1,721,005 research outputs found
Depression and quality of life in adults perceiving exposure to parental alienation behaviors
Get PDFBackground: The current study is aimed at examining the relationship between exposure to parental alienation (PA) behaviors, depression, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in Italian adults. Methods: Four hundred ninety-one adults were tested. Participants filled out the following self-rating scales: The Baker Strategy Questionnaire (BSQ), the Beck Depression Inventory - II (BDI-II) and its brief version (6-item version of the BDI-II), the Short-Form 36 (SF-36) Health Survey for measuring HRQoL and its brief version including 3 items (WHO-3) of the 5-item World Health Organization Well-Being Index. Results: Findings revealed statistically significant differences between participants who reported PA and those who did not. Participants who reported exposure to PA behaviors had higher scores on the original BDI-II and its 6-item version (p < 0.05, p < 0.01, respectively); they had also lower levels of HRQoL as resulting from 6 of the 8 SF-36 domains (at least p < 0.05), including lower scores on the WHO-3 (p < 0.01). Perceiving an exposure to PA behaviors significantly increased the likelihood of being above the clinical cut-off on the BDI-II (p < 0.01), the 6-item version of the BDI-II (p < 0.05), and the WHO-3 (p < 0.05). Moreover, perceiving an exposure to PA increased the odds of diminished HRQoL (OR = 2.43 and OR = 1.92 for general health and social functioning domains, respectively). Conclusions: Childhood exposure to PA was related to higher likelihood of depressive symptoms and diminished HRQoL in adulthood. Our findings suggest the need for preventive and clinical interventions to protect vulnerable children involved in PA from negative outcomes
Neurobiological correlates of interpersonal relationships and disease risk factors
No full textEarly relationships have a modeling effect on multiple aspects of mental and somatic health. This paper aims at examining evidence of the associations between aversive childhood relationships and disease risk factors in adulthood from experimental, observational, and epidemiologic studies. Particular attention has been paid to the links with epigenetic modifications (DNA methylation and telomere length). Results from literature shows that early relations have detrimental long-life effects on the individual physical health and that it was likely due to biological reprogramming through epigenetic mechanisms and their interactions with the nervous and immune systems
Forensic Aspects of Sexual Abuse
No full textSexual abuse is defined as the act of making someone take part in unwanted sexual activities, against their will, or without their agreement. Sexual activities encompass not only the sexual intercourse but also different forms of nonconsensual erotic contact and other forms not involving direct contact such as voyeurism or exhibitionism. A sexual offender or abuser is defined as someone who performs sexual acts through violence, threat, deception, coercion, or psychological manipulation, sometimes by taking advantage of the victim’s condition of physical and mental inferiority. But from a juridical perspective, a sexual offender may also refer to someone who exploits (mostly) women or children for prostitution or pornography. Given the breadth of the boundaries of this definition and the dozens of nuances of the classification of sexual abuse and sexual offending in the literature, the Italian legislature has also had to modify and update the different cases of sexual abuse to include the various behaviors that amount to a crime. As a result, the assessment and treatment of sexual offending have undergone a shift in perspective and in the evaluation methods over time, affecting the role and competencies of the forensic psychologist in the criminal justice process. In this chapter, we will illustrate the challenges faced by psychologists and the principles of good practices to operate in the forensic context, in particular with children
Familiarità e modalità di presentazione: influenza sul ricordo infantile
No full textThis study examines how content familiarity and presentation mode influence what children remember for events. Ninety eight children aged 8, enrolled in an elementary school, were randomly assigned to one of 6 experimental groups. They were exposed by means of three different presentation modes (audiovisual, audio, visual) to a novel scene referring either to a familiar or to an unfamiliar event. Following the story presentation they were asked to complete a free recall and a recognition task. Children were retested after 14 days. Results indicate that performance in the recognition test is influenced both by the level of familiarity and by the presentation mode. These effects vary according to the type of information considered
Relational and psychological features of high-conflict couples who engage in parental alienation
No full textParental alienation (PA) is a family dynamic in which a parent engages in behaviors that are likely to foster a child’s unjustified rejection of the other parent. The developmental mechanism of PA has been explained with hypotheses that range from specific behaviors of one parent to an interaction of many factors including behaviors of both parents, personality predisposition of family members, parenting and parent-child relationship patterns, environmental and social factors. The present study was carried out to further contribute to the knowledge about psychological features of parents and other significant factors associated with PA in child custody cases. METHODOLOGY: The sample consisted of 160 family units. Information about participants was collected by professionals surveyed about their reports provided to the court in cases of separation-divorce, where a child clearly rejected one of the parents. In this study we consider parents’ psychological characteristics and psychopathology, attitudes and behaviors towards the offspring, and quality of the relationship between parents and their family of origin. RESULTS: The preferred parent generally puts discrediting or denigrating attitudes towards the other parent. The reactions from the preferred parent are mainly constituted by a passive acceptance of rejection without any opposition. The psychological profile of preferred and refused parents is marked by significant differences. In a high number of cases, the family of origin supports the hostility of their son to the other parent. CONCLUSIONS: More knowledge about parents psychological features and other risk factors related to PA may be of value for mental health professionals to assess these families. Moreover, understanding the key characteristics of families involved in PA dynamics could contribute to prevent this phenomenon and improve tailor-made interventions
The role of sexual communication in the relationship between emotion regulation and sexual functioning in women: The impact of age and relationship status
Get PDFObjective: The aim of this study was to investigate sexual communication as a mechanism involved in the link between emotion regulation and sexual functioning in a sample of adult women, also testing the moderating role of relationship status and age in this association.
Method: 1344 sexually active cisgender women (aged 18–57, M = 27.34; SD= 6.484) were recruited from March 30, 2021, to April 12, 2021, through an online survey. From the initial sample, 1280 women were retained and included in the analysis. Participants were asked to respond to three self-report questionnaires: the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the Communication subscale of the Sexual Satisfaction Scale for Women (SSS- W), and the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI).
Results: We found that sexual communication mediated the link between emotion regulation abilities and female sexual functioning. Moreover, we found that age, but not relationship status, moderated the association between emotion regulation and sexual communication, so that older women with difficulties in emotion regulation processes showed worse sexual communication abilities as compared to younger women.
Conclusions: According to this study’s results, clinicians and sexual therapists should carefully consider emotion regulation abilities and sexual communication as crucial factors in promoting women’s sexual well-being
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