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Cannabis use is frequently related to social anxiety in young adulthood, but the nature of this relationship is unclear. Moreover, much research has been conducted on the role of cannabis effects expectancies and their relationship to social anxiety among young adults, but less is known about adolescence. The study examined the relationship between social anxiety, cannabis use patterns, and cannabis effects expectancies among a nonclinical sample of 1,305 adolescents (51% female). Non-users reported higher social anxiety scores than non-problematic and risky users. Compared to users, non-users had more negative expectancies. Risky and problematic users showed higher social and sexual facilitation expectancies and perceptual and cognitive enhancement expectancies. In addition, social anxiety was related to global negative expectancies and social and sexual facilitation expectancies. Moreover, we found that among socially anxious adolescents, social and sexual facilitation expectancies are dissuasive reasons to use cannabis. Clinical implications and future directions are discussed.

The effects of the Mafia have been extensively studied from sociological, economic, and historical points of view. However, little research has investigated the influence of the Mafia on individuals and communities in terms of its psychological and social impact. In order to contribute to the advancement of our understanding of the psychological effects of the Mafia on individuals and communities and to promote a participative process of social change, a group analytic intervention was conducted within a Community Based Participatory Research carried out in Corleone, a small Sicilian town with a historically recognized role in the evolution of the Mafia, as well as in the fight against its control. Qualitative findings from the group intervention revealed the development of an awareness process that allowed participants to become aware of their social unconscious anxieties and defenses and to recognize and manage the strong emotional impact related to the Mafia's presence in their lives. Highlighting how psychological processes can have negative impacts on individual and collective capacity to pursuit transformation and resilience, this article provides important insight on how clinical psychology may operate in socio-cultural contexts to promote the reconstruction of the traumatic social dimensions in the community.

Background Self-image is the subjective perception about one's own self, body, mental functioning, social attitudes, and adjustment in different aspects of life. Research has linked negative self-image with a number of problem behaviors and psychiatric symptoms in adolescence; however, studies of the relationship between self-image and anxiety disorders are still scarce. Method This study involved a community sample of 1305 high-school students (51.4% female) who ranged in age from 14 to 19 years old. They completed self-report measures of self-image and social anxiety disorder (SAD). Results A quarter of the students reported high levels of social anxiety. Statistical analyses showed significant differences between these students and the other students in all the self-image subscales. Several dimensions of impaired self-image (emotional tone, social attitudes, vocational and educational goals, family relationships, external mastery, and psychological health) were associated with high levels of social anxiety, with some gender differences underpinning these relationships. Conclusions Clinicians treating SAD in youth may wish to consider that a negative self-image may play a critical role in the onset and retention of social anxiety symptoms.

The Smartphone Addiction Inventory (SPAI) was developed to assess smartphone addiction in Taiwanese university students. The purpose of the current research is to evaluate the factor structure and psychometric properties of the SPAI in Italian university students. A total of 485 university students (29.3% boys) completed the SPAI and the Young's Internet Addiction Test (IAT).The proposed four-factor model of the SPAI-I was tested by computing CFA, and the results of the goodness of fit indices indicated an ambiguous solution. An exploratory-confirmatory cross validation strategy was applied for a better trimming of SPAI-I factorial structure. Results suggested a five-factor solution that explained 53% of the total variance (Time Spent, Compulsivity, Daily Life Interference, Craving, and Sleep Interference). Excellent internal consistency and five factor correlations were reported for the SPAI-I. This five-factor model showed good convergent validity with the Internet Addiction Disorder Test. Considering that evidence shows that overuse of a smartphone can be associated with adverse and problematic effects, the SPAI-I should be useful for determining its potential for the use in future research in Europe and for comparing the evaluation of smartphone overuse of young European people with other international Asiatic studies that have incorporated the SPAI. The SPAI was tested using factorial analysis procedures in a large sample.The exploratory factor analysis revealed five factors rather than the original four.The SPAI-I showed satisfactory psychometric properties.The SPAI-I is suitable for measuring smartphone addiction.The SPAI-I may help to promote unified research in the smartphone addiction field.

As a theoretical extension of other previous studies, this work represents an improvement of the notions about the relationship between adolescence and Mafia. The research has been aiming at exploring teenagers’ universe within specific social contexts where the presence of criminal organizations is significant, focusing the attention on the modalities through which evolutionary tasks are coped with in contexts with high Mafia density and often characterized by a perception of social space that makes personal, financial, and political development problematic. The research has involved 93 teenagers who live in southern regions where the presence of Mafia organizations (Camorra, ‘Ndrangheta, and Cosa Nostra) is significant. Six focus groups have been carried out, recorded, and transcribed. Verbalizations were analyzed through appropriate qualitative templates, which allowed detecting of three thematic macro-areas: representations of Mafia, emotions connected to it, and planning skills. The qualitative analysis of transcriptions points out that the presence of Mafia organizations, the contiguity between legal and illegal symbolic–cultural codes, the commonality of belonging matrices, and sharing the same symbolic and social spaces are all elements that violently enter these teenagers’ identification and release paths, deeply influencing them.

AIMS: Autocapture is an algorithm for automatic adaptation of ventricular output to capture threshold. The aim of this prospective study was to estimate the effects of ventricular Autocapture algorithm on DDD-DDDR pacemaker longevity. METHODS AND RESULTS: Eighty-three patients implanted with a DDD-DDDR pacemaker (Affinity or Entity; St Jude Medical, USA) were enrolled and the Autocapture function was activated pre-discharge. Ventricular pulse duration was randomly programmed at 0.3 or 0.4 ms, with a cross-over at 8-12 weeks and again at 13-14 months. Diagnostic data were retrieved from device memory and by calculating battery current drain from long-term threshold recordings; device longevity was estimated at the following settings: Autocapture with a pulse duration of 0.3 and 0.4 ms, respectively, standard output (3.5 V, 0.4 ms) and conventional low output programming (2.5 V, 0.4 ms). According to a series of assumptions, Autocapture was associated with a 55-60% increase in estimated device longevity compared with standard output programming and a 6-7% increase in longevity compared with low output programming. No significant differences were found between Autocapture programmed with a pulse duration of 0.3 or 0.4 ms. In projections to a 10-year follow-up, use of the Autocapture function resulted in a 42% reduction in pacing-related estimated costs compared with standard output programming at 3.5 V, 0.4 ms. CONCLUSION: Pacing with constant adaptation of ventricular output in dual-chamber devices has the potential to increase generator longevity and to reduce sizeably pacing-related costs compared with standard programming.