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Social networks have become an ubiquitous aspect of adolescents' life, providing new ways to connect and communicate with peers. However, little is known about the impact of social net-works on adolescents' emotional intelligence (EI), a crucial skill for social and identity development. The aim of the present study is to explore the time spent and reasons for using social net-works and their relationship with emotional intelligence in adolescents and young adults (15-19 years). After signing informed consent, participants completed a battery of questionnaires offered via secure online form. The results showed that teenagers spend more than 3 h/day on Whatsapp, more than 2 h/day on Instagram and less on Facebook (26m per day); girls prefer to use Whatsapp and Instagram, boys opt for Facebook. Most participants use social media when bored and/or to communicate with friends. Moreover, time spent on social media has a relationship with stress management with some aspects of EI (assertiveness, self-actualization, optimism, etc.). EI and social desirability have a significant relationship, especially in the sphere of adaptability. Based on the results obtained, future perspectives and training are suggested with the aim of adapting to the constant changes in the new technological reality.

Caregiving touch is a crucial component of natural caregiving and constitutes a protective factor with significant impact on infant neurodevelopment. Recent studies highlighted that maternal touch in early life is associated with epigenetic variation between infants. In the current paper, studies that address early caregiving touch in association with DNA methylation will be discussed, positing that mother-infant touch acts as an epigenetic protection mechanism. Understanding how maternal touch and body-to-body contact can shape the epigenome holds the potential to shed light on the mechanisms through which these early tactile experiences advance mental and physical health over the lifetime.

Social touch is closely related to the establishment and maintenance of social bonds in humans and the sensory brain circuit for gentle brushing is already active soon after birth. Brain development is known to be sexually dimorphic, but the potential effect of sex on brain activation to gentle touch remains unknown. Here, we examined brain activation to gentle skin stroking, a tactile stimulation that resembles affective/social touch, in term-born neonates. Eighteen infants aged 11-36 days, recruited from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, were included in the study. During natural sleep, soft brush strokes were applied to the skin of the right leg during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at 3cm/s velocity. We examined potential differences in brain activation between males (n = 10) and females (n = 8) and found that females had larger blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) responses (brushing vs. rest) in bilateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), right ventral striatum and bilateral inferior striatum, pons and cerebellum compared to males. Moreover, the psychophysiological interactions (PPI) analysis, setting left and right OFC as seed regions, revealed significant differences between males and females. Females exhibited stronger PPI connectivity between the left OFC and posterior cingulate/cuneus. Our work suggests that social touch neural responses are different in male and female neonates, which may have major ramifications for later brain, cognitive and social development. Finally, many of the sexually dimorphic brain responses were subcortical, not captured by surface-based neuroimaging, indicating that fMRI will be a relevant technique for future studies.

Affective touch is a crucial component of caregiving in the early life and constitutes a key factor with significant impact on infant later-life outcomes. The Parent-Infant Caregiving Touch Scale (PICTS) allows to quantify and qualify maternal touch behaviors in the first months of infant’ life. In the current study, we contributed to PICTS Italian validation and explored weather early maternal touch could be associated with maternal emotional state, maternal history of affective touch experiences throughout the lifespan, infants’ sex and age. We also explored possible associations between PICTS factor scores and COVID-19 related variables. Data analyses were run on a sample of 377 Italian mothers (Mean age = 33.29; SD = 4.79) participating in an on-line survey. Confirmatory Factor Analysis was applied. The three-dimensional structure of PICTS (i.e., Stroking, Affective Communication, Holding) dropping one item out, resulted in the best model in our sample. Maternal emotional state and COVID-19 related variables did not affect PICTS factor scores while maternal comfort and amount of affective touch experienced during adulthood resulted significantly associated with Stroking, Affective Communication, Holding factors. Regarding infants’ dimensions, infants’ sex and age did not affect PICTS factor scores. Findings suggest that PICTS Italian version is a good measurement of maternal affective touch behaviors in the early infancy and that maternal history of touch is associated with her current use of touch. This suggests that maternal history of touch may represent a key factor in the establishment of infants’ life-long socio-emotional wellbeing.

The majority of the studies underlined how adolescent and young adult (AYA) Cancer Survivors had no significant differences in their well-being and quality of life compared with a control group of healthy counterparts, although French et al. (2013) found less years of education among cancer survivors. The present study aimed at comparing AYA cancer survivors and a control group of peers who had no history of serious illness, in terms of well-being, cognitive functioning, and perceptions of life. Participants in this study were 205 AYA cancer survivors, 126 males, off therapy from a mean of 10.87 years (SD = 4.91), with a mean age of 18.96 (SD = 3.08), recruited during follow-up visits and healthy counterparts (n = 205), matched for age and gender. They all completed self-report questionnaires: Ladder of Life, BSI-18 and Cognitive problems. Paired t test evidenced significant differences between survivors (Mean = 6.19; SD = 2.07) and controls (Mean = 6.88; SD = 2.02) in perceptions of quality of life regarding 5 years before the current time [t(204) = −3.39; p = 0.001], with a lower level for childhood cancer survivors. Specifically, Hierarchical regression (R2 = 0.05, p = 0.04) identified a shorter time since the completion of treatment (β = 0.18, p = 0.03) and a trend of stem cell transplantation experience (β = −0.11, p = 0.06) as factors associated with negative perception of precedent quality of life. The AYA cancer survivors reported lower cognitive difficulties (Mean = 1.46) than controls (Mean = 1.56) [t(204) = −3.41; p = 0.001]: in memory (Meanclinical = 1.32 vs Meancontrol = 1.50) [t(204) = −4.52; p = 0.001], in concentration (Meanclinical = 1.36 vs Meancontrol = 1.54) [t(204) = −4.66; p = 0.001] and in mental organization skills (Meanclinical = 1.47 vs Meancontrol = 1.56) [t(204) = −2.56; p = 0.01], even if they had a lower educational attainment [X(9)2 = 131.28; p = 0.001]. They showed similar satisfaction with their psychological well-being and their lives as healthy counterparts, except for past life perceptions associated with the cancer period. Important recommendations for future research and clinical suggestions could be given.

Children with leukaemia experience special difficulties adapting to stressful medical procedures and to the adverse effects of chemotherapy, though they can implement their coping strategies. The aims of the study were to assess whether the coping-with-pain strategies could be influenced by a child's personal and illness factors and to render possible comparisons between children with leukaemia and healthy peers. Another aim was to compare parents' and children's reports on coping strategies.A total of 125 patients (average age = 6.79 years; SD = 3.40) with acute leukaemia (lymphocytic leukaemia 90.4% and myeloid leukaemia 9.6%) and age-matched healthy children with their parents were enrolled in the study. A socio-demographic questionnaire and the Waldon-Varni Pediatric Pain Coping Inventory, parent and self-report versions, were administered 1 month after diagnosis. Data regarding the therapy's side effects were recorded.The comparison between proxy-reports of the two groups of parents found significant differences in terms of social support, self-cognitive instructions and catastrophising strategies. Children aged 6-10 years relied more heavily on distraction than children of other ages, using more problem-solving and self-cognitive instructions. The results indicated moderate parent-child agreement.Health professionals could help paediatric leukaemic patients in adopting more efficiently pain coping strategies applicable for different ages.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to lockdown in many countries and Italy was the first one interested in Europe. The lockdown strategy is an essential step to curb the exponential rise of COVID-19 cases, but it is very demanding for the population involved and especially for children and their families. The aims of the present study are: (a) to explore the psychometric properties of the COPEWithME questionnaire, a new tool to evaluate parents' ability to support and promote child resilient behaviors, (b) to investigate the relation between parents' resilience and their ability to support and promote child resilient behaviors with child resilience and child stress-related behaviors assessed during the COVID-19 outbreak. Participants (N = 158 mothers, with 6- to 11-years-old children, 53% female), who were volunteers and anonymous, filled out an online questionnaire composed by CD-RISC 25, PMK-CYRM-R, and COPEWithME. With regard to the COPEWithME, validation exploratory factor analyses revealed a one-factor solution of 18 items. The COPEWithME positively correlates both with mothers' resilience and with children's resilience. Mediation analysis showed that the association between mothers' resilience and children's stress-related behaviors was mediated by the mothers' ability to support and promote child resilient behaviors. The COPEWithME, to our knowledge, is the first measure of parents' ability to support and promote resilient behaviors in school-age children, a key parenting skill that may help children in dealing with stressful situations such as the COVID-19 outbreak. These findings represent useful insights to advance mental health interventions in the post-pandemic phases suggesting focusing on a family's resources and resilience processes.

Very preterm (VPT) infants requiring hospitalization in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) are exposed to several stressful procedural experiences. One consequence of NICU-related stress is a birth-to-discharge increased serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4) methylation that has been associated with poorer stress regulation at 3 months of age. Maternal touch is thought to support infants’ stress response, but its role in moderating the effects of SLC6A4 methylation changes is unknown. The aim of this study was to assess the role of maternal touch in moderating the association between increased SLC6A4 methylation and stress response in 3-month-old VPT infants. Twenty-nine dyads were enrolled and at 3 months (age corrected for prematurity), participated in the Face-to-Face Still-Face paradigm to measure infants’ stress response (i.e., negative emotionality) and the amount of maternal touch (i.e., dynamic and static). Results showed that low level of maternal touch is associated with high level of negative emotionality during social stress. Furthermore, during NICU stay SLC6A4 methylation in VPT exposed to low level of maternal touch at 3 months was associated with increased negative emotionality. Thus, low levels of maternal static touch can intensify the negative effects of SLC6A4 epigenetic changes on stress response in 3-month-old VPT infants.

Background We present the work conducted to arrive at deriving behavioural indicators that could be used to guide clinical judgement in determining the presence and severity of deficits in intellectual functioning and adaptive behaviour for the purpose of making a diagnosis of disorders of intellectual development. Methods An interdisciplinary expert panel provided guidance in developing behavioural indicators for intellectual functioning. A national dataset of adaptive behaviour on a sample of individuals with a diagnosis of intellectual disability was used to develop the behavioural indicators for the adaptive behaviour. The adaptive behaviour data were analysed using a cluster analysis procedure to define the different severity groupings by chronological age groups. Results We present a series of tables containing behavioural indicators across the lifespan for intellectual functioning and adaptive behaviour, including conceptual, social and practical skills. These tables of behavioural indicators have been proposed for use in the clinical version of the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-11) to be published by the World Health Organization. Conclusions The proposed behavioural indicators for disorders of ID described in the present article and to be included in the ICD-11 Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic Guidelines are put forth to assist professionals in making an informed clinical decision regarding an individual's level of intellectual functioning and adaptive behaviour for the purpose of making a determination about the presence and severity of disorders of ID.

Although children's school success is a parental goal in most cultures, there is wide cultural variation in the qualities that parents most wish their children to develop for that purpose. A questionnaire contained forty-one child qualities was administered to 757 parents in seven cultural communities in Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the United States. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted separately within each sample and results revealed both similarities and differences across the seven samples. The factor structures showed considerable similarity: four domains of characteristics (Cognitive Qualities, Social Qualities, Negative temperament, and Good Characters) were identified in each sample as strongly influencing children's success in school. However, parents differed across the seven cultural communities in the importance they attributed to these factors. The results also reveal some culturally unique patterns in parents' concepts of the successful schoolchild; the seven samples were differentiated by distinctive associations of individual qualities around the four common domains. These results offer new insights for incorporating perspectives from other cultures into our own concepts of what qualities are most important for children's success in school, and how educators can be cognizant of differing cultural perspectives represented by the families whose children are their students.

Contains fulltext : 227081.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Recent years have witnessed increasing attention to early childhood education and care as a foundation for children's successful development in school and beyond. The great majority of children in postindustrial societies now attend preschools or daycare, making this setting a major part of their culturally constructed developmental niches. Although an extensive literature demonstrates the importance of parental involvement or engagement in their children's schools, relationships between parents and their children's preschools have received scant attention in the research literature. This paper aims to address that gap through a mixed-methods cross-cultural study of parents and preschools in four Western countries: Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and the United States. Following an introduction to national systems of preschool in each country, parents’ involvement and ideas about the family-school relationship are presented, drawing from parental diaries and from semistructured interviews (n = 110). Results indicate areas of cross-cultural similarity but also some differences, especially between the U.S. sample and the three European samples. Discussion addresses the question of how preschools and parents can work together to create optimal developmental niches for their young children. The authors also suggest that parent-preschool relationships deserve greater attention by both researchers and program developers 29 p.

Good management of diabetes requires at the same time self-regulation behaviour and a balanced involvement of family components. This cross-sectional study’s aims were: understanding fear of injections and perceptions of family conflicts in preadolescents and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus and their mothers, comparing their perceptions, and identifying the risk factors impacting patients’ quality of life. Eligibility criteria were: treatment for diabetes mellitus type I, currently aged 10–18 years, attending the hospital for annual hospital follow-ups. Exclusion criteria were: intellectual disabilities, inability to complete questionnaires alone and neuropsychiatric illness with active pharmacotherapy. The study design was cross-sectional. Participants were one hundred and two patients (Mean age = 14.6, SD = 2.4, age range = 10–19 years, Females = 52 and Males = 50) and their mothers (Mean age = 46.9, SD = 6.2, age range = 27–63 years), who filled in self and proxy-report questionnaires (N total= 204). The results showed that 20% of patients and 14.7% of their mothers reported clinical scores for fear of self-injection and blood testing. The mothers reported lower fear of injecting and higher family conflicts compared with the patients. Age, fear of injecting and family conflicts were significantly associated with patients’ quality of life perceptions. Clinical considerations and recommendations are given based on the empirical results.

The study aims to examine whether mothers of two different cultural groups living together in South Tyrol, Italian (I, N = 69) and German (G, N = 69), differ with respect to knowledge of infant developmental milestones. A second purpose of the present work is to understand if possible differences on maternal knowledge could account for diverse levels of mastery on adaptive behaviours. Results show that mothers of the two cultural and linguistic groups did not differ on knowledge of infant milestones, while significant differences emerge in the development of daily living skills and socialization between Italian and German children ( G g I).

Background This study compared education levels, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and perceived social support of adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors with those of a control group of peers with no history of serious illness. The links between socio-demographic and medical factors and AYA cancer survivor outcomes were investigated. Methods The participants included AYA cancer survivors (n = 205) recruited during follow-up visits, and AYA peers (n = 205) recruited from the secondary schools, youth groups and universities. All of the participants filled in self-report questionnaires regarding HRQoL and perceived social support. In addition, medical and socio-demographic information was collected. Results There were statistically significant differences between survivors and controls in terms of education level, HRQoL and perceived social support. Cancer survivors attended school for fewer years had a more positive perception of their health and a lower level of perceived social support provided by family, friends and significant others than controls. The results showed that female gender, the diagnosis of haematological disorder, haematopoietic stem cell transplantation and a shorter off-treatment period are risk variables for poorer HRQoL and social functioning in AYA cancer survivors. Conclusions Adolescent and young adult cancer survivors perceived a better quality of life than controls, especially those treated for haematological disorders or with a shorter off-treatment period. Future studies should aim to understand better this positive self-reported phenomenon, as well as investigating post-traumatic growth using qualitative narratives. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Adolescents with cancer may demonstrate problems in their self-esteem and schooling. This study aims to screen the preadolescents and adolescents more at risk in their self-esteem perception and schooling difficulties post-five years from the end of therapy. Twenty-five paediatric ex-patients healed from leukaemia were recruited at the Haematology-Oncologic Clinic (University of Padua). The mean age of the children was 13.64 years (Standard Deviation (SD)) = 3.08, range = 10–19 years), most were treated for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) (84%) and relatively equally distributed by gender. They filled in the Multidimensional Self-Esteem Test, while parents completed a questionnaire on their child’s schooling. Global self-esteem was mostly below the 50 percentile (58.5%), especially regarding interpersonal relationships (75%). An independent sample t-test showed significant mean differences on the emotionality scale (t = 2.23; degree of freedom (df) = 24; p = 0.03) and in the bodily experience scale (t = 3.02; df = 24; p = 0.006) with survivors of Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) having lower scores. An Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) showed significant mean differences in the bodily experience scale (F = 12.31; df = 2, p = 0.0001) depending on the survivors’ assigned risk band. The parent reports showed that 43.5% of children had difficulties at school. Childhood AML survivors with a high-risk treatment were more at risk in their self-esteem perceptions. Preventive interventions focusing on self-esteem and scholastic wellbeing are suggested in order to help their return to their normal schedules.

With modern therapies and supportive care, survival rates of childhood cancer have increased considerably. However, there are long-term psychological sequelae of these treatments that may not manifest until pediatric survivors are into adulthood. The prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder in young adult survivors of childhood cancer ranges from 6.2 to 22%; associated risk factors are young age at the assessment, female gender, low education level, and some disease-related factors. The aim of this study was to investigate, in adolescent and young adult (AYA) survivors of childhood cancer, the incidence and severity of post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSSs), and to identify the risk factors and the associated post-traumatic growth (PTG) index. Participants were 223 AYA cancer survivors recruited during follow-up visits in the Oncohematology Clinic of the Department of Child and Woman's Health, University of Padua. Data were collected from self-report questionnaires on PTSS incidence, PTG mean score, perceived social support, and medical and socio-demographic factors. Ex-patients' mean age at the assessment was 19.33 years (SD = 3.01, 15-25), 123 males and 100 females, with a mean of years off-therapy of 9.64 (SD = 4.17). Most (52.5%) had survived an hematological disorder and 47.5% a solid tumor when they were aged, on average, 8.02 years (SD = 4.40). The main results indicated a moderate presence of clinical (≥9 symptoms: 9.4%) and sub-clinical PTSS (6-8 symptoms: 11.2%), with the avoidance criterion most often encountered. Re-experience symptoms and PTG mean score were significantly associated (r = 0.24; p = 0.0001). A hierarchical regression model (R (2) = 0.08; F = 1.46; p = 0.05) identified female gender (β = 0.16; p = 0.05) and less perceived social support (β = -0.43; p = 0.05) as risk factors to developing PTSS. Another hierarchical regression model assessed the possible predictors of the PTG total score (R (2) = 0.36; F = 9.1; p = 0.0001), with female gender (β = 0.13; p = 0.04), actual age (β = 0.52; p = 0.0001), younger age at the diagnosis (β = -0.3; p = 0.02), and less years off-therapy (β = -0.58; p = 0.0001) impacting on PTG.

The aim of this study consists in the measurement of psychological health and adaptation in mothers of children during the first 12 months of treatment for leukaemia and in the identification of possible early predictors. Ninety-four mothers were followed longitudinally at one week (T1), one month (T2), six months (T3) and 12 months (T4) post-diagnosis. The instruments used were: PTSD symptom checklist, BSI-18, Problem Scale, Ladder of life and an in-depth interview (EFI-C). Couple connectedness, family routine reorganisation, parental communication around the child's illness and trust in the medical care significantly increased from T1 to T4. Two models are proposed concerning possible predictors of mothers' PTSS at T2 and at T3. Clinical suggestions are proposed on the basis of our empirical findings in order to plan informative, clinical and practical interventions for mothers of children under treatment for leukaemia.

Objective To assess post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in mothers of children over 2 years of leukemia treatment, to identify possible early family and child predictors of this symptomatology and to indicate the temporal trajectory of PTSS. Methods Participants were 76 Italian mothers (mean age = 37.30 years; SD = 6.07) of children receiving treatment for acute lymphoblastic (n = 69) or myeloid (n = 7) leukemia. Mothers had 12.05 years of education (SD = 3.87), and their incomes were average (52.1%), high (26%) and low (21.9%) for Italian norms, never in poverty. The pediatric patients with leukemia were equally distributed by gender with their mean age of 7.10 years (SD = 4.18). Post-traumatic stress symptoms were measured by a 17-item checklist. Scales assessing anxiety, depression, physical (Brief Symptom Inventory 18) and cognitive functioning (Problem Scale), and life evaluation were also used. There were five assessment points: 1 week (T1), 1 month (T2), 6 months (T3), 12 months (T4) and 24 months post-diagnosis (T5). Results The main results indicated moderate presence of clinical PTSS (≥9 symptoms: 24% at T2, 18% at T3, 16% at T4 and 19% at T5) that remained stable across time points, whereas Brief Symptom Inventory 18 Global score decreased and life evaluation improved. A series of hierarchical regression models identified cognitive functioning early after the diagnosis as the best predictive factor of PTSS across time points. Conclusion Specific psychological interventions could be devised for mothers at risk for short and long-term PTSS just after the diagnosis. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

L'obiettivo dello studio e di indagare l'eventuale presenza di sintomatologia post-traumatica, nei genitori dei bambini malati di leucemia, nel periodo che va dalla comunicazione della diagnosi al momento dello stop terapia (+2anni dalla diagnosi), fin ora poco indagato. A tal fine e stato realizzato un disegno di ricerca longitudinale con 4 momenti di rilevazione, corrispondenti a tappe critiche del protocollo terapeutico. Lo strumento utilizzato e un questionario self-report (PTSD Symptom Inventory), che e stato somministrato a 61 genitori di bambini leucemici in cura presso la Clinica di Onco-ematologia Pediatrica di Padova. I risultati ci indicano la presenza di livelli moderati della sintomatologia ed un andamento costante della stessa nel corso del tempo.

This study was aimed at comparing adolescent and young adult (AYA) Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) paediatric cancer survivors and a control group of healthy peers in terms of Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) and frequency of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). The participants were 32 AYA HSCT survivors and 28 matched healthy peers. The survivors were, on average, 19.4 years old (SD = 3.8), with an average age of 8.1 years (SD = 4.3) at diagnosis, and with a mean time, since treatment was completed, of 8.5 years (SD = 3.2). The majority of survivors (78.1%) did not show clinical PTSS, with intrusion symptoms most frequently reported in those who had undergone autologous HSCT (F = 3.3; df = 2; p = 0.05) and relapse presence in their treatment associated with more PTSS avoidance symptoms (r = 0.4; p = 0.002). Women reported more problems in the SF-36 pain scale (t = 2.1; df = 31; p = 0.04) than men. Additionally, 87.5% of survivors fell below the 25th percentile in the SF-36 general well-being scale, and 70.8% had the same trend for the SF-36 fatigue scale. Survivors reported better emotional well-being (t = 2.6, df = 27, p = 0.01) and fewer limitations than their healthy peers (t = 2.5, df = 27, p = 0.02), while they perceived a lower life satisfaction referring to the past (t = -2.8, df = 27, p = 0.009).

This paper reviews the research published in the last 18 yr on QoL and psycho-social sequelae in pediatric patients who have undergone HSCT. A corpus of 47 empirical studies was selected and is presented here. From this selection five main topics linked to psychological adjustment to HSCT emerged: QoL; psychological symptoms; cognitive sequelae; social adaptation; psycho-social interventions for children. The information which emerged from the review of the literature is discussed with special attention to methodological issues. Directions for future research are proposed.

This study aims to confirm previous North American and North European findings about the normal developmental pattern of infant crying by studying the crying of Italian babies. A cohort of 70 healthy, full-term Italian infants was assessed longitudinally at 2, 5 and 8 weeks of age. Mothers were asked to fill in 24-h behaviour diaries for 3 consecutive days at each age. Results show significant differences in the amount of daily crying between 2 and 8 weeks and between 5 and 8 weeks. Different from other similar studies, no significant cry peak at 5 weeks was found in the Italian babies, but the amount of time Italian mothers spent holding their babies showed a peak at 5 weeks. Infants cried more during the evenings and mothers carried them most during this part of the day. Significant correlations between maternal holding and infant crying were found both concurrently and predictively. The amount of infant crying at 2 weeks predicted the amount of holding at 5 weeks. Results confirmed previous findings about the individual stability of daily crying in the first 8 weeks of age, but future research should take account of cultural variations in maternal holding in studying infant crying in different societies. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Ninety-three healthy full-term Italian infants were observed longitudinally at 3 and 5 months during routine vaccinations. Mothers' behaviour was also observed. Participants were divided into two cohorts depending on procedure of inoculation (the first cohort, n=44, showed more distress; the second cohort, n=49, showed less distress). Results indicate that babies' different levels of behavioural distress correspond to mothers' different soothing strategies. Maternal proximal soothing at 3 months predicts faster infant quieting at 5 months, but concurrent and predictive effects of maternal proximity are apparent only when level of baby distress is not too high. The study confirms the view that young babies are sensitive to the overall context of acute pain episodes, including medical procedure and maternal soothing. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

CNS-directed therapies for the treatment of leukemia can adversely affect the acquisition of new skills, such as reading/writing and math. Two years after the end of treatments, children show gross and fine motor skill delays that may persist even when patients are considered healed. The goal of the present study was to assess motor skills difficulties in pre-school children with leukemia one year after treatment. Particular attention has been paid to those patients who had undergone Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) and to the relationship between motor delays and age bands. Participants were 60 children (median age of 5; inter quartile range: 3.07-5.76), including 31 females and 29 males, 91.7% of them were affected by acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and 8.3% by acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Five children had undergone HCST. Parents were interviewed by Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS) on children's motor skills and filled in the Italian Temperament Questionnaire (QUIT). VABS's total scores were converted into equivalent mental age scores (EMA). A score difference of at least three months between current age and equivalent mental age was considered a developmental delay. Non-parametric analyses were run to understand if HSCT treatment and a specific age band influence children's motor skills. Significant delays were found in global motor skills (56.7%) as well as in fine and gross motor domains. Mann Whitney U tests showed that children with HSCT were reported to have lower gross motor mean ranks (U = 62; p = 0.004; Mean rank = 15.40) than peers without HSCT (Mean rank = 31.87) and lower mean rank values on motor temperament scale (U = 9; p = 0.003; HSCT Mean rank = 4.75 versus no HSCT Mean rank = 27.81). Kruskal Wallis' tests identified the high risk treatment showing that HSCT experience negatively impacted the motor skills and temperamental motor activity of pre-school children one year after the diagnosis of leukemia.

The object of this study is the stability of emotional regulation after painful events during early development. Thirty subjects' facial expressions were longitudinally observed at 3, 5, 11 and 18 months for 60 s before and 90 s after a paediatric vaccination. The results confirmed that regulation of pain increases with increasing age. Stability was found between 3 and 5 months, but not between 3 and 11 months, thus suggesting that at 5–6 months, there may be a developmental shift towards better regulation of stress responses. In contrast to the existing literature, Italian infants showed much more sadness than anger during soothing time; they also showed little pain at 18 months. Differences in the medical procedures or maternal soothing strategies may account for differences in soothing between Italian and US samples. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Theoretical perspectives and research in sociology, anthropology, sociolinguistics, and cultural psychology converge in recognizing the significance of children's time spent in various activities, especially in the family context. Knowing how children's time is deployed, however, only gives us a partial answer to how children acquire competence; the other part must take into account the culturally constructed meanings of activities, from the perspective of those who organize and direct children's daily lives. In this article, we report on a study of children's routine daily activities and on the meanings that parents attribute to them in six Western middle-class cultural communities located in Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the United States (N = 183). Using week-long time diaries kept by parents, we first demonstrate similarities as well as significant differences in children's daily routines across the cultural samples. We then present brief vignettes--"a day in the life" --of children from each sample. Parent interviews were coded for themes in the meanings attributed to various activities. Excerpts from parent interviews, focusing on four major activities (meals, family time, play, school- or developmentally related activities), are presented to illustrate how cultural meanings and themes are woven into parents' organization and understanding of their children's daily lives. The results of this mixed-method approach provide a more reliable and nuanced picture of children's and families' daily lives than could be derived from either method alone.

Clinician-parent communication may often be difficult, especially soon after the diagnosis. The aims of this article are to identify the communication strategies associated with expressions of adaptive emotions in parents and to explore the effect of the type of leukemia and of parent's gender on parents' expressions of emotions. The data are obtained from 4.622 conversational turns of 20 videotaped interviews with 10 mothers and 10 fathers of children at their first hospitalization for leukemia. A coding scheme for parent emotional expressions was reliably applied by two independent judges. An original self-report questionnaire on parents' emotional states was used before and after the interview. Positive politeness of interviewer elicits adaptive emotional expressions in parents. Mothers of children with acute myeloid leukemia and fathers of children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia appear more distressed during the interview. This interview can be identified as an innovative technique of communication with parents of children with cancer.

The focus is on describing the child's health-related quality of life (HRQL) at the time of diagnosis as perceived by parents, by using an empirical model of their psychosocial context.Patients were 128 leukemic children and their families recruited at the Haematology-Oncology Clinic of the Department of Pediatrics, University of Padova. The families were interviewed by a clinical psychologist during the first hospitalization of their children using the Ecocultural Family Interview-Cancer (EFI-C). This interview aimed at understanding the family daily routines as it relates to the child with cancer and the meaning and experience of the situation. Demographic data about children and their families also were collected.The EFI-C interviews were read for content and then coded; these items were grouped into 11 major dimensions, three dealing with the child in the hospital and eight concerning the family. An empirical model of path analysis was estimated to evaluate perceived child's HRQL at the second week from the diagnosis inside the psychosocial context. This model shows that perceived child's HRQL is predicted by parental trust in the medical staff, perceived child coping, and perceived child adaptability. These last two predictors are in turn moderated by the fixed factor child age and mediated by parenting.A better knowledge of parents' views and expectations regarding their children's HRQL during the first treatments for pediatric leukemia may facilitate the communication processes in the hospital and may help to provide improved psychosocial care for the child during the first treatments for leukemia.

Aim This study examined the psychometric properties and the replicability of De Vellis's (1993) Parent Health Locus of Control (PHLOC) scales in an Italian sample. Method The Italian version of PHLOC was administered to 470 mothers of birth to 3-year-old children. Results Varimax rotated confirmatory factor analysis identified the six original subscales, namely Child, Divine, Fate, Media, Parental, and Professional influences over child health. Internal consistency of the subscales was good (α > .70), and test-retest correlations were adequate (r > .80). More highly educated mothers rated media influence as most important. No differences were found considering children's age, gender, and birth order. Conclusion The results offer good evidence of the cross-cultural validity of the PHLOC scales, an instrument that can be useful in interventions with families by the health care practitioners to prevent neglectful childrearing practices.

Two patterns of reactions to painful medical procedures were found in infancy, i.e., continuous and interval patterns. Also, infants often in a good mood in everyday life (as reported by their mothers) showed pain more briefly after blood sampling, while infants often in a bad mood in everyday life showed pain longer.