0000000000297911

AUTHOR

Francesca Ianniello

Impact of Distressing Media Imagery on Children

Children are particularly fragile and vulnerable to the impact of traumatic events or their mediated representation because they lack the skills and experience in the management of difficult information. Children have different concepts of health and disaster than adults and institutions, depending mainly on their cognitive, emotional, social, psychological, and physical development. If left alone with threatening messages, children are less able to fully understand the information to which they had been exposed. Therefore, they may fail to integrate the external data into their psychological schema of coping strategies. Children usually count on caregivers to deal with stressors, and they …

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Cyberbullying a modern form of bullying: Let's talk about this health and social problem

Abstract Cyberbullying or electronic aggression has already been designated as a serious public health threat. Cyberbullying should also be considered as a cause for new onset psychological symptoms, somatic symptoms of unclear etiology or a drop in academic performance. Pediatricians should be trained to play a major role in caring for and supporting the social and developmental well-being of children.

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Internet Addiction: Starting the Debate on Health and Well-Being of Children Overexposed to Digital Media.

Previous articles published in the European Paediatric Association (EPA) pages have discussed the importance of children's well-being and its role in different areas of children's health, such as well-child care and child-friendly health care. The goal of this commentary is to raise pediatricians' awareness on the risks of children's overexposure to digital media. It is important to protect the psychological and emotional health of children from uncontrolled external influences to preserve their well-being. We also emphasize the importance of alerting parents and tutors to the risks related to the unrefrained use of the Internet.

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Children left unattended in vehicles in Italy: look behind you before leaving your car

In recent years, the number of children left unattended in parked vehicles is increasing and, according to the Child Abuse and Prevention Treatment Act, this phenomenon can be considered a form of neglect. In addition, the exposure of children to warm environments could cause their death from hyperthermia and heat stroke. Children are more vulnerable than adults to heat for three reasons: children have a high surface area body mass ratio, a less heat dissipation from center of the body to periphery and a less sweat production. In addition, a study was carried out to evaluate the effects of stress on Working Memory, whose alteration could bring a parent to forget his child in the car. In Ita…

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Murdered women’s children: A social emergency and gloomy reality

Femicide, defined as the killing of females by males because they are females, is be-coming recognized worldwide as an im-portant ongoing manifestation of gender inequality. Actual or imminent separation, abuser’s access to firearms, prior threats with a weapon, prior threats to kill the victim, a stepchild in the household, prob-lematic alcohol and illicit drug use, as well as mental health problems, are associated with a substantially higher risk of femi-cide. Little is known about the number of orphaned children who have instantane-ously lost both parents. Sparse attention has been focused on children whose moth-er was murdered: these are difficult cases for child psychiatry teams. Decis…

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Femicide and murdered women’s children: which future for these children orphans of a living parent?

Background: To assess the prevalence of femicides in Italy over the last three years and the potential long lasting effects of these traumatic events for the children of a woman who dies a violent death. Methods: The data used in this study come from an internet search for the number of femicides occurring in Italy between 1st January, 2012 and 31st October, 2014. Results: The total number of femicides was 319; the average age of murdered women was 47.50∈±∈19.26. Cold arms in the form of sharp object -mostly knives- have caused the death of 102/319 women; firearms were used in 87/319 cases; asphyxiation was the chosen method in 52/319 cases. About the place where the femicides occurred, 209…

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