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Positive developmental outcomes among youth living in poverty have rarely been studied. Despite numerous risk factors, it is important to understand the factors that contribute to positive developmental outcomes among youth in poverty. Using the Self-Determination Theory framework, this two-wave longitudinal study investigated the contribution of basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness to positive developmental outcomes of prosocial behavior and positive affect among 225 youth living in poverty in Italy. Results suggest that overall, prosocial behavior was positively predicted by autonomy, while positive affect was positively predicted by competence. Moderator analyses showed that the satisfaction of the need of relatedness predicted prosociality for girls and immigrants. For girls, the fulfilling of this need also predicted positive affect. The importance of each psychological need to different positive outcomes was shaped by adolescents' economic condition, immigrant background, and gender. The implications for further research and practices are discussed.

The present study investigated the effects of leisure activities and online peer relationships on the development of psychological difficulties in adolescents during the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy. Data were collected in April and May 2020. The parents of 1,020 Italian adolescents aged 14-18 (51.9% girls) completed questionnaires about the experiences and behaviors of their children before and during the lockdown. A moderation regression analysis was applied to test the research hypotheses. The findings indicated that adolescents who were more active in sports and social activities prior to the COVID-19 pandemic showed greater psychological distress during the lockdown. Moreover, increased reading, game playing, and exercise during the lockdown effectively compensated for the interruption of pre-pandemic sports and social activities, and represented a protective factor for adolescents' mental health. Finally, increased online contact with peers during the lockdown protected against the development of psychological difficulties, regardless of adolescents' engagement in sports and social activities prior to the pandemic. The findings provide new and useful information about the role of leisure activities and online contact with peers in protecting against psychological difficulties in adolescents, especially during situations of isolation and social distancing, as in the COVID-19 national lockdown., Author(s): Anna Di Norcia [sup.1] , Chiara Mascaro [sup.1] , Dora Bianchi [sup.1] , Giordana Szpunar [sup.1] , Eleonora Cannoni [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) https://ror.org/02be6w209, grid.7841.a, Department of Social and [...]

The present study, based on data concerning 2328 immigrant children attending a representative sample of 561 schools, investigates the impact of various group, family and individual characteristics as well as proficiency in the national language on acceptance and friendship among classmates, while controlling for measurement errors by means of a structural equation modelling approach. As regards group characteristics, the results indicate that only immigrant density in the classroom has a positive impact on social inclusion, which seems to be limited to peer acceptance. As regards family and individual characteristics, low-SES and female immigrants appear to be doubly vulnerable in class, which specifically affects their friendships. One of our main findings is that proficiency in the national language predicts the social inclusion of immigrant children, while controlling for all the other variables considered. A moderation analysis reveals that this factor also applies to second-generation immigrants. In conclusion, we suggest that interventions aiming to facilitate the social inclusion of immigrant children should take into account the fact that proficiency in the national language appears to be much more important than group, family and individual characteristics, and that low-SES and female immigrants require particular attention, since they are doubly vulnerable.

Background: Very-low-income students are a population at a high risk of perpetrating and suffering bullying at school, and at the same time the peer group at school is often one of the few sources of support for these minors. Objective: This two-wave study is aimed to disambiguate the two different roles of peer acceptance and friendship on bullying and victimization in very-low-income adolescents, exploring the possible differential role of immigrant background. Method: An online survey was administered to 249 early to late adolescents living below the poverty threshold (M[subscript age] = 12.76; SD[subscript age] = 2.34; 41.8% girls; 19.3% immigrants). A multivariate regression model with multi-group analyses was applied. Results: Our results indicated that peer friendship was a protective factor against bullying as well as victimization, whilst peer acceptance was not protective. Only for natives (but not for immigrants), a high level of peer acceptance was a risk factor for bullying, and low school achievement was a risk factor for victimization. The persistence of victimization over time was significantly stronger for immigrants than for natives. Conclusions: The study provides new insights for the unique protective role of classmates' friendship in natives and immigrants, while acceptance appeared to be less relevant. Research and applied implications are discussed.

According to the triangular love theory, this study investigated the roles of three components of love (i.e., passion, intimacy, commitment) and the moderating role of conflicts in predicting different forms of sexting (i.e., experimental, nonconsensual, under pressure) in teen dating relationships. Participants were 409 adolescents (M[subscript age] = 17.20, SD[subscript age] = 1.61; 62.6% girls) who completed an online questionnaire. Three moderated regressions were performed. Conflicts positively predicted all forms of sexting. Passion positively predicted experimental sexting. Intimacy negatively predicted experimental and nonconsensual sexting, and positively predicted sexting under pressure. Three interaction effects emerged, pointing out the moderating role of conflicts. Passion positively predicted nonconsensual sexting in the presence of high conflicts, while this relationship became negative when conflicts were low. Commitment negatively predicted nonconsensual sexting and sexting under pressure in the presence of high conflicts, but these relationships were not significant when conflicts were low. Research and applicative implications are discussed.

The psychological well-being at school of immigrant students living in poverty is currently an understudied topic in developmental psychology. This is an important shortcoming because this population, which is rapidly increasing in many western countries, is in a double minority condition and has a greater risk of experiencing psychological distress at school, in comparison with their native peers. In order to improve our understanding on this issue, the present two-wave study investigated the prospective relationships between peer acceptance and two aspects of well-being at school--intention to drop out of school and negative self-esteem--specifically focusing on the differential effect of having (vs. not having) an immigrant background. The participants were 249 preadolescents and adolescents living in poverty (M[subscript age] = 12.76; SD[subscript age] = 2.34; 41.8% girls; 19.3% immigrants) who were attending educational centres for disadvantaged minors. The poverty status of the participants was an inclusion criterion. A multilinear regression model with multigroup analysis was tested. As expected, the results showed that peer acceptance had a significant negative association with school dropout intentions and negative self-esteem only for immigrants, but not for natives. For immigrant students, the protective effect of peer acceptance was comparable to the stability over time of dropout intention and self-esteem, a result that has promising implications for prevention programs. The applied implications of the study for educational and clinical contexts are discussed.

Moral Disengagement (MD) has been found to be related to higher levels of different aggressive and bullying behaviours. Although some studies found that it plays an important role in cyberbullying too, results in this field are still puzzling and the association between MD and cyberbullying is still unclear. Therefore, this systematic review was aimed at examining evidence of the association between MD and cyberbullying. We analysed 41 studies, seeking to clarify how cyberbullying perpetrating, and active and passive bystanding behaviours are associated with MD mechanisms, and how the association among these processes may vary depending on the methods of measurement chosen. Taken together, the results confirm that positive associations among MD and both cyberbullying perpetrating and passive bystanding behaviours are significant, even after the roles of moderating variables are accounted for. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for future research and intervention.

Background: Social anxiety is negatively related to peer communication quality during adolescence, with detrimental consequences for social functioning. However, the research about the factors that may moderate this relationship is still limited, and no studies have yet explored the possible interaction role of empathy systems. Objective: The study investigated the effects of social anxiety and empathy dimensions on peer communication quality in adolescent boys and girls. A three-way interaction between social avoidance, empathic concern and perspective taking was hypothesized. Method: Participants were 372 Italian adolescents (M[subscript age]=16.4; SD[subscript age]=1.56; age range 15-20; 189 boys and 183 girls). Self-report questionnaires administered at school assessed: fear of negative evaluations, general social avoidance, avoidance of new social situations, empathic concern, perspective taking and peer communication quality. Results: For girls, empathic concern and general social avoidance were significantly related to peer communication quality. Conversely for boys, we found significant associations for perspective taking, general social avoidance and avoidance of new situations, and a three-way interaction involving general social avoidance, empathic concern and perspective taking. In presence of low perspective taking and high empathic concern, social avoidance was negatively related to peer communication quality in boys. Conversely, for high levels of perspective taking and high versus low empathic concern, the same relationship was not significant. Conclusions: A specific dysfunctional pattern of empathy--low perspective taking and high empathic concern--significantly enhanced the negative relationship between social avoidance and peer communication quality in boys, suggesting that these adolescents are at risk in social functioning.

Studies have shown a significant association between effective parasympathetic modulation of the heart and processes linked to social cognition. Particularly, Quintana and colleagues documented a relation between vagally‐mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) and performance on a theory of mind (ToM) task, namely, the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET), in a sample of university students. The purpose of the present study was to test whether such result would extend to a sample of school‐aged children (7–9 years old) using the child version of the RMET. In addition, the Eyes Test Revised was administered as it is more suitable to evaluate ToM during childhood. Results supported the positive association between vmHRV and ToM abilities, replicating and extending previous results obtained in young adults. The current study adds to the existing literature pointing to HRV as a putative biomarker of social cognition abilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexting is the exchange of sexually suggestive contents via Internet, Smartphone, and Social Networking Websites. Recently, the research on sexting motivations increased in order to distinguish between experimental and aggravated sexting. This study investigated individual correlates of three sexting motivations: sexual purposes, instrumental/aggravated reasons, and body image reinforcement. The study involved 488 adolescents and young adults aged from 14 to 30 years. Sexual purposes and body image reinforcement were the most commonly reported motivations for sexting. Boys reported more instrumental/aggravated reasons, and sexual minorities reported more sexual purposes and body image reinforcement. Sexual purposes increased with age, while body image reinforcement showed a quadratic trend, increasing from adolescence to early young adulthood, and decreasing from early to late young adulthood. Finally, participants who have already had first sex reported more sexual purposes. Research, clinical and educational implications are discussed., Author(s): Dora Bianchi [sup.1] , Mara Morelli [sup.2] , Roberto Baiocco [sup.1] , Antonio Chirumbolo [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.7841.a, Department of Developmental & Social Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, [...]

Online exchange of sexual content ("sexting") is associated with potentially negative consequences, especially for girls. We investigated possible associations between family functioning and girls' sexting. Italian teenage girls (N = 250; M[subscript age] = 16.36 years; SD[subscript age] = 1.88) completed online surveys that evaluated family functioning (communication, flexibility, cohesion, disengagement, chaos, enmeshment, and rigidity) and five sexting behaviors: (a) engaging in sexting, (b) sexting with a partner, (c) number of people with whom girls share sexts, (d) nonconsensual forwarding of sexts, and (e) sexting for emotion regulation. We found that engaging in sexting, sexting for emotion regulation, and the number of people with whom girls share sexts were predicted by age and low family communication. Sexting with a partner was predicted by age and high flexibility, and nonconsensual forwarding of sexts was positively predicted by enmeshment.

Stemming on the theoretical framework of individualism-collectivism, this study aims to interpret COVID-19 prevention behaviors in young adults in the light of cultural orientations, hypothesizing the mediating role of two pandemic affects (i.e., fear for COVID-19 consequences and psychological distress during pandemic). Participants were 296 young adults living in Italy (Mage = 23.96, SDage = 3.04; 79.7% women), who completed an online anonymous survey. Data were gathered from December 2020 to May 2021. A path analysis model explored direct and indirect relationships among study variables. Psychological distress significantly reduced the compliance with prevention measures, whereas pandemic fears increased it. The collectivistic orientations (Vertical Collectivism and Horizontal Collectivism) positively predicted prevention behaviors via increasing pandemic fears. The egalitarian dimensions (Horizontal Individualism and Horizontal Collectivism) were positive predictors of compliance via reducing psychological distress during pandemic. Finally, Vertical Individualism was a risk factor that negatively predicted prevention behaviors both directly and indirectly, via increasing psychological distress. The results provide new insights into the emotional mechanisms that link individualism and collectivism orientations to COVID-19 prevention behaviors, with interesting implications for public health policies, prevention, and future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food and alcohol disturbance (FAD) represents a phenomenon characterized by a range of dysfunctional eating behaviors individuals engage in when they plan to drink alcohol in order to compensate for alcohol-related calories. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between FAD and coping styles among young adults. The sample was composed of 379 young adults (274 females and 105 males) with ages ranging from 18 to 30 years who completed a survey online of self-report measures assessing FAD,alcohol misuse, compensatory behaviors and coping styles. FAD was positively correlated with alcohol misuse, fasting, use of laxatives and avoidance strategies and negatively correlated with turning to religion. Results from the hierarchical regression analysis indicated that alcohol misuse and avoidance strategies positively predicted FAD, while turning to religion was a negative predictor. Our study highlighted that the use of strategies focused on avoiding distress arising from stressful situations may be a risk factor for engaging in FAD; conversely, turning to religion in times of difficult life circumstances seem to protect against FAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]