In an online sample of 1054 Italian community-dwelling adults, we assessed the relationships between the frequency of implementation of practices intended to prevent COVID-19 infection, degree of ...agreement with theories about the origin of the infections, and the frequency of use of different sources of information concerning the COVID-19 pandemic. The results showed that participants’ COVID-19-related preventive behaviors and causal beliefs were significantly associated with selected demographic variables and frequency of use of specific sources of information (e.g. scientific journals vs social media).
To evaluate the factor structure and measurement invariance of the Italian translation of the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale, while providing also normative data, 797 community dwelling adults were ...administered the UPPS-P online. Omega coefficient values suggested adequate internal consistency reliability for all the UPPS-P scales. Weighted least square mean and variance adjusted (WLSMV) confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed adequate fit for the a priori five-factor model of the UPPS-P items. Measurement invariance findings supported the scalar invariance of the UPPS-P items across male and female sub-group (RMSEA = .052, CFI = .921, D-CFI = .002), thus allowing gender comparisons in terms of latent factor mean scores. Based on these findings, normative data and T scores for the UPPS-P scale score distribution among Italian community-dwelling adults were provided. Hopefully, our findings may help clinicians and researchers to use the UPPS-P in their routine assessment of impulsive behaviors.
To evaluate the internal consistency and factor structure of the Italian translation of the 12-item International Trauma Questionnaire (ITQ), 382 trauma-exposed and 366 non-trauma exposed Italian ...community-dwelling Italian adults from a total group of 748 volunteers completed the ITQ. The ITQ Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Disorder of Self-Organization scales showed adequate Cronbach’s as in both trauma-exposed and non-trauma-exposed participants. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that the a priori model of item-to-scale assignment of the ITQ items was consistently reproduced in both trauma-exposed and non-trauma-exposed participants, even when measurement invariance was formally assessed. Finally, taxometric analyses showed that the latent distribution of the six ITQ PTSD symptom items should be conceived as a latent dimension rather than a categorical latent construct. As a whole, our findings supported to the cross-cultural validity of the ITQ while extending its clinical usefulness.
The present online retrospective study aimed at evaluating the perceived sleep quality before the start of the lockdown measures and during the lockdown in a sample of Italian university students (N ...= 307). Participants were administered the Italian translation of the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 36-item version (PID-5-36) in order to assess the relationships between sleep, dysfunctional personality domains and internalizing symptomatology. Latent difference factor (LDF) model was used to estimate latent change in PSQI scores; all analyses on the relationships between the PSQI and the dysfunctional personality domain measures and internalizing symptoms were carried out using latent factor scores. Our findings showed that selected dysfunctional personality traits were significantly associated with changes in perceived quality of sleep among adult university students during the lockdown in Italy. The relationship between PID-5-36 Negative Affectivity and changes in the perceived quality of sleep was only partially mediated by the severity of self-reported depression. The assessment of perceived depressive symptom severity and Negative Affectivity may prove clinically useful for carrying out preventive interventions on sleep quality.
Background. In the field of adolescent sleep research, different sleep surveys have been implemented; however, psychometric properties of these instruments have been investigated only minimally. ...Methods. In order to assess the psychometric properties of the Sleep–Wake Problems Behaviour Scale (SWP), the Sleepiness Scale (SLS), and the Morningness/Eveningness Questionnaire (ME), a moderately large sample of community-dwelling Italian adolescents (N = 778; 59.8% female; mean age = 15.77 years) was administered the Italian translation of the School Sleep Habits Survey. Results. Internal consistency estimates values were satisfactory for all measures; dimensionality analyses suggested a unidimensional structure for SWP, SLS and ME, respectively. Goodness-of-fit statistics for the one-factor model of the SLS, SWP, and ME scale items were adequate for all measures. Non-redundant taxometric analysis results consistently suggested a dimensional latent structure for the SLS, SWP, and ME, respectively. Conclusion. Our findings supported the use of the SLS, SWP, and ME total scores as measures of sleepiness, sleep-wake problem, and morningness/eveningness, at least among Italian community-dwelling adolescents, and encourage practitioners to rely on the conventional percentiles in order to interpret the SLS, SWP, and ME total scores.
To assess the psychometric properties of the Personality Inventory for ICD-11 (PiCD, where ICD-11 is the International Classification of Diseases, 11th Revision), a sample of Italian ...community-dwelling adult participants (N = 1,122) was administered the PiCD, the Five-Factor Model Rating Form, the Big Five Inventory, the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 Short Form (where DSM-5 is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition), and the Measure of Disordered Personality Functioning. Our findings supported the unidimensionality hypothesis for the PiCD Negative Affectivity, Detachment, and Dissocial scale items, whereas adequate fit indices were observed for the bifactor model of the PiCD Disinhibition and Anankastic item joint polychoric correlation matrix. The PiCD scales showed adequate internal consistency, test-retest reliability (n = 262), and meaningful relationships with five-factor model domains and their maladaptive variants. A four-factor model of the joint correlation matrix of the PiCD, Personality Inventory for DSM-5 Short Form, and the five-factor model composite score was provided with adequate fit. All PiCD scales were significantly associated with the impairment in personality functioning.
Public Significance Statement
The purpose of the present study was to provide cross-cultural evidence for the reliability and validity of the Personality Inventory for ICD-11 (PiCD). Our findings supported internal consistency and test-retest reliabilities, convergent-discriminant validities and factor structures of the PiCD in a moderately large sample of community-dwelling Italian adults.
The present study aimed at assessing the impact of demographic characteristics, maladaptive personality traits and causal beliefs about COVID-19 on perceived emotional problems in a sample of Italian ...community-dwelling adults (N = 1043) in the first month of the social distancing period due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. Hierarchical logistic regression analysis results showed that dysfunctional personality domains and non-scientifically supported causal beliefs explained all the variance that was originally explained by demographic variables (i.e., age and gender). In particular, negative affectivity and detachment represented relevant risk factors for reduced emotional well-being in our sample. A significant positive association was observed also between emotional problems and supernatural causal beliefs on the COVID-19 infection. Our data supported the importance of considering the impact of quarantine measures on psychological well-being, while suggesting possible risk factors related to individual differences in personality and causal beliefs.
•We examined perceived emotional problems related to COVID-19 pandemic•We considered individual differences in personality and causal beliefs•Dysfunctional personality domains are related to perceived emotional problems•Non-scientifically supported causal beliefs are related to emotional problems•The impact of quarantine on psychological well-being should be investigated
Background: Although necessary for public health, quarantine has been documented to cause post-traumatic stress symptoms, anxiety, and depression. We designed the present longitudinal study to ...evaluate the psychological impact of quarantine in Italian community-dwelling adult participants.
Methods: A sample of 304 Italian community-dwelling adult participants (75.7% female; mean age = 35.28 years) was administered self-reported measures of depression, anxiety and acute stress symptoms at the beginning and at the end of the lockdown. Potential predictors of clinically relevant symptoms at the end of the lockdown were assessed. Specifically, data on gender, civil status, education level, occupation, and area of residence, as well as maladaptive personality domains were collected.
Results: More than 43% of participants suffered from the early impact of the lockdown; at the end of the lockdown roughly 32% of participants still reported any clinically relevant depression anxiety, and/or acute stress disorder condition. Clinically relevant acute stress reaction at the beginning of lockdown was a particularly important risk factor for experiencing clinically relevant acute stress, depression, and anxiety at the end of the lockdown. Maladaptive personality domains represent non-trivial predictors of participants’ self-reports of clinically relevant depression, anxiety, and acute stress conditions at the end of the lockdown.
Limitations: Excess of female participants and the impossibility of evaluating if participants suffered from any internalizing disorder before the COVID-19 quarantine represent major limitations of our study.
Conclusions: Our findings suggest assessment of internalizing disorder symptoms during quarantine may be helpful in identifying people who may benefit from early treatment interventions.
To evaluate how selected cognitive styles (i.e., ideas of reference and fantasy proneness), dispositional aggression and social deviance, and personality traits could help understanding similarities ...and differences among vulnerable narcissism (VN), grandiose narcissism (GN), Machiavellianism, and psychopathy in women, 986 Italian community-dwelling participants were administered the Italian translations of the Revised Green et al., Paranoid Thoughts Scale Part A (R-GPTS-A), Creative Experience Questionnaire (CEQ), Aggression Questionnaire (AQ), Self-Report Delinquency Scale (SRDS), and Big Five Inventory (BFI). Participants received also the Five Factor Narcissism Inventory-Short Form (FFNI-SF), MACH-IV, and Expanded-Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (E-LSRP) to assess VN and GN, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy, respectively. Multiple regression analyses showed that R-GPTS-A, CEQ, AQ, SRDS, and BFI trait scale scores explained a substantial amount of variance in the FFNI-SF VN (R2 = 0.62) and GN (R2 = 0.49) scale scores, MACH-IV scores (R2 = 0.29), and E-LSRP scores (R2 = 0.51). Dispositional aggression (i.e., AQ total score) represented a feature common to VN, GN, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy, whereas ideas of reference, fantasy proneness, social deviance, and personality traits yielded differential relationships with the dependent variables.
Cyberbullying is a highly relevant phenomenon in adolescence. Making available sound cyberbullying scales in different countries represents an important research issue. The present study aimed at ...extending previous findings on the Cyberbullying Experience Scale (CES), assessing its psychometric properties in a sample of community-dwelling Italian adolescents (N = 2,112). Results showed that a bifactor model was the best fitting model for both CES Perpetration and Victimisation scale items being provided also with measurement invariance across male and female adolescents. Joint CFA results demonstrated the dissociability of the CES Perpetration and Victimisation scales. Both CES dimensions were provided with adequate internal consistency reliability. Both CES Perpetration and Victimisation scales yielded meaningful relationships with theoretically relevant external variables (e.g. school/behaviour grades, online activities, general aggression measures, and dysfunctional personality dimensions), suggesting also possible gender differences concerning the negative psychological and behavioural outcomes of cyberbullying. This study provides further support for the reliability and validity of CES Perpetration and Victimisation scales, extending its applicability to a different time period (i.e. adolescents) and a different cultural context (i.e. Italy).
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