This study sought to understand the prevalence of childhood abuse in Italy using an instrument developed by the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN) and ...adapted to the Italian context. The study participants were 312 young adults, 106 males (34%), and 206 females (64%), aged 18–24 years, from various northwest Italian universities and workplaces, using an ISPCAN Child Abuse Screening Tool retrospective questionnaire (ICAST-R). With reference to comparative data from other countries, the Italian context reveals a high incidence of emotional abuse (62%) followed by physical abuse (44%) and sexual abuse (18%). While males reported more physical abuse, females reported more exposure to sexual and emotional abuse. Moreover, the validity of the ICAST instrument was evaluated. The internal consistency for the three subscales was similar to the findings of previous studies, with Cronbach’s alphas ranging from 0.51 for emotional abuse to 0.59 for sexual abuse. We observe that children undergo forms of emotional and physical maltreatment for disciplinary purposes, and for this reason, such abuse is excused. Greater prevention measures should be adopted in this direction. Finally, our study has contributed to the validation of the ICAST-R instrument for use in the Italian context.
Background: Early childhood educators are attachment figures for babies and play an important role in emotion socialization. This study aims to analyze the role of educators as emotional socializers ...and its relationship with infants’ social competence and attachment security, considering various characteristics of educators (age, years of experience, level of knowledge of development and parenting) and the context (day-care center–family communication). Methods: 563 infants attending day-care centers (age: M = 25.98 months SD = 5.41) and their 223 early childhood educators (age: M = 42.61 SD = 11.02) took part in this study. The educators completed: CEESQ—Crèche Educator Emotional Style Questionnaire, Information Sources Questionnaire, two sub-scales of KIDI—Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory, QRS-F—Questionnaire on the Relationship between Services and Families, QPI—Questionnaire on Peer Interactions, and AQS—Attachment-Q-Sort. Results: Results showed that the educator’s coaching style has a relationship with attachment security and social skills and is positively correlated with the educators’ emotional self-efficacy and with the level of communication between day-care centers and families, while the correlation with knowledge of parenting is weak. Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of enhancing not only educators’ knowledge about educative strategies, but above all their emotional competence to promote children adaptation to day-care centers.
According to the perspective of multiple attachments, children establish significant relationships with individuals outside their family, such as teachers and peers. The aim of this research was to ...observe which dimensions of attachment behaviors that preschoolers show toward their teachers are associated with greater social preference and social impact regarding peers. Research Findings: This study involved 261 children in preschool (49.0% female; age: M = 49.6 months; SD = 9.7) and their teachers. Independent observers assessed the children using the Italian version of the Attachment Q-Sort (AQS). Furthermore, peer social preference and social impact were measured using the peer nomination technique. The results indicate an association between children's organization of attachment behaviors with teachers and social preference. In general, our data support the idea that children's attachment behavior toward their teacher is associated with both social preference and social influence. Specifically, the types of attachment behavior that are more strongly associated with social preference and social affect are those related to avoidance, positive negotiation, and difficult negotiation with the teacher. Practice and Policy: This paper also discusses the results from a theoretical point of view along with the research limitations, directions for future investigations, and possible interventions.
This paper aimed to explore the associations between maternal representations of attachment evaluated during pregnancy, pre and postnatal maternal depression, parenting stress and child's attachment ...at 15 months after childbirth.
Mothers (
= 71), and their infants participated in a longitudinal study of maternal attachment, pre and postnatal depression, parenting stress and child attachment. Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) was conducted between 24 and 26 weeks of pregnancy (Time 1), depression was assessed using the Edinburgh Perinatal Depression Scale (EPDS) (at Time 1 and 6 months after childbirth, i.e., Time 2), parenting stress was assessed using the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PS-SF) (at Time 2) and the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) at child's 15 months of age (Time 3).
Free-autonomous maternal classification of attachment increases the likelihood of secure child classification in her offspring, while decreases that of avoidance and ambivalence. Insecure maternal representation of attachment evaluated during pregnancy and higher levels of parenting stress at six months after childbirth was associated with higher rates of infant insecure attachment at 15 months.
Our study validates the importance of considering maternal representations of attachment crucial in determining the quality of the caregiving environment, thereby the healthy development of children, despite the presence of other contextual risk.
School transitions require students to adapt to new challenges and situations and can increase the risk of externalizing and internalizing psychological symptoms. The teacher-student relationship ...seems to be a protective factor for the risk of developing psychological symptoms during school transitions. The aim of the present study is to investigate whether the quality of the teacher-student relationship predicts the decrease of internalizing and externalizing symptoms during three school transitions, namely: from kindergarten to primary school (T1), from primary to middle school (T2), and from middle to high school (T3). We recruited 127 kindergarten students (mean age = 5.40, SD = 0.49), 113 fifth grade primary school students (mean age = 10.64, SD = 0.54), and 240 eighth grade students (mean age = 13.88, SD = 0.37) and their teachers (response rate = 95%). Data were collected from 2016 to 2018. Teachers filled out an anonymous survey, acting as informants for the students, reporting demographic details (age, gender), psychological symptoms, and quality of the teacher-student relationship. The data show that a positive teacher-student relationship quality tends to be associated with a reduction of psychological symptoms. A stable, low-conflict teacher-student relationship was confirmed as a protective factor from increased internalizing and externalizing symptoms during all normative school transitions. Furthermore, we see that an increase in teacher-student conflict during the transitions from primary to middle school, and from middle to high school is linked to an exacerbation in students' externalizing symptoms during the first year of attendance of the new school. Our study confirms the importance of the teacher-student relationship in reducing psychological symptoms associated with school transitions, in every type of transition, favoring an improved psychological adjustment to the new environment. A positive teacher-student relationship represents a protective factor for the development of students. Study limitations are discussed.
Attendance at preschool represents an important transition, as it is often here that children have their first experience with unfamiliar adults. In this context, several factors can affect ...children's adjustment. Two important protective factors are the attachment relationship with the teacher and the level of executive functions. We investigate this interaction in order to reduce the occurrence of internalizing and externalizing symptoms. The results show that both the quality of the attachment relationship with the teacher and executive functions are related to a lower occurrence of internalizing and externalizing behaviours, and that executive functions play a mediating role between the attachment to the teacher and children's behaviours. Therefore, from the perspective of promoting children's adjustment to preschool and, more generally, children's well-being, it is critical at this age to promote the development of executive functions within a secure attachment relationship with the preschool teacher.
Most studies investigating the role of parenting behaviors on a child's development are directed to mothers. However, recent analyses show that mothers and fathers have a different influence on a ...child's functioning, specifically her/his temperament. The present study explored the developmental change of parents' perception of their daughters' and sons' temperament and its association with parental mental health problems.
The sample included 188 parents (94 couples) and their at-term 94 babies (55.3% boys, 44.7% girls). Assessments by self-reports were conducted at 3 (Time 1) and 12 (Time 2) months after the children's birth; at Time 1, mothers and fathers independently answered: the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), and the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ-R). At Time 2, EPDS, STAI, and IBQ-R were again administered to mothers and fathers.
In general, mothers and fathers would give similar descriptions of their child's temperament throughout the first year of life; however, infant temperament showed developmental changes as well as gender differences. Mother and father anxiety and depression symptoms are associated with the infants' negative affectivity. Also, mothers with high anxiety and depression levels perceive their infants with a minor tendency to approach novelty, to seek environmental stimulation, and to express/experience positive emotions.
The results highlight the need to screen for infants' temperament vulnerabilities in the context of maternal and paternal depression in order to protect the child from behavioral, cognitive, and emotional difficulties and to create specific programs aimed at preventing dysfunctional parent-infant relationships.
Selective mutism (SM) is a rare anxiety disorder that compromises children's daily life during critical periods of early development. Because school is a prime context for the manifestation of the ...disorder, the aim of this study was to investigate the quality of the student–teacher relationship and its effects on behavior and work, and on social and relational skills. The sample consisted of 75 children—15 were affected by SM, with 60 in the control group—and 15 teachers. The results showed greater difficulty on the teacher's part to establish a relationship based on affective closeness with a child affected by SM, compared to that with unaffected children. Nevertheless, an encouraging picture emerges of the inclusion and integration of the child with SM among peers and therefore in the class group.
In adolescence, bullying victimization is typically represented in terms of a three-fold factor structure reflecting three components of verbal, physical, and social victimization. Recent studies ...have suggested the usefulness of alternativte models including both general and component-specific factors. In this study, we assessed the empirical and theoretical validity of an instrument assessing verbal, physical and social victimization using a set of alternative models of victimization: a unidimensional model, a three-factor model, and a bifactor model. Association between emerging factors and student variables were explored to establish theoretical fit of the models. Sample consisted of upper primary and lower secondary school students
= 1311; 53% Male; Mean age (
) = 10.73 (1.45) and their teachers. The three factor and bifactor models showed good fit. In spite of acceptable fit, the unidimensional model showed lower empirical support when compared with the other models. The dimensions of the three-factor model showed similar associations with most student variables, while the bifactor showed more heterogeneous, and theoretically coherent associations. General victimization decreased with age and was positively related with externalizing and internalizing symptoms, student-teacher conflict and negative expectations. Verbal victimization showed increased prevalence among girls and older students. Physical victimization showed increased prevalence among boys and younger students, and positive associations with externalizing symptoms and student-teacher conflict. Social victimization was more frequent among girls, and positively related with internalizing symptoms and negative expectations toward teachers. These findings highlight the usefulness of modeling victimization using both general and form-specific dimensions for both assessment and theory-building purposes.
The literature contains a great deal of research on Specific Learning Disorders (SpLDs). However, almost all of the studies related to SpLDs deal with the difficulties that said disorders cause ...during childhood or adolescence. An interest in adults with SpLDs is only recent, especially in university students like those in this study. In Italy, research on SpLDs in higher education is rather limited. This study aims to rectify this lack of data by making a brief analysis of the data on SpLDs prevalence in higher education and of the courses chosen by university students with SpLDs. Our sample consisted of 585 students with SpLDs enrolled at 19 public universities that communicated the number of students who contacted their offices of service for students with SpLDs. The prevalence of students with SpLDs in the higher education populations we sample had a mean of 0.13% (SD = 0.11) and ranged from 0.03% to 0.48%. The data showed that the higher education faculties with the highest number of reported SpLDs students in our sample were Statistics, Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Education, and Architecture. It is important to analyse the trend in university enrolment of student with SpLDs to protect the right to education for people with SpLDs.
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