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Upon aging and exposure to ambient conditions, acrylic colors get dry and the degree of polymerization of the polymer matrix increases due to progressive cross-linking. When interested in studying acrylic colors, separation of the different components, namely matrix, pigments, and fillers, may be particularly useful for their identification and characterization. In the case of aged acrylic colors, as found in artworks themselves or in materials present in artist studios, the separation approaches requiring chemical treatments of fluid samples cannot be applied. To overcome this limit, here a controlled combustion strategy is developed for eliminating the polymer matrix from the color and then recovering a powder made of pigments and fillers, which is analyzed by optical spectroscopy and demonstrated to display the same chromatic/chemical properties of the original color. As a case study, the new method is successfully applied to acrylic colors used by the Italian artist Domenico “Ico” Parisi (1916–1996), found in the original tubes in his studio.

La letteratura sulle tematiche adottive è piuttosto ampia e, per sua natura, interdisciplinare. Il capitolo intende fornire una rassegna sistematica delle ricerche sull’adozione e offrire alcune coordinate utili per chi si occupa di tematiche adottive sia nell’approfondimento scientifico sia nell’intervento di accompagnamento e nella pratica clinica.

Negli ultimi anni nella letteratura sull'adozione si è aperto un nuovo filone di studi che esamina quali fattori possono favorire il benessere e l’adattamento psicosociale delle persone adottate. All'interno di questa letteratura, alcuni studi si sono focalizzati sulla costruzione dell’identità etnica quale aspetto che promuove il benessere della persona adottata. Il processo di sviluppo dell'identità può essere più complesso per gli adottati che non condividono il background etnico e culturale con le loro famiglie adottive. Inoltre, nella maggior parte dei casi il loro aspetto fisico rende “visibile” lo status adottivo. Essere somaticamente diversi dal resto della popolazione non adottiva, può portare a commenti intrusivi ed essere fonte di discriminazione nella loro vita quotidiana. A questo proposito, il presente contributo fornisce una panoramica dei principali risultati di studi incentrati su come le persone adottate integrano e tengono insieme i loro due background culturali: il background etnoculturale di nascita e la cultura del paese di adozione. Inoltre, saranno esaminati gli effetti negativi della discriminazione sul benessere delle persone adottate e dei fattori che potrebbero mitigare o esacerbare gli effetti negativi della discriminazione. Questi risultati hanno importanti implicazioni per gli enti e i professionisti che si occupano di adozione.

L’emergenza sanitaria legata alla diffusione del Covid-19 ha rappresentato per tutte le famiglie un’onda di eventi stressanti che ha messo a dura prova la capacità di adattamento. Sono stati registrati numerosi cambiamenti in termini negativi (ad es., sovraccarico di cura, difficile conciliazione tra vita personale e lavorativa), ma anche non pochi cambiamenti di segno positivo (ad es., maggiore tempo da trascorrere con i figli). Il presente contributo focalizza l’attenzione su come una particolare tipologia di famiglia, quella adottiva, che nel suo percorso ha già dovuto far fronte a numerosi eventi critici, si è misurata con gli stressor specifici legati alla pandemia. Contrariamente allo stereotipo diffuso, è risultato che i genitori adottivi sono stati più capaci di reagire, dal punto di vista emotivo, in modo equilibrato di fronte all’emergenza sanitaria. Nello specifico, le madri adottive sembrano avere risentito meno degli aspetti potenzialmente traumatici delle conseguenze legate al periodo pandemico e hanno mostrato di possedere molteplici risorse a livello individuale, di coppia e sociale; d’altra parte, però, date le sfide aggiuntive legate al percorso adottivo, manifestano un livello più basso di soddisfazione per la relazione con i/le figli/e, nonostante questo sembri aumentare nel periodo pandemico.

Despite an increasing interest in how adoptive parents deal with situations appraised as stressful, there is a lack of research regarding adoptive parents’ adjustment to the challenges posed by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. The current study explores similarities and differences between adoptive and non-adoptive mothers in terms of risks (i.e., COVID-19-related stress) and individual (i.e., sense of coherence SOC), couple (i.e., partner's support), parent–child (i.e., parent–child relationship satisfaction), and social (i.e., friends’ support) resources in the face of the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the present study was aimed at predicting which variables discriminate more effectively between the two groups. Participants were 445 Italian mothers (40.9% adoptive mothers), who were asked to fill in an anonymous online survey between May 2021 and October 2021. Results showed that adoptive and non-adoptive mothers reported different resilience resources to face the stressors posed by the health emergency. Specifically, COVID-19 traumatic stress symptoms, parent–child relationship satisfaction, and SOC were found to contribute most in discriminating between the two groups. Findings are discussed in relation to future research developments and practical implications.

Il presente contributo analizza l’associazione tra i valori personali dei genitori e la loro autoefficacia genitoriale, tenendo in considerazione il sesso di genitori e figli. Sono stati coinvolti 347 padri e 407 madri, con almeno un/a figlio/a adolescente, ai quali è stato somministrato un questionario self-report. I risultati evidenziano diverse associazioni significative tra le variabili: in particolare, all’aumentare dell’importanza dei valori dell’autotrascendenza e della conservazione aumenta l’efficacia percepita nell’esercizio della genitorialità, sia per i padri sia per le madri. Per queste ultime, all’aumentare dell’apertura al cambiamento aumenta l’autoefficacia genitoriale; inoltre, il sesso del figlio modera la relazione tra conservazione e autoefficacia.

Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) is caused by the reduced expression of the mitochondrial protein frataxin (FXN) due to an intronic GAA trinucleotide repeat expansion in the FXN gene. Although FRDA has no cure and few treatment options, there is research dedicated to finding an agent that can curb disease progression and address symptoms as neurobehavioral deficits, muscle endurance, and heart contractile dysfunctions. Because oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunctions are implicated in FRDA, we demonstrated the systemic delivery of catalysts activity of gold cluster superstructures (Au8-pXs) to improve cell response to mitochondrial reactive oxygen species and thereby alleviate FRDA-related pathology in mesenchymal stem cells from patients with FRDA. We also found that systemic injection of Au8-pXs ameliorated motor function and cardiac contractility of YG8sR mouse model that recapitulates the FRDA phenotype. These effects were associated to long-term improvement of mitochondrial functions and antioxidant cell responses. We related these events to an increased expression of frataxin, which was sustained by reduced autophagy. Overall, these results encourage further optimization of Au8-pXs in experimental clinical strategies for the treatment of FRDA.

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.

Adolescents who are exposed to or involved in violence are at risk of developing internalizing problems; research interest is increasing in identifying family processes that may buffer adolescents’ adjustment problems. This study examines parents’ sense of coherence (SOC; i.e., parents’ perception of comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness in daily life) as a possible protective factor in the relation between adolescents’ victimization and internalizing problems. One hundred and forty-eight adolescents (87.7% girls, aged between 15-19) and their parents (128 fathers and 144 mothers) participated in the study. Parents completed self-report questionnaires including the Sense of Coherence Scale and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Adolescents reported about their own experiences of violence (i.e., violence and peer victimization). Results from the path analyses showed that both paternal and maternal SOC were negatively associated with adolescents’ internalizing problems. Moreover, paternal SOC, but not maternal SOC, moderated the relation between adolescents’ victimization and internalizing problems. When fathers had low levels of SOC, adolescents’ victimization was strongly and positively associated with their internalizing problems; on the contrary, for adolescents whose fathers had high levels of SOC the relation between victimization and internalizing problems was not significant. Thus, paternal SOC serves as a resource for adolescents with victimization experiences. We discussed implications and future developments of the study.

This study analyzed the associations between adolescents’ motivations for internalizing moral values and perceived parental (both father’s and mother’s) promotion of volitional functioning. Based on the Self-Determination Theory, four types of motivations were analyzed: external and introjected motivations, where compliance with values is experienced as being externally controlled or related to a sense of internal obligation; identified and integrated motivations, where values are authentically internalized into the self. Participants were 789 adolescents (54.5% females; 14–19 years) living in Northern Italy. They were asked to complete the Moral Values Internalization Questionnaire and the Autonomy-Support Scale. Results showed that maternal, but not paternal, promotion of volitional functioning was significantly and positively associated with identified and integrated motivations for internalizing moral values, this regardless of adolescents’ sex and age. Implications for internalization process and parent–adolescent relationships will be discussed.

Acrylic colors are mixtures of several components that can be identified as pigments, binders and fillers, so that, when analyzed, the characteristic response of the different components may not be recognizable. This limits the accuracy of spectroscopic techniques, nonetheless particularly useful as they are non-invasive and can be applied in-situ on real artworks. Here, a method is proposed to chemically separate and identify the different components of acrylic colors, in order to be able to study their spectroscopic response separately, in particular by ultraviolet-visible-near infrared diffuse reflectance. The results clearly show that the chemical and analytical method developed here is fully reliable, with the advantage of clearly separating the response of the different components without any change of their chromatic/chemical properties. As a case study, the new method is applied here to original acrylic colors used by the Italian artist Ico Parisi, in view of building a spectra database.

Moral disengagement refers to a set of cognitive mechanisms used to justify transgressive behaviours in order to avoid self-sanctions and minimise negative emotions. Moral disengagement has been widely studied in sport psychology, but only at the individual level. Collective moral disengagement (CMD), which refers to the shared beliefs in justifying negative actions performed by the members of one’s group, has received little research attention. In this study, we aimed to examine whether CMD and performance motivational climate predict adolescents’ antisocial behaviour towards teammates and opponents in team sports. We surveyed 172 Italian adolescent athletes (Mean age = 15.41 ± 1.73 years; 51.7% females). Participants completed a questionnaire measuring CMD, performance motivational climate and antisocial behaviour towards teammates and opponents. We found positive direct effects of CMD and performance motivational climate on antisocial behaviours. CMD was also related to antisocial behaviour towards teammates more strongly when performance motivational climate in the team was high. Our findings suggest the need to consider collective morality to better understand young athletes’ antisocial behaviour in sport.

Background: Substance addiction is a psychosocial problem facing many people today. While the previous trend in addiction treatment was the harm reduction approach, nowadays it is fully recognized the importance of promoting human resources in order to help people to face the rehabilitation process, to prevent the risk of treatment dropout and future relapses, and to positively re-integrate them into the society. During the process of recovery from substance addiction, resilience is one of the most important protective factors against both dropouts and relapses. This study analyzed for the first time whether and the extent to which self-transcendence values (i.e., benevolence and universalism) promote resilience, considering the mediating role of hope, among patients in residential substance abuse treatment.Method: Seventy-six Italian patients in residential treatment for substance addiction (86.5% males and 13.5% females; M-age = 40.23, SD = 10.88) participated to the study. Participants were asked to complete the Self-transcendence subscale from the Portrait Values Questionnaire, the Hope Scale, and the Connor Davidson Resilience Scale.Results: Findings showed that self-transcendence values were positively related to resilience and that hope fully mediated (in a positive direction) this relationship. Self-transcendence values promoted resilience through the mediating role of hope.Conclusions: This complex relationship suggests a holistic model of resilience during the process of recovery from substance addiction. Limitations of the study, practical implications, and future research developments are discussed.

The connection between self-reported personal values and socially desirable responding in social psychology has been backed up by little empirical evidence. This study expands upon the pioneering work carried out by Schwartz and colleagues by analyzing the relationship between values and social desirability through the use of different self-report measures of values and by considering the multidimensional nature of social desirability. The study involved 224 Italian respondents (63.4% female, mean age = 22.39, SD = 2.47) who completed a questionnaire. Results confirmed Schwartz et al.’s previous findings supporting the substantive hypothesis. Specifically, impression management was more related to values highlighting the importance of social harmony (i.e., conservation and self-transcendence) rather than to those characterized by a personal focus (i.e., openness to change and self-enhancement). However, a different pattern of connection was found for self-deceptive enhancement. This study addresses how to deal with social desirability in research into personal values.

Despite its importance, limited research has examined mechanisms underpinning how interparental conflict affects adolescents in Europe. Using a sample of 141 Italian families (mothers, fathers, and adolescents, Mage = 17.25 years, SD = 0.64), this study explores whether three types of adolescents’ emotional insecurity, which describes adolescents’ vulnerability to conflict, play a role in the association between interparental conflict and adolescents’ adjustment. Participants completed questionnaires related to adolescents’ conflict exposure, adjustment, and emotional insecurity in the parent-adolescent, interparental, and family relationships. As hypothesized, indirect associations were observed involving adolescents’ emotional insecurity in the parent-adolescent and interparental relationships. Surprisingly, the indirect association involving emotional insecurity within the interparental relationship rather than within the family emerged the strongest indirect association of the three types of emotional insecurity. These effects, however, were indistinguishable from the indirect effects of insecurity about the parent-adolescent relationship. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Introduction: The measurement of personal values is still a great challenge in social psychology due to the complex nature of this concept. Objective: Based on Schwartz's theory of human values, this study aimed at analysing the relationship between the Values Implicit Association Test (VIAT), a relatively new indirect measure of values, and the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ), a well-known direct measure of values. Also, it examined whether social desirability moderates this relationship. Method: Seventy-three participants (64.4% female; M age = 25.46, SD = 4.04) took part to the study in a standardized setting. Results: Results showed different value priorities depending on the measure used (i.e., indirect vs direct), and although social desirability was related to participants’ responses on PVQ more than on VIAT, it did not moderate the association between direct and indirect measures for any of the examined values. Conclusions: Implications of the findings for value measurement and future developments are discussed.

The worldwide outbreak of COVID-19, the ensuing pandemic, and the related containment measures pose considerable challenges to psychological resilience and well-being. Researchers are now forced to look for resources to cope with negative experiences linked to this health emergency. According to the salutogenic approach proposed by Antonovsky, the sense of coherence (SOC) is a major source of resilience. Thus, this study aimed at assessing the role of SOC in moderating the link between illness experiences (in terms of knowing persons diagnosed with COVID-19 and fear of contracting COVID-19) and psychological well-being. 2,784 participants, taken from a large sample of the Italian population (65.4% females) and aged between 18 and 85 years, filled in an anonymous online survey during the 3rd week of the lockdown. Findings supported the moderating role of SOC in shaping the link between illness experiences and psychological well-being. Specifically, participants who knew at least one person diagnosed with COVID-19 showed lower levels of psychological well-being at low levels of SOC. The negative relation between participants’ fear of contracting COVID-19 and psychological well-being was stronger for those who showed higher levels of SOC. This study discusses the implications of these results for interventions aimed at reducing the pandemic’s detrimental effects and promoting resilience.

he book presents a graphic projective tool, The Double Moon Drawing (DMD), that can be used with families in research and clinical settings. This book is an extension of Ondina Greco’s original work (1999) “La Doppia Luna. Test dei confini e delle appartenenze familiari” [The Double Moon. Assessing family boundaries and belonging], Vita e Pensiero, Milano. The DMD examines family boundaries in structurally complex family situations. In these situations, a dialectic relationship exists between the present and the distant elements. DMD offers the opportunity to graphically represent crucial aspects of the inner representation of the family situation which are unlikely to emerge at the verbal level. The subject often feels emotionally connected to significant people who are not present in the “here and now”. The tool makes explicit a “double axis” of representation: the axis of the persons and elements that are present in everyday life and the axis of lost or distant elements which nonetheless remain present psychically. Observing the subjects’ representations of boundaries and family belonging in both axes is crucial from a clinical point of view. DMD is specifically designed to address the theme of “who is absent” and illustrates the ways in which the subject deals with the loss or distancing of emotionally significant elements. The theoretical assumptions of DMD combined with 20 years of experience in its clinical use and application to qualitative research have led to the construction of a theoretical-methodological “Biaxial model”. This model offers a space-related metaphor that makes explicit both a theoretical hypothesis about structurally complex family situations and a methodological way to read the verbal and graphic indicators noted during clinical or research interviews with the subject. The number of complex family situations is significantly increasing nowadays. There are blended families due to rising divorce rates; more medically assisted procreation fa

Il compito evolutivo della transizione all’età adulta è quello di passare da una condizione di dipendenza dai genitori, nella quale le relazioni tra genitori e figli sono caratterizzate da verticalità e asimmetria, a una condizione in cui le relazioni familiari diventano maggiormente simmetriche, favorendo l’indipendenza del giovane. Nel lungo percorso di transizione all’età adulta, la famiglia si trova a dover assumere una prospettiva generativa che promuova nel giovane la progettazione di una propria famiglia insieme ad un sempre maggior protagonismo nella sfera lavorativa e/o di impegno sociale. L’obiettivo del presente contributo è, a partire da dati di ricerca italiani e internazionali, di evidenziare come la famiglia costituisca risorsa considerando sia il sistema familiare nel suo complesso, in termini di processi familiari, sia considerando lo scambio relazionale, in termini di sostegno emotivo o finanziario.

Parents play a key role in young athletes’ sport experience. In particular, parents’ sport goals for children may influence young athletes’ morally relevant sport behaviors. The present study involves 172 Italian adolescents (female = 51.7%; age M = 15.41, SD = 1.73) practicing team sports and analyzed whether and the extent to which parents’ sport socialization values, those values adolescents perceived their parents wanted them to endorse (i.e., moral, competence, status values), were associated with young athletes’ antisocial behaviors towards teammates and opponents. Adolescents’ perceptions of the prominent motivational climate (i.e., mastery and performance) within their team were also considered. Participants were asked to fill out questionnaires, including the Youth Sport Values Questionnaire-2, adapted to measure adolescents’ perceptions of parental socialization values, the Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire and the Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior in Sport Scale. The results of multiple linear regression analysis and relative weight analysis showed that mastery motivational climate, as protective factor, and mothers’ status values, as risk factor, were the most important variables in predicting adolescents’ antisocial behavior towards teammates. As far as adolescents’ antisocial behavior towards opponents was concerned, performance motivational climate and mothers’ status values were the most relevant predictors: the more adolescents perceived their coaches and mothers as giving importance to performance and status, the higher was the frequency of their antisocial behavior in sport. Implications and further developments of the study are discussed.

Il disimpegno morale costituisce un significativo fattore di rischio individuale per lo sviluppo e l'adattamento in adolescenza, come ampiamente dimostrato in letteratura. Questo lavoro si focalizza sulla relazione tra disimpegno morale e comportamenti trasgressivi in un gruppo di 308 adolescenti italiani, di età compresa tra i 14 e i 19 anni, con lo scopo di verificare se tale relazione sia moderata dall'alessitimia. I risultati hanno evidenziato significative differenze di genere e di età sia rispetto al disimpegno morale che all'alessitimia. Essi hanno inoltre mostrato una relazione tra disimpegno morale e trasgressione, moderata dalla difficoltà a identificare le emozioni., Moral disengagement is an individual risk factor for the development and adjustment during adolescence, as widely demonstrated in the literature. This study focused on the relation between moral disengagement and transgressive behaviors in a group of 308 Italian adolescents (14-19 years old) and it aimed at verifying whether alexithymia moderates this relation. The findings highlighted significant gender and age differences both in moral disengagement and alexithymia. Besides, results showed a significant relation between moral disengagement and transgressive behaviors moderated by the difficulty in identifying emotions.

Teachers' personal values drive their goals and behaviors at school. Moreover, values can support subjective well-being and an individual sense of self-efficacy. Teachers' self-efficacy, namely teachers' beliefs in their ability to effectively handle the tasks, obligations, and challenges related to their professional activity, plays a key role in influencing important academic outcomes (e.g., students' achievement and motivation) and well-being in the working environment. Based on Schwartz's well-known theory of human values, this study sought to examine the relations between teachers' values (i.e., conservation, openness to change, self-transcendence, and self-enhancement) and their self-efficacy. In particular, it aimed at analyzing the extent to which these relations are moderated by teachers' controlled and autonomous motivations for teaching. Two hundred and twenty-seven Italian high school teachers (73.6% females; M = 44.77 years, SD = 10.56) were involved in the study and asked to complete a self-report questionnaire. Results showed that teachers' conservation values were positively associated to sense of self-efficacy regardless of the type and level of motivation for teaching. More interestingly, the relationships between openness to change and self-efficacy on the one hand, and self-transcendence and self-efficacy on the other, varied depending on teachers' motivations. These relations were stronger when teachers perceived less external pressure and felt to be self-determined toward teaching. Implications of these results for teachers' practices and well-being in their work environment and further developments of the study are discussed.

Objectives: The increased use of Internet in the last decade has led to problematic behaviour that can affect people’s individual and social functioning, especially among younger individuals. This study aimed to explore the relation between problematic Internet use (PIU), attachment style, and perception of family functioning in adolescence. Methods: Participants were 306 Italian adolescents (62.7% females and 37.3% males) aged from 15 to 18 years (M = 16.07, SD = 0.91). Participants completed the following measures: the Young’s Internet Addiction Test (Y-IAT), the Relationship Questionnaire (RQ), and the Family Assessment Device (FAD). Results: The results of regression and relative weight analyses showed that family functioning and attachment styles were important predictors of adolescent PIU. In particular, a greater perception of family members as being interested in and placing value on each other’s activities and concerns (i.e., affective involvement) and a greater perception that tasks were clearly and equitably assigned to family members (i.e., roles) were associated with less PIU. In contrast, a greater anxious-preoccupied attachment was associated with a greater risk of PIU. Conclusions: In line with these results, it would be recommendable the development of family-focused prevention programs for all adolescents at risk of PIU before they develop a full Internet addiction. Further research on this topic is needed to develop a specific, autonomous, and comprehensive diagnostic process for PIU to avoid conceptual and treatment overlap between PIU and other kinds of addictive behaviors.

Parenting stress has a crucial influence on the parent-child relationship, the functioning of the family, and the development of children. Few studies have examined parenting stress in adoptive families during early parenthood, and fewer still have considered this issue in association with the quality of both couple and social relationships. The current study was intended to investigate predictors of parenting stress in a community sample of 56 adoptive parents from Italy, for a total of 112 participants. Our goals were to: 1) evaluate parenting stress among adoptive parents during the first post-adoption year, and 2) identify whether and to what extent parenting stress can be predicted by certain characteristics of the child (gender, age at adoption, years of institutionalisation, presence/absence of disease on arrival, emotional and behavioural difficulties), of parents’ individual well-being (e.g., the presence of depressive symptoms), of relationships within the couple (sexual satisfaction, tenderness between partners, quarrelling) and with the social context (real and potential social support). In the analyses parents’ gender effect and intercorrelations between the partners were taken into account. Results of multiple regression analysis and relative weight analysis highlighted the great importance of children’s age at adoption and their emotional and behavioural difficulties in predicting both mothers’ and fathers’ stress, but also the contribution of the couple relationship quality as a protective factor that could reduce the level of parenting stress.

Il contributo restituisce i principali risultati di un approfondimento internazionale, realizzato nel 2017 nell'ambito del Rapporto Giovani dell'Istituto Toniolo, su Millennials e violenza, con particolare riferimento all'Hate speech online. L'indagine prende il nome di "EU Young Online" in quanto riprende alcuni items dell'indagine "EU Kids Online".

In una indagine ad hoc sono state comparate le visioni che in cinque paesi - Italia, Spagna, Francia, Germania e Regno Unito – i giovani hanno della scuola, dei sui valori e delle sfide che deve affrontare. La maggioranza dei giovani europei intervistati si trova d’accordo nel domandare alla scuola una maggiore flessibilità curricolare, un innalzamento della valorizzazione delle nuove tecnologie, una maggiore apertura verso le realtà lavorative e sociali. Questa posizione è rimarcata con maggiore enfasi dai giovani di quei Paesi, come l’Italia e la Spagna, i cui processi di transizione alla vita adulta sono più difficoltosi mentre le richieste di cambiamento sono più contenute tra i giovani tedeschi e inglesi con sistemi economici più dinamici e politiche attive del lavoro più sviluppate. In questa chiave possono essere interpretati anche gli apprezzamenti e le critiche mossi al corpo insegnanti della secondaria superiore: la maggior parte dei giovani riconosce loro un’adeguata conoscenza dei contenuti e delle modalità didattiche con cui li trasmettono. Tuttavia gli intervistati non ritengono abbastanza diffuse competenze quali la versatilità, la capacità di adattamento ai cambiamenti, la capacità di gestione delle situazioni impreviste e decentrare il punto di vista, tutte doti indispensabili per accompagnare i processi di apprendimento in fasi di cambiamento che travalicano i confini delle discipline e delle aule scolastiche. Sono i giovani tedeschi e quelli francesi ad avere espresso la valutazione maggiormente positiva. I più severi nei confronti degli insegnanti sono proprio i giovani italiani, che attraverso le loro risposte ci restituiscono un giudizio tendenzialmente positivo, ma che impallidisce se messo a confronto con quanto espresso dai loro coetanei di altri Paesi. La questione dell’apertura, interazione, sinergia tra sistema formativo e mondo del lavoro ritorna anche nell’approfondimento svolto sull’orientamento. In Italia e Spagna, dove i

This study focused on parents’ motivations to transmit values to their adolescent children. According to Self-Determination Theory, controlled motivations (i.e., external and introjected) – which refer to doing something because it leads to approval or rewards – and autonomous motivations (i.e., identified and integrated) – which refer to doing something because it is perceived as inherently worthy – were examined. Three hundred and twenty-five Italian parental couples, with one child aged between 14 and 18 years, filled out a self-report questionnaire. Results showed that in value transmission both parents were primarily moved by autonomous motivations, although for fathers, external motivations were more important than for mothers. Both paternal and maternal motivations resulted to be related with the values parents would like their children to endorse. In particular, the more parents felt volitional in transmitting values, the more they gave importance to self-transcendence in their children’s socialization; the more parents were guided by controlled motivations, the more they would like their children to endorse conservation values. Implications of this research and its possible developments are discussed.

Il presente contributo intende far emergere quanto la vena generativa del modello relazionale-simbolico ci abbia guidato nella lettura dei cambiamenti sociali cui è andato incontro il legame genitoriale, come abbia orientato il nostro fare ricerca e, riscoprendosi sempre attuale, abbia aperto nuovi e stimolanti interrogativi e piste di studio e di incontro con la famiglia. Nello specifico, il capitolo intende focalizzarsi sul tema della genitorialità intesa come una delle manifestazioni della generatività. In particolare, a partire dalla considerazione delle diverse forme di generatività biologica, parentale e sociale (Snarey, 1993), saranno messi a tema alcuni aspetti legati alla genitorialità, quali la condivisione della responsabilità genitoriale tra i due genitori, la condivisione – simbolica – della genitorialità tra genitori affidatari/adottivi e genitori biologici, la condivisione della cura tra generazioni all’interno della famiglia e la trasmissione intergenerazionale dei valori, la condivisione della responsabilità tra genitori e altri adulti significativi (professori/educatori/istruttori sportivi). Saranno in particolare approfondite alcune forme peculiari di genitorialità, quali l’esperienza di affido e di adozione, che saranno trattate con particolare riferimento alla generatività sociale. Se la genitorialità, infatti, è sempre chiamata a travalicare i confini del nucleo familiare e a svilupparsi, nel tempo, in una dimensione sociale, gli istituti dell’adozione e dell’affido si fondano per intrinseca natura su una profonda e reciproca connessione tra famiglia e sociale: saranno quindi analizzati sia dal punto di vista delle ricerche che delle implicazioni pratiche in quanto progetti generativi con una connaturata valenza sociale.

The BaBar Silicon Vertex Tracker (SVT) is a five layer device, made from double-sided silicon strip detectors and read out via a custom time-over-threshold circuit, the AToM chip. The SVT is an essential part of the physics program of BaBar, and is able to reconstruct B meson decay vertices with a precision sufficient to measure time-dependent CP violating asymmetries at the PEP-II asymmetric e+e- collider. This report will give an overview of the SVT, with particular focus on the performance of the SVT, which has been taking colliding beam data since May 1999.

The BaBar Silicon Vertex Tracker (SVT) is designed to provide the high-precision vertexing necessary for making measurements of CP violation at the SLAC B-Factory PEP-II. The instrument consists of five layers of double-sided silicon strip detectors and has been installed in the BaBar experiment and taking colliding beam data since May 1999. An overview of the design as well as performance and experience from the initial running will be presented.