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Cross-border mobility is one of the most important factors that are assumed to strengthen young people’s commitment as European citizens. However, the existing empirical evidence does not provide consistent support. In this paper, we tested the hypothesis that cross-border mobility is associated with a stronger European identification, more positive attitudes toward the EU, and with specific visions of the EU, and that these factors, in turn, have a positive effect on engagement at EU level. Data were collected as part of the multinational research project CATCH-EyoU. Analyses were performed controlling for gender, income, country, and migrant status. Results mostly confirmed the hypotheses among both adolescents and young adults, and for both short-term and long-term mobility. EU level participation and EU voting intentions appeared to be influenced by partly different factors. The implications of the findings, both at theoretical level and for the development of international mobility programs, are discussed.

The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of sport activity on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of solid organ transplant recipients participating in sports competitions. A group of 168 sportive transplanted patients (STP), a group of 97 nonsportive transplanted patients (NSTP), and a group of 152 sportive healthy controls (SHC) were compared on the eight scales of the SF-36 questionnaire. STP and NSTP reported significantly lower scores than SHC on the physical functioning scale. STP did not differ from SHC in the Role-Physical, General Health, and Vitality scales, while NSTP reported significantly lower scores. STP obtained higher scores than NSTP and SHC on Mental Health. Among STP, the effect of quantity of sport activity was significant on General Health and Role Emotional, with more sport activity associated with higher HRQoL. Organ failure and post-transplant therapies may have negative consequences on HRQoL. Sports activities and participation in sports competitions can reduce this impact, improving general and psychological functioning of solid organ transplant recipients.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the parent version of “When We Disagree” scales (WWD), measuring the style of conflict (aggression and compromise) within parent–adolescent relationship. Differences according to adolescent gender and age, and according to perspective (description of self and description of the adolescent) were assessed. Concurrent validity was established by correlations with family communication and parenting self-efficacy. Participants include 302 mother–father dyads with adolescent children (13 and 15 years old; total n = 604). Results confirmed the usefulness of the WWD in assessing conflict styles as perceived by parents. Correlations with family communication and parenting self-efficacy were in the expected direction. There was evidence of a more conflicting relationship between female adolescents and mothers. Adolescents are described by parents as less compromising and more aggressive than self.

This article presents and discusses the evaluation of the participatory process involved in the Local Plans for Health (LPH) of the Region Emilia-Romagna (North Italy). LPH are three-year plans of action that actively engage community members in collaborative decision making over health promotion interventions. The evaluation study conducted on the LPH 2001-2003 of Cesena, using a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach, involved 34 community stakeholders, who took part in three focus groups. Themes discussed centered on the difficulties encountered in engaging all relevant community members, how to overcome such difficulties, and how to best communicate the results of the evaluation process to the population. Process evaluation was a central component of the planning of future plans.

The purpose of this study was to explore the verbal environment provided by nursery school teachers to the children. Teachers’ language was analysed in two different interactive contexts: when interacting with a different number of interlocutors (study 1) and when talking to children of different linguistic competence (study 2). In the first study, 10 children from two age groups (10/11 months old and 31/37 months old) were monitored interacting with two teachers during a play session. Teachers’ language produced in the two interactive situations (dyadic versus group) was then analysed for structural and thematic features. In the second study, two teachers were observed interacting with two groups of children aged 28/33 months, but with different linguistic competence (MLU 1, 6 versus 3, 1). The linguistic measurements collected included: structural features of teachers’ language, total amount and kind of communicative intentions produced by both teachers and children. The results show that in bo...

The present study aims at analyzing the skills involved in children's performance on communicative referential tasks and the developmental changes in the type and quality of the messages. The performance of 28 twins and the performance of 28 singleton children were compared at different age levels (younger group, mean age = 5.5; older group, mean age = 10.4). Four different interactive situations were considered: (a) twin‐twin; (b) single born‐single born; (c) twin‐single born; (d) single bom‐twin. We predicted (a) a lower competence in twins, especially in the younger group, as compared to the non‐twin of the same age; and (b) differences in the communicative behavior of twins according to the listener. Although a MANOVA did not reveal poorer performances of twins in the number and type of information elements, path analyses indicated that there are different interactive styles and strategies between twins and singletons. The twin pairs tend to intervene in the interaction to support and complete the co‐...