Well-Being and Perfectionism: Assessing the Mediational Role of Self-Compassion in Emerging Adults.

The study explores how different dimensions of perfectionism influence psychological well-being (PWB) in emerging adults. Literature has deepened the relationships between maladaptive perfectionism (e.g., excessive self-criticism, perceived discrepancy from the standards) and low PWB. Less is known about whether and how adaptive perfectionism (e.g., pursuing personal standards) relates to PWB. Secondly, the study has investigated whether self-compassion (i.e., self-benevolence, seeing personal imperfections as a common condition) may mediate the relationships between adaptive/maladaptive perfectionism and PWB. Participants (N = 217, 18-35 y. o.) completed self-report questionnaires measuring: adaptive/maladaptive perfectionism (Almost Perfect Scale-Revised, APS-R: high standards and order/discrepancy, respectively), PWB, and self-compassion (SCS). Adaptive perfectionism was associated with PWB, particularly a higher presence of purpose in life, environmental mastery, self-acceptance, and personal growth. Conversely, discrepancy resulted in the most robust predictor of low PWB (ß = -0.68), followed by high standards with a positive direction (ß = 0.23; Rc2 = 0.514, p < 0.001). A strong negative association emerged between discrepancy and SCS (r = -0.67, p < 0.001). A mediation analysis shows that self-compassion has an indirect effect, reducing the strength of the relationship between discrepancy and low PWB. Results suggest focusing on self-compassion as a buffer factor that reduces the negative impact of maladaptive perfectionism on psychological well-being. Implications for education and health psychology are discussed.

Emotional and Behavioural Factors Predisposing to Internet Addiction: The Smartphone Distraction among Italian High School Students.

In a digitally oriented society, smartphones provide continual online accessibility to daily life while simultaneously predisposing adolescents to engage in prolonged connections for various purposes, thus escalating the risk of Internet addiction (IA). Cognitive processes such as multitasking and attentional shifting are frequently associated with smartphone activities. Additionally, online engagements may serve as emotional strategies for regulating negative states (e.g., boredom and distress), redirecting attention towards more gratifying activities, such as social media contents. This study delves into cognitive-emotional processes (i.e., emotion regulation, attention impulsiveness, online vigilance, and multitasking) and emotional/behavioural factors (i.e., emotional problems, conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention, peer relationships, and prosocial behaviours) that may be implicated in smartphone activities and technology addiction among adolescents. A community sample of Italian high school students (N = 676; 42.2% females) completed the Smartphone Distraction Scale (SDS), the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) for internalising/externalising symptoms and the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) to assess the presence and severity of IA. The scores on the SDS were found to be positively associated with IA levels. Furthermore, students exhibiting higher internalising/externalising symptoms, particularly those with traits of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), are more likely to manifest problematic smartphone usage. The implications for screening adolescents more susceptible to developing IA symptoms and for implementing preventive interventions are discussed.

Assessment of Parental Needs and Quality of Life in Children with a Rare Neuromuscular Disease (Pompe Disease): A Quantitative-Qualitative Study.

Pompe disease (PD) is a rare metabolic disorder with progressive neuromuscular consequences that negatively impact a child's development and quality of life (QoL). Despite an improved prognosis with treatment, the risk for early death due cardiorespiratory crisis remains. Parents not only face physical fatigue and family distress in coping with the child's special needs but also experience emotions, worries, and unexpressed needs (a "humanistic burden") that require supportive interventions. Fourteen parents of children with PD completed an online self-report questionnaire assessing their child's QoL, their own parental burden of care, and disease-related issues. The aim was to estimate the associations between the child's QoL and the caregiver's burden levels. Three mothers were also interviewed. A total of 57.1% of parents lived with moderate/severe burden conditions; worse QoL for the child was associated with higher levels of caregiver burden (rS[N = 14] = -0.67, p < 0.01). Uncertainty about the child's future was a state commonly described by mothers. However, the child's resilience, normalization of disease, and coping strategies (primarily positive appraisal and focusing on the present) alleviated suffering and helped mothers maintain family functioning. Finally, dissatisfaction with communication in relationships with professionals emerged. In conclusion, a typical pediatric palliative care approach is recommended since it manages to guarantee parents empathetic and supportive communication from healthcare professionals, alleviating feelings of isolation and loneliness in parents.

Diet-Related Attitudes, Beliefs, and Well-Being in Adolescents with a Vegetarian Lifestyle.

Vegetarianism can meet healthy, ethical, or ecological values (such as equality and protection of animals or the environment). At the same time, it can represent a response to the need for self-determination in adolescence. Furthermore, some studies show vegetarians have greater depressive risk and a lower sense of body satisfaction. Considering the spread of non-meat diets in the Western world, researchers have investigated the benefits and risks to physical and psychological health. Despite this, few studies have been conducted on factors influencing adolescent's vegetarian diet-related attitudes. Through self-administered loosely structured interviews, this research investigated factors potentially associated with vegetarian choices in adolescence. It checked (a) gender differences in vegetarian choices; (b) religious, familial, ethical, or health factors implied in vegetarian choices; and (c) indicators of well-being among young vegetarians. The findings suggest that for our sample, non-vegetarians have lower scores on health-related questions than others, while for vegetarian adolescents, the benefits of vegetarianism mainly depend on their ethical stances, beliefs, and values. Conversely, it is unrelated to factors such as the desire to lose weight, dissatisfaction about one's body shape, or depressive feelings.

Effectiveness of an Educational Filmmaking Project in Promoting the Psychological Well-Being of Adolescents with Emotive/Behavioural Problems.

Evidence suggests that adolescents respond positively to simple, early interventions, including psychosocial support and educational interventions, even when offered in non-clinical settings. Cinematherapy can help manage life challenges, develop new skills, increase awareness, and offer new ways of thinking about specific problems. This pilot trial was conducted in Italy, aiming to investigate the effects of a six-week filmmaking course on the psychological well-being of adolescents (N = 52) with emotional/behavioural problems and neurodevelopmental disorders. At the end of the project, most participants showed improvements mostly in social skills, such as social cognition (p = 0.049), communication (p = 0.009), and motivation (p = 0.03), detected using the SRS Social Responsiveness Scale. In addition, social awareness (p = 0.001) increased in all patients. Statistically significant differences resulted in four sub-scales of Youth Self-Report Scale: withdrawn/depressed (p = 0.007), social problems (p = 0.003), thought problems (p < 0.001), and rule-breaking behaviour (p = 0.03); these results showed a decrease in emotional and behavioural problems. This study is an innovative therapeutic and educational approach based on the filmmaking art. This research can offer an empirical basis for the effectiveness of alternative therapeutic tools in child and adolescent psychiatric disorders. At the same time, it can be replicated in broader contexts (e.g., school and communities) to promote children's psychological well-being.

Impact of Three Kinds of Early Interventions on Developmental Profile in Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder with a rising prevalence disorder. This high-cost/high-burden condition needs evidence-based behavioral treatments that are able to reduce the impact of symptoms on children's functioning. This retrospective chart review study compared the impact of different types of early interventions on toddlers diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder developmental profile. Analyses were conducted on 90 subjects (mean = 27.76 months, range 18−44 months; M:F = 4.29:1), of which 36 children underwent the usual treatment, 13 children underwent an intervention based on early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) and 41 children received the Early Start Denver Model, for one year, with the same weekly frequency of about 6 h a week. A significant decrease in the severity of autism symptoms was observed for all children when looking at the Ados-2 severity score (average difference = 3.05, SD = 0.71, p = < 0.001) and the Ados-2 social subscale (average difference = 2.87, SD = 0.59, p < 0.001). Otherwise, for most of the Griffiths subscales, we found a significant improvement only for those children who underwent the Early Start Denver Model intervention (General Quotient average difference = 14.47, SD = 3.22, corrected p < 0.001). Analyzing the influence of age on the investigated scores, we found a significant association with the Eye−hand Coordination Quotient (p = 0.003), Performance Quotient (p = 0.042) and General Quotient (p = 0.006). In all these domains, a mild negative correlation with age was observed, as measured by the Pearson's correlation coefficient (r = −0.32, p = 0.002; r = −0.21, p = 0.044; r = −0.25, p = 0.019, respectively), suggesting less severe developmental skills at the start of treatment for older children. Our results are consistent with the literature that underlines the importance of early intervention, since prompt diagnosis can reduce the severity of autism symptoms; nevertheless, in toddlers, our study demonstrated that an intervention model based on naturalistic developmental behavioral principles such as the Early Start Denver Model is more effective on children's developmental profile. Further studies are required to assess the extent of effectiveness of different early intervention models in community settings.

Transient and Long-Term Improvements in Cognitive Processes following Video Games: An Italian Cross-Sectional Study.

The aim of the present study is to compare the short- and long-term effects of video-gaming by using the same measurements. More precisely, habitual and occasional video-gamers were compared so as to analyze the long-term effects. An ABABABA design was used to analyze the short-term effects. The first A refers to baseline measurements: Visual RT, Auditory RT, Aim trainer RT, Go/No-Go RT and N-Back RT. The first B refers to 30 min of gaming, the second A refers to the measurements used in the baseline, the second B refers to 60 min of a video game, the third A refers to the same measurements used in the baseline, the third B refers to a 30-min rest, and finally, the fourth A refers to the measurements used in the baseline. Seventy participants, twenty-nine habitual video-gamers and forty-one occasional video-gamers, participated in the study. The results showed a temporary improvement of cognitive functions (Visual RT, Auditory RT, Aim trainer RT, Go/No-Go RT and N-Back RT) in the short term and a strong enhancement of cognitive functions in the long term. The results are discussed in light of Flow Theory and the automatization process. Contribution of the study: The contribution of this research is to highlight that despite there being a transient enhancement of executive and cognitive functions through the use of mobile video games in the short-term period, with a decrease of performance after a 30-min rest, there is a strong increase of cognitive performance in the long-term period. Flow Theory and the automatization process together can explain this apparent inconsistency between the positive increase of long-term performance and the transient increase of short-term performance. One limitation of the present research is that it is not possible to distinguish whether the long-term enhancements can be attributed either to continued practice in the use of video games compared to non-gamers, or to the possibility that gamers are already predisposed to video game playing. Future research should address this issue.

One-Year Follow-Up Diagnostic Stability of Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnosis in a Clinical Sample of Children and Toddlers.

Some studies show that the diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder could be considered reliable and stable in children aged 18 to 24 months. Nevertheless, the diagnostic stability of early ASD diagnosis has not yet been fully demonstrated. This observational study examines the one-year diagnostic stability of autism spectrum disorder diagnosis in a clinical sample of 147 children diagnosed between 18 and 48 months of age. The ADOS-2 scores were used in order to stratify children in three levels of symptom severity: Autism (AD; comparison score 5-7), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD; comparison score 3-4), and Sub-Threshold Symptoms; (STS; comparison score 1-2). Results: Overall, the largest part of children and toddlers diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder between 18 and 48 months continued to show autistic symptoms at one-year follow-up evaluation. Nevertheless, a significant percentage of children with higher ADOS severity scores exhibited a reduction of symptom severity and, therefore, moved towards a milder severity class one year later. Conversely, the number of subjects of the STS group meaningfully increased. Therefore, at one-year follow-up a statistically significant (χ2(2) = 181.46, p < 0.0001) percentage of subjects (25.2% of the total) who had received a categorical diagnosis of Autistic Disorder or Autism Spectrum Disorder in baseline no longer met the criteria for a categorical diagnosis. Furthermore, children who no longer met the criteria for autism spectrum disorder continue to show delays in one or more neurodevelopmental areas, possibly related to the emergence of other neurodevelopmental/neuropsychiatric disorders. Overall, the comprehensive results of the study account for a high sensibility but a moderate stability of ASD early diagnosis.

Perceived Well-Being and Quality of Life in People with Typical and Atypical Development: The Role of Sports Practice.

Sports and physical activity are recognized as a source of psycho-physical well-being. Therefore, practicing sports can improve the perception of the quality of life (QoL). The study investigated in adults with atypical development (AD) and typical development (TD) if the perceptions of well-being and QoL may depend on the frequency of practicing sports. Participants were 51 AD (age M = 32.98, SD = 7.81; 45.1% female) and 270 TD adults (age M = 26.50, SD = 6.52; 79.3% female) subsequently divided into three groups: 1) people not practicing sports, or 2) practicing it occasionally, or 3) practicing it regularly. We adopted general self-efficacy, life satisfaction, positive well-being, and psychological distress related to physical exercise as measures of well-being, WHOQOL-BREF as QoL, and I-TIPI-R as indicators of Big Five personality factors. Questionnaires were completed online. Practicing sports influenced the perception of well-being and QoL. For the AD group, sporting practice seems to have assumed an equalization effect, eliminating the statistical differences between well-being and QoL measures of AD and TD groups. Associations emerged between Big Five and well-being and QoL indices with some differences as a function of group characteristics. In summary, results suggest that practicing sports is strongly associated with improvements in perceptions of well-being and QoL, especially in disabled persons.

Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome: A Data Mining Approach to a Very Specific Constellation of Clinical Variables.

Objectives: Pediatric acute onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS) is a clinically heterogeneous disorder presenting with: unusually abrupt onset of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) or severe eating restrictions, with at least two concomitant cognitive, behavioral, or affective symptoms such as anxiety, obsessive-compulsive behavior, and irritability/depression. This study describes the clinical and laboratory variables of 39 children (13 female and 26 male) with a mean age at recruitment of 8.6 years (standard deviation 3.1). Methods: Using a mathematical approach based on Artificial Neural Networks, the putative associations between PANS working criteria, as defined at the NIH in July 2010 (Swedo et al. 2012), were explored by the Auto Contractive Map (Auto-CM) system, a mapping method able to compute the multidimensional association of strength of each variable with all other variables in predefined dataset. Results: The PANS symptoms were strictly linked to one another on the semantic connectivity map, shaping a central "diamond" encompassing anxiety, irritability/oppositional defiant disorder symptoms, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, behavioral regression, sensory motor abnormalities, school performance deterioration, sleep disturbances, and emotional lability/depression. The semantic connectivity map also showed the aggregation between PANS symptoms and laboratory and clinical variables. In particular, the emotional lability/depression resulted as a highly connected hub linked to autoimmune disease in pregnancy, allergic and atopic disorders, and low Natural Killer percentage. Also anxiety symptoms were shown to be strongly related with recurrent infectious disease remarking the possible role of infections as a risk factor for PANS. Conclusion: Our data mining approach shows a very specific constellation of symptoms having strong links to laboratory and clinical variables consistent with PANS feature.

Silent reading fluency: Implications for the assessment of adults with developmental dyslexia.

INTRODUCTION: Understanding silent reading fluency (SRF) is of a paramount importance, given that silent reading is the principal manner of reading for capable readers. But the assessment of SRF is not commonly useful for identifying students with reading difficulties and monitoring their progress. The paper presents the SRF scores of adults with dyslexia compared to SRF scores of skilled readers and discusses the power of the SRF measure in identifying adults with specific learning disorders with impairment in reading. METHOD: Participants recruited were 68 dyslexic and age-matched skilled adult readers (18-48 years old). Among them, 24 were skilled readers with a university degree (GRS), 22 were skilled readers with a high school diploma (DSR), and 22 participants had been diagnosed with dyslexia (DR). We used a standardized oral reading fluency (ORF) test and an original SRF task to measure the reading fluency. RESULTS: All participants increased their reading fluency in silent mode (p < .001). Nonetheless, the average speed of the oral reading was 7.19 syllables per second (syl/s) for the GSR group, 7.11 syl/s for the DSR group, and 4.95 syl/s for the DR group. The average speed of the silent reading was 11.62 syl/s and 10.75 syl/s for GSR and DSR, respectively, and 6.15 syl/s for DR. The reading fluency differential (Δf) between ORF and SRF was significantly different among the dyslexic participants and the other two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our results strongly suggest that dyslexic readers are less capable of significantly improve their reading speed when they read silently. Thus SRF could be considered a suitable parameter for identifying older students and adults with impairment in reading. A broader investigation of the issues surrounding silent reading is needed.

Evaluation of acute cardiovascular effects of immediate-release methylphenidate in children and adolescents with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder is a frequent condition in children and often extends into adulthood. Use of immediate-release methylphenidate (MPH) has raised concerns about potential cardiovascular adverse effects within a few hours after administration. This study was carried out to investigate acute effects of MPH on electrocardiogram (ECG) in a pediatric population. A total of 54 consecutive patients with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (51 males and 3 females; mean age =12.14±2.6 years, range 6-19 years), receiving a new prescription of MPH, underwent a standard ECG 2 hours before and after the administration of MPH 10 mg per os. Basal and posttreatment ECG parameters, including mean QT (QT interval when corrected for heart rate [QTc]), QTc dispersion (QTd) interval duration, T-peak to T-end (TpTe) intervals, and TpTe/QT ratio were compared. Significant modifications of both QTc and QTd values were not found after drug administration. QTd fluctuated slightly from 25.7±9.3 milliseconds to 25.1±8.4 milliseconds; QTc varied from 407.6±12.4 milliseconds to 409.8±12.7 milliseconds. A significant variation in blood pressure (systolic blood pressure 105.4±10.3 vs 109.6±11.5; P<0.05; diastolic blood pressure 59.2±7.1 vs 63.1±7.9; P<0.05) was observed, but all the data were within normal range. Heart rate moved from 80.5±15.5 bpm to 87.7±18.8 bpm. No change in TpTe values was found, but a statistically significant increase in TpTe/QTc intervals was found with respect to basal values (0.207±0.02 milliseconds vs 0.214±0.02 milliseconds; P<0.01). The findings of this study show no significant changes in ECG parameters. TpTe values can be an additional parameter to evaluate borderline cases.

ECG parameters in children and adolescents treated with aripiprazole and risperidone.

Atypical antipsychotics (AP) are increasingly being used in children and adolescents for the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Atypical AP may cause QT prolongation on the electrocardiogram (ECG), which predisposes patients to an increased risk of developing threatening ventricular arrhythmias. Although this phenomenon has been exhaustively reported in adults, few studies investigated the safety of these drugs in pediatric patients. We performed an open-label, prospective study to assess the arrhythmic risk of aripiprazole and risperidone in a pediatric population. A total of 60 patients (55 M/5F, mean age 10.2+2.6 years, range 4-15 years), receiving a new prescription of aripiprazole or risperidone in monotherapy underwent a standard ECG before and after two months from the beginning of antipsychotic treatment. Basal and post-treatment ECG parameters, including mean QT (QTc) and QT dispersion (QTd), were compared within treatment groups. Twenty-nine patients were treated with aripiprazole (mean dosage 7.4+3.1mg/day) and 31 with risperidone (mean dosage 1.5+1mg/day). In our series, no patient exhibited pathological values of QTc or QTd before and after treatment for both drugs. However, treatment with risperidone was associated with a slight increase of both mean QTc and QTd values (407.4+11.9 ms vs 411.2+13.0 ms, p<0.05; and 40.0+4.4 ms vs 44.7+5.5 ms, p<0.001, respectively). Treatment with aripiprazole was associated with no changes of mean QTc, even if a small increase of QTd, (40.6+6.5 ms vs 46.3+7.2 ms, p<0.01) was observed. Although our data suggest a slight effect of aripiprazole and risperidone on ventricular repolarization, it is unlikely that such a change results in clinically relevant effects. The treatment with risperidone and aripiprazole in children with psychiatric disorders is not associated with clinically relevant modifications of QT interval. Caution in prescribing these drugs, however, is necessary in patients with family history of a genetic predisposition to arrhythmias in order to warrant a reliable assessment of drug-induced QT prolongation.