Search

Currently, Italian versions of the Hypoglycemia Fear Survey for Children (CHFS) and for Parents (PHFS) quantifying Fear of Hypoglycemia (FoH) in pediatric diabetes are not available.To validate the Italian version of the CHFS and PHFS.One hundred and seventy-four children with type 1 diabetes aged 6-18 and 178 parents completed the CHFS and PHFS, the PedsQL 3.0 Diabetes module and the KIDSCREEN-10. Internal consistency was good (α = 0.85 for CHFS, α = 0.88 for PHFS); validity was supported by correlations of CHFS total score (CHFS-T r = -0.50; p 0.001, CI = -0.62 to -0.35) and Worry subscale (CHFS-W r = -0.49; p 0.001, CI = -0.62 to -0.32) with measures of health-related quality of life (QoL), which were not related to PHFS scores. Factor analyses justified the structure and the separate scoring of Behavior and Worry subscales. Children's age was negatively correlated with CHFS-T (r = -0.16; p = 0.03, CI = -0.36 to 0.00), CHFS-W (r = -0.29; p = 0.02, CI = -0.39 to -0.07), PHFS-T (r = -0.20; p = 0.006, CI = -0.35 to -0.04), PHFS-B (r = -0.30; p = 0.001, CI = -0.43 to -0.17). Mean (SD) item scores of CHFS-T (1.47 ± 0.56 vs. 1.27 ± 0.57; p 0.05) and CHFS-W (1.20 ± 0.73 vs. 0.96 ± 0.68; p 0.05) were higher in children with HbA1c ≥7.5%. Higher levels of distress for upsetting hypoglycemia were associated with lower child's QoL scores as perceived by children (Peds-QL: 72.6 ± 12.8 vs. 80.4 ± 11.9; p 0.001) and parents (Peds-QL: 70.6 ± 13.8 vs. 75.8 ± 12.9; p 0.05).The Italian version of CHFS and PHFS appears to be a valid measure to assess FoH in clinical practice and factor analysis supports separate scoring for the Worry and Behavior subscales.

Background: The real impact of genetic factors on personality is still unknown, even if in literature about 50% of variance in personality traits are considered genetically determined. The determination of the genetic variance in personality traits could promote psychological well-being and the prevention of psychopathologies, because there are many experimental evidences showing that mental illness is associated to personality. Numerous studies have showed that Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and serotonin transporter (5-HTT) are genes whose variants are associated with personality traits. This aim of this study is the investigation of the association between personality traits and 5-HTTLPR/rs255315-HTT promoter variant, COMT Val158Met and BDNF Val66Met gene polymorphisms. Methods: The sample was composed by 132 healthy female students. Genomic DNA was extracted from buccal swab, while personality was assessed with Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised (TCI-R). Linear discriminant analysis was used to analyze how personality characteristics can differentiate individuals in relation to their genetic polymorphisms. Results: Data showed that the temperament trait Reward Dependence discriminated individuals with different BDNF variants; Novelty Seeking and Harm Avoidance discriminated individuals with different 5HTTLPR variants; Persistence discriminated individuals with different COMT variants. Conclusions: Since these traits are connected to psychological diseases as depression, social anxiety, anorexia and obsessive-compulsive disorders of personality, the study of their genetic component can be used as intermediary issue to better define the connection between genes and predisposition toward maladaptive behavior and mental illness.

Background: Breast cancer survivors report negative impacts of cancer, augmented by specific vulnerabilities to body changes, negative self-assessment, and quality-of-life concerns. The main objective of our work was to test the effect of a rehabilitation program on breast cancer patients by evaluating the change in their physical well-being during an outpatient rehabilitation setting and, subsequently, in a home rehabilitation setting, considering the individual personality profile. Methods: Patients who underwent total mastectomy with breast prostheses or tissue expanders were enrolled. Outcome assessments (Pain, Quality of Life, Personality traits for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2) before treatment (T0), at the end of the rehabilitative treatment (T1 = 10 sessions 2/week, one hour/each), and after two months of follow-up (T2) were performed. Results: The data of 38 included patients were analyzed. The quadratic trend of the Visual Analogue Scale can be explained by the fact that patients have a strong reduction in the perceived pain immediately after rehabilitation in the clinic. This reduction remains constant for the home period of the rehabilitation. The personality profiles of all the participants were substantially valid. Only three patients obtained scores higher than 65 points. Conclusions: The study evidenced that in the initial phase of the rehabilitation, psychological traits such as anxiety, depression, and preoccupation could have a strong association especially with the autonomous functions and the perceived physical symptoms. However, during the therapeutic process, this association decreased and these decrements were higher when patients performed their rehabilitation at home, in a more familiar and comfortable setting.

The Prenatal Attachment Inventory (PAI) is a widely used questionnaire to measure prenatal attachment. However, its internal structure is controversial. None of the previous studies have investigated the dimensions of the Italian version of the scale using both an exploratory and a confirmatory approach. There is also a need to explore extensively the external validity of the Italian PAI.We designed a study aimed at shedding further light on the dimensionality of the questionnaire and expanding the evidence of its reliability and validity.Five-hundred and thirty-five Italian expectant mothers participated in the prenatal phase; a subsample of 100 women participated in the postnatal phase of the study. The PAI was administered together with other scales measuring maternal-fetal attachment, psychological wellbeing and relational variables.The hypothesised relationships with external criteria were substantiated overall. The five dimensions described in the Italian study by Barone, Lionetti, and Dellagiulia also emerged from our factor analyses, with the exception of two items. Internal consistency was adequate for the total scale and for four of the five subscales.As the Fantasy subscale showed poor internal consistency, we advise against its use as an independent measure. However, when used as a global score, the PAI is a reliable and valid measure of prenatal attachment in Italian women. Thus, it can be used for research purposes. The use of the PAI could also be very helpful in clinical settings, in order to identify expectant mothers who have difficulty in establishing an affective bond with their unborn infants. To this end, further research should study the characteristics of the PAI on high-risk groups and clinical samples in order to obtain clinical cut-offs.

The differential prevalence of eating disorders in males and females can be explained by the impact of gender-role orientations. Inside the Italian socio-cultural context, gender socialization can be influenced by stereotypical gender beliefs, and this may contribute to the psychological distress of individuals who identify with discrepant gender roles from their biological sex. Our study explored, within the Italian context, the potential moderating effect of masculinity and femininity on the relationships between gender and attitudes about body and eating. Nine hundred and twenty Italian male and female adolescents (M = 427, F = 493; age 14–21 years) completed the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2) and the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI). A moderating effect of gender role on the relationship between gender and bulimia, and drive of thinness emerged. Girls with higher levels of masculinity scored higher on bulimia than did their counterparts with lower levels, and boys with higher levels of femininity scored higher on bulimia and on drive for thinness than did their counterparts with lower levels. Data did not reveal a moderating effect of gender role on the relationship between gender and body satisfaction. Our data suggest that adolescents who endorsed a gender role that is socially considered discrepant from their biological sex (girls with higher levels of masculinity and boys with higher levels of femininity) are more likely to show higher level of bulimia and drive of thinness. This suggests the need for prevention and treatment programmes for eating disorders that take into account individuals’ gender-role orientation and the influence that culturally dominant gender beliefs can exert on it.

Background The Dissociative Experiences Scale-II (DES-II) is a self-report questionnaire that measures dissociative experiences such as derealization, depersonalization, absorption and amnesia. The DES-II has been prevalently used as a screening tool in patients suffering from psychotic disorders or schizophrenia. However, dissociative experiences can also be part of normal psychological life. Despite its popularity, the most problematic aspect of the DES-II is the inconsistency in its factor structure, which is probably due to the tendency to treat ordinal responses as responses on an interval scale, as it is assumed in the Classical Test Theory approach. In order to address issues related to the inconsistency of previous results, the aim of the present study was to collect new psychometric evidence to improve the properties of the DES-II using Rasch analysis, i.e. analyzing the functioning of the response scale. Methods Data were obtained on a sample composed by 320 Italian participants (122 inmates and 198 community-dwelling individuals) and were analyzed with the Rasch model. This model allows the estimation of participants’ level of dissociation, the degree of misfit of each item, the reliability of each item, and their measurement invariance. Moreover, Rasch estimation allows to determine the best response scale, in terms of response modalities number and their discriminant power. Results Three items of the scale had strong misfit. After their deletion, the resulting scale was composed by 25 items, which had low levels of misfit and high reliability, and showed measurement invariance. Participants tended to select more often lower categories of the response scale. Conclusions Results provided new knowledge on the DES-II structure and its psychometric properties, contributing to the understanding and measurement of the dissociation construct.

Objective the Maternal–Fetal Attachment Scale (MFAS), a 24-item self-report questionnaire to measure the antenatal maternal feeling towards the unborn baby, was introduced by Mecca Cranley in 1981. Despite the widespread use of the questionnaire in clinical and research contexts, issues exist about its psychometric properties. An analysis of the literature showed the need for studies aimed at reviewing the MFAS by eliminating some items and modifying and "modernising" others. This study started from these suggestions and aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of a modified 20-item Italian version of the scale. Design the original MFAS was back translated and then administered to a pilot sample of 20 pregnant women in order to identify items hard to understand, inappropriate or ambiguous. On the basis of qualitative information derived from this pilot phase, we developed a 20-item Italian version of the MFAS that was later administered to a large sample of pregnant women. Setting antenatal education classes carried out in public and private structures of Italian central and insular regions. Participants a sample of 482 women in middle and late pregnancy, attending antenatal education classes between February 2013 and October 2014. Measurements the modified MFAS was administered together with other scales measuring maternal–fetal attachment, psychological well-being, relational variables. Internal consistencies were evaluated using Cronbach׳s alpha. Nomological validity was assessed via Pearson correlations. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to test the factor structure. Findings the hypothesised relationships with external criteria were partially substantiated. Exploratory factor analyses suggested a three-dimensional structure. Confirmatory factor analyses provided general support for an oblique three-factor model. Internal consistency was adequate for the total scale and for two of the three subscales. Key conclusion and implications for practice the 20-item Italian version of the MFAS is a reliable measure of maternal attachment to the fetus in Italian women. Cranley׳s five dimensions were not confirmed; instead, three factors emerged that could be renamed ׳Future parental roletaking׳, ׳Present interaction with the baby׳ and ׳Giving of self and responsibility to the unborn child׳. As maternal–fetal attachment is considered a predictor of the quality of the postnatal mother–child relationship, the MFAS could be a helpful tool in pre- and perinatal research and midwifery care to develop prevention programs based on women specific needs. Moreover, the availability of this questionnaire can assist in expanding research and in facilitating trans cultural comparison in issues related to pregnancy.

This study focused on the development of the emotional tie of the expectant mother towards her unborn child and aimed to achieve structural and external validity evidence for an Italian version of the Maternal Antenatal Attachment Scale (MAAS; Br J Med Psychol 66: 167-183, 1993). The MAAS was translated into Italian and was administered to a sample of 482 Italian expectant women (age 20-43 years), together with other questionnaires measuring maternal-fetal attachment, psychological well-being, and relational variables. The hypothesised relationships with external concurrent and predictive criteria were substantiated. Internal consistencies were adequate for the total scale and for one of the two subscales. Confirmatory factor analyses provided general support for an oblique two-factor model, with minor model misfit. Therefore, an exploratory factor analysis with oblimin rotation was performed. The findings suggested that some items may represent extraneous constructs. Implications for future research regarding the functioning of the instrument are addressed.

The advantages of metaphorical representation are pointed out in many fields of clinical research (e.g. cancer, HIV, psychogenic nonepileptic seizures). This study aimed at offering a novel contribution showing how children with epilepsy describe the symptomatology of their seizure experiences by means of particular kinds of cognitive metaphors. Twenty-three children with idiopathic generalized epilepsy and thirty-one healthy children were recruited for this study and interviewed with a multiple-choice questionnaire asking them to describe their epileptic seizures by means of suitable metaphors. A psychologist blinded to medical diagnosis assessed and categorized all metaphors. By considering the 89 metaphors produced by the children with epilepsy and the 147 ones by the healthy controls, Agent/Force was the primary metaphor assessed by children with epilepsy, followed by Event/Situation as the second preference. Moreover, comparing the results of the control group with those of the subjects with epilepsy, it was found that controls were oriented towards selecting exogenous forces, while subjects with epilepsy tended to select endogenous forces. In particular, children with epilepsy showed a peculiar preference for an endogenous force resembling the waggle metaphor, which is similar to the effect of a quake's shaking (earthquake or seaquake). The metaphors identified by this research are a useful resource to better understand the seizure experiences of patients with epilepsy, helping to improve clinical treatment.

Adolescence is a critical period for the emergence of a balanced personality in adults. Extraversion, neuroticism, and affective self-efficacy beliefs in emotion regulation showed to be good predictors of psychological well-being in adolescents. We analyzed the association between affective self-efficacy beliefs, personality traits, and psychological well-being of 179 Italian adolescents. We also analyzed the connection between adolescents’ filial self-efficacy beliefs and psychological well-being and possible moderating effects of self-efficacy beliefs on personality traits. Results show that extraversion, neuroticism, and self-efficacy beliefs in emotion regulation are correlated with psychological well-being, while filial self-efficacy does not. Self-efficacy beliefs do not show significant moderating effects on personality traits, even if self-efficacy beliefs in expressing positive emotions reduce negative characteristics of individuals with high level of psychoticism.

The Religious Fundamentalism Scale was applied to an Italian group, composed of 250 participants, to assess if it could be considered a reliable measure of fundamentalism. All participants professed to be believers of the Catholic religion. The overall group was split randomly into two smaller groups. The data of the first group were analyzed with an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to test the factor structure of the Italian version of the scale. The data of the second sample were analyzed with a confirmatory factor analysis, to test the factor structure that emerged from EFA. Results indicated a two-dimensional structure, composed of two correlated factors apparently representing believing and skeptical attitudes.

Objective impaired maternal bonding is a risk factor for problems with infant well-being and development. The investigation of perinatal variables related to disorders of the mother–infant relationship as well as the administration of reliable and valid screening tools to new mothers in the postpartum can help identify early signs of a disturbed mother–child relationship. The Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire (PBQ) has been shown to be a valid screening instrument, but its dimensional structure is still controversial. An analysis of the literature demonstrated the need for research into the perinatal correlates of the quality of mother-newborn bonding as measured by the PBQ, and for information about the reliability and validity of the Italian version of the questionnaire. Aim to (a) carry out preliminary analysis of the psychometric properties of an Italian version of the PBQ and (b) explore how mother–infant disturbances are related to relevant perinatal psychological variables. Design the research design consisted of a prenatal and a postnatal phase. Setting prenatal education classes delivered in public and private institutions. Participants 123 pregnant Italian women were recruited from prenatal education classes. Measurements in the prenatal period participants completed a questionnaire measuring maternal-fetal attachment; at the postnatal assessment (3 months postpartum) participants completed the Italian PBQ together with measures of mother–infant attachment, the couple's adjustment and maternal psychological well-being. Exploratory factor analysis was used to investigate the factor structure of the PBQ. Internal consistencies were evaluated using Cronbach's alpha. Nomological validity was assessed via Pearson correlations. Findings a three-factor model provided the most meaningful representation of the PBQ data, with one factor reflecting annoyance and anger towards the infant, another reflecting detachment and rejection and the third reflecting anxiety about infant care. Internal consistencies were good. Impaired mother-infant bonding was negatively correlated with prenatal and postnatal mother–infant attachment and couple adjustment, as well as being positively correlated with maternal depressive symptoms. Key conclusions and implications for practice the Italian PBQ is a reliable, valid screening instrument and can be used for research, including transcultural comparisons in perinatal psychiatry. It can also be used clinically to detect signs of a disordered mother–child relationship. Knowledge of the variables generally associated with mother-infant bonding problems combined with data from postpartum administration of the PBQ could be used in midwifery to develop preventive programmes based on the specific needs of new mothers.

The brain is organized into functionally specific networks as characterized by intrinsic functional relationships within discrete sets of brain regions. However, it is poorly understood whether such functional networks are dynamically organized according to specific task-states. The anterior insular cortex (aIC)–dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC)/medial frontal cortex (mFC) network has been proposed to play a central role in human cognitive abilities. The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study aimed at testing whether functional interactions of the aIC–dACC/mFC network in terms of temporally correlated patterns of neural activity across brain regions are dynamically modulated by transitory, ongoing task demands. For this purpose, functional interactions of the aIC–dACC/mFC network are compared during two distinguishable fluid reasoning tasks, Visualization and Induction. The results show an increased functional coupling of bilateral aIC with visual cortices in the occipital lobe during the Visualization task, whereas coupling of mFC with right anterior frontal cortex was enhanced during the Induction task. These task-specific modulations of functional interactions likely reflect ability related neural processing. Furthermore, functional connectivity strength between right aIC and right dACC/mFC reliably predicts general task performance. The findings suggest that the analysis of long-range functional interactions may provide complementary information about brain–behavior relationships. On the basis of our results, it is proposed that the aIC–dACC/mFC network contributes to the integration of task-common and task-specific information based on its within-network as well as its between-network dynamic functional interactions.

A new model of achromatic transparency has been recently proposed by Singh and Anderson as an alternative to the model proposed long ago by Metelli. The study reported here compared these models using achromatic stimuli consisting of a transparent disk on a background formed by two adjoining rectangles, with the common border of the rectangles dividing the disk in half. Let a and b denote the luminances of the left and right parts of the background, respectively, and let p and q denote the luminances of the left and right parts of the disk, respectively. The value of b was varied for fixed values of a, p, and q. For these values the Singh-Anderson model predicts that the perceived extent of transparency T of the disk is constant with b, while Metelli's model predicts that T decreases as b increases. Participants rated T. The results confirm the prediction of Metelli's model. It is also shown that the Singh-Anderson model is invalid in principle in that, unlike Metelli's model, it fails to capture the principle of independence of the effects of a, b, p, and q on T.

The association between dissociation and psychopathological symptoms is well established, yet studies with inmates are lacking. If higher rates of dissociation and psychiatric symptoms are reported in inmate samples, it is not clear whether they represent two separate, albeit related, characteristics. We examined the association between dissociation and psychopathological symptoms among 320 Italian subjects (122 inmates and 198 community participants) and a Portuguese inmate sample ( n = 67). Then, we tested whether dissociation and psychopathology levels were higher among inmates. Both hypotheses were supported, confirming the relevance of dissociative, paranoid, and psychotic symptoms among inmates, as well as their interrelations. Notably, the group difference in dissociation remained significant after partialing out the variance associated with other psychopathological symptoms. Conversely, only the difference in paranoid symptoms remained—marginally—significant when controlling for the influence of dissociation. This finding suggests that dissociation may have unique relevance for the psychological functioning of inmates.

The aims of this study were to investigate the construct validity of the Other as Shamer scale (OAS) using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and to examine the psychometric properties of its Italian version in a sample of 687 nonclinical individuals. The CFA results indicated that the hypothesized hierarchical model (with 1 higher order factor and 3 first-order factors) was the best fitting solution. Cronbach's alpha indexes, as well as test-retest stability, provided satisfactory results. Correlations of the OAS total score and its subscales with the Beck Depression Inventory-II (rs = .30-.48) and the Teate Depression Inventory (rs = .32-.45) were both substantial and significant (p.01). Receiver operating characteristic curves were constructed to indicate sensitivity and specificity of the OAS and its subscales when determining those nonclinical subjects who met clinical thresholds for depression symptoms. A series of cutoff scores for the OAS scale and its subscales was developed, with sensitivity values between .70 and .62, and specificity values between .71 and .62, indicating good to fair discrimination between the 2 groups (depressed vs. nondepressed). The theoretical and practical implications of these results were discussed.

Background Emotional intelligence (EI) can be broadly defined as the ability to cope with environmental demands. In the scientific research, however, there is not a univocal precise definition of EI and recent articles have underlined the necessity to explore its biological basis to advance understanding of the construct. The aim of study was to investigate if the antioxidant network may be associated with typical-performance or trait EI. Methods The study group consisted of 50 women (age, M = 25.10, SD = 3.87). Super Oxide Dismutase (SOD), Catalase (CAT), Glutathione Reductase (GR), and Glutathione Peroxidase (GPx) activities were evaluated on proteins extracted from Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells. Participants completed the Italian version of the EQ-i (Bar-On, 1997) as a measure of trait EI. Results We observed positive and significant correlations between some biological variables and EQ-i scores, and a significant predictive effect of CAT activity when controlling for related biological variables, age, and smoking. Conclusions Our preliminary study suggests that the antioxidant network may constitute some of trait EI's biological basis. In particular, CAT and the SOD/CAT ratio could be two biological variables involved in some specific components of EI.

The aim of the present work was to measure the amount of stress in parents of children with epilepsy and to determine whether and how parenting stress is linked to behavioral symptoms of the children. Parenting stress was measured with the Parenting Stress Index (PSI) and behavioral symptoms with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Data obtained from 26 parents of children with epilepsy were compared with those obtained from 31 parents of healthy children. Children with epilepsy obtained higher scores in all the subscales of PSI and in almost all the subscales of CBCL compared with healthy children. Epilepsy caused a high level of parenting stress and of problematic behaviors since the behavioral symptoms predicting the degree of parenting stress significantly differed between healthy children and children with epilepsy. Therefore, parents of children with epilepsy should be offered psychological support to cope with parenting stress and to improve the relationship with their children.

Compulsive shopping is an impulse control disorder that produces psychological distress. Appropriate measurement scales of compulsive buying are important to identify compulsive buyers. Three compulsive buying scales (Faber and O'Guinn Scale, Edwards Scale, Yale and Brown Scale) were tested in an Italian sample composed of 438 participants randomly selected from the general population. Self-report questionnaires measured psychiatric dysfunctions and personality traits. The data confirmed that high anxiety, obsessive-compulsive dysfunctions, depression, psychoticism, and low self-esteem were associated with inappropriate shopping. The Faber and O'Guinn Scale and Edwards Scale are appropriate for surveys, while the Yale and Brown Scale are more appropriate for clinical diagnosis of psychological dependences.

Background Fragile X Syndrome (FXS), the most common cause of familiar mental retardation, is associated in over 99% of cases to an expansion over 200 repeats of a CGG sequence in the 5’ UTR of the FMR1 gene (Xq27.3), leading to the hypermethylation of the promoter. Molecular diagnosis of FXS have been so far based on the use of the Southern Blot (SB) analysis, a low throughput and time consuming technique. In order to update the diagnostic approach for FXS, we evaluated the usefulness of the Methylation-Specific Multiplex-Ligation-dependent Probe Amplification assay (MS-MLPA). Methods The study was carried out by retrospectively analysing 44 male patients, 10 Chorionic Villus Sampling (CVS) samples and 10 females previously analyzed by SB. In addition, a prospective study on 98 male subjects, 20 females and 1 CVS sample was carried out for assessing the feasibility and the impact of MS-MLPA in a routine lab work. Result Results provided by both the retrospective and the prospective parts of this study strongly demonstrate the robustness and reproducibility of the MS-MLPA assay, able to correctly detect the methylation status in all normal and full mutation male samples analyzed, including CVS male samples. On the other hand, MS-MLPA analysis on females samples produced unreliable results. Conclusion Based on our results, we suggest the necessity of a separate workflow for male and female patients with suspected FXS in the routine diagnostic setting. MS-MLPA, in combination with CGG repeat sizing using a single-tube primed FMR1 PCR, represents a reliable diagnostic protocol in the molecular diagnosis of FXS male patients.