Moderated Mediation Model.

Negative risk-taking behaviors refer to voluntary behaviors that lead to more harm than good. Low self-control is a crucial predictor of adolescents' negative risk-taking behavior, but its internal mechanisms require further exploration. To reveal the working process underlying the association between self-control and adolescents' negative risk-taking behaviors, we investigated the mediation of regulatory focus and the moderation of sense of power. A total of 2018 students (37.6% males) from two universities in Guangzhou, China, participated in a survey that investigated their self-control, negative risk-taking behavior, regulatory focus and sense of power. The results revealed that after controlling for the adolescents' sex and their parents' educational level, prevention focus partially mediated the association between self-control and negative risk-taking behavior. Moreover, sense of power moderated the association between self-control and prevention focus. Furthermore, the association between self-control and negative risk-taking behavior through prevention focus was stronger among adolescents with a high sense of power than among those with a low sense of power. Therefore, our findings suggest that regulatory focus and sense of power might be the mechanisms that explain how self-control is related to negative risk-taking behavior. These results thus provide a foundation for the prevention of and intervention in adolescents' negative risk-taking behavior.

The Impact of Parental Stress on Italian Adolescents' Internalizing Symptoms during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Study.

The challenges and consequences of COVID-19 imposed massive changes in adolescents' daily routines (e.g., school closures, home confinement, and social distancing rules), which impacted their mental health. This longitudinal study aimed to better understand the changes in adolescents' internalizing symptoms and the underlying mechanisms of parental stress due to COVID-19. We asked 1053 parents of adolescents to complete an online survey during the second and fifth weeks and at the end of home confinement (i.e., four weeks later). Results showed that parents reported their adolescents' anxiety and depression symptoms were more severe at Time 2 than at the first administration. Anxiety symptoms slightly decreased at Time 3, while there was no significant change in depression symptoms. Moreover, parents' expressive suppression mediated the association between parental stress and adolescents' anxiety and depression symptoms, respectively. The findings suggest that as restriction increased, adolescents' anxiety and depression became more severe. Moreover, due to the link between parental stress and adolescents' internalizing disorders helping families to cope with the distress due to the pandemic may have a positive impact on parents, the child, and the family as a whole (i.e., the family climate).

Parent and Child's Negative Emotions During COVID-19: The Moderating Role of Parental Attachment Style.

In February 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) appeared and spread rapidly in Italy. With the health emergency and social isolation, parents started spending more time with their children, and they might have experienced greater distress. Attachment style is considered as an effective emotion regulation strategy in the parent-child relationship. However, few empirical studies have addressed this issue. Based on attachment theory, this study aimed to find parental attachment style as a candidate to moderate the relation between parents' negative emotions and their perceptions of their children's negative emotions related to COVID-19. Parents (Mage = 42.55 ± 6.56, 88.2% female) of 838 Italian children and adolescents aged 3 to 18 years participated in an online survey. Results showed that parents with a fearful attachment style had significantly higher negative emotions when facing COVID-19 than those with other attachment styles. Moreover, parents with a dismissing attachment style perceived fewer negative emotions in their children than parents with fearful and preoccupied styles. At last, higher parents' negative emotions were associated with greater perception of children's negative emotions only in parents classified as secure and fearful. These findings suggest that parents with dismissing and fearful attachment styles and their children may be at higher risk during the COVID-19 pandemic and they should be given long-term attention.

"Ripple effect": psychological responses and coping strategies of Italian children in different COVID-19 severity areas

COVID-19 has affected learning and the outdoor activities of more than 862 million children or adolescents worldwide. This study investigated the mental health of Italian children and explored their psychological response and coping strategies in different COVID-19 epidemic severity areas, with the aims of alleviating the impacts of COVID-19, promoting targeted intervention, and reducing the risk of future psychological problems. 1074 parents of children aged 6 to 12 years old participated in an ad-hoc online survey. Among them, 40.3% were from the high-risk areas in the North, and 59.7% were from the medium/low-risk areas in the center of Italy. The results showed that, compared to the children in medium- or low-risk areas, children in the North scored significantly higher for symptoms of anxiety, moods, and cognitive changes, showing a "ripple effect" trend. Moreover, children in the northern areas used fewer task-oriented strategies and more emotion- and avoidance-oriented strategies than those in the central areas. Specifically, children in the northern areas were more likely to show acceptance and seek affection from others, while those in the central areas used more humor when their parents talked about quarantine or coronavirus. These findings provide relevant evidence and a reference point for crisis management in children's mental health

El COVID-19 ha afectado el aprendizaje y las actividades al aire libre de más de 862 millones de niños o adolescentes en todo el mundo. Este estudio investigó la salud mental de los niños italianos y exploró su respuesta psicológica y las estrategias de afrontamiento en diferentes áreas de gravedad de la epidemia de COVID-19, con el objetivo de aliviar los impactos de la misma, promover la intervención específica y reducir el riesgo de futuros problemas psicológicos. 1074 padres de niños entre 6 a 12 años de edad participaron en una encuesta ad-hoc online. De ellos, el 40,3% procedían de las zonas de alto riesgo del norte y el 59,7% de las zonas de riesgo medio/bajo del centro de Italia. Los resultados mostraron que, en comparación con los niños de las áreas de riesgo medio o bajo, los niños del norte obtuvieron una puntuación significativamente más alta en cuanto a los síntomas de ansiedad, cambios cognitivos y de estado de ánimo, mostrando una tendencia de "efecto dominó". Además, los niños de las zonas del norte utilizaron menos estrategias orientadas a las tareas y más estrategias orientadas a las emociones - y la evitación - que los de las zonas centrales. Concretamente, los niños de las zonas del norte eran más propensos a mostrar aceptación y a buscar el afecto de los demás, mientras que los de las zonas centrales usaban más el humor cuando sus padres hablaban de la cuarentena o del coronavirus. Estos hallazgos proporcionan evidencia relevante y un punto de referencia para el manejo de crisis en la salud mental de los niños

Engaging in prosocial behavior explains how high self-control relates to more life satisfaction: Evidence from three Chinese samples.

High levels of self-control are found to be associated with greater life satisfaction. To further understand this relationship, the current study examined two questions: (1) whether too much self-control reduces, rather than increases, life satisfaction, as argued by some scholars; and (2) whether engaging in prosocial behavior explains the "self-control-life satisfaction" link. To this end, we conducted survey research among adolescents (N = 1,009), university students (N = 2,620), and adult workers (N = 500). All participants answered the same self-control and life satisfaction measures, whereas prosocial behavior was assessed using different scales across samples. Results of two-line regressions failed to reveal significant inverted-U shaped association between self-control and life satisfaction across samples. Moreover, results of mediation analyses showed that across samples, high levels of self-control were related to greater life satisfaction and this association was partly mediated by prosocial behavior. In conclusion, there is no evidence showing that too much self-control impairs life satisfaction. Engaging in prosocial behavior partly explains how high self-control relates to greater well-being.

In vitro porcine brain tubulin assembly inhibition by water extract from a Chinese medicinal herb, Tripterygium hypoglaucum Hutch.

AIM: To investigate the effect of Tripterygium hypoglaucum Hutch (THH) on the assembly and disassembly process of tubulin and its possible mode of action. METHODS: In vitro porcine brain tubulin assembly assay was employed to analyze the inhibitory effects of THH at different concentrations (0.05 microg/L, 0.07 microg/L, 0.09 microg/L). Colchicine (0.0025 mmol/L, 0.0050 mmol/L, 0.0075 mmol/L) was used as a positive control. RESULTS: THH could significantly inhibit the assembly of isolated porcine brain tubulin at all tested concentrations. CONCLUSION: THH is capable of inducing aneuploidy in mammals via tubulin polymerization inhibition pathway and may pose a genetic risk to human beings.