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Covid-19 pandemic 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 stress-resilient and stress-affected children. Results evidenced that resilient children displayed high levels of persistence and reward dependence, and low levels of novelty seeking. Behavioral difficulties were associated with low levels of persistence and reward dependence, and high levels of novelty seeking. Internalizing symptoms were more likely among children with high harm avoidance and low persistence. These findings underscore the importance of examining different temperament dimensions and their associations, especially when profiling phenotypes in trying to identify the links among temperament, vulnerability to psychopathology and resilience during stressful periods., Psychology Hub, Vol. 38 No. 3 (2021)

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common in youths after earthquakes, with parental psychopathology among the most significant predictors. This study investigated the contribution and the interactional effects of parental internalizing psychopathology, the severity of exposure to the earthquake, and past traumatic events to predict PTSD in offspring, also testing the reverse pattern. Two years after the 2012 earthquake in Italy, 843 children and adolescents (9–15 years) living in two differently affected areas were administered a questionnaire on traumatic exposure and the UCLA PTSD Reaction Index. Anxiety, depression, and somatization were assessed in 1162 parents through the SCL-90-R. General linear model showed that, for offspring in the high-impact area, predictors of PTSD were earthquake exposure, past trauma, and parental internalizing symptoms, taken individually. An interaction between earthquake exposure and parental depression or anxiety (not somatization) was also found. In the low-impact area, youth PTSD was only predicted by earthquake exposure. The reverse pattern was significant, with parental psychopathology explained by offspring PTSD. Overall, findings support the association between parental and offspring psychopathology after natural disasters, emphasizing the importance of environmental factors in this relationship. Although further research is needed, these results should be carefully considered when developing mental health interventions.

Several types of stress factors are likely to be implied in the development, maintenance, and transmission of internalizing symptomatology: genetic/temperamental factors, cognitive factors, family factors, and societal/cultural factors. Nonetheless, family factors—especially those related to parenting—seem to be crucial during childhood, because children are nested within their families and family factors are able to indirectly influence other factors as well. The current chapter focuses on the relationship between parental style and internalizing symptoms in childhood. In the first part of the chapter, the most important studies on the topic are reviewed in detail and differences in parenting behaviors between mothers and fathers are illustrated. A discussion on the cognitive and metacognitive factors as possible pathways of the relation between parenting and childhood symptoms is also proposed. The last part of the chapter reviews studies investigating the efficacy of parental involvement in cognitive behavior therapy for children who exhibit internalizing symptoms.

The first Italian lockdown imposed to fight the spread of COVID-19 caused important disruptions in families’ everyday lives. The main aim of this research was to investigate the predictors of psychopathology in children aged 5–10 years, immediately after the national 2-month lockdown. A total of 158 Italian parents (148 mothers, 10 fathers, mean age = 41 years) were recruited and asked to complete an online research concerning their 158 children (76 boys, mean age = 7.4 years). Parents completed questionnaires on parent–child conflict, resilience, temperament, behavior, and previous adverse childhood experiences. Hierarchical regressions showed that children’s psychopathology was predicted by low child resilience, high novelty seeking and harm avoidance, adverse experiences, and high flooding levels. Moreover, girls exposed to adverse experiences appeared more vulnerable to psychopathology. The recruitment of a convenience sample, the small sample size, and the cross-sectional design of our study limit the generalizability and interpretation of the present findings. Nonetheless, this research extends our knowledge of children’s functioning in such an exceptional period. Shedding light on predictors of children’s psychopathology following prolonged quarantine can indeed guide effective psychological interventions now and in future similar situations.

Physical maltreatment is a public health issue affecting millions of children in their lifetime, with a high risk of recurrency. Although there are several parenting programs (PPs) available, existing reviews on their effectiveness in preventing physical abuse recurrences have many limitations. The current systematic review aims at (1) providing a summary of evidence on the effectiveness of behavioral/cognitive–behavioral PPs in preventing physical re-abuse; (2) extending previous reviews by including reduction of child maltreatment recurrence as the main outcome but also focusing on the effect of PPs on maltreatment risk, parent and child psychopathology, and parent–child relationship; and (3) including only RCT with at least one follow-up. A PRISMA-compliant systematic review was performed in the EBSCOhost and PUBMED databases. In total, 93 articles were identified, of which 8 were included in the review. Among them, three reported a significant reduction in recidivism rates and maltreatment risk, and five improvements in parent–child relationships. Although limitations arise from methodological heterogeneity across studies, there is some evidence that some brief and manualized cognitive behavioral PPs can reduce the recurrence of child physical maltreatment and improve parent–child relationships. More studies are needed to give further support to PP effectiveness in protecting children from recurrent maltreatment.

Parent–child conflict can have a series of negative consequences concerning youth emotional and behavioral development. The link between family conflict and children’s externalizing symptoms is well established, whereas the association with internalizing symptoms is less explored. Within the school context, children are engaged in other meaningful relationships (i.e., with teachers and peers) which contribute to their growth. This cross-sectional study aimed at understanding whether a cooperative behavior with the teachers is able to mediate the association between parent–child conflict and children’s psychopathological symptoms. We recruited 319 (150 boys) school-aged children (M = 11.3 years; SD = 1.8 years) and their parents and teachers. Children self-reported on their internalizing symptoms, whereas parents completed a questionnaire concerning their relationship with the child, and teachers rated children’s behavior and internalizing/externalizing symptoms. Analyses conducted through Hayes’ PROCESS tool showed that cooperation with the teacher partially mediated the association between parent–child conflict and child-reported depressive symptoms. Notably, cooperative behavior fully mediated the link between parent–child conflict and children’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms reported by teachers. Difficulties exhibited at school partly derive from a conflictual home environment. Our findings showed that such problems can be reduced thanks to a cooperative relationship with the teacher.

Literature 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.

Background While an understanding of the genetic contributions to specific reading disorder (RD) is emerging, there is no agreement about which putative hazard factors are clearly involved in the aetiology of this disorder. Aims A literature review looking at the impact of environmental risk variables implicated in RD either per se or when interacting with the genes. Methods and procedures We performed a systematic literature review using the following keywords: dyslexia OR reading disability AND environmental risk factors OR environmental hazard factors, in the following electronic databases: PubMed, Scopus and PsycINFO, without any time restrictions. Outcomes and results Gestational weeks and birth weight are among the pre- and peri-natal risk factors shown to reliably predict reading readiness and the odds of having RD. Inconclusive findings have been reported for maternal cigarette smoking, family history of psychiatric and medical diseases, and risk of miscarriage. A broad definition of familial socio-economic status and home literacy environment have been identified as good life-long risk predictors of reading skills. Conclusions and implications We highlighted the need to consider environmental hazards, their interactions and interactions with RD-candidate genes in the study of the aetiology of RD in order to provide much-needed insight into how these variables influence reading skills.

The selection of appropriate stimuli for inducing specific emotional states has become one of the most challenging topics in psychological research. In the literature there is a lack of affective picture database specifically suited to investigate emotional response in children. Here the authors present the methodology that led us to create a new database (called Anger- and Fear-Eliciting Stimuli for Children) of affective stimuli inducing experiences of 3 target emotions (neutral, anger, and fear) to use in experimental session involving children. A total of 84 children were asked to (a) indicate the perceived emotion and its intensity and (b) rate the three affective dimensions of the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM). Based on concordance between labeled and expected target emotion, the authors decided to select 15 stimuli to be included in Multivariate modeling techniques were applied to evaluate the association between expected target emotion and SAM ratings. The authors found that the hit rate for the neutral pictures was good (greater than 81%), for fear-eliciting pictures it was greater than 64%, and for anger-eliciting pictures it was moderate (between 45% and 56%). The study results reveal also an age effect only in the arousal scale. However, the authors did not find significant gender-related differences in SAM ratings.

An 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.

BACKGROUND: A great part of the literature has confirmed the importance of both child and parents reports as source of factual information, especially for childhood emotional syndromes. In our study we aimed at: i) calculating mother-child agreement and ii) evaluating factorial structure of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) questionnaire in an Italian clinical sample. under, Social Phobia and School Phobia. The novelty of this contribution is twofold: first, from a clinical point of view, we investigated the parent-child agreement level and examined separately the factorial structures of both parent and child versions of the SCARED for the first time in an Italian clinical sample. Second, unlike previous studies, we used statistical approaches specifically suited to account for the ordinal nature of the collected variables. METHOD: In a clinical sample of 171 children and adolescents aged 8–18 and their mothers we evaluated inter-rater agreement using weighted kappa indices to assess agreement for each item belonging to a certain SCARED subscale. Exploratory factor analysis for ordinal data was then performed on the polychoric correlation matrix calculated on SCARED items. Differences in the numbers of symptoms reported by children and parents were evaluated as well. RESULTS and CONCLUSIONS: Our results reveal moderate to strong mother-child agreement. A significant age effect is present. Two different factorial solutions emerged for parent and child SCARED versions (a 5 factor structure for parents and a 6 factor solution in the child version, including a factor on “Worry about Parents”). This study confirmed the importance of evaluating both child and parent reports in assessment protocols for anxiety disorders. Our findings could help clinicians to determine which information, and from which rater, must be accounted for in evaluating treatment decisions. Moreover, we find that patients characteristics, such as gender and age, should be taken into account when assessing agreement.

Background In the last years, several studies focused on the role of Gene-Environment interactions (GxE) in influencing psychopathological outcomes among maltreated children and adolescents. These studies analysed the effect of different genetic variations. Aims The aim of the present review is to provide an overview of studies investigating GxE effects among maltreated children and adolescents. Methods and Procedures A systematic literature review was performed by using the following keywords: “Child maltreatment” and “GxE”, “Child maltreatment” and “Psychopathology”, “Gene-Environment interaction”, “Gene-environment correlation”, “GxE and psychopathology”, “Childhood trauma” and “Psychiatric symptoms”, “Early adverse life events”, “Early life stress”, “Antisocial behaviour”, “Depression”, “Internalizing symptoms”, through the following electronic databases: PubMed, Scopus and PsycINFO, from 2006 to 2017, finding a total of 31 papers. Outcomes and Results The present review confirm that maltreatment produces worse psychopathological outcomes (antisocial behaviour, depression, and other psychiatric traits) in subjects with a specific genetic vulnerability. Conclusions and Implications Comprehending the pathways from child maltreatment to psychopathology in their full complexity will be essential to build efficacious preventive and therapeutic protocols.