1,721,010 research outputs found
Sociocognitive understanding and depressive symptoms in preadolescence: the role of feelings of loneliness
No full textAn interesting association between sociocognitive understanding and depression has been documented in clinical populations, with high levels of depression apparently related to sociocognitive deficits. Yet no research has so far investigated the relationship between these two core constructs among typically developing populations. The aim of the present research was to explore if and how sociocognitive understanding and depressive symptoms are related during preadolescence. A sample of 326 students, aged 8 to 15 years, was administered a sociocognitive understanding task and a verbal ability task, followed by self-report questionnaires on depressive symptoms, perception of loneliness/social dissatisfaction and socioeconomic status. Results showed that sociocognitive understanding and depressive symptoms were significantly related both in boys and in girls, rs > .15, ps < .05, even after controlling for verbal ability and socioeconomic status. Moreover, t-tests showed significant gender differences, with boys reporting lower scores compared to girls, in depressive symptoms, t = -2.32, p = .021, and feelings of loneliness, t = -2.85, p = .005. In order to test if feelings of loneliness mediated the association between sociocognitive understanding and depressive symptoms, analyses were conducted using Hayes’ (2013) PROCESS computational tool. Only among girls, loneliness mediated both the effect of sociocognitive understanding on depressive symptoms (point estimate for the indirect effect = -0.3259; 95% CI = -0.6176 to -0.0480), and the effect of depressive symptoms on sociocognitive understanding (point estimate = -0.0342; 95% CI = -0.0621 to -0.0098). Theoretical and practical implications of the present findings are discussed
Genetic and environmental contributions to social anxiety across different ages: a meta-analytic approach to twin data.
No full textThe interaction between psychopathological symptoms and conflictual parent-child relationship in predicting social skills and coping strategies
Full text linkThe quality of early parent-child relationship affects children’s later emotional development, social competence and school performance (Caputi, Lecce, & Pagnin, 2017). Moreover, the perception of a warm relationship with parents supports the use of adaptive social skills and approach-oriented coping strategies (Chan, 2011). Children characterized by psychopathological symptoms are likely to experience difficulties in social adjustment over time (Burt, Obradović, Long, & Masten, 2008) and typically present a dysfunctional coping style (Seiffge-Krenke, Weidemann, Fentner, Aegenheister, & Poeblau, 2001). In turn, children adopting maladaptive coping strategies usually have rejecting, ignoring, inconsistent, or punishing parents (Chan, 2011).peer-reviewe
Do Feelings of Loneliness Mediate the Relationship between Sociocognitive Understanding and Depressive Symptoms During Late Childhood and Early Adolescence?
No full textAn interesting association between sociocognitive understanding and depression has been documented in clinical populations, with high levels of depression apparently related to theory-of-mind deficits. Yet no research has so far investigated this relationship among typically developing preadolescents. Therefore, the authors' main aim was to extend previous findings to the general population and to a younger age group. A secondary aim was to explore the role of feelings of loneliness referring to the previous link. A sociocognitive understanding task followed by self-report questionnaires on depressive symptoms and perceived loneliness were administered to a sample of 326 students attending primary and middle schools. Mediation analyses revealed that feelings of loneliness mediated the effect of sociocognitive understanding on depressive symptoms, but only among girls. In boys, depressive symptoms were directly linked to sociocognitive skills. In girls, on the contrary, the relationship between sociocognitive skills and depressive symptoms was significantly mediated by feelings of loneliness. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed
Temperament profiles to distinguish resilient from stress affected children during Covid-19 pandemic.
No full textThe Covid-19 pandemic is a public health emergency worldwide that has posed unprecedented challenges to individual resilience, especially among children who are the most affected by its psychological consequences. We aim to investigate temperament profiles that might constitute a potential risk factor for the development of psychopathology and low levels of resilience in children experiencing Covid-19 quarantine.
The sample included 158 Italian children aged 5 to 10 years (48% boys, M = 7.4, SD = 1.8) recruited through a snowball sampling from the general population. Temperament, psychopathological symptoms, and resilience were assessed with the Junior Temperament and Character Inventory, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, and the Child and Youth Resilience Measure. Profile Analysis was employed to outline temperament differences between resilient and stress-affected children.
Results evidenced that high-resilient children displayed high persistence, reward dependence, and low novelty seeking. Conversely, behavioral difficulties were associated with low persistence, reward dependence, and high novelty seeking whereas internalizing symptoms were more likely among children with high harm avoidance and low persistence.
These findings identify clusters of individuals with distinguishing temperament profiles strongly related to both negative and positive outcomes in facing stressful situations paving the way for planning early preventive interventions for vulnerable targets
Uno studio esplorativo sulla metacognizione, il worry e i sintomi ansiosi nei bambini
No full textLa metacognizione fa riferimento alla "conoscenza o alle credenze stabili del proprio sistema cognitivo e alla conoscenza dei fattori che influenzano il funzionamento del sistema; la regolazione e la consapevolezza dello stato attuale della cognizione e la valutazione del significato del pensiero e dei ricordi"(Wells, 1995). Wells e Matthews (1994, 1996) hanno sviluppato il Modellodell’Autoregolazione delle Funzioni Esecutive, secondo cui le credenze metacognitive giocano un ruolo nella persistenza di forme disadattive di coping (ad esempio l’accresciuta attenzione auto-focalizzata; la gestione/monitoraggio della ruminazione, del worry e della minaccia; la Sindrome Cognitivo Attentiva – CAS) le quali, a loro volta, contribuiscono allo sviluppo e al mantenimento di disturbi psicologici. Precedenti studi hanno dimostrato che anche i bambini di età inferiore ai 7 anni riportano credenze sia positive che negative sul worry e come queste credenze siano positivamente associate a sintomi emotivi. Inoltre, le ricerche emergenti sembrano supportare l’idea di poter estendere il modello metacognitivo dell'ansia anche alla popolazione di bambini e adolescenti. Allo stato attuale dell’arte, nessuno studio, di nostra conoscenza, ha valutato la presenza di worry e le credenze positive e negative sul worry in bambini affetti da differenti forme di ansia. Risulta, inoltre, poco chiaro, in letteratura, il ruolo dei sintomi depressivi nel moderare la relazione tra worry/metacognizione e ansia. Lo scopo principale del nostro studio è di valutare i processi metacognitivi (rimuginio e ruminazione) e le credenze metacognitive in bambini che presentano diverse tipologie di sintomi di ansia (ansia somatica, ansia da separazione, ansia sociale, ansia generalizzata) e depressivi. I risultati della presente ricerca favoriranno il progresso scientifico nelcampo della psicopatologia dello sviluppo contribuendo alla comprensione dei meccanismi alla base dell'evoluzione della sintomatologia ansiosa. Gli studi sul worry e sulla metacognizione nei bambini affetti da sintomi ansiosi e depressivi possono, infatti, aiutare a determinare l’applicabilità del modello metacognitivo a questa fascia di età. Lo studio preliminare ha visto il coinvolgimento di 100 bambini dai 9 ai 13 anni appartenenti alla popolazione generale italiana, e dei loro genitori. L’associazione tra le variabili di interesse è stata valutata attraverso la somministrazione dei seguenti questionari autosomministrati: Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED), Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI-2), Penn State Worry Questionnaire for Children (PSWQ), Metacognitions Questionnaire for Children (MCQ-C). Per analizzare i dati saranno utilizzati metodi statistici quantitativi. Durante la presentazione verranno illustrati i dati preliminari dello studio
ll nostro curioso senso della velocità dei video: traiettorie evolutive e la potenziale influenza dell'impulsività.
No full textRicerche precedenti hanno dimostrato la presenza di errori sistematici nel giudizio della velocità “naturale” di videoclip di scene di vita reale negli adulti. Lo studio ha indagato questi bias nell’infanzia. Un gruppo di 142 bambini tra i 6 e gli 11 anni ha regolato la velocità di 5 videoclip fino a raggiungere quella reputata “naturale”. È stato calcolato il Punto di Eguaglianza Soggettiva (PES) e i risultati hanno mostrato una sottostima della velocità, che è risultata più grande nei bambini più piccoli, per assestarsi verso i 10 anni sui livelli medi trovati per gli adulti. Ai bambini sono stati somministrati anche due compiti per valutare la rapidità decisionale e l’impulsività (Pro/Anti Task e Test delle Ranette), e sono stati valutati, attraverso i loro genitori, i livelli di impulsività e iperattività (CPRSR:S), il temperamento (JTCI) e le abitudini visuo-motorie. È emersa una correlazione del PES con i
tempi di risposta del Pro/Anti Task, ma non con altri indici
The Relationship Among Attributional Style, Mentalization, and Five Anxiety Phenotypes in School-Age Children
Full text linkLiterature has shown the importance of social cognition for emotional wellness. However, to our knowledge, few studies so far investigated the relationship between social cognition and anxiety in childhood. No study systematically examined social cognition in relation to specific domains of anxiety. By a correlational design and multivariate models, we explored in a sample of 337 children the association between five anxiety phenotypes and two social cognition domains (Mentalization/Attributional style). After controlling for depressive symptoms, we found that a good performance in the mentalization task was predicted by high levels of generalized anxiety and low levels of separation anxiety. Moreover, positive attributions for good events were predicted by low levels of social anxiety. The present findings remark the importance of rehabilitating social cognition skills in children with social/separation anxiety and depressive symptoms
The mediation of care and overprotection between parent-adolescent conflicts and adolescents’ psychological difficulties during the pandemic: which role for fathers?
Full text linkBackground: There is evidence of a significant raise in youths’ emotional and behavioral difficulties during the pandemic. Only a few studies have addressed parent-adolescent conflict, and none investigated the possible mediating effect of parenting in the association between conflicts with parents and adolescents’ symptoms. This study aimed at investigating youths’ psychological symptoms during the pandemic, focusing on the predicting effect of parent-adolescent conflict. The mediating role of care and overprotection was also explored, considering whether adolescent gender moderated this mediation. Methods: 195 adolescents aged 14–18 years participated in an online longitudinal study. Perceived conflict with parents and parenting dimensions (Parental Bonding Instrument; PBI) were assessed at baseline (2021). Self-reported psychological difficulties (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire; SDQ) were collected at baseline and after one year (2022). Results: A significantly severer symptomatology was found in adolescents having a conflictual relationship with one or both parents. Major conflicts with parents correlated with lower care and greater overprotection in mothers and fathers. However, parental overprotection and maternal care were not mediators of the relationship between conflict and youths' difficulties. The only exception was represented by paternal care that fully mediated this relationship in both adolescent males and females. Conclusions: Although further investigations are needed to overcome limitations due to the small sample, findings extend our insight into the impact of parent-adolescent conflict, highlighting the role of fathers’ care and the need to maximize their involvement in clinical interventions
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