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The aim of this study was to explore children's fears. The article reports on average factor scores of a study carried out in Italy using the Fear Survey Schedule for Children (here, the 'Fear Survey'; Ollendick, 1983) with normal 6- to 10-yr.-old children (931 girls, 914 boys). Participants were 1,845 children, recruited in mainstream classrooms. Respondents were asked to complete the schedule indicating their fears and the intensity of such fears. A principal components analysis yielded a four-factor structure (1: Death and Danger, 2: Injury and Animals, 3: Failure and Criticism, 4: Fear of the Unknown). Average factor scores showed significant differences across the factors and according to sex and age. Girls reported significantly higher fearfulness than boys. Age differences were found on some factors.

Some indexes and variables of the Children's Apperception Test Evaluation Form were used to evaluate children's thematic apperception stories to Bellak's test. The protocols were scored for four indexes: (1) number of words, (2) number of characters (animals) rightly identified, (3) number of modified characters (animals), (4) number of attributions given to the characters (animals) in the stories. The form was also scored for number and types of conflicts evoked in children. Interscorer reliability coefficients were high for all the indexes and variables. The sample included 70 children ages 4.5 to 11.5 yr. The relationship between scores and age and sex was also investigated.

The authors investigated the relation between affective and cognitive processes in fantasy play and emotional understanding of 50 Italian children (25 boys and 25 girls) enrolled in regular elementary school in Northern Italy. Children were administered a standardized play task, the Affect in Play Scale, and answered questions about their understanding of emotions. Consistent, yet modest, relationships were found between dimensions of fantasy play and emotional understanding.

The Reflective Self-function Scale was originally devised by Fonagy and coworkers to assess parents' capacity to understand and reflect on the mental states of the self and others. The aim of this paper was to describe early normative data for rating the reflective self-function to the Clinical Interview for Parents During Pregnancy. The interview was administered to 112 middle-class couples living in northern Italy and expecting their first baby. Reflective self-function was rated in three areas of the interview: the expected child, the couple's relationship, and the relationship of parents-to-be with their own parents. The paper describes the rationale, rating process, and early normative data in our sample.

Exercise-mediated, brain-derived neurotrophic factor induction benefits health and cognitive functions. The multifaceted interplay between physical activity, urinary brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels and cognitive functioning has been largely neglected in previous literature. In this pilot study, two bouts of training exercise (65% and 70% of heart rate reserve) influenced urinary brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels and cognitive performances in 12 overweight and obese participants. Percent heart rate reserve, expenditure energy, brain-derived neurotrophic factor urinary levels and cognitive performances were measured before and after the exercise. No significant variations in energy expenditure were observed, while differences of heart rate reserve between two groups were maintained. Both bouts of training exercise induced a similar reduction in urinary brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels. Only visuo-spatial working memory capacity at 65% of heart rate reserve showed a significant increase. These findings indicate a consistent effect of training exercise on urinary brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels and cognitive factors in overweight and obese participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]