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This pilot study is the first to examine whether a novel curriculum based on the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC) could increase children’s endorsement and knowledge of children’s rights. We conducted a pre-test-post-test design with an intervention and a comparison school. Pupils (n = 172) from Bulgaria, Italy, Norway, Romania, and Spain attended schools in which the curriculum was taught, whereas pupils in the comparison group (n = 120) attended schools in the same city where the curriculum was not taught. Both groups were tested on their endorsement and knowledge of rights before and at the end of the intervention. Children in the intervention group increased in endorsing children’s rights at post-test more than did children in the intervention group. Most children believed that children had rights. Children in the intervention group showed modest increases in their knowledge of rights. Future ways of implementing the RFCDC are suggested. publishedVersion

In the Italian context, parental bonding has great relevance in promoting satisfaction of emerging adults’ psychological needs, impacting their wellbeing, also in terms of interpersonal sensitivity. Aims: to analyse, in 497 emerging adults: the direct influence of maternal and paternal bonding on young interpersonal sensitivity and life satisfaction; indirect influence, mediated by the influence of the parents–offspring relationship on the need for relatedness, autonomy, and competence. SEM analysis showed that parental bonding characterized by high warmth and low over-protection could help satisfaction of all three needs; only paternal bonding is directly and positively related with life satisfaction and negatively with interpersonal sensitivity; satisfaction of needs could significantly improve life satisfaction. Implications are discussed in the article.

Recent literature has proposed the term “digitized dysmorphia” to define the gap between social media digitalized beauty standards and females body image, suggesting that apps as Instagram, have contributed to the increase of dysmorphic disorders in young women. In the present paper, it’s analyzed the relationship between the use of Instagram, the internalization of beauty standards, the social pressure to adhere to them, and the anxiety towards body image, in a sample of high schools’ students (N= 621,aged 13 to 21, 61% females) in Italy. Results suggest that adolescents who edit their pictures, and then upload them online, have interiorized more the stereotype of beauty proposed by Instagram and feel more anxious and uncomfortable with their body image, feeling more pressure to uphold to the social media standards. These results apply not only to female adolescents, as seen in previous studies, but also males. Social and clinical issues are discussed.

The current study was aimed at contributing to the understanding of the role of perceived parental monitoring, psychological control, and coping strategies on adolescents’ problem behaviors, in terms of anxiety and drinking behavior. Participants were 541 high school students, 17 to 19-year old (M = 17.09, SD = 0.80) high school students in Sicily and Calabria (Italy). Participants completed self-report measures assessing parental monitoring, psychological control, coping strategies (i.e., Task-Oriented, Emotion-Oriented, and Avoidance-Oriented). Results of the path analysis showed that coping strategies play a mediating role in the association between parental psychological control and both adolescents’ anxiety and drinking behavior. Furthermore, a direct positive association was reported from parental psychological control and anxiety, while a negative direct association was reported from parental monitoring to drinking behavior. Results of this study provide a comprehensive model that showed that the different coping strategies could explain the psychological mechanisms that underline the associations between two different kinds of parental control (psychological control and monitoring) and both internalizing and externalizing adolescents’ form of maladjustment (e.g. anxiety and drinking behaviors). Overall, coping strategies seem to be a fruitful target for the prevention programs for adolescents’ anxiety and drinking behaviors.

Framed from a framework based on the integration of self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000 Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68 [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®], , [Google Scholar] ) and Endler and Parker’s (1990) conception of coping strategies, the authors analyzed the relationships between peer pressure and binge behaviors (binge eating and binge drinking) in adolescence. Moreover, the authors explored the mediating role of satisfaction/frustration of basic psychological needs and coping strategies in these associations. Participants were 570 high school students (M = 15.75 years, SD = 1.14 years) living in Italy. The study design was cross-sectional and adolescents were administered self-report questionnaires. Path analysis showed significant and positive direct associations of peer pressure with both binge eating and binge drinking. Moreover, findings show that there is an indirect path in which peer pressure is positively associated with need frustration that is related to the use of emotion-oriented coping strategies that, on their turn, are associated with binge eating. Differently, binge drinking seems to be only directly related to peer pressure. The authors put light to the complex nature of the relationships between peer pressure and binge behaviors in adolescence, taking into account the separate contribution of need satisfaction and need frustration, as well as of coping strategies. Finally, practical implications of the study are discussed.

Framed within an ecological perspective of the onset of adolescent problem behaviors, the current study explored the joint role of parent-adolescents’ relationships and youth's individual factors in binge eating and drinking. Firstly, in line with pieces of research highlighting the beneficial impact of effective parenting on youth development, the present paper sought to enhance the knowledge about the positive influence of parental monitoring on youth's binge drinking and eating. Moreover, since literature evidenced that the explanatory mechanisms of the association between parental monitoring and binge behaviors are not fully explored, the study focused on the potential intervening role of sensation seeking and life satisfaction as mediators. The study design was cross-sectional and self-report questionnaires were administered among a population of 944 high school students (M = 16.35, SD = 1.31) living in Palermo (Italy). Path analysis showed that parental monitoring was directly and negatively related to both binge eating and binge drinking. Moreover, sensation seeking negatively mediated the relationships between parental monitoring and both binge behaviors, whereas life satisfaction only mediated between parental monitoring and binge eating. The current study provided data useful to understand the complex interrelations between intrapersonal (life satisfaction and personality trait, i.e. sensation seeking) and contextual factors (parent–child relationships) that may discourage or cause eating and alcohol use disorders among youth. Finally, implications for parents and practitioners working with youngsters were discussed.

Research suggests that psychologically controlling and autonomy-supportive parenting can be described within the Self-Determination Theory’s (SDT) framework. Two studies were conducted to examine (a) the role of parental need frustration as a predictor of parental psychological control, (b) the role of parental need satisfaction as a predictor of parental autonomy support, and (c) the role of parents’ psychological control and autonomy support in the intergenerational transmission of satisfaction and frustration of the psychological basic needs. Study 1 provided evidence, in a sample of 203 Italian coupled parents, that needs frustration and needs satisfaction represent distinct antecedents of psychological control and autonomy support. Study 2, showed that in 135 families, the intergenerational association between parents’ and adolescents’ need frustration was partially mediated by psychological control and autonomy support. Results clearly showed that parents who experienced high level of psychological needs frustration are more likely to use psychological control and in turn to promote a feeling of need frustration in their adolescents; differently, parents who experienced high levels of psychological needs satisfaction tend to exert more autonomy support in their relationship with their children and in turn adolescents tend to perceive higher level of needs satisfaction. These findings are discussed in light of SDT and underline the importance of needs in the parenting context and have implications for interventions.

The purpose of this multistudy report was to adapt the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (BPNSFS) to the Italian context. Two studies were conducted. In Study 1, we investigated the dimensionality, reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity of the instrument in a sample of 544 participants (males = 41%) from 16 to 35 years old. In Study 2, we replicated the results concerning dimensionality in an independent sample of 502 participants (males = 42%) from 16 to 35 years old. Furthermore, we analyzed measurement invariance across gender. Results of both studies showed that comparing a series of competitive factorial models, the 6-factor model had the best fit to the data, assessing 6 different but related dimensions: autonomy satisfaction, autonomy frustration, relatedness satisfaction, relatedness frustration, competence satisfaction, and competence frustration. Moreover, the reliability and convergent and discriminant validity can be considered adequate. Finally, the BPNSFS was shown to be invariant across gender. In sum, the BPNSFS can be considered a promising instrument in the context of self-determination theory-based research for investigating satisfaction and frustration of the 3 basic needs in Italy.

This cross-sectional study examined binge eating and binge drinking behaviors exploring their association with the strategies of Emotion Regulation, such as Cognitive Reappraisal (CR) and Expression Suppression (ES). The sample consisted of 1004 Italian students (395 males and 609 females) attending high school. The average age of the students was 17.9 years (SD =0.8; range: 16-21). They completed self-report measures assessing binge behaviors and Emotion Regulation strategies. No differences resulted between adolescents assuming binge behaviors and no bingers as regards CR; conversely, adolescents engaging in binge eating and in both binge behaviors reported the highest levels of ES. Furthermore, both Emotion Regulation strategies were significant predictors of binge eating. The present study suggested that binge behaviors were strongly associated with adolescent's ability to evaluate and manage their emotions, so that adolescents may benefit from more precise and specific prevention and treatment approaches focused on training to use more adaptive and effective strategies to regulate their emotions.

Based on Marcia's identity status model, this cross-sectional study examined adolescents' identity formation analyzing its association with time perspective. A sample of 1300 Italian adolescents filled in self-report measures assessing two major developmental processes: identity resolution and time perspective. Adolescents who achieved an integrated identity status seemed to primarily adopt a future time perspective and to have a positive view of the past. By contrast, Diffused adolescents reported negative experiences in the past, a lower future orientation and a greater inclination to fatalism compared to others. The implications of the findings, limitations and suggestions for future theoretical and empirical development of research in this field are discussed.

Considering the significant negative consequences that are directly related to binge eating and drinking behaviors, many studies have explored the reasons why adolescents engage in them. This study examined the differences in the development, maintenance, and co-occurrence of "binge" behaviors associated with adolescent's identity style and the level of commitment. One thousand four hundred Italian adolescents completed self-report measures assessing binge behaviors and identity styles. Overall, results show that diffused adolescents were more likely to be engaged in binge eating and binge drinking behaviors than others, validating the idea that the achievement of a consolidated ego identity is important for enhancing well-being. © The Author(s) 2013.

Adolescents' Emotional Autonomy from Parents A relevant tenet in developmental psychology is that adolescents are expected to achieve an autonomous functioning, independent from parents, to become reliant on their internal resources and responsible for their actions and decisions. Within this framework, emotional autonomy reflects the affective side of the largest process by which a young person acquires a more mature identity. It emerges when adolescents are capable to abandon dependence on parents and to individuate from them. Moreover, emotional autonomy implies a shift towards a less idealized conception of parental figures, the development of a more complex consideration of them as people, and the establishment of affective bonds more symmetrical than those characterizing the parental relationship in childhood (Beyers, Gossens, Vansant, & Moors, 2003; Parra, Oliva, & Sanchez-Queija, 2015; Steinberg & Silverberg, 1986; Zimmer-Gembeck & Collins, 2003). The construct of emotional autonomy has gained interest among researchers because of its importance as a key component of adolescent development, and two main theoretical orientations have informed its study. Some authors with a psychoanalytic background have suggested that a positive process of emotional autonomy occurs when adolescents are able to move away from familial influences and to distance themselves from parents, including the extreme form of disengagement, achieving an emotional separation from them (Blos, 1979; Freud, 1958). Consistently with this perspective, research has shown that an increased independent behaviour and the relinquishing of dependence on parents are positively related to indices of well-being during adolescence, such as better school grades and performances (Chen & Dornbusch, 1998), better adjustment to university environments (Beyers & Goossens, 2003) and higher self-esteem (Steinberg & Silverberg, 1986). Some other authors have questioned the adaptive meaning of separating from parents (Beyers & Goossens, 1999; Garber & Little, 2001). According to their point of view, a healthy autonomous development can only occur if accompanied by a warm and intimate relationship with nurturing figures, providing love, support and empathic responsiveness to their children while encouraging and promoting an appropriate sense of autonomy, independence and selfregulation (Goossens & Waeben, 1996; Goossens & Van der Heijden, 1998; Grotevant & Cooper, 1986; Hill & Holmbeck, 1986; Ingoglia, Lo Coco, Liga, & Lo Cricchio, 2011; Lo Cricchio, Liga, Ingoglia, & Lo Coco, 2012; Youniss & Smollar, 1985). Research carried out from this perspective have found that highly emotionally autonomous adolescents who also perceive their parents as being supportive are more likely to show positive patterns of adjustment and competence than those with higher levels of autonomy but low levels of connectedness to parents (Fuhrman & Holmbeck, 1995 Ingoglia, Lo Coco, Pace, Zappulla, Liga, & Inguglia, 2004; Lamborn & Steinberg, 1993). However, even in this perspective, results are puzzling and there are studies that have found a different pattern of outcomes identifying teenagers who score high on measures of psychosocial adjustment even if they show low levels of attachment to parents and high levels of emotional autonomy (McClanahan & Holmbeck, 1992). Much of the above mentioned controversial findings seem to originate from measurement issues (Beyers, et al., 2003; Parra, Oliva, & Sanchez-Queija, 2015). Firstly, the Emotional Autonomy Scale (EAS; Steinberg & Silverberg, 1986) has been one of the most widely used measure of this construct. However, it has been argued (Beyers et al., 2003; Ingoglia, Lo Coco, Liga, & Lo Cricchio, 2011; Ryan & Lynch, 1989; Schmitz & Baer, 2001; Turner, Irwin, Tschann, & Millstein, 1993) that this instrument seems to measure a detachment from parents, rather than a genuine autonomy. …