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This systematic review aimed to (1) synthesize average means and prevalence rates of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) measured by the Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire (ACE‐IQ) in clinical and at‐risk samples; (2) discuss the ACE‐IQ prevalence and means according to participants' gender, age (both adults and <18 years old), and geographic area; (3) map relationships between ACE‐IQ scores and other outcomes; (4) detect methodological issues in studies. PRISMA guidelines were followed, searching studies in seven academic databases, including retrieval of grey literature. After screening, 23 studies were included. Results revealed the following: (1) several clinical (e.g., mood disorders and substance abuse) and at‐risk (e.g., criminal and low‐income) conditions were studied, with an average 4.93 mean and 81.74% prevalence of total ACEs; (2) there is a lack of data on males, with the prevalence of domestic violence and physical neglect being especially marked in minors, and no studies involving European and North‐American at‐risk samples; (3) ACE‐IQ scores were mostly related to substance abuse and risk‐taking behaviours; (4) major methodological issues were not‐randomized/convenience sampling techniques and a lack of methodological information on sample and procedure. In conclusion, the ACE‐IQ seems a promising tool in clinical/at‐risk samples, but more studies are needed to answer all research questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The current systematic review and meta-analysis aims to synthesize findings from Italian studies that have investigated emotional and behavioural problems in clinical and at-risk samples of adolescents, as assessed by the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) instruments, including Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL), the self-report Youth Self Report (YSR) and the teacher-report Teacher Report Form (TRF). It also investigates possible effects of gender, age, and time of assessment (pre-post COVID-19 pandemic), and their link with other psychological factors. Methods: The latest PRISMA guidelines were followed, and this study was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42022299999). Scopus, EBSCO, PubMed, Web of Sciences, and ProQuest databases were used considering the time frame from January 2001 to November 2021. Two blinded investigators remove duplicates and double screened 7103 records. They selected and extract information from 40 eligible studies, which were also evaluated through the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Results: Overall, emotional-behavioural problems were mainly investigated through the CBCL 6-18 both in clinical samples (N = 2244), mostly composed of adolescents with a diagnosis of eating disorders and externalized disorders, and at-risk samples (N = 868), mostly of adolescents with a medical condition. As expected, adolescents from clinical samples had higher scores on the ASEBA scales than their peers belonging to the at-risk samples. No effect related to gender, time of assessment and study quality on emotional behavioural problems emerged. However, a significant effect of age was found in clinical samples, specifically a decrease in externalizing symptoms with the increase of age. Lastly, emotional-behavioural problems were mainly investigated in association with emotional regulation difficulties both in clinical and at-risk samples. Conclusions: For the first time, meta-analytic data on rates of emotional-behavioral problems in Italian clinical and at-risk adolescents are provided. Implications include the need of more data, especially with the TRF and from Centre e Southern Italy, to solve doubts emerged about the absence of moderators. The authors discuss limitations related to the heterogeneity of the studies, suggesting future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of metacognitive beliefs towards positive and negative emotions has been stressed by several theoretical models. The Emotion Belief Questionnaire (EBQ) has been developed to assess these metacognitive beliefs. We administrated the Italian version of the EBQ, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the DERS-Positive and the short form of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) to a sample of Italian adults. (N = 516). Structural Equation Modelling testing the factorial structure of EBQ evidenced a good fit in the four-factor model compared to the three-factor model and model with two second order variables. The EBQ showed invariance across sex, and significant associations with validating variables. These results demonstrate the goodness of the four-factor structure for the EBQ and support its use for assessment of metacognition beliefs towards emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Dissociative Experiences Scale-II (DES-II) is a self-report questionnaire that measures dissociative experiences such as derealization, depersonalization, absorption and amnesia. The DES-II has been prevalently used as a screening tool in patients suffering from psychotic disorders or schizophrenia. However, dissociative experiences can also be part of normal psychological life. Despite its popularity, the most problematic aspect of the DES-II is the inconsistency in its factor structure, which is probably due to the tendency to treat ordinal responses as responses on an interval scale, as it is assumed in the Classical Test Theory approach. In order to address issues related to the inconsistency of previous results, the aim of the present study was to collect new psychometric evidence to improve the properties of the DES-II using Rasch analysis, i.e. analyzing the functioning of the response scale., Methods: Data were obtained on a sample composed by 320 Italian participants (122 inmates and 198 community-dwelling individuals) and were analyzed with the Rasch model. This model allows the estimation of participants' level of dissociation, the degree of misfit of each item, the reliability of each item, and their measurement invariance. Moreover, Rasch estimation allows to determine the best response scale, in terms of response modalities number and their discriminant power., Results: Three items of the scale had strong misfit. After their deletion, the resulting scale was composed by 25 items, which had low levels of misfit and high reliability, and showed measurement invariance. Participants tended to select more often lower categories of the response scale., Conclusions: Results provided new knowledge on the DES-II structure and its psychometric properties, contributing to the understanding and measurement of the dissociation construct.