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Abstract Background Global climate change is recognized as a major and irreversible challenge for humanity, requiring people’s responsible and sustainable behaviors toward the environment. So far, the literature has widely investigated the role of cognitive determinants of ecological outcomes (e.g., pro-environmental behaviors and climate change perception), while less attention has been devoted to emotional processes, such as trait emotional intelligence (TEI). The current double study investigates whether TEI is directly and indirectly associated with climate change perception (CCP, Study 1) and pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs, Study 2) among young adults. Furthermore, the mediating role of connectedness to nature (CN), both as cognitive and emotional factors, was also analyzed. We hypothesized that CN (i.e., cognitive mediator) would positively mediate the relationship between TEI and CCP (H1), and Love and Care for Nature (LCN, i.e., emotional mediator) would positively mediate the relationship between TEI and PEBs (H2). Methods The study involved 342 young adults (F = 60.7%; age 19–40; Mage=22.99; SD = 2.66) in Study 1 and 365 young adults (F = 71.2%; age 17–35; Mage=22.2; SD = 3.98) in Study 2. Data were collected through an online tool shared by the snowball method. We administered the following self-reports: Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire- Short Form (TEIQue- SF), Global Climate Change (GCC), and Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS) (Study 1); Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire- Short Form (TEIQue-SF), General Environmental Behaviors Scale (GEB), and Love and Care for Nature (LCN) (Study 2). Results Findings from Study 1 showed that higher TEI levels enhance CN (i.e., cognitive mediator), positively influencing CCP (estimate = 0.14; 95% CI = 0.07 to 0.23). Findings from Study 2 showed that higher TEI levels are associated with higher LCN levels (i.e., emotional mediator), influencing people’s engagement in PEBs (estimate = 0.7; 95% CI = 0.03 to 0.11). Conclusion It is crucial to design environmental education programs that promote greater emotional intelligence ability and encourage individuals’ involvement in ecological outcomes.

Prejudice against immigrants is a relevant research topic within social psychology. Researchers identified several individual variables affecting anti-immigrant prejudice, such as morality and personality. However, until now, prejudice has never been studied in relation to kindness, which might be a significant protective factor against prejudice. Based on Kohlberg’s theory of moral judgement, four stage dimensions of kindness were identified, from egocentric to authentic kindness (i.e., a means for social progress and improvement). This study aims to explore the relationship between the four kindness dimensions and blatant and subtle prejudice against immigrants in adolescence, by also considering the moderating role of adolescents’ sex. It involved 215 Italian participants (77% girls), who were asked to fill in a self-report questionnaire. Results showed that boys scored higher on egocentric kindness than girls, but no sex differences emerged for prejudice. Egocentric and extrinsically motivated kindness appeared to be risk factors for prejudice, whereas the most authentic form of kindness was a protective factor. In addition, adolescents’ sex moderated the relationship between egocentric kindness and blatant prejudice, whereby this association was stronger for boys. The implications of these findings, the study’s limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Background Personal values have been extensively found to be relevant variables linked to prosociality; they are desirable and trans-situational goals that serve as guiding principles in people’s lives to select modes, means and actions, these reflecting what people consider relevant and worthy. Research has investigated how cultural background influences people’s personal values and prosociality, but little is known about the influence of the perception of the values en-dorsed by significant others, namely the people belonging to the micro-relational context with whom daily interac-tions and exchanges are possible. Based on Schwartz’s theory of basic human values, we analyzed the moderating role of the perceptions of significant others’ values in the relationship between personal values and self-reported prosociality. Participants and procedure Two hundred and forty-five Italian young adults (66.9% women) aged between 18 and 30 years (M = 22.58, SD = 2.53) completed a self-report questionnaire. Results Specifically, openness to change values were a significant positive predictor of self-reported prosociality when re-spondents perceived low importance assigned both to openness to change and self-transcendence by significant oth-ers, whereas conservation values were a significant positive predictor of self-reported prosociality when respondents perceived low importance assigned to self-enhancement by significant others. Conclusions Our findings show a complex interplay between personal values and perceived significant others’ values in shaping young adults’ self-reported prosociality.

Background: Stable parent-infant relationships and adequate ordinary care significantly support children’s development since the very early stages of life. Principal models of intervention sustain parental skills and foster quality of parent-infant interactions since the early infancy. Standardized programs, with a well-defined focus, of short duration, based on specific methods and techniques, represent an effective tool in supporting parental effort. The present pilot study provides a description and an initial evaluation of the brief online “Con i Genitori” (CiG) Intervention, aimed to enhance parental sensitivity, self-efficacy and reduce stress in parents of typically-developed children aging 0-6 years. Methods: The intervention involved parents of typically-developed children aging 0-6 years. Four interactive group sessions, based on well-known empirically-based programs’ assumptions were delivered. Participants were asked to complete questionnaires at baseline (T0) and after CiG (T1). The assessment included the Tool to measure Parenting Self-Efficacy (TOPSE; Kendall Bloomfield, 2005), Parenting Stress Index-SF for parental distress (PSI; Abidin, 1996), Emotional Regulation Checklist for children’s emotional regulation (ERC; Shields Cicchetti et al., 1997) and Social Provision Scale for social support (SPS; Cutrona and Russell, 1987). A weekly “ad-hoc” questionnaire evaluated parental sensitivity. Moreover, a semi-structured interview measured participants’ satisfaction and acceptability with the intervention one month after its end. Results: Twelve parents completed all the sessions of the CiG (10 mothers, 2 fathers with mean age = 42.7; SD= 6.3). Children mean age was 3.9 (SD=1.9), 58.3% male. Our results showed statistically significant decrease in parental distress and increased social support after attending CiG. No statistically significant variations were detected considering parental self-efficacy. Conclusions: Our findings confirm the potential value of online-delivered interventions targeting parenthood in infancy, supporting parent-infant relationship and positive parenting from early infancy in a public health community approach. Online delivered programs constitute an important resource for addressing unmet parent mental health needs, which may be particularly widespread following the COVID-19 pandemic, representing a valuable alternative to traditional face-to-face interventions targeting parental wellbeing in infancy.

Objectives. The main purposes of this study were to: examine possible existing relationships between couple values and coparenting quality reported by both partners of cohabitants heterosexual couples; investigate whether couple values explain coparenting quality reported by both partners of cohabitants heterosexual couples. Material and methods. 94 Italian heterosexual couples with at least one child under the age of 13 years were enrolled. Both mothers (Mage = 41.25, SD = 6.82) and fathers (Mage = 44.21, SD = 6.97) were asked to fill in two self-report questionnaires: The Portrait Values ​​Questionnaire [PVQ] for couple values and The Coparenting Relationship Scale for the coparenting quality. Results. The main findings of regression model analysis conducted showed that Self-Transcendence resulted the most important predictor (β = .412, t = 4.253, p = .000) for coparenting quality perceived by fathers. In contrast, Conservation resulted the most important predictor (β = .239, t = 2.086, p = .040) for coparenting quality perceived by mothers. Conclusions. From the results obtained, the authors found an important preference for parents of respecting one’s cultural traditions, respecting the rules, being tolerant, ensuring the well-being of others by mitigating impulsive behaviors that could harm others physically and emotionally. The presence of these values ​​could allow both partners to implement supportive and collaborative behaviors, agree on education-related issues for their children, and feel close and allied in upbringing their child.

According to the Theory of Basic Human Values, values are relatively stable, but not immutable, abstract goals which strongly influence peoples’ lives. Since their relative stability, psychosocial research is attempting to understand the extent to which it is possible to induce a voluntary change in people’s personal values. The main aim of this study was to systematically review the existing literature on experiments to induce a value change, also highlighting the theoretical perspectives used to develop the experimental tasks. We conducted a literature search of five databases (SCOPUS, ProQuest, PsycINFO, PubMed, and Web of Science). After the screening and the eligibility phase, we included a total of 14 articles (25 experiments). Most of these studies involved university students and adopted a pre-and post-test design, using different manipulation tasks. The results highlighted the possibility of inducing a voluntary value change, assessed in terms of mean levels and/or rank order. These findings provide new insights regarding the stability of values in the light of the Theory of Basic Human Values. The practical implications and future research directions are discussed.

The possibility of inducing value change has attracted interest among scholars and practitioners in developmental and social psychology. This study proposes a new web-based intervention aimed at enhancing the importance adolescents ascribe to social-focused values (i.e., self-transcendence and conservation), which was implemented and evaluated in the context of online schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic. Social-focused values primarily regulate how one relates to others and preserve cooperative relations. These values were found to predict positive outcomes, such as adolescents' well-being, school performance, prosocial behavior, and, most recently, COVID-19 preventive behaviors. The intervention was carried out with a group of 140 high school students (Age: M = 16.53, SD = 0.95) living in Italy during the pandemic. The intervention group (N = 84) completed four tasks, which were based on the value-changing mechanisms of priming, consistency maintenance (raising awareness and knowledge of prosociality), or direct persuasion (trying to convince another person to act prosocially). The intervention significantly increased the importance of conservation values (i.e., tradition, conformity, security) but not of self-transcendence values (i.e., universalism, benevolence) in the intervention group in comparison to the control group (N = 56). This result reflects the reality during the pandemic, where prosociality was more easily expressed through behaviors consistent with conservation values instead of self-transcendence values, which emphasize (physical) proximity to others. The effectiveness of the intervention was further supported by a qualitative analysis of adolescents' writings while completing the tasks. Limitations of the study, future research developments, and practical implications for values education in secondary schools are discussed.

Ethnic prejudice is one of the most studied topics in social psychology. Empirical research on its development and intergenerational transmission is increasing but still scarce. This systematic review collected and analyzed psychosocial studies focused on the transmission of ethnic prejudice within families with adolescents. Specifically, it aimed at addressing the following research questions: (a) To what extent is there a vertical (between parents and children) and horizontal (between siblings) transmission of ethnic prejudice within the family? (b) Is this process unidirectional (from parents to children) or bidirectional (between parents and children)? (c) Which individual and/or relational variables influence this process? (d) Can adolescents’ intergroup contact experiences affect the family influence on adolescents’ ethnic prejudice? The literature search of four databases (Ebsco, Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science), carried out from February 2021 to May 2021, following the PRISMA guidelines, yielded 22 articles that matched the eligibility criteria. The findings highlighted a moderate bidirectional transmission of ethnic prejudice between parents and adolescents, which was influenced by several individual and relational variables (e.g., the adolescents’ age and sex and the family relationship quality). Moreover, the adolescents’ frequent and positive contacts with peers of different ethnicities reduced the parents’ influence on the adolescents’ ethnic prejudice. The findings are discussed, and their limitations and implications for intervention and future research are considered.