The Usefulness of a Revised Version of the Material Values Scale-Short Form in Italian Adolescents: Psychometric Evidence from Two Studies.

Background: Materialism is an attitude that considers material goods to be central in life. Nowadays, adolescents appear to have a high level of materialism, which is related to risky behaviors. Nevertheless, there is a lack of measurement tools with adequate psychometric properties to assess materialism in this age group. For this reason, two studies were conducted to investigate the psychometric properties of the original and short Material Values Scale (MVS) in adolescents. Methods: In Study 1, participants were randomly split into two subsamples to compare psychometric properties of the original version of MVS with those of the short one. The first subsample consisted of 1054 adolescents (58% male; Mage = 16.34; SD = 1.15), and the second one of 1058 adolescents (57% male; Mage = 16.26; SD = 1.04). In Study 2, the psychometric properties of a revised version of the short MVS (without item 8) were investigated to confirm its adequacy with a new sample composed of 1896 adolescents (60% male; Mage = 16.40; SD = 2.76). Results: Results of Study 1 showed that the short version appeared to be a better measuring tool with respect to the long form to investigate materialism in adolescents. Nevertheless, problems with item 8 emerged. Results of Study 2 attested to the adequacy of the psychometric properties of the revised version of the short MVS (by excluding item 8) in this age group, in terms of dimensionality, reliability, and validity. Conclusions: Findings show that the revised short version of the MVS could be a valid and reliable tool for measuring the multidimensional construct of materialism in Italian adolescents.

Parental gambling frequency and adolescent gambling: A cross-sectional path model involving adolescents and parents.

INTRODUCTION: Nowadays, most of the research studies in the field of adolescent gambling are focused on individual factors related to problem gambling. The aim of this study was to test an integrated model to explain adolescent problem gambling involving both individual (i.e., correct gambling knowledge, superstitious thinking, and gambling-related cognitive distortions) and environmental factors (i.e., parental gambling frequency). In detail, the aim was to better understand the role of parental gambling behavior on adolescents' gambling frequency and problem gambling severity, to draw indications for prevention. METHODS: Participants were 680 parents (36% men; Mage = 48.32, SD = 6.14 years) of 680 high school students (51% boys; Mage = 15.51, SD = .55 years) attending the second year of different high schools in Tuscany (Italy). Data collection occurred within the school prevention program PRIZE (Prevention of gambling risk among adolescents). RESULTS: A path model showed was conducted to detect direct and indirect effects from individual and environmental factors to gambling problem severity. Analyses showed that correct gambling knowledge and superstitious thinking were directly related-respectively in a negative and a positive direction-both to gambling-related cognitive distortions and adolescents' gambling frequency. Parental gambling frequency was directly associated with adolescents' gambling frequency. Correct gambling knowledge and superstitious thinking were indirectly related to adolescents' gambling problem severity through the mediational role of gambling-related cognitive distortions and gambling frequency. Parental gambling frequency was indirectly linked to gambling problem severity by passing through adolescents' gambling frequency. CONCLUSIONS: The current cross-sectional results confirm that parental gambling behavior has an important role for adolescents' gambling behavior and severity. Thus, results highlight the need for innovative prevention programs which involve adolescents' adult reference figures and integrate the individual risk and protective factors with the environmental ones.

Optimizing large-scale gambling prevention with adolescents through the development and evaluation of a training course for health professionals: The case of PRIZE.

In the field of adolescent gambling prevention, there is a lack of intervention studies reporting and assessing training courses for the intervention providers. The present work fills this gap by realizing a dissemination study inside the PRIZE program aimed at modifying a set of cognitive protective factors and affective risk factors. The purpose of this work was twofold: To develop and evaluate a training course with the intervention providers (Study 1), and to assess the short- and long-term effects of the intervention itself (Study 2). The training course was delivered to 44 health professionals (32 females, Mage = 39.34 years). Results showed a significant increase of correct knowledge about gambling and a significant reduction of their susceptibility to probabilistic reasoning biases. Participants also actually learnt the main competencies to conduct the educational activities, they were satisfied for the training course received, and they felt high levels of self-efficacy. The intervention was implemented with 1894 high school students (61% males; Mage = 15.68 years). In the short term, we found a significant increase of adolescents' correct gambling knowledge, random events knowledge, and probabilistic reasoning ability, and a significant decrease of superstitious thinking, monetary positive outcome expectation, and gambling-related erroneous thoughts and fallacious behavioral choices. In the long-term, a significant decrease of gambling frequency, gambling versatility, and gambling problem severity was obtained. Overall, this work highlights the importance to train prevention program providers in order to optimize the effectiveness of large-scale gambling intervention programs towards adolescents.

Psychopathological Features and Drop-Out Predictors in a Sample of Individuals with Substance Use Disorder Under Residential Community Treatment.

OBJECTIVE: Several studies have been conducted to investigate the relationship between addiction and crimes, but little is known about the treatment of individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) with criminal records. This study aimed to assess the treatment progress of a group of individuals with SUD who underwent treatment within a residential community, and to analyze their personality profiles to identify drop-out predictors. METHOD: We evaluated 49 subjects using the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R), the Psychological Treatment Inventory (PTI), the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 (BIS-11), and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and carrying out various statistical analyses, including the t-test, Cohen's d, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and discriminant analysis. RESULTS: Results are discussed within the context of previous studies on this topic. Our results showed that variables such impulsiveness, cold-heartedness, alexithymia, and psychopathic traits influenced the premature treatment abandonment of individuals with SUD and criminal records. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a further piece for the understanding of subjects with SUD and criminal records, suggesting the importance of a psychodynamic integrated approach, and showing the impact of some psychopathological features on treatment drop-out.

A New Measure for Assessing Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders: The Addictive Behavior Questionnaire (ABQ).

This article evaluates the psychometric properties of a new measure for assessing Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders: the Addictive Behavior Questionnaire (ABQ). The ABQ is a self-report measure composed of two sections: the Severity Index (SI) and the Seven Domains Addiction Scale (7DAS). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total sample of 698 subjects divided into two groups (515 subjects in the clinical sample and 183 subjects in the control sample), participated in this study. We applied Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) to examine features of ABQ construct validity, we used Cronbach's alpha coefficient to assess its internal reliability, and explored some aspects of its concurrent validity by examining its associations with other measures assessing addictive behaviors and psychopathology. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: results of EFA indicated that all the scales of the ABQ are unidimensional and showed good internal consistency. The correlations between the sections of the ABQ and the other measures used in the current study were significant and in the expected directions. These results suggest that the ABQ has good psychometric properties and allows researchers and clinicians to gather relevant information regarding behaviors, psychopathology and severity of symptoms, for the best clinical reasoning and for planning tailored treatment for each patient.

Psychopathological features in a sample of substance-abusing individuals with criminal history: Towards a definition of a personality prototype of an 'Addict with Criminal Conduct'.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between substance use disorders and criminal activity is strong, and one that is not easily resolved in the criminal justice system. A better understanding of personality traits among substance misusers who commit offences could support better treatment efforts. AIMS: The aim of this study is to explore associations between the psychopathology of people addicted to substances who have also committed crimes. METHODS: We recruited 263 substance-dependent individuals (80% male, 20% female) from a cohort of people attending regional community services in Italy. They all completed an extensive evaluation of their current mental health and personality traits. Their official criminal records were obtained, and the psychopathology of those who had a criminal record compared with those who did not. RESULTS: The criminal group was more likely to perceive the external world as hostile and to consider others as responsible for their own problems and difficulties; in addition, substance-dependent individuals with criminal records showed more personality traits within the psychopathy range and fewer in the dependent personality range than the substance abusers who had never committed crimes. CONCLUSIONS: These findings allow us to hypothesise that substance abusers who also have criminal convictions may have a specific personality profile. If further research were to confirm this, then it could have important implications for identifying people for particular treatment pathways and developing more effective treatments. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Impulsivity, alexithymia and dissociation among pathological gamblers in different therapeutic settings: A multisample comparison study.

Since many psychopathological traits seem to be related to Gambling Disorder (GD), impulsivity, alexithymia and dissociation could play a central role in gambling behaviors, particularly in pathological gambling. We test this hypothesis in four distinct samples of gamblers, three undergoing different types of treatments and a control group. The study sample consists of 204 subjects (males 87.3%, mean age=47.75 years, SD=12.08) divided into four groups: (1) 59 subjects belonging to an Outpatients Treatment Program in the National Health System (NHS); (2) 60 subjects of an Outpatients Self-Help Group Program; (3) 35 subjects belonging to a Residential Treatment Program (Inpatients Program); and (4) 50 subjects without gambling problems (Control Group). Results show a positive relationship between gambling behaviors, impulsivity and alexithymia, and a negligible link between gambling behaviors and dissociation. Findings also display the presence of higher levels of all these features in pathological gamblers with higher scores on the SOGS, and particularly, in participants attending a Residential Treatment Program (Inpatients Program). This study confirms the hypothesis of the presence of higher levels of impulsivity, alexithymia and dissociation in pathological gamblers with a greater severity and seems to indicate a significant importance of impulsivity and alexithymia in predicting gambling behaviors.