The Good Parent: Southern Italian Mothers’ Conceptualization of Good Parenting and Parent–Child Relationships

Thirty mothers, ranging in age between 30 and 46 years, participated in seven focus groups aimed at analyzing perceptions and ideas of the characteristics of a good parent and parent–child relationship in southern Italy (Sicily). The discussions were transcribed and analyzed using the constant comparative analysis approach. Two major themes, discipline and affection, emerged from the discussions about the idea of a good parent, with seven further subthemes. In defining good parenting beliefs and practices, Sicilian mothers mostly believed that control, discipline, and demandingness were imperative and prioritized over warmth and responsiveness. Despite the importance given to demandingness…

Il distacco e la separazione emotiva nel rapporto tra genitori e figli adolescenti

Parental Monitoring and Youth's Binge Behaviors: The Role of Sensation Seeking and Life Satisfaction

Framed within an ecological perspective of the onset of adolescent problem behaviors, the current study explored the joint role of parent-adolescents’ relationships and youth's individual factors in binge eating and drinking. Firstly, in line with pieces of research highlighting the beneficial impact of effective parenting on youth development, the present paper sought to enhance the knowledge about the positive influence of parental monitoring on youth's binge drinking and eating. Moreover, since literature evidenced that the explanatory mechanisms of the association between parental monitoring and binge behaviors are not fully explored, the study focused on the potential intervening role …

The development of ingroup favoritism and outgroup derogation towards national groups amongst italian children

Self-Other Differentiation Scale: Dimensionality, IRT Parameterization, and Measurement Invariance

The Self-Other Differentiation Scale (Olver, Aries, & Batgos, 1989) is a self-report instrument assessing the experience of a separate sense of self from others. The authors aimed to examine its dimensionality, reliability, and measurement invariance across gender. It was completed by 348 participants (48% men) from 17 to 30 years old in Study 1, 348 participants (40% men) from 18 to 28 years old in Study 2, and 1,068 participants (49% men) from 17 to 28 years old in Study 3. The results supported the hypothesis of just one factor underlying the scale; they also showed an appropriate internal consistency and a partial measurement invariance across gender. Results also showed evidence fo…

Associations Between Peer Pressure and Adolescents' Binge Behaviors: The Role of Basic Needs and Coping

Framed from a framework based on the integration of self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000 Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68 [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®], , [Google Scholar] ) and Endler and Parker’s (1990) conception of coping strategies, the authors analyzed the relationships between peer pressure and binge behaviors (binge eating and binge drinking) in adolescence. Moreover, the authors explored the mediating role of satisfaction/frustration of basic psychological needs and coping strategi…

Psychometric Evaluation of the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (BPNSFS) in Italy

The purpose of this multistudy report was to adapt the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (BPNSFS) to the Italian context. Two studies were conducted. In Study 1, we investigated the dimensionality, reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity of the instrument in a sample of 544 participants (males = 41%) from 16 to 35 years old. In Study 2, we replicated the results concerning dimensionality in an independent sample of 502 participants (males = 42%) from 16 to 35 years old. Furthermore, we analyzed measurement invariance across gender. Results of both studies showed that comparing a series of competitive factorial models, the 6-factor model had the best f…

Cultural Meanings of Parenting Behavior: The Case of the Italian Population

Patterns of autonomy and intimacy in the parent-adolescent relationship: a longitudinal study

AUTONOMIA, INDIVIDUAZIONE E DISORDINI COMPORTAMENTALI IN ADOLESCENZA: UN'INDAGINE PRELIMINARE

Can we increase children’s rights endorsement and knowledge?: A pilot study based on the reference framework of competences for democratic culture

This pilot study is the first to examine whether a novel curriculum based on the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC) could increase children’s endorsement and knowledge of children’s rights. We conducted a pre-test-post-test design with an intervention and a comparison school. Pupils (n = 172) from Bulgaria, Italy, Norway, Romania, and Spain attended schools in which the curriculum was taught, whereas pupils in the comparison group (n = 120) attended schools in the same city where the curriculum was not taught. Both groups were tested on their endorsement and knowledge of rights before and at the end of the intervention. Children in the intervention group incre…

Autonomy and relatedness in mother-adoelscent relationship and parenting stress

Some cultural differences in the meaning of parenting behavior

Aggressività e isolamento: il ruolo della reputazione sociale nell'adattamento

Il ruolo dei fattori intra e interindividuali nell’insorgenza dell’inibizione comportamentale.

Autonomy and separation from parents as predictive factors of behavioural risk during adolescence

Training citizenship and intercultural education in Europe: Main needs and best practices

The Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale: Construct and Predictive Validity in the Italian Context

The Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (BPNSFS) is a self-report instrument assessing the satisfaction and frustration of the three basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness defined by self-determination theory. The aim of this study was to examine the dimensionality, the predictive validity, and the measurement invariance across different age groups of the Italian version of the BPNSFS. The participants were 2,204 Italian adolescents and young adults (41% males) from 14 to 28 years old (M age = 20.23, SD = 4.25). The invariance across age demonstrated adequate equivalence of the 6-factor model of scales across adolescents (14–18 years) and …

Mutual intercultural relations among immigrant and autochthonous youth in Italy. Testing the integration, multiculturalism, and contact hypotheses

Italy is increasingly becoming a culturally complex society. This poses numerous challenges for developmental and educational psychology, mainly in terms of how to encourage adequate levels of social harmony by promoting positive development of both immigrant and autochthonous youth. Within this perspective, the current paper presents the Italian findings of the Mutual Intercultural Relations in Plural Societies (MIRIPS) international project, postulating the centrality of three core hypotheses: integration, multiculturalism, and contact. Two studies were performed to investigate these hypotheses. Study 1 comprised 188 Tunisian adolescents aged 13-18 (51% F; Mage=15.94), while Study 2 inclu…

Emotional Separation, Parenting Stress, and Adolescents’ Empathic Responsiveness

The relation between autonomy and intimacy toward parents and empathic concern and psychological well-being among girls during adolescence

Individuality and intimacy: The case of detached and connected adolescents

The Role of Intra and Inter-Individual Characteristics on the Onset of Behavioral

Problemi comportamentali internalizzanti ed esternalizzanti e caratteristiche personali dell’adolescente.

Informant discrepancies in perceived parental psychological control, adolescent autonomy, and relatedness psychological needs

Abstract Framed from Self-Determination Theory and Family Systems Theory, the present multi-informant study sought to contribute to a better understanding of the relations between discrepancies in parents' and adolescents' perceptions of parental psychological control and satisfaction of adolescents' needs for autonomy and relatedness. Participants were 190 Italian intact families in which an adolescent was present (Mage = 16.47 years, SDage = 1.41). Our findings highlighted that: (1) adolescents generally tended to perceive higher levels of psychological control than their parents reported; (2) adolescents tended to rate mothers' psychological control higher than the mothers themselves, wh…

The Role of parental control and Coping Strategies on adolescents’ problem behaviors

The current study was aimed at contributing to the understanding of the role of perceived parental monitoring, psychological control, and coping strategies on adolescents’ problem behaviors, in terms of anxiety and drinking behavior. Participants were 541 high school students, 17 to 19-year old (M = 17.09, SD = 0.80) high school students in Sicily and Calabria (Italy). Participants completed self-report measures assessing parental monitoring, psychological control, coping strategies (i.e., Task-Oriented, Emotion-Oriented, and Avoidance-Oriented). Results of the path analysis showed that coping strategies play a mediating role in the association between parental psychological control and bot…

Parental psychological control, autonomy support and Italian emerging adult’s psychosocial well-being: a cluster analytic approach

According to a person-oriented approach, the study was addressed to inquire the existence of different groups of emerging adults (EAs) each characterized by distinct configurations of parental psychological control and autonomy support conceptualized in terms of promotion of volitional functioning (PVF) and in terms promotion of independence (PI). At the study participated 476 Italian undergraduate students following the academic track in several south Italian universities. Results showed the existence of four profiles: 1. the Moderate Volitional Dependence cluster; 2. the Moderate Controlling Independence cluster; 3. the Volitional Independence cluster; 4. the Controlling Dependence cluste…

The socialization of coping strategies in adolescence: the modeling role of parents

Background and Objectives: The main aim of this study is to test the intergenerational transmission of the relations between coping strategies to well-being from parents to adolescents through the modeling of the coping strategies of the parents to those of the child. Methods: 154 cohabitating families composed by father, mother, and adolescent in age range between 14 and 18 (M = 16.40; SD = 1.53) took part to the research. To test the proposed model, SEM with observed variables and the integration of the APIM approach and the Bootstrapping approach was used. Results: Findings showed in both parents and adolescents significant positively relations between coping task strategy and well-being…

Separation-individuation process in italian adolescents

Satisfaction and frustration of autonomy and relatedness needs: Associations with parenting dimensions and psychological functioning

Framed from Basic Psychological Needs Theory (Ryan and Deci in American Psychologist 55:68–78; Ryan, Deci, American Psychologist 55:68–78, 2000) and Kagitcibasi’s Autonomous-Related Self Theory (Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 36:1–20; Kagitcibasi, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 36:1–20, 2005), the study examined the relationships of adolescents’ satisfaction and frustration of autonomy and relatedness, with (a) adolescents’ perception of mother’s and father’s psychological control and autonomy support, and (b) adolescents’ self-acceptance and anxiety. Participants were 556 adolescents (M = 17.25, SD = 0.92). Path analysis showed more significant associations of autonomy support …

Parenting Dimensions and Internalizing Difficulties in Italian and U.S. Emerging Adults: The Intervening Role of Autonomy and Relatedness

The present study examined the associations between emerging adults’ perceived parental psychological control and autonomy support, and their autonomy, relatedness and internalizing difficulties in Italy and the U.S. The participants included 494 Italian and 414 U.S. college students, between 18 and 28 years of age (Mean = 21.58, SD = 2.18). Our findings showed that dependency-oriented psychological control had no significant direct associations with autonomy, relatedness or internalizing difficulties. Moreover, the association between parental autonomy support and internalizing problems was fully intervened by autonomy and relatedness, whereas the association between achievement-oriented p…

Evaluating the filial behaviour scale across three cultural groups using exploratory structural equation modelling

Filial piety is a Confucian concept that guides how children treat and take care of their parents. The Filial Behaviour Scale (FBS) is a 25-item instrument developed in the Chinese context measuring behavioural manifestations of filial piety. Although the components of filial piety have been found to be relevant across cultures, little research has investigated the psychometric properties of the FBS in other cultural contexts. The present study evaluated the factor structure, internal consistency, measurement invariance and construct validity of the FBS across three cultural groups: the United States, Italy and Malaysia. Participants were 1090 emerging adults (67% females; Mage = 21.29 yea…

Cultural differences in the meaning of parental practices among southern-italian and congolese mothers.

Aggressiveness, social isolation and adjustment: The role of social reputation.

Relazioni genitori-figli: differenze individuali nella connessione e nell'autonomia in adolescenza.

Behavioural Characteristics Associated with the Best Friendships of Shy and Aggressive Young Adolescents.

Promoting Democratic and Intercultural Competences in the Primary School Context: The experience of “Children’s Voices for a new Human Space”

The promotion of citizen’s democratic and intercultural competence is one of the main actions that European societies may take against some of the most significant challenges they are facing nowadays. The paper is aimed at briefly describing the Council of Europe’s Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture, some actions that can be taken to promote democratic and intercultural competences and a case of implementation of this framework in the context of primary school, that is the Erasmus+ Project “Children’s Voices for a new Human Space” (CVS). The paper also aims at illustrating the intellectual outputs produced by CVS project consisting in a training course for teachers, a…

Aggressive and boasting young adolescents: a comparison of their friendship

Adolescen Emotional separation in parent-adolescent relationship: The role of adolescent personal characteristics.

Peer Reputation Configurations and Associations with Friendship Adjustment

Peer reputation (PR) refers to how peer groups collectively view an individual in terms of socio-behavioral characteristics, such as aggression, social withdrawal, leadership, and prosociality. Despite considerable research on PR, few studies have considered PRs in relation to indices of friendship, particularly with a person-centered approach. The goal of the current study was to adopt such an approach and identify peer reputation configurations and their defining characteristics, and to examine how such configurations are linked to friendship prevalence and quality. Four hundred and twenty-six Italian seventh-grade students (57.3% male, M-age = 12.07) completed peer nomination measures of…

Il ruolo del temperamento nell’insorgenza dell’isolamento sociale

Un’esperienza di peer-tutoring all’ateneo di Palermo

The development of national and European identity among children living in Italy: A cross-cultural comparison

Emotional separation and detachment as two distinct dimensions of parent--adolescent relationships

The study examined adolescents’ emotional separation and detachment from parents, analyzing their relations with connectedness and agency, with some aspects of self—other boundary regulation and with problem behavior. The participants were 331 Italian adolescents, aged from 16 to 19 years (mean age = 17.40, SD = 1.14). Separation and detachment were positively related; they were negatively related to connectedness; detachment was also negatively associated to agency. Emotional separation was negatively predicted by empathic concern, perspective-taking and separate self; emotional detachment was negatively predicted by empathic concern and self—other differentiation. Separation negatively p…

La valutazione del processo di separazione-individuazione in adolescenza

Separazione emotiva, stress genitoriale e capacità empatica dell’adolescente

Il ruolo delle caratteristiche personali nei comportamenti problematici degli adolescenti

Associations Among Psychologically Controlling Parenting, Autonomy, Relatedness, and Problem Behaviors During Emerging Adulthood.

ABSTRACTThe present study aimed to investigate the relations among perceived parental psychological control (PPC), autonomy and relatedness, and negative outcomes during emerging adulthood in two cultural contexts: Italy and the USA. More specifically, we explored the mechanisms through which dependency-oriented PPC (DPPC) and achievement-oriented PPC (APPC) are associated with both internalizing and externalizing difficulties, focusing on the mediating role of autonomy and relatedness. Participants were 418 European-American and 359 Italian college students. Results indicated that the expressions of PPC with regard to dependency and achievement were related to emerging adults’ negative out…

The role played by emotional support from parents and peers in the emotional autonomy development during adolescence

The development of ingroup favouritism and outgroup derogatiom towards national groups amongst italian children

Aligning personal and collective interests in emerging adults during the COVID-19 emergency in Italy

This study investigated the relations of emerging adults' personal (civic competence and interdependent self-construal) and community-based (sense of community and civic engagement) resources as predictors of appraisal of COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Management (PHEM) and attitudes toward preventing contagion in Italy. Participants were 2873 Italian emerging adults (71% females) aged 19-30 years (M = 22.67, SD = 2.82). Structural equation modeling revealed both direct and indirect positive associations among study variables. Civic competence and interdependent self-construal were related to sense of community and civic engagement behavior which, in turn, predicted appraisal of PHEM. App…

Using Focus Group in the Development of UNIPA Emotional Autonomy Inventory

Adolescents' Emotional Autonomy from Parents A relevant tenet in developmental psychology is that adolescents are expected to achieve an autonomous functioning, independent from parents, to become reliant on their internal resources and responsible for their actions and decisions. Within this framework, emotional autonomy reflects the affective side of the largest process by which a young person acquires a more mature identity. It emerges when adolescents are capable to abandon dependence on parents and to individuate from them. Moreover, emotional autonomy implies a shift towards a less idealized conception of parental figures, the development of a more complex consideration of them as peo…

Stili di apprendimento, metodo di studio e successo accademico

Introduzione Le riforme che nell’ultimo decennio hanno interessato l’assetto formativo degli Atenei italiani hanno messo in luce la necessità di pensare a percorsi integrati e continui nel passaggio fra scuola media superiore e università. Per raggiungere questo obiettivo, appare utile quindi esplorare alcune dimensioni cruciali per garantire il successo formativo ed evitare il rischio di abbandoni. Obiettivi Scopo del presente studio è stato quello di valutare come gruppi di studenti con caratteristiche socio-demografiche e percorsi d’istruzione differenti possano distinguersi in relazione allo stile di apprendimento, alla percezione della propria motivazione e del metodo di studio utilizz…

Quality of Parenting and contextual characteristics in a sample of South-Italian mothers

An observational study on autonomy and relatedness in italian mother-adolescent relationships

Associations between perceived parental psychological control and internalizing difficulties in emerging adulthood: the role of identity

Our study investigated the associations among two expressions of perceived parental psychological control (dependency-oriented parental control [DPC] and achievement-oriented parental control [APC]), identity, and internalizing difficulties among college-attending emerging adults. In particular, our aim was to examine the potential role of identity in the pathways linking both DPC and APC to internalizing difficulties. Our participants included 495 Italian college students (49% males), between 19 and 28 years of age (mean = 23.37 years, standard deviation = 2.35). Our findings highlighted the existence of associations between APC, identity, and internalizing difficulties. Specifically, APC…

Mothers' parenting stress and adolescents' emotional separation: The role of youngsters' self orientation

The study examined the association among mothers’ parenting stress, adolescents’ emotional separation and self-orientation toward connectedness. Participants were 194 Italian adolescents, aged from 15 to 19 years (mean age = 17.39, SD = 1.18), and their mothers, aged from 33 to 64 years (mean age = 44.35, SD = 5.40). General findings showed that adolescents’ emotional separation may not necessarily be associated with their mothers’ parenting stress, but both of these variables may be related to adolescents’ personal characteristics, which may contribute to define parent-child relationship. Particularly, adolescents’ orientation towards a connected self was associated negatively with emotion…

Autonomy and Intimacy toward parents in adolescent girl: the relation with empathic concern and psychological well-being

A longitudinal study on patterns of autonomy and relatedness in the parent adolescent-relationship

Autonomy and Relatedness in Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood: Relationships with Parental Support and Psychological Distress

Autonomy and relatedness are fundamental needs both in adolescence and in emerging adulthood which are affected by parental support and are linked to children’s psychological distress. The study investigated autonomy and relatedness in late adolescents and emerging adults living in Italy, analyzing the relationships with perceived parental support and psychological distress. Self-report data were collected from a sample of 325 Caucasian adolescents and emerging adults (males = 41 %) ranging in age from 17 to 26 years and living in Sicily (southern Italy). Results showed that: (a) both autonomy and relatedness were positively predicted by parental support to these needs, (b) perceived suppor…