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During the last decades, language sciences have experienced a notable development that has resulted in a deeper understanding of what language is and how it is put into use for fulfilling different functions. Accordingly, we have gained a clearer view of language within the infrastructure of human cognition, including how it is processed by the brain, how it is impaired in people with pathological conditions, how it is acquired by the child, or how it evolved in our species, to name a few. Likewise, we have also made substantial progress in understanding the principles that govern human interaction through language, as observed in daily conversations, but also in many other speech events. Additionally, we nowhave comprehensive descriptions of thousands of language varieties across the world, from languages to sociolects to registers to styles, as well as detailed characterizations of the physical and sociocultural factors that contribute to regulating such linguistic diversity. Overall, this has notably improved our comprehension of the causes of linguistic diversity, and ultimately, the position of language(s) within human behavior. Methodologically, we nowusemoresophisticated tools and procedures for analyzing language at all levels, which has resulted in richer data about language facts, and ultimately, in more robust theories about language. Finally, we have also made a significant effort at translating all these discoveries to society, which has crystallized in e.g., better speech therapies aimed to help people with language disorders or more accurate language policies intended to regulate language use in complex, multilingual societies.

1. Le fonti di bias nel ragionamento giudiziario. – 2. Gestire i limiti cognitivi. – 2.1 Limiti nell’elaborazione di informazioni. – 2.1 Interferenze da fattori psicofisiologici e loro gestione. – 3. Gestire i limiti metacognitivi. – 4. Gestire i processi decisionali. – 5. Conclusione.

This chapter focuses on factors that facilitate community based projects for providing effective and sustainable responses to the challenges faced by young people Not in Employment, Education, or Training (NEETs) in rural areas and more specifically to promote their quality of life and social inclusion. In line with Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model (1977, 1979) and considering community based projects as part of the exosystem, we aim to identify the barriers and constraints faced by projects targeting young NEETs in rural areas. As part of the collaborative research developed by the members of the "WG1 Rural NEETs Social Networks and Social Inclusion" of the Rural NEET Youth Network, we identified five promising community based projects in Portugal, Italy, Sweden, North Macedonia, and Lithuania and conducted semistructured interviews with the project coordinators. Our analysis showed that the identified projects take into account the different levels of the bioecological model and the need to involve how young people and local communities. Both these factors are crucial for their success and sustainability over time.

Il capitolo esplora il significato della sostenibilità per le nuove generazioni e analizza come i giovani traducano tali concetti in comportamenti quotidiani. Verrà presentata l’analisi dei dati dell’Indagine sull’impegno in comportamenti sostenibili dei giovani italiani progettata in collaborazione con il Corriere della Sera e condotta da Ipsos per l’Istituto Giuseppe Toniolo. Lo scopo della ricerca, che ha coinvolto 2595 partecipanti rappresentativi della popolazione italiana, di cui 602 adolescenti (14-17 anni) e 1993 giovani adulti (18-34 anni), era quello di indagare i significati attribuiti dai giovani alla sostenibilità e la loro effettiva pratica di comportamenti sostenibili. In particolare, vengono esplorate le differenze legate all'età, al genere e al grado di urbanizzazione del luogo di residenza. I risultati rivelano differenze significative tra le due fasce d’età e la tipologia di urbanizzazione dei luoghi di vita. I risultati qui presentati ampliano la comprensione delle dinamiche dello sviluppo sostenibile, offrendo insight sulle sfumature di atteggiamenti e comportamenti giovanili. La ricerca si conclude con alcune riflessioni che delineano possibili strade per sostenere nel tempo l’impegno giovanile verso la sostenibilità, suggerendo anche direzioni per ricerche future.

The process of value transmission between parents and children is unanimously considered the hallmark of successful socialization. The outcomes of value transmission have been often solely measured in terms of parent–child value similarity, thus assuming that the higher is the parent–child value similarity, the more successful is the value transmission. The present study highlighted the dialectical nature of the intergenerational transmission of values and aimed at developing a different perspective on this process by introducing the concept of value “continuity.” This term etymologically means “hang together” and entails a flow and a progression across generations. The study involved 325 Italian mother–adolescent dyads, who were asked to fill in a self-report questionnaire. Results showed the importance of considering children’s autonomous motivations in accepting or rejecting their parents’ values to find more comprehensive meanings of parent–child value similarities and differences. Implications of the findings and future research developments are discussed.

1. Premessa: temi e metodo. – 2. Elaborazione euristica versus sistematica. – 3. Euristiche e bias. – 4. Selezione di cause. – 5. Attribuzione di responsabilità. – 6. Causalità e responsabilità nelle valutazioni da parte di magistrati e studenti. – 7. Conclusioni.

Quante volte abbiamo la possibilità di fermarci a riflettere sui processi di ragionamento, le emozioni e le motivazioni che entrano in gioco nella nostra attività lavorativa? Una riflessione su questo tema spesso può risultare difficile, anche perché in molti casi queste dimensioni psicologiche intervengono nella nostra attività in maniera inconsapevole. E tuttavia ciò che è inconsapevole può, almeno in parte, tornare nell’ambito della consapevolezza e divenire oggetto della nostra riflessione. Ad esempio, a volte ci chiediamo se e come sia possibile cambiare qualcuna delle nostre abitudini, visto che, essendo appunto tali, tendono ad attivarsi in modo automatico e poco controllabile da parte nostra. La risposta è sì, è possibile cambiare un’abitudine, nel senso che molto di ciò che è (o è divenuto) automatico e inconsapevole può tornare ad essere controllato e consapevole attraverso un processo di metacognizione e di riflessione su sé stessi. E indubbiamente a volte vale la pena impegnarsi in un processo di riflessione per arrivare ad acquisire maggiore padronanza su ciò che pensiamo, sentiamo e facciamo, e per sviluppare anche la possibilità di attivare un processo di cambiamento, nel caso lo ritenessimo opportuno.

The Covid-19 pandemic created unprecedented pressure to accelerate public employment services (PES) digitalisation across Europe. In fact, there is now a considerable amount of funding dedicated to that goal in broadband policy packages, such as the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism. This pressure for digitalizing PES presumes that its benefits outweigh the existing risks, regardless of citizens’ singularities, such as vulnerable young people going through the school-to-work transition. Bearing that in mind, and following a bioecological model framework, our article addresses two main goals. Firstly, based on a targeted literature review, we detail the challenges and possibilities posed by PES digitalisation for vulnerable young people in EU countries, which have been widely overlooked in the literature. We specifically argue that despite several practical advantages (e.g., releasing staff from time-consuming administrative tasks), PES digitalisation will only be beneficial for vulnerable young people if three interrelated challenges are taken into account: nurturing trust in institutions and digital tools, supporting digital transformation of PES institutional organization, and adopting a co-design lens for PES digitalisation. Secondly, using a knowledge integration approach, we describe a model for assessing PES capacity to digitally support rural young people not in employment, education, or training to enter the labour market. We conclude that the overemphasis on the expected advances of overall PES digitalisation must be followed by thoughtful consideration of PES digitalisation processes to ensure EU social inclusion targets for the younger generations.

Trait gratitude is an individual characteristic that makes people aware of the positive aspects of their lives and situations, and it represents a significant resource when facing critical life transitions. However, only a few studies have investigated which factors might promote gratitude. This study sought to fill this gap by analyzing the relationship between personal values and trait gratitude in a group of young adults with divorced parents compared to peers with married parents. One hundred and twenty-three Italian young adults (44.7% from divorced families) completed the Portrait Values Questionnaire-21 and the Gratitude Teen Survey. Results showed that conservation and self-transcendence values were positively related to gratitude for both groups. In contrast, self-enhancement values were positively associated with gratitude only among young adults with divorced parents. Limitations of the study, practical implications, and future research developments are discussed.

Populism is on the rise across liberal democracies. The sociopsychological underpinnings of this increasing endorsement of populist ideology should be uncovered. In an online cross-sectional survey study among adult samples from five countries (Chile, France, Italy, Romania, and the United Kingdom; N = 9,105), we aimed to replicate an economic distress pattern in which relative deprivation and identity threat are associated with populism. We further tested a cultural backlash pattern-including perceived anomie, collective narcissism, and identity threat as predictors of populism. Multigroup structural equation models supported both economic distress and cultural backlash paths as predictors of populist thin ideology endorsement. In both paths, identity threat to belonging played a significant role as partial mediator. Furthermore, an integrative model showed that the two patterns were not mutually exclusive. These findings emphasize the implication of identity threat to belonging as an explanatory mediator and demonstrate the cross-national generalizability of these patterns.

Prior research on psychological empowerment has found that community participation is associated with socio-political control, which takes place when people perceive control in their socio-political contexts. However, the process by which this relationship occurs remains an understudied area for migrants. This study aims to: (a) analyze the differences in socio-political control, critical thinking, and ethnic identity according to membership in migrant community-based organizations; and (b) propose a predictive model of socio-political control. A total of 239 first-generation migrants living in northern Italy completed a questionnaire (48.4% belonged to a migrant community-based organization). Members were found to have higher levels than nonmembers in all the variables. A moderated mediation model was proposed, whereby ethnic identity was a mediator between community participation and socio-political control, and critical thinking was a negative moderator between ethnic identity and socio-political control. Practical implications for enhancing socio-political control among migrants in receiving societies are discussed.

Subjective well‐being is of paramount importance when support is offered to young individuals seeking employment and social inclusion in general. The present study looks at different dimensions of youth well‐being and the growing demands for skills to enable labour market integration. Based on survey data, this article examines the relationships between the role of public employment services in providing support and their impact on the subjective well‐being of youth. Specifically, 1,275 not in education, employment, or training (NEET) rural youths from Italy, Portugal, and Spain participated in the survey. Drawing upon Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model, the current study sets up a model which includes different factors at the micro‐, meso‐, exo‐, and macro‐system levels. The results show that non‐urban NEETs’ subjective well‐being is associated positively with public employment services availability, while the relationship with public employment services interaction and public employment services support is non‐significant. A positive and significant relationship emerged also with self‐efficacy and social support. Some recommendations for policymakers are discussed.

What distinguishes real-world communities from their online counterparts? Social and cognitive neuroscience research on social networks and collective intentionality will be used in the article to answer this question. Physical communities are born in places. And places engage "we-mode" neurobiological and cognitive processes as behavioral synchrony, shared attention, deliberate attunement, interbrain synchronization, and so on, which create coherent social networks of very different individuals who are supported by a "wisdom of crowd." Digital technologies remove physical boundaries, giving people more freedom to choose their activities and groups. At the same time, however, the lack of physical co-presence of community members significantly reduces their possibility of activating "we-mode" cognitive processes and social motivation. Because of this, unlike physical communities that allow interaction between people from varied origins and stories, digital communities are always made up of people who have the same interests and knowledge (communities of practice). This new situation disrupts the "wisdom of crowd," making the community more radical and less accurate (polarization effect), allowing influential users to wield disproportionate influence over the group's beliefs, and producing inequalities in the distribution of social capital. However, a new emergent technology-the Metaverse-has the potential to reverse this trend. Several studies have revealed that virtual and augmented reality-the major technologies underlying the Metaverse-can engage the same neurobiological and cognitive "we-mode" processes as real-world environments. If the many flaws in this technology are fixed, it might encourage people to engage in more meaningful and constructive interactions in online communities.

The main goal of the present research is to develop and validate the Perceived Economic Inequality Scale (PEIS), an instrument measuring individuals’ perceptions of economic inequality at the national level. The study was conducted on a representative sample of the Italian population (N = 1,446, 51% women). The factorial structure of the scale was assessed through cross-validated exploratory-confirmatory factor analyses. To inspect the PEIS psychometric properties, item and correlation analyses were performed. The results showed that the PEIS is a valid and reliable unidimensional measure of perceived economic inequality at the national level. Further support of the PEIS construct validity was provided by the correlation of the scale score with the perceived wage gap and ideological beliefs like the economic system justification, social dominance orientation, meritocratic beliefs, and participants’ political orientation. Crucially, multigroup confirmatory factor analysis supported configural, metric, and scalar invariances of the scale across socio-demographic groups. The PEIS allows researchers to assess the subjective component of economic inequality by also serving as a useful tool for unpacking the psychological correlates of perceived inequality.

Although studies have highlighted the role played by couple and parental relationships for children's psychosocial adjustment, especially in challenging situations, research on these two relationship domains has largely developed separately and mostly focussed on negative couple processes. However, Family Systems Theory highlights how these subsystems are interconnected, and studies inspired by this theoretical framework provide evidence of how the quality of the interparental relationship predicts the parent–child relationship. This study focussed on the association between two relational resources (dyadic coping and parent–child relationship quality) and children's emotional difficulties during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. Five hundred ninety-one Italian parents filled in an online self-report questionnaire. A path analysis model was estimated to test the mediating role of parent–child relationship quality in the association between partner positive dyadic coping and children's emotional difficulties. The findings showed both a direct effect and an indirect effect of partner positive dyadic coping on children's emotional difficulties, because parent–child relationship quality partially mediated this association. Enhancing parents' ability to cope together with stress and the quality of the parent–child relationship might contribute to decrease children's vulnerability to emotional difficulties in challenging times.

Introduction: Literature reports how LGBTQ elders often encounter perceived homophobia in healthcare settings due to professionals' lack of awareness or discomfort with their specific needs, highlighting the necessity for a contemporary systematic review to address barriers, discuss issues, and propose evidence-based solutions, given the outdated nature of existing literature from the early 2000s amidst significant social and political shifts. This systematic review aims to investigate this issue with specific objectives: (1) identify physical and cognitive health conditions, disparities, risk, and protective factors; (2) discuss existing healthcare and aging-related services; (3) identify and critically evaluate changes and interventions. Methods: A literature search was conducted in May 2023 on four databases (PsycInfo, PubMed, MedLine, and Elsevier – Scopus). Papers were included, if published after 2006, had a focus on American aging LGBTQ over the age of 60 and had a focus on physical and/or cognitive health. Only peer-reviewed papers written in English were included. After papers were selected to be included in the review according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, deductive thematic analysis was used to code papers’ contents. Results: 110 papers were included in the review. Results highlighted how LGBTQ older adults still experience health disparities and face many obstacles in accessing the healthcare system. Health services and policies addressing the unique needs of this specific population are still insufficient. Barriers such as cultural blindness, stigma, and discrimination within the medical community, along with a lack of health services tailored to their needs, significantly impact the LGBTQ elderly population, particularly those with dementia. The prevalence of heterosexual norms in medical settings and the absence of LGBTQ-friendly health programs lead to inadequate health screenings, perpetuating health disparities. This situation is worsen

Perception of domestic and extra-domestic environment plays a key role in structuring reality, representing the boundary between private and public life. COVID-19 pandemic led to changes both inside and outside domestic borders, modifying those reciprocal perceptions. The aim of this study was to assess perceptions of domestic and extra-domestic environments after the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic on a representative Italian sample, and how such perceptions were related to individuals' well-being at individual, family and social levels. Participants filled an online self-report questionnaire in July 2020. Cluster analyses were conducted on domestic and extra-domestic environment perceptions, leading to the identification of four clusters. Clusters were compared in terms of sociodemographic characteristics, and individual, family and social factors. Identified clusters report different levels of well-being at each level. The role of factors is identified, and possible implications are discussed. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

Background: Policy changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted on alcohol control. This study describes the development and application of a classification scheme to map alcohol policy changes during the first three-months of the COVID-19 pandemic in five countries and/or subnational jurisdictions. Method: A pre-registered systematic review of policy decisions from March to May 2020, in Australia/New South Wales, Canada/Ontario, Chile, Italy and the United Kingdom. One author extracted the data for each jurisdiction using a country-specific search strategy of government documents. We coded policy changes using an adapted WHO classification scheme, whether the policy was expected to tighten or loosen alcohol control, have mainly immediate or delayed impact on consumption and harm and impact the general population versus specific populations. We present descriptive statistics of policy change. Results: We developed a classification scheme with four levels. Existing policy options were insufficient to capture policy changes in alcohol availability, thus we added seventeen new sub-categories. We found 114 alcohol control policies introduced across the five jurisdictions, covering five (out of ten) WHO action areas. The majority aimed to change alcohol availability, by regulating the operation of alcohol outlets. All countries introduced closures to on-premise alcohol outlets and, except Chile, allowed off-sales via take away or home delivery. We also observed several pricing policies introducing subsidies to support the alcohol industry. Seventy-four percent of policy changes were expected to tighten alcohol control and 12.3 % to weaken control. Weakening policy changes were mostly related to retail mode switching or expansion (allowing take away or home delivery). Conclusion: Alcohol control policies during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic were targeted primarily at alcohol availability and about one tenth might weaken alcohol control. Tem

Successful identity integration processes are fundamental for the well-being of working parents during stressful circumstances. In two studies we analyzed the associations between Parent–Work Identity Integration (PWII), workload, care-load, and parents’ work problems in a sample of individual working parents in Italy (N = 326 individuals; Study 1), and those between work–life conflict, task-sharing between partners, PWII, and parents’ intention to leave their job and mental health in a sample of mixed-sex working couples with school-aged children (N = 97 couples, Study 2). Finally, we examined gender differences in all the above associations. Study 1 results showed that parents dissatisfied with care-load distribution within the couple and those with higher workload also reported more problems at work, and these effects were fully mediated by PWII. Moreover, Study 2 showed that care-load distribution is only associated with women’s PWII and, indirectly, their well-being and their intention to leave their job. Moreover, parents’ lower work-life conflict was associated with higher PWII and, in turn, to better mental health and lower intention to leave their job. The effects of work-life conflict were also found to cross-over onto the partner’s well-being. Promoting working parents’ ability to harmoniously blend their work and parental identities, in addition to balance conflicting demands between work and life, appears crucial for intervention.

Background: Little is known about bullying experienced by internationally adopted teens residing in Europe. Objectives: Within the framework of an international research effort involving several European countries, the main goal of this study was to explore the experiences of bullying victimization suffered by adopted adolescents, as well as its impact on their psychological adjustment. Methods: The sample consisted of 199 adolescents born in Eastern European countries and adopted in France (n = 50), Italy (n = 59), Norway (n = 25) and Spain (n = 65). Results: More than half of the adopted adolescents had been exposed to some form of peer victimization in the previous 2 months, with verbal harassment and social exclusion being the most common forms of victimization. Differences between receiving countries were not statistically significant, suggesting a common pattern for Eastern European adopted adolescents living in Western Europe. More frequent experiences of peer victimization were associated with more psychological difficulties among the adopted adolescents. Conclusions: Findings highlight that adopted adolescents might have considerable difficulties in social integration with peers; these experiences of peer victimization might play an important role hindering their psychosocial adjustment. The socioemotional development of adopted people is not only linked to their pre-adoptive experiences; factors in their daily lives (i.e., peer relationships) may also be associated with their psychological adjustment later in life. Interventions are needed to promote the real inclusion of these groups of children in their social and educational contexts.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the introduction of unprecedented safety measures, one of them being physical distancing recommendations. Here, we assessed whether the pandemic has led to long-term effects on two important physical distancing aspects, namely interpersonal distance preferences and interpersonal touch behaviors. We analyzed nearly 14,000 individual cases from two large, cross-cultural surveys - the first conducted 2 years prior to the pandemic and the second during a relatively stable period of a decreased infection rate in May-June 2021. Preferred interpersonal distances increased by 54% globally during the COVID-19 pandemic. This increase was observable across all types of relationships, all countries, and was more pronounced in individuals with higher self-reported vulnerability to diseases. Unexpectedly, participants reported a higher incidence of interpersonal touch behaviors during than before the pandemic. We discuss our results in the context of prosocial and self-protection motivations that potentially promote different social behaviors.

Our current understanding of adaptation in families of individuals with Down syndrome (DS) is based primarily on findings from studies focused on participants from a single country. Guided by the Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment, and Adaptation, the purpose of this cross-country investigation, which is part of a larger, mixed methods study, was twofold: (1) to compare family adaptation in 12 countries, and (2) to examine the relationships between family variables and family adaptation. The focus of this study is data collected in the 12 countries where at least 30 parents completed the survey. Descriptive statistics were generated, and mean family adaptation was modeled in terms of each predictor independently, controlling for an effect on covariates. A parsimonious composite model for mean family adaptation was adaptively generated. While there were cross-country differences, standardized family adaptation mean scores fell within the average range for all 12 countries. Key components of the guiding framework (i.e., family demands, family appraisal, family resources, and family problem-solving communication) were important predictors of family adaptation. More cross-country studies, as well as longitudinal studies, are needed to fully understand how culture and social determinants of health influence family adaptation in families of individuals with DS.

Outreaching and engaging young people who are not in education, employment, or training (i.e., NEETs) represents a significant challenge for public policies. They often belong to marginalized and disadvantaged categories and find themselves isolated with low levels of trust in the future, in their capacities of finding a job, and, above all, in institutions. Much research has emphasized how insufficient and unsuitable the strategies used so far have proved to be. However, there is a lack of clear mapping in the literature of what approaches have been suggested and addressed by the different guidelines. This study explores the strategies that a specific active labour policy uses to intercept and engage vulnerable youth and NEETs. This research employed a qualitative methodology that centres on the examination of official documents of the regional plans for the guaranteed employability of workers (Garanzia di Occupabilità dei Lavoratori). To conduct the analysis, the MAXQDA software package was utilized, and a content document analysis was implemented. Three main themes emerged from the analysis: capillarity of services, digitalization, and communication, each with its respective sub-themes. These themes provide valuable insights into the current strategies employed to engage vulnerable NEET youth, as well as other demographic categories, highlighting the potential strengths and weaknesses of these policies. The study holds the potential to contribute significantly to the development of more targeted and sustainable public policies, aiming to address the challenges faced by vulnerable NEET youth in Italy.

A myriad of factors influence young people’s vulnerability and the likelihood of becoming NEET. Moreover, the share of young NEETs in European countries is very high. Institutional and governmental initiatives aiming to promote the inclusion of young people in the labour market are of paramount importance. However, the socio‐economic conditions and the level of vulnerability alongside other socio‐demographic characteristics are likely to influence the extent to which young people ultimately engage with such programmes. The current study ascertains whether previous experience of informal work increases young people’s propensity to participate in programmes offered by public employment services, such as the Youth Guarantee Programme. Indeed, we hypothesise that the experience of working without a contract makes young people more aware and concerned about the risk of remaining trapped in a spiral of vulnerable jobs. To test this, we used data from a survey of 4,273 NEETs and focused on Italy, Portugal, and Spain. The study’s findings contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between past experience in the informal economy and engagement with the Youth Guarantee. Besides contributing to the literature, the study can also contribute to policy making and practitioners’ assessment of the relative efficacy of Youth Guarantee initiatives among different subgroups of young NEET and tailor the interventions accordingly. In other words, the outcomes of this study should signal to governments that greater efforts should be made to implement initiatives reaching out to young people, as well as acting to reduce the precariousness in job contracts, which negatively impacts their quality of life.

Identity is considered a key factor in activist engagement. In this study, we examined the self-representations of a group of young activists through the lens of the ego-ecological approach, which emphasizes the interplay of representations, attitudes, and beliefs (including stereotypes) that circulate both within groups and in the broader sociocultural environment in identity formation. 46 young activists from a variety of fields (e.g., environmental, feminist, LGBTQ+, human rights, community-based groups) completed an abbreviated version of the Multistage Investigator of Social Identity (MISI). As expected from the ego-ecological perspective, a positive image emerged when activists were referred to as the ingroup, whereas the portrait was more nuanced when activists were referred to as the internal outgroup. The overall self-representation, with the ‘dynamic subject’ as the prototype, was much more complex and articulated than the most common activist stereotypes; some stereotypical traits populated the internal space of identity, but served different functions and introduced conflicting elements. The findings of this qualitative study support the heuristic value of the interactional perspective in activist identity research and help bridge the gap between personal identity processes and collective/social identity.

Il manuale di Psicologia sociale di Myers et al. offre un panorama esaustivo della disciplina, illustrando in modo dettagliato le teorie e presentando gli esiti di esperimenti classici e ricerche contemporanee. L’obiettivo degli Autori è stato quello di realizzare un testo solido dal punto di vista scientifico, ma anche caldo dal punto di vista umano, rigoroso nella rendicontazione di ricerche e teorie, ma anche stimolante e provocatorio dal punto di vista intellettuale e culturale. I capitoli, suddivisi secondo la consolidata articolazione della psicologia sociale, offrono molti esempi di applicazione concreta della disciplina e dei suoi risultati di ricerca. In questa quarta edizione italiana, riveduta e aggiornata, sono stati inseriti i risultati di recenti ricerche, riorganizzati contenuti per renderli ancora più fruibili ed è stato aggiunto un nuovo capitolo di grande rilevanza sociale, ovvero la transizione ecologica. Anche in questa edizione, come nella precedente, nella presentazione dei contenuti e degli esempi sono stati tenuti in considerazione i 17 obiettivi di Agenda 2030. Il volume si offre come strumento di avvicinamento alla disciplina per gli studenti e le studentesse dei corsi di laurea in cui è presente un insegnamento di Psicologia sociale e anche per tutti coloro che hanno interesse e desiderio di comprendere i processi interpersonali e sociali che si verificano nella vita quotidiana delle persone nei loro ambienti di vita.

Left-wing and right-wing individuals generally present different attitudes and opinions towards various socio-political issues. For instance, right-wing (and Right-Wing Authoritarian - RWA and Social Dominant Oriented - SDO) individuals tend to support more gender and economic inequalities, be more suspicious about the environmental crisis and show higher levels of intolerance towards immigrants. In recent years, the ideological divide between the two political factions have reached extreme levels of polarisation, leaving no space for constructive discussion. However, according to some authors, the cultural war that is firing up between left-wing and right-wing people, may be in part explained by different moral values endorsed by the two political groups. Indeed, the Moral Foundations Theory (Graham et al., 2009) states that leftists rely more on the moral values aimed at preserving individuals’ rights (i.e., Care and Fairness), whereas rightists tend to rely more on the moral values aimed at protecting the in-group (i.e., Authority, Loyalty and Purity). For this reason, previous literature showed that re-framing certain issues with moral values more coherent with the target group’s morality may lead to attitude change. In the present project, five studies are presented aimed at testing the effect of the moral framing of different socio-political issues on participants’ explicit and implicit attitude change. In each study, after completing a self-reported measure of the political orientation, the RWA and SDO scales, participants watched a video (or read a text in Study 4) dealing with a specific social issue (i.e., gender inequalities in Study 1, economic inequalities in Study 2 and Study 3, environmental crisis in Study 4, and immigration in Study 5). The message was framed differently according to the manipulation condition (i.e., individualising frame, binding frame or control condition). Thereafter, participants completed some measures of explicit and implicit

In questo capitolo si intende soffermarsi sugli interventi di accompagnamento e di sostegno con le famiglie adottive e affidatarie. In particolare, l’attenzione verrà rivolta agli interventi di tipo preventivo-promozionale, volti ad arricchire e rafforzare i legami familiari.

Da marzo 2020 si sono succeduti eventi impre­vedibili, caratterizzati da forte stress, che hanno costretto famiglie, servizi e politica a trovare soluzioni a inaspettate emergenze e nuovi bi­sogni. Rileggere gli eventi a più di tre anni di distanza non serve solo a fare memoria, ma permette di comprendere che cosa si è modificato radicalmente, che cosa si è trasformato, che cosa è stato generato. Questo volume ha come filo conduttore la pandemia e il modo in cui le famiglie e i servizi l’hanno vissuta. Ogni contributo apre una finestra che consente di osservare da vicino un aspetto o una fase del ciclo di vita familiare, per capire come famiglie e servizi si siano attivati per fronteggiare le sfide poste dalla pandemia. A partire dalla conoscen­za dettagliata di ciò che hanno affrontato le famiglie e delle risorse che sono state messe in campo è possibile, infatti, andare a potenziare e sostenere le situazioni di maggiore vulnera­bilità e fragilità. Appartenenza alla famiglia e alla comunità, permeabilità della vita familiare e flessibilità nell’organizzazione delle famiglie e dei servizi sono le tre parole che sintetizzano ciò che oggi risulta essere rimasto. Il libro è arti­colato in due parti. Nella prima sono presentati contributi che, a partire da dati di ricerca, ana­lizzano quanto avvenuto e illustrano che cosa si è modificato e generato con la pandemia. Nella seconda, il mondo dei servizi e delle associazioni riflette sui cambiamenti organizzativi che sono stati necessari per poter lavorare ai tempi del COVID-19, ma anche sui nuovi bisogni delle per­sone e delle famiglie che sono stati intercettati.

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.

Davanti alla sconvolgente e inaspettata pandemia da COVID-19, è importante comprendere su quali risorse le famiglie abbiano potuto contare. Il supporto familiare è una promettente risorsa relazionale ancora poco indagata rispetto a questa complessa situazione. Attraverso un approccio longitudinale, che ha previsto una rilevazione dei dati in tre distinti momenti della pandemia (N = 4.184; 55,4% donne), il presente studio ha evidenziato la presenza di tre diversi profili per quanto concerne il supporto familiare ricevuto durante la pandemia. Emergono quindi le persone con “supporto familiare stabile”, caratterizzate da un supporto sempre nella media, le persone che hanno percepito un “supporto familiare assente”, sempre mancante in tutte le fasi della pandemia, e le persone con un “supporto familiare oscillante”, in cui il supporto è fortemente variato nelle diverse fasi. Tali profili di supporto familiare sono tra loro molto differenti per quanto concerne variabili come il senso di coerenza, la positività, il benessere, la soddisfazione familiare e la percezione di cambiamenti familiari, con un’immagine fortemente a favore delle persone con “supporto stabile”. Questi profili non si differenziano invece per quanto concerne le variabili connesse alla pandemia, come lo stress da essa generato. Vengono discusse le implicazioni operative dei risultati.

The aim of this study was to examine workers’ psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic as a function of their individual coping, dyadic coping, and work-family conflict. We also tested the moderating role of gender and culture in these associations. To achieve this aim, we run HLM analyses on data from 1521 workers cohabiting with a partner, coming from six countries (Italy, Spain, Malta, Cyprus, Greece, and Russia) characterized by various degrees of country-level individualism/collectivism. Across all six countries, findings highlighted that work-family conflict as well as the individual coping strategy social support seeking were associated with higher psychological distress for workers, while the individual coping strategy positive attitude and common dyadic coping were found to be protective against workers’ psychological distress. This latter association, moreover, was stronger in more individualistic countries.

In a society in which communication is increasingly mediated by ICTs, digital literacy, accessibility and connectivity becomes crucial, especially for young people living in rural and/or isolated environments. Promoting digital inclusion of young people in rural contexts requires, first of all, policies that promote democratisation of access and use of digital tools, in order to overcome a set of barriers, such as accessibility - investment in the acquisition of electronic equipment, such as a computer, for example, which is not always accessible to families; connectivity - many rural and remote areas still have poor internet coverage; literacy - it is necessary to provide young people with a set of skills which enable them to the use of ICTs and the internet (Ferreira & Vieira, 2020). As described above, the use of digital media presents new challenges for young people, as e-learning and social networks are transforming social relationships. Nevertheless, the use of ICT provides several advantages, such as the elimination of physical barriers, access to less costly training, or increased cooperation and communication as well as negative effects range from inequality and social exclusion (Pagani et al., 2016) to cyber-aggression (Mishna et al., 2018), technology addiction (Lachmann et al., 2018), and poorer learning and academic outcome (Hawi & Samaha, 2016). As digital natives, advanced ICT skills can give young people a competitive edge over the rest of society in terms of employment opportunities. Contemporary young people are also called Digital Natives, thus expecting them to have better digital skills than the rest of the population.These expectations, however, are illusory, or at least are limited exclusively to a small part of technology use, the more recreational one or to a relatively small sample of the youth population. In fact, there is evidence that socioeconomic factors affect the level of young people’s digital skills, thus creating a digital

Aims While technology makes it possible to achieve great results in the area of innovation, soft skills are those characteristics that enable a company to be truly competitive because they are most useful in enhancing productivity at work. Therefore, enlightened employers are looking for "talent," that is, people who, in addition to having the technical skills, have transversal and interpersonal skills called soft skills. Soft skills, concern personal qualities, attitude in the work environment and interpersonal abilities. They are, therefore, those individual inclinations that enable to understand others, including emotions and feelings. These skills are much more difficult to acquire and also to measure than the technical ones. According to this, the current abstract presents several objectives. The first is to introduce a new measurement scale (in the process of validation) that can give insights into the assessment of soft skills, tested on a representative sample. The second objective is to see how soft skills overall and their respective subscales perform in the different populations of both NEET and non-NEET and rural-urban. The last goal aims to investigate whether and how these variables may impact psychological well-being. Theoretical approach Many definitions of soft skills exist in the literature. A first distinction can be made between Self-oriented/Intrapsychic and Other-oriented/ Interpersonal skills. The first category refers to what the person must understand and develop by her/himself; the second category gathers what the person can develop by relating with other people (Cimatti 2016). This distinction can also be made in terms of Personal and Social Skills. Personal Skills mainly correspond to cognitive skills, such as knowledge and thinking skills, whilst social skills refer to relationships with other people. Let us consider some: a knowledge skill is the capability of elaborating information; a thinking skill is the ability of exercising critic

The WG1 “Rural NEETs Social Networks and Social Inclusion” focuses on the role of social networks (family, friends, neighbours, and rural communities at large) and of social inclusion processes (risk and protective factors at the rural community level) for rural NEETs quality-of-life. How are social networks organised around rural NEETs? What are their main characteristics? What are the main factors and processes at the rural community level involved in rural NEETs social inclusion? How do social networks and rural community factors contribute to rural NEETs overall quality of life? How do these networks com- pensate for the lack of inadequacy of formal/institutional support in rural areas? Those are some of the questions that guide our work and inspire our collaboration.

No previous studies have analyzed values as qualities of relational microsystems, such as the romantic couple. Based on Schwartz's Theory of Human Values, this study examines the psychometric properties of the Portrait Couple Values Questionnaire (PCVQ). It measures four couple value dimensions: conservation, openness to change, self-enhancement, and self-transcendence. Five hundred and forty-six Italian respondents (54.1% women), aged 41.52 years (SD = 7.19; range 23–63) and having a couple relationship, have filled in an anonymous online questionnaire. The results show the good psychometric properties of the PCVQ. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis Magnifying Glass Strategy shows good indexes of fit for each value dimension, except for the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) for openness to change, thus confirming that the PCVQ measures the four values with satisfactory internal consistency. The Multidimensional Scaling results, by showing a Stress-1 index of 0.07, confirm the circular structure of values because the four value dimensions are in the position predicted by Schwartz's model. Participants' personal and couple values are highly but not perfectly correlated, suggesting that couple values are a related but distinct construct compared to personal values. This study's contribution lies in introducing an innovative construct into the literature on values and couples, proposing a scale to assess it.

Men's partner-sexual objectification has been linked to increased self-objectification and diminished well-being in women. Some recent findings have also demonstrated that men's partner-sexual objectification is related to increased violence in the relationship. However, mechanisms driving this association remain unexplored. In the present research, we collected data on women and men involved in heterosexual romantic relationships and investigated the associations between men's partner-sexual objectification, women's self-objectification, and both partners' attitudes toward dating violence. Study 1 (N = 171 heterosexual couples) provided first evidence for the link between men's partner-sexual objectification and their attitudes toward dating violence. Furthermore, men's attitudes toward dating violence mediated the relationship between sexual objectification of their partners and women's attitudes toward dating violence. These results were replicated in Study 2 (N = 235 heterosexual couples). Findings of this study also revealed that, along with men's attitudes toward dating violence, women's self-objectification acted as a mediating mechanism linking experiences of being sexually objectified by the romantic partner and attitudes toward dating violence in women. Implications of our findings for the issue of dating violence are discussed.

Young people who migrate to another country, especially in the context of forced migration, must face complex and lengthy challenges. From a psychological point of view, the main challenges of migration are the re-signification of one’s identity, the re-establishment of one’s own life in the new country, and facing different social and institutional challenges as well as individual difficulties. All these challenges may constitute a threat to young migrants’ identity. Based on the Motivated Identity Construction Theory, this study aimed to explore—in a sample of refugees—the identity threats faced by forced migrants in the settlement phase and the resources most frequently activated in dealing with this sensitive phase.

Per anni l’Italia ha avuto il primato europeo per il numero di bambini che ogni anno entrano nel nostro Paese attraverso il canale dell’adozione internazionale e oggi molti di loro sono adolescenti e adulti. Ma dell’adozione cosa si sa? E quali sono gli atteggiamenti diffusi nei confronti delle persone adottate? Questo tema è particolarmente rilevante perché sappiamo dalle ricerche psicosociali che vivere in un contesto sociale discriminante ha un impatto negativo sul benessere psicologico. Al contrario, per promuovere il benessere delle persone adottate è importante che ci sia un contesto a basso livello di pregiudizio verso l'adozione, capace di riconoscere e dare valore alla differenza. È purtroppo oggi noto invece quanto le persone adottate possano soffrire a causa dell’esperienza discriminatoria di cui sono non di rado vittime. ItaliaAdozioni ha questo proposito ha messo a disposizione un video “La famiglia non è solo DNA, è sentimento.

A considerable amount of research has illustrated that negative attitudes toward one’s own aging can directly hinder mental and physical well-being or lead to maladjustment in later stages of life (Swift et al. in Social Issues Policy Rev 11(1):195–231, https://doi.org/10.1111/sipr.12031, 2017). Research so far has focused on the analysis of individual factors related to attitudes toward aging, often related to personality traits. Our study proposes and tests a model of positive contact with aging (PCA). It analyses both individual and social antecedents of attitudes towards one’s own aging, hypothesizing that individual health self-efcacy directly afects attitudes towards one’s own aging and that the quality and quantity of contact with older adults indirectly impacts on attitudes towards one’s own aging through attitudes towards older adults. The model was tested in a wide sample of the Italian population (N=753) with a varied age range. The PCA model tested showed excellent ft to the data, explaining a moderate amount of variance in attitudes toward one’s own aging (12%). This model promises to ofer implications for active policies that can improve attitudes towards one’s own aging, promoting educational strategies to increase intergenerational exchanges and foster health-related self-efcacy.

Compito evolutivo cruciale durante la fase adolescenziale è quello di definire la propria identità e di delineare un senso coerente di sé, ai quali è strettamente legata la propria autostima. L’identità è per sua natura un costrutto multidimensionale che comprende sia componenti individuali (per esempio i tratti di personalità), sia componenti sociali, legate alle appartenenze ai diversi gruppi (per esempio essere italiani, la famiglia, il gruppo sportivo, il gruppo di volontariato ecc.). Se alcune di queste sono frutto di una scelta, altre, invece, sono ascritte, come l’appartenenza familiare e quella etnica. La definizione di sé è un processo che si snoda nel tempo e mai del tutto ultimato. Per le persone adottate si configura in modo specifico e peculiare, in quanto implica un compito aggiuntivo, quello di integrare nel Sé alcuni aspetti assegnati e strettamente connessi alla storia adottiva: lo status adottivo stesso e, nei casi di adozione internazionale, l’appartenenza etnica (Grotevant, 1997). In questo capitolo approfondiremo il tema dell’identità etnica, offrendo una panoramica delle ricerche su questo tema e i risvolti operativi nell’accompagnamento delle famiglie.

Da qualche decennio è ormai chiara la consapevolezza che l’esperienza dell’adozione non si esaurisce nel momento dell’inserimento in famiglia e nelle fasi immediatamente successive, ma accompagna in modo dinamico l’intero ciclo di vita della persona e della famiglia adottiva (Brodzinsky et al., 1993). Attraverso una prospettiva evolutiva, è possibile cogliere, in base allo sviluppo della sfera cognitiva, affettiva e sociale dell’individuo, il significato e le implicazioni che l’adozione assume nelle varie fasi del ciclo di vita. Possiamo immaginare, per esempio, come il fatto di aver vissuto tale evento possa assumere pesi e significati del tutto differenti per un bambino di quattro anni, per un pre-adolescente o per un adulto. Con l’evolversi dei movimenti interni scanditi dallo sviluppo dell’individuo, e a seguito dei cambiamenti dettati dalle circostanze esterne, il tema adottivo torna ciclicamente alla luce nel corso della vita, richiedendo di essere affrontato e rielaborato più e più volte.

In questo capitolo verrà tratteggiato il panorama della letteratura nazionale e internazionale riguardante le ricerche che focalizzano l’attenzione sul fenomeno delle crisi e dei fallimenti nel percorso adottivo. Bisogna anticipare che, a oggi, il corpus delle ricerche a questo riguardo è piuttosto limitato e, soprattutto, molto lacunoso. In questa sede, il tentativo sarà quello di offrire una panoramica che permetta di orientarsi in tale fenomeno. Si cercherà di dare una definizione esaustiva di ‘crisi’ e ‘fallimento’, individuando elementi di connessione e di distinzione tra loro. Inoltre

Questo capitolo focalizza l’attenzione sugli interventi di accompagnamento e di sostegno per, o meglio, con le famiglie adottive e affidatarie. In particolare, l’attenzione sarà rivolta agli interventi di tipo preventivo- promozionale. Si tratta di un’area di intervento attualmente in espansione che mira ad arricchire e rafforzare i legami familiari.

Nel succedersi dei capitoli, l’intento è quello di affrontare a tutto tondo la molteplicità di aspetti che tali esperienze evocano e chiedono di essere trattati. Nel primo capitolo viene evidenziato il DNA comune dell’affido e dell’adozione in quanto forme di genitorialità “radicale” la cui principale finalità è la protezione dell’identità filiale descritta attraverso la declinazione delle modalità che in queste famiglie assumono i registri della genitorialità e della filiazione (biologico, accuditivo-educativo, intergenerazionale e sociale). Nel capitolo successivo l’affido e l’adozione sono presi in considerazione come specifiche transizioni familiari innescate da eventi critici che richiedono a ciascun protagonista della scena familiare risorse e capacità per far fronte alle sfide e ai compiti di sviluppo loro richiesti. Il capitolo 3 offre una disamina aggiornata sullo stato dell’arte e sulla dimensione attuale dell’adozione (nazionale e internazionale) e dell’affido mostrando come gli interventi di tutela del minore e di sostegno alle famiglie si pongano al crocevia di numerose aree disciplinari: psicologica, sociale, educativa e giuridica. L’excursus sulla normativa che disciplina questi istituti fornisce una lettura analitica e completa degli articoli di legge più rilevanti, offrendo un quadro esaustivo del complesso insieme di norme sulla materia. Il capitolo 4 è dedicato ad una rassegna dell’ampia letteratura nazionale ed internazionale sulle tematiche adottive, evidenziando gli orientamenti che hanno dominato i principali filoni di ricerca, a partire dai primi studi comparativi fino alle ricerche più recenti sui fattori genetici e neurobiologici implicati nella variabilità di adattamento all’adozione. In particolare, poi viene approfondito il tema dell’identità etnica, prendendo in considerazione le ricerche che riguardano il complesso processo di costruzione dell’identità nei casi di adozione internazionale (capitolo 5), mentre nel sesto capitolo viene pr

Introduction: Research supporting adolescent sexual health and empowerment is needed. The study investigates sexting among adolescents using the resources that characterized the Positive Youth Development Approach (PYD) and considering the impact of parental monitoring. The study aims to describe sexting among three different groups of adolescents (i.e., Non Sexters [NS], Passive Sexters [PS], and Active Sexters [AS]) considering age and sex (first aim). It also seeks to identify predictors among the PYD's resources and parental monitoring that explain the probability of falling into the sexter or the non sexter groups (second aim) as well as the probability of falling into the active or the passive sexter groups (third aim). Method: The national representative sample was composed of 1866 Italian adolescents: 980 girls and 886 boys aged between 13 and 19 years old (M = 16.26; SD = 1.49). Participants completed a questionnaire that measured sexting behavior, PYD resources, and parental monitoring scales. Chi-squared and multivariate logistic regressions were performed. Results: Almost half of the participants (46.0%) were NS, 36.2% were PS, and 17.8% were AS. Results show that sex, age, Connection, and Child Disclosure are significant predictors of sexting behavior. Conclusions: Results highlighted that sexting can be seen as a relational activity that adolescents use to establish connections as part as their sexual exploration. A parenting approach that promotes disclosure may help adolescents explore safely their sexuality and be accountable. Results also indicate that parents need to build educational alliances with schools to promote sexual health and empowerment among teenagers while preventing risk of harm.

This study tested the Politicized Identification Model of Intention to Vote as an integrated model of political participation and Self-Determination Theory to understand what motivates young people to vote and inform policy and communication efforts. Results of path analyses on survey data from a representative sample of 1,960 young Italians (age range 20 to 35 years) revealed that Participative Efficacy positively and negatively predicted internalized motivation and amotivation, respectively. In addition, Politicized Identification mediated the positive relation between the internalized motivations and Intention to vote. Lastly, amotivation negatively predicted voting intention. Civic education campaigns should promote young people’s awareness that they can contribute to society by voting (i.e., participative efficacy) and support internalized motivations to vote.