On March 10, 2020, Italy went into lockdown due to the Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic. The World Health Organization highlighted how the lockdown had negative consequences on ...psychological well-being, especially for children. The present study aimed to investigate parental correlates of children's emotion regulation during the COVID-19 lockdown. Within the Social Cognitive Theory framework, a path model in which parenting self-efficacy and parental regulatory emotional self-efficacy mediated the relationship between parents' psychological distress and both children's emotional regulation, and children's lability/negativity, was investigated. A total of 277 parents of children aged from 6 to 13 years completed an online survey that assessed their psychological distress, regulatory emotional self-efficacy, and parenting self-efficacy. Parents reported also children's emotional regulation and lability/negativity. A structural equation model (SEM) using MPLUS 8.3 was tested. Results showed that the hypothesized model exhibited excellent fit, chi-square (83) = 140.40,
< 0.01, RMSEA = 0.05, CFI = 0.97, TLI = 0.96, SRMR = 0.04. The influences of parents' psychological distress and parents' regulatory emotional self-efficacy on children's emotional regulation and lability/negativity were mediated by parenting self-efficacy. The mediation model was invariant across children's biological sex and age, and geographical residence area (high risk vs. low risk for COVID-19). Results suggested how parents' beliefs to be competent in managing parental tasks might be a protective factor for their children's emotional well-being. Implications for intervention programs are discussed.
The experience of "coming out" (CO) to parents is often a crucial event in the lives of lesbian and bisexual (LB) women, associated with lower internalized sexual stigma (ISS) and higher positive LB ...identity. Few studies have compared the experiences of LB women in the CO process. Rather, most prior research has either: (1) not addressed bisexuality or eliminated bisexual individuals from the analysis; (2) combined bisexual women and bisexual men in the same sexual orientation group; or (3) examined bisexual participants alongside lesbian women and gay men, using a single monolithic measure. Thus, the present research aimed at investigating the role of ISS and positive LB identity in inhibiting or encouraging CO to parents in a sample of 241 lesbian women (
= 27.61,
= 7.19) and 186 bisexual women (
= 25.23,
= 5.81), aged 18-40 years. Most participants reported that they had already revealed their sexual orientation to their mother (69%) and their father (52%). More lesbian women had CO to both their mother and their father than had bisexual women. These lesbian women reported lower levels of ISS and higher levels of LB positive identity relative to bisexual women. On average, CO to mothers occurred at age 20 (
= 5.54), while CO to fathers occurred at age 22 (
= 5.63). LB women did not differ in the average age of CO to mothers or fathers, or in parental reactions to CO. Finally, ISS was found to affect the process of CO to both parents via positive identity (bootstrapping estimate = -0.26, SE = 0.08, 95% CI = -0.43, 0.11), whereas sexual orientation was not found to moderate the path from ISS to CO to both parents. The present study contributes to our understanding of the differences between LB women when developing their sexual orientation, highlighting the relevance of a positive LB identity for CO to parents. Research and clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.
The purpose of this study was to analyze differences between preadolescents and adolescents on the use of technology and to test the contribution of using Internet and mobile phone, and circadian ...preference on sleep quality.
We recruited a sample of 850 (364 males) preadolescents and adolescents. Self-report questionnaires about sleep schedule, sleep wake behavior problems, circadian preferences, and the use of technology (e.g., Internet and mobile phone) were administered. Students were asked to fill out the School Sleep Habits Survey, a self-report questionnaire on the use of technology, the Mobile Phone Involvement Questionnaire (MPIQ), and the Shorter Promis Questionnaire (SPQ).
Adolescents reported more sleep problems, a tendency toward eveningness, and an increase of Internet and phone activities, as well as social network activities, while preadolescents were more involved in gaming console and television viewing. The regression analysis performed separately in the two age groups showed that sleep quality was affected by the circadian preference (eveningness) in both groups. Adolescents' bad sleep quality was consistently associated with the mobile phone use and number of devices in the bedroom, while in preadolescents, with Internet use and turning-off time.
The evening circadian preference, mobile phone and Internet use, numbers of other activities after 21:00, late turning off time, and number of devices in the bedroom have different negative influence on sleep quality in preadolescents and adolescents.
A central tenet of Bowlby's attachment theory is that early child-caregiver attachment is reflected in the quality of the child's interpersonal relationships throughout life. Schneider, Atkinson, and ...Tardif (2001) conducted a meta-analysis of studies conducted up to 1998 to corroborate that contention. They found a significant but small to moderate effect size (r = .20). Their finding that studies of friendship bonds had higher effect sizes than studies of other interpersonal relationships has important theoretical ramifications. The present brief report is a meta-analysis that covers research conducted for the same purpose since 1998. The sample consists of 44 studies with a total of 8505 participants. The overall effect size r of .19 (adjusted r = .12; 95% confidence interval, .08-.17) in the current study was similar in magnitude to the effect size reported in the 2001 meta-analysis, documenting consistency in the predictive power of attachment theory. However, we failed to replicate the moderating effect of friendship. One possible explanation for these findings is that the friendships of school-age children and adolescents no longer invoke very high levels of intimacy. Effect sizes are higher in studies conducted outside North America than in U.S.- and Canada-based studies.
The coming out (CO) process is fundamental for identity integration among LGBQ+ people, and its impact can vary greatly depending on personal and contextual factors. The historical, cultural, and ...social contexts in which LGBQ+ people develop their sexual identity can mediate the relationship between CO and health outcomes. The present study aimed at clarifying the CO process in three generations of Italian LGBQ+ people (young adults: aged 20-40 years; middle adults: aged 41-60 years; older adults: aged 61-80 years) by providing data on: (a) sexual orientation milestones, such as age of first awareness, age of first self-label, and age of first CO, as well as the rate of disclosure during different life stages; (b) the rate and average age of CO to significant others; and (c) CO within the religious context and its effect on participants' minority stress experiences. A total of 266 Italian LGBQ+ people participated in the study, with ages ranging from 20 to 80 years (
= 41.15,
= 16.13). Findings indicated that, on average, the older adult group became self-aware, self-labeled, and disclosed their sexual identity at a significantly older age than the other groups. Older adults were also more Catholic and had CO more frequently to their Catholic community, relative to young and middle adults. CO within the Catholic context was associated with distal and proximal minority stressors, such as discrimination, vigilance, and internalized sexual stigma. Catholic community reactions to participants' CO were distinguished through thematic analysis in three main types: unconditional acceptance, invitation to change, and open rejection. The present research extended current knowledge on CO and minority stress experiences in different generations of LGBQ+ people. Several differences emerged between generational groups on sexual orientation milestones, highlighting the potential impact of historical and cultural contexts in determining sexual minorities' experiences related to sexual identity. It is recommended that mental health professionals working with LGBQ+ clients implement targeted interventions based on their clients' multiple salient aspects, including age and religious background. Clinicians should also be aware of the potentially detrimental effects of CO within an unsupportive context, rather than encouraging CO
.
Research on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on same-sex relationships is limited. The present study aimed at analyzing the association between the psychophysical impact of the COVID-19 pandemic ...and same-sex couples' conflict, also considering the potential mediating effect of internalized sexual stigma (ISS). For this purpose, psychophysical challenges and couples' conflict during the COVID-19 pandemic, ISS, age, biological sex, sexual orientation, relationship duration, religiosity, involvement in lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) associations, sexual satisfaction, and interpersonal partner violence were assessed in an Italian sample of 232 LGB people engaged in a same-sex relationship (aged 18-45 years;
= 28.68,
= 6.91). The results indicated that the psychophysical impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was significantly associated with couples' conflict, and ISS mediated this relationship. Among the covariates considered, only sexual satisfaction was associated with couples' conflict. The findings suggest that ISS, over and above the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychophysical health, triggered conflict within same-sex relationships. Studying the role of ISS in various relational and social contexts is important, as ISS may have an adverse effect on the mental health of sexual minority people. We recommend that more efforts be made to improve research on the LGB population during the public health response to the COVID-19 emergency, because the paucity of studies underlines the invisibility of this population in many domains, including the domain of romantic relationships. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.
This is the first study in Italy to evaluate parenting desires and intentions, the value of parenthood and individual perception of competence as a parent in an Italian sample of lesbian women (N = ...201), gay men (N = 199) and heterosexual participants (female = 314 and male = 216) 18-35 years of age. Childless lesbian and gay individuals were less likely than their heterosexual peers to report parenting desires and intentions. Data suggested that lesbians and gay male participants reported a lower level of enrichment and less confidence in receiving social support as parents than their heterosexual counterparts. Regression analysis indicated that sexual orientation is the best predictor of desires and intentions for women and men participants. Our findings suggest that, while some Italian lesbian and gay people want to become parents, their intentions probably founder due to the difficulty to access to adoption, donor insemination or surrogate maternity.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Starting from May 2022, a growing number of monkeypox cases have been identified in several countries in Europe and the United States. To date, information on social reaction to the news circulating ...about monkeypox is limited. Assessing psychological and social elements related to the tendency to misinterpret monkeypox information is urgent and useful in setting up tailored education and prevention programs for specific populations. The present study aims to explore the association of selected psychological and social variables to monkeypox attitudes as fake news.
Three hundred and thirty-three participants (212 women, 110 men, and 11 other genders) from the general Italian population completed nine self-report measures.
Results showed that people that were more likely to believe that monkeypox was a hoax were: older, heterosexual, politically conservative, and more religious. Moreoverm they were more likely to show more negative attitudes toward gay men, higher levels of sexual moralism, less knowledge and fear about monkeypox, no previous infections of COVID-19, lower number of COVID-19 vaccine doses, and being closer to no-vax theories. On the psychological side, participants that were more likely to believe that the monkeypox was a hoax were associated with lower levels of epistemic trust and order traits, with higher levels of epistemic mistrust, close-mindedness, and ability to process emotions. A full mediation model which explores the relationships between the main variables related to fake news attitudes toward monkeypox was tested, reporting good fit indices.
Results from the current study could be helpful to improve the effectiveness of health communication, design targeted education, and support people to engage in healthier behaviors.
Background
The purpose of this study was to explore fathers' adjustment and father–child relationships during the first peak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) outbreak (April 2020). More ...particularly, the study analysed paternal perceptions of changes concerning familial economic conditions and children's psychological difficulties (viz., emotional problems and hyperactivity) during the lockdown produced by the current pandemic. Furthermore, we investigated the following correlates of fathers' parenting stress: socio‐demographic condition, paternal individual stress, anxiety, depression and changes in the father–child relationship during the outbreak.
Methods
A total of 102 fathers (mean age = 41.60 years; SD = 11.54) with minor children were recruited through an online survey and reported data about their socio‐economic condition, anxiety, and depressive levels, parenting stress, offspring's adjustment, and changes in their relationship with their children.
Results
As for the economic conditions, participants were equally distributed between those who did not perceive changes and those who perceived a worsening. With regard to changes in the child's psychological difficulties, results showed that levels of children's emotional problems and inattention/hyperactivity had significantly increased during the lockdown period. A multiple linear regression analysis highlighted that the principal predictor of paternal parenting stress was living in the regions most affected by the COVID‐19 pandemic, followed by high levels of paternal anxiety symptomatology and high levels of worsening of the relationship with the child during the pandemic.
Conclusions
Overall, our study suggests to consider the effects of COVID‐19 on fathers as well, as they have been rather overlooked by previous research that has mainly focused on mothers, and to plan specific interventions able to also take them into account.
Limited research focused on the association between parenting practices and children's prosocial and externalizing behaviors comparing same- and different-gender parent families. The present study ...considered 76 Italian families (73% same-gender and 27% different-gender parent families) with 8-year-old (SD = 2.17; 49% assigned female at birth) children born through assisted reproductive techniques, to explore parenting practices and children's prosocial and externalizing behaviors.
We ran a Multiple-group-by-couple Structural Equation Model in which we estimated the predictive role of parenting on children's behaviors, controlling for age, gender, and family socioeconomic status using the Maximum Likelihood estimation.
Results showed that both same- and different-gender parent families reported high levels of parental warmth and very low levels of hostility and rejection; regarding children's behaviors, both same- and different-gender parent families reported high levels of prosociality and low levels of externalizing behaviors. In addition, same-gender parents reported significantly higher levels of children's prosociality and parental warmth than different-gender parents. Regarding associations between parenting practices and behaviors, we found a positive association between positive parenting practices and increasing children's prosocial behaviors and decreasing children's externalizing behaviors, in both same- and different-gender families, controlling for family background characteristics.
The present study encourages future research to investigate how specific parenting practices can influence behavioral adjustment in children, focusing on same-gender parent families.
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