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La presente rassegna si propone di esaminare le pubblicazioni scientifiche internazionali che hanno indagato il rapporto tra l'Intelligenza Emotiva (intesa secondo il modello dei tratti e valutata attraverso questionari self-report), e il burnout professionale (caratterizzato da esaurimento emotivo, sentimenti di depersonalizzazione e ridotta autoefficacia) negli insegnanti di scuola primaria. Le recenti ricerche in questo campo, che non sono ancora state sufficientemente sistematizzate, sottolineano infatti l'importanza delle competenze emotive per facilitare e migliorare sia la prestazione lavorativa dei docenti, sia i processi di insegnamento-apprendimento. Alti livelli di Intelligenza Emotiva negli insegnanti sono correlati da un lato a una riduzione dello stress e dell'affaticamento emotivo, e dall'altro ad una maggiore soddisfazione personale nello svolgimento del proprio lavoro; inoltre, sono associati a migliori rapporti con tutti i protagonisti dell'ambiente educativo, con conseguenti effetti positivi sulla qualità della relazione con gli alunni e delle acquisizioni dei saperi.

The coronavirus pandemic strongly impacted the higher education system, challenging university students, who were required to make a considerable effort in terms of revising their personal study approach and managing their emotions. The present study aimed to examine the impact of Trait Emotional Intelligence (TEI) on Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) strategies directly, and indirectly through the mediation of COVID-19 perceived stress (PS) and Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU). 1055 Italian university students (mean age=22.44years, SD=2.39) reached via social media, filled out the tools assessing TEI, COVID-19 PS, IU and SRL. Five mediation analyses performed with PROCESS showed that TEI positively predicted all SRL dimensions, and negatively influenced COVID-19 PS and Prospective and Inhibitory IU. COVID-19 PS and Inhibitory and Prospective IU differently predicted specific SRL dimensions. The indirect effects observed suggest that TEI may help university students to cope with stressful and uncertain psychological experiences in order to achieve higher levels of SRL strategies. The study highlights that TEI plays a pivotal role in academic SRL strategies, underlining the importance of its buffering effect in distressing circumstances such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Body dissatisfaction is widely recognized as an important public health concern mainly for women because of its increasing incidence worldwide. The aim of this exploratory study was to test the predictive role of family influence on body satisfaction (BS) among young Italian women, during a decade conceptualized as ‘emerging adulthood’. Instruments designed to assess BS, appearance-focused parental comments, maternal and paternal criticism were administered to 688 women aged between 18 and 28 years (M age = 23.40; SD = 2.33). Two regression analyses were used with life satisfaction levels, parental comments, and maternal/paternal criticism as independent variables to explain variance in BS for younger (18–23 years) and older (24–28 years) women. The data reveal an interesting difference in the influence of parental criticism on BS depending on the age cohort: maternal criticism negatively predicts BS in younger women, while paternal criticism is a risk factor for BS in older women.

IntroductionCyber dating abuse (CDA) refers to physical, verbal, and psychological violence perpetrated towards a romantic partner via technology and social media. Another emerging form of online abuse is ghosting, a silent strategy to dissolve undesired relationships without openly having to break them up. The aims of the current study were (i) to explore the relationship between CDA and ghosting behaviours in romantic relationships and (ii) to investigate the roles of gender and personality traits (conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion, emotional stability, openness) in prediction of CDA (perpetration and victimization).Material and methodsA sample of 409 participants (64.8% females), aged between 18 and 53 years (Mage = 26.40, SD = 6.06), took part in the study.ResultsCDA and ghosting behaviours are interrelated, and women were more prone than men were to use ghosting strategies, such as stopping messages abruptly and punishing the partner through silence. Moreover, gender and personality traits differently predicted direct aggression and control/monitoring perpetration and direct aggression victimization, but they were not significant predictors of control/monitoring victimization.ConclusionsThe findings are discussed in light of gender differences to improve our understanding of the psychological factors involved in cyber dating violence.

Background: Italian and Portuguese drug policies are similar–demand reduction–but the law seems to be applied quite differently: Italian law pays particular attention to decreasing substance use, while the Portuguese legal framework focuses on health-related issues rather than legal aspects. Methods: To describe national differences in terms of phenomenology of substances use, feared/unwanted consequences and most common rules to avoid harms, 44 Italian and 44 Portuguese drug users who have never been referred to specialist treatment services and had recently used an illegal substance over the previous year on a weekly basis were interviewed. A questionnaire was used, with different scales. Results: All participants are afraid of suffering from psychological disorders and physical problems, of having money-related problems and of being stigmatized as a consequence of drug use. The Portuguese individuals mostly fear opiate overdoses, while the Italians fear having problems with the law and being caught in possession of the substance. Conclusions: We observe a different way of perceiving and applying the drug legislation that determines particular attitudes and precaution among drug users at the national level.

Background: Due to the increasing spread of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) and their addictive potential, scholars assert that understanding the factors underpinning Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is crucial, considering the psychopathological classification. Objectives: This study aimed to explore the motives predicting IGD in MMORPG players with different personality risk profiles. Materials and Methods: An online survey was conducted among 202 MMORPG players (mean age = 27.85 years, SD = 6.49). A cluster analysis was performed to classify the samples, according to the substance use risk profile scale (SURPS), distinguishing a sensation seeking (SS) group from a group prone to negative emotions (PNE), including anxiety, hopelessness, and impulsivity. Also, the gaming motives, which were determined using the Motives for Online Gaming Questionnaire (MOGQ), were considered as independent variables in analyses. The regression analyses indicated different combinations of gaming motives, predisposing the two groups to IGD. Results: The escapism motive and male gender were the main risk factors for SS players, whereas the sociability motive predicted addiction tendencies in the PNE group. Also, the competition motive was a strong predictor of IGD in both groups; this motive was found to be associated with the male gender and the specific game genre. Moreover, the PNE players were significantly more addicted to MMORPGs and were less satisfied with their life, compared to the SS group. Conclusions: Based on the present results, clustering gamers in terms of personality traits allowed us to understand the mechanisms underlying IGD for overcoming a reductive approach, which considers MMORPG players as a uniform group.

The main aim of this study is to improve our knowledge on Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD), contributing to a common discourse concerning its risk profiles. Specifically, the study aims to assess the prevalence of addicted gamers among Italian online and offline gamers, accounting for gender and to investigate the mediation role of gaming motives on the relationship between personality risk traits and IGD. A total of 627 videogame players (55% women; mean age 27 years) recruited from social networking sites took part in the study and filled a questionnaire including gaming characteristics, the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale (IGDS9-SF), the Substance Use Risk Profile Scale (SURPS) and the Motives for Online Gaming Questionnaire (MOGQ). The prevalence rate of Internet gaming disorder was 5.3%. Hopelessness was the personality dimension that most differentiates gaming addicts from non-addicts. Results of the mediation model suggested that Hopelessness was both directly and indirectly (via escape, fantasy and recreational motives) associated with IGD. The motivations Escape and Fantasy also mediate between Anxiety sensitivity and IGD while Competition mediate between Sensation seeking trait and IGD. The evidence suggests that IGD is motivated by psychological mechanisms similar to those compelling substance abuse, but with its own unique features.RésuméCette étude a pour but d’améliorer notre connaissance de la dépendance au jeu sur Internet (DJI) afin d’enrichir le discours sur ses profils de risque. Elle vise plus précisément à évaluer la prévalence des joueurs dépendants parmi les joueurs italiens en ligne et hors ligne, en tenant compte du genre et en examinant le rôle de médiation des raisons qui motivent la pratique des jeux dans la relation entre les traits de personnalité présentant des risques et la DJI. En tout, 627 joueurs de jeux vidéo (55 % de femmes d’une moyenne d’âge de 27 ans) recrutés sur des sites de réseaux sociaux ont participé à l’étude et rempli un questionnaire comprenant des caractéristiques liées au jeu, l’échelle de la dépendance au jeu sur Internet (IGDS9-SF), l’échelle de profil de risque de consommation de substances psychoactives (SURPS) et le questionnaire sur les raisons de jouer en ligne (MOGQ). Le taux de prévalence de la dépendance au jeu sur Internet s’établissait à 5,3 %. Le désespoir constituait l’aspect de la personnalité qui distinguait le plus les personnes dépendantes au jeu des personnes non dépendantes. Les résultats du modèle de médiation donnaient à penser que le désespoir était associé directement et indirectement (raisons liées à la fuite, à l’imaginaire et aux loisirs) à la DJI. Les raisons Fuite et Imaginaire assurent la médiation entre la sensibilité à l’anxiété et la DJI, tandis que la concurrence assure la médiation entre la recherche de sensations et la DJI. Tout indique que la DJI est motivée par des mécanismes psychologiques similaires à ceux qui incitent à la toxicomanie, mais possède ses propres caractéristiques.

Introduction:So-called club drugs, psychoactive substances by definition related to rave and private parties culture, have a strong social impact in terms of health risks, especially for their spread among adolescents and young adults. In addition, polydrug use is a common pattern of consumption in some subcultures, such as the ravers culture. This study explores characteristics, consumption profiles, contexts of use, motives, and levels of satisfaction with life in a sample of synthetic/hallucinogenic substance users.Methods:We administered an ad hoc questionnaire to 37 Italian participants (62.2% males) recruited through several rave events in the city of Bologna.Results/ Conclusions:The results showed that consumers choose substances belonging to the same “family,” such as methamphetamines (MDMA and speed) and psychedelic substances (ketamine and LSD), for specific and contextual motives. The findings are discussed in light of the target sample’s socioeconomic conditions, consumer profiles, features of the rave context, and dissatisfaction with some areas of life.

Notwithstanding the large consensus on the idea that justice should be favoured in school contexts to promote student well-being, there is still a lack of research that has investigated how the experience of justice at school spreads impact on global adolescent psychological health. The aim of this study is to investigate the degree to which the experience of teacher (in)justice is possibly related to some of the indicators of adolescent global psychological health, namely individual and social functioning, psychological problems, and somatic symptoms. We also test the role of two components of school-specific well-being, i.e., emotional engagement and classroom connectedness, here considered as potential mediators between teacher justice and psychological health. Structural equation modelling indicated that teacher justice is positively associated with emotional engagement, classroom connectedness and individual functioning, and negatively related to psychological problems. The relation from teacher justice to individual functioning was partially mediated by emotional engagement and classroom connectedness. The relation from teacher justice to social functioning and somatic symptoms was fully mediated by classroom connectedness, while a partial mediation was found between teacher justice and psychological problems via classroom connectedness. These results are commented at the light of their implications for teacher practices.

A number of studies shows the role of emotions in psycho-educational processes during childhood, as well as the importance of emotional variables in social interactions in school context. One of the major contributions to emotional domains in childhood is the model of Emotional Competence (EC) developed by Saarni. EC, which includes one's self, one's moral disposition, and one's developmental history, is crucial to children’s ability to interact and form relationships with others, and develops from 3 to 6 years of age. In Italy, there is a growing interest towards affective education in schools. However, it is rather difficult toidentify common operationalization and intervention protocols. The aim of this study is to test a psycho-educational intervention fostering the development of EC (expression, understanding and regulation of emotions) in pre-scholars. The Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC), a nonverbal and cross-cultural tool, provides a global index of emotion comprehension in children aged from 3 to 11, assessing nine domains of emotional understanding (e.g., the recognition of emotions, possibility of emotional regulation; having mixed emotions). This instrument was administered individually to 55 children (32 female) aged between 4 and 6 years (M = 4.4, SD = .71), recruited in three different public schools involved in a three-months psycho-educational intervention based on storytelling and drama. The TEC was administrated before the intervention started and after its conclusion. Results of repeated measure ANOVA show an improvement of TEC scores from baseline to 3 months (F = 48.43, p < .000; Mt1 = 3.61 and Mt2 = 4.49), with no differences between boys and girls (interaction time x sex: F = .32, p = n.s.). As for practical implications, the present study points out that early psycho-educational programs, based on storytelling and drama, may have the potential to exert a positive influence on kindergarten children’s Emotional Competence.

As a clinical condition, boredom is an emotional state, widespread among young people, characterized by unpleasant feelings, lack of motivation, and low physiological arousal in which the level of stimulation is perceived as unsatisfactorily low. Boredom is an important emotional state due to its spread among young people. Recent research has mainly studied the complex connection between boredom and leisure-time experiences, which may be involved in adolescents’ risk-taking behaviors. The current study aims to investigate boredom proneness, conceived as a personality trait, in adolescents’ free time, and its involvement in more extreme behaviors, such as binge drinking and addictive Internet use, which may represent ways to cope with the search for additional stimuli. Data from a large sample of Italian adolescents ( n = 478, aged between 14 years and 19 years, M = 16.31, SD = 1.47) revealed significant differences between low-boredom and high-boredom subjects. Both girls and boys with high boredom proneness used technology more, engaged less in hobbies and activities such as sports, more frequently consumed strong drinks and binge drank, and were more at risk of Internet addiction than non-bored adolescents. These findings suggest a hypothetical risk profile linked to boredom proneness in adolescence. The results are discussed in light of the literature from a psychosocial and clinical perspective.

The aim of this study is to investigate the role of body dissatisfaction (BD) - conceived here as predicting, predicted and mediating variable - in relation to media influence, body mass index (BMI) and body modification strategies among adolescents, with particular attention to gender differences. Specifically, we investigate, through a multivariated model, the direct and mediated effect of internalization and pressure to conform to aesthetic ideals and BMI on engagement in body modification behaviours, namely eating problems, attitudes toward cosmetic surgery, body art and physical activity. A questionnaire designed to assess all these dimensions was administered to 843 Italian adolescents aged between 15 and 18years. The findings confirm the available evidence on BD as predicted by a number of sociocultural and personal variables, and as predictive of adolescents' bodily attitudes and behaviours. Gendered differences in behaviours considered as 'ways out' from discomforting feelings about physical appearance are discussed.

Current research on trait EI in adolescents suggests that the construct impacts on several important domains of youths' psychological functioning, including school adjustment and achievement. The purpose of this study is to explore the role of trait EI and of its subcomponents, on adolescent's academic achievement. Data were collected from 321 Italian adolescents (162 female; Mage = 15.5, SD = 1.86; aged 13–18 years) recruited from secondary schools. The effects of perceived and actual peer nominations, gender, personality dimensions, and non-verbal cognitive abilities were also controlled. Results highlight that trait EI as assessed by means of the TEIQue impacts Italian but not math's grades, while trait EI's factors predicted both academic subjects, with significant contributions of Self-Control and Sociability. Limitations and implications are discussed.

Tradizionalmente, la letteratura ha considerato il gioco d’azzardo come una prerogativa del genere maschile; la realta attuale mostra, invece, un incremento partecipativo del gioco nelle donne. Inoltre, sono stati meno indagati quei giochi democratici, tradizionali, a bassa soglia che, per le loro caratteristiche, sembrano rivolti principalmente a target di giocatori non tradizionali come le donne. Questo studio esplora caratteristiche, motivazioni, comportamenti di gioco e grado di soddisfazione nelle principali aree di vita nel genere femminile, con particolare riferimento ai giochi d’azzardo che la scarsa letteratura a riguardo ha mostrato come maggiormente partecipati dalle donne, ovvero la macro famiglia delle lotterie (lotterie istantanee, giochi numerici a totalizzatore, lotto, lotterie tradizionali) e le slot machine. Due questionari costruiti ad hoc sono stati somministrati ad 87 donne subito dopo la giocata a lotterie o slot machine in bar/tabaccherie. I risultati, allineandosi con la letteratura, evidenziano due profili di giocatrici: le giocatrici di giochi hard (slot machine, videolottery, lotterie istantanee) e le giocatrici di giochi leggeri (lotto, giochi numerici a totalizzatore, lotterie tradizionali) con diverse caratteristiche socio-anagrafiche, profili di consumo e differenti livelli di soddisfazione nelle aree di vita.

The Draw-a-Person (DAP) test is a projective tool particularly suitable for understanding intellectual development, emotional dimensions and personality traits in children. The present study seeks to examine the relationship between trait Emotional Intelligence (EI) and DAP emotional indicators accounting for gender interaction in a sample of Italian primary school-aged children (8–9 years of age). Participants were asked to complete the child version of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue-CF) and the DAP test. Results showed that: a) both genders had the same score on trait EI but females had a significantly higher score on the levels of emotional indicators than males, and b) trait EI significantly moderated the effects of gender on the DAP scores. Specifically, females showed higher levels of emotional indicators than their male counterparts for DAP only at high trait EI levels. The implications of these results for clinical assessment and future directions for research are discussed.

Background: Self-esteem is a critical factor in online impression management strategies and could play a crucial role in explaining women’s selfie-posting behaviours. Previous works examining relationships between self-esteem and self-presentation on social media have yielded controversial results. Objective: This study was performed to clarify the relationship between self-esteem and the frequency of taking and posting own, group and partner selfies on Social Networking Sites (SNS). Methods: A sample of 692 Italian young women (18-28 years old) completed questionnaires on self-esteem, satisfaction with life, body satisfaction and selfie posting bahaviours. The low self-esteem group was compared with the high self-esteem group. Results: Results showed that women with low self-esteem are more dissatisfied with their body image and life and significantly they post fewer types of selfies compared to women with high self-esteem. Conclusion: Findings from this study provide new insights into the relation between self-esteem and selfie impression management strategies.

Despite the extensive literature, the gender differences in eating disorders (ED) have been poorly investigated. Most of the studies, in fact, have been conducted so far on female samples, emphasizing the misleading belief that such disorders are of exclusive relevance of women.The review aim at highlighting as this preconception is still widespread among the male patients and the clinicians and as it represents an impediment to a correct diagnosis and a proper treatment planning.Included studies were selected in the scientific literature published between January 2007 and December 2017 through the main databases, combining the words: “males”, “eating disorder”, “anorexia nervosa”, “bulimia nervosa”, “binge eating disorder”.Fifty-four studies have been selected in accordance with the followed methodological criteria.Only recently, the attention of researchers have been also focused on male population: many differences between genders have emerged in prevalence, onset, phenomenology, diagnosis, comorbidity and outcomes of ED. The studies on risk factors have also pointed out significant differences between males and females, especially in relation to the different weight exerted by psychological variables involved in the aetiology of eating disorders.Compared with a little knowledge of ED in the male population, it is important to widespread the comprehension taking into account the gender perspective. The attention must be paid particularly to critical developmental periods, such as puberty and adolescence, where early detection and prevention of these disorders is of greatest importance, inside a conceptual framework which considers the mutual influence between biological and psychological vulnerability, and sociocultural factors.

Adolescents are reluctant to seek help, especially those at psychopathological risk. School may represent the ideal setting to intercept teens in trouble by reducing some barriers to help-seeking behavior; despite this, some obstacles remain difficult to overcome. The present study, involving a large sample (N = 2235) of secondary school students, aims to investigate the effectiveness of a counseling service as part of a multifaceted school-based prevention program. The counseling service is assessed by comparing students who asked for help with their peers in terms of their psychosocial characteristics, risk profiles and perceptions of the strategies that professionals adopt in order to reduce the barriers to individual counseling. Our findings reveal the capacity of individual counseling to serve the most vulnerable adolescents, with the exception of students who might be at risk of school drop-out. The effectiveness of the program implementation theory and the strength of particular strategies used to reduce barriers are discussed.

The aim of this work was to assess the therapeutic efficacy of analytical psychodrama groups for college students with psychological problems. Analytical psychodrama, as a form of group psychotherapy, is an integral part of the program of treatment of young adults in the Counselling Center of the University of Bologna, which provides a free service for its students, aimed at delivering psychological support. Thirty patients (22 females) from 20 to 26 years old (mean age 22.33, standard deviation±1.75), suffering from mental health problems, who completed one year of psychodrama, were assessed before and after group psychotherapy. The Italian validation of Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation – Outcome Measure was used as test-retest questionnaire for clinical outcome evaluation. The results demonstrated the efficacy of the treatment in terms of symptom decrease and improvement of patients’ well being. After the treatment (40 sessions, once a week), patients showed a statistically significant reduction in clinical outcomes scores compared with pre-treatment scores. Moreover, the analyses of Reliable and Clinical Significant Change index showed that about 30% of patients improved, and this improvement was reliable and/or clinically significant. Our preliminary findings revealed that analytical psychodrama is a suitable treatment for college students, as it actually reduces young adults’ symptoms. These results contribute to the topic of the validity of psychodrama interventions to encourage research regarding the specific psychotherapeutic effects of its method.

Introduction: In the field of dependence, there have been few studies on populations of “normal” women. Aims: To quantify the prevalence of problematic consumption of legal and illegal psychoactive substances, pathological gambling and compulsive buying in a sample of 433 Italian women aged between 30 and 50 years. Methods: Selection per quota in various shopping malls in Tuscany and Emilia Romagna. Results: About 13.9% have risk-level alcohol consumption, 9.2% have a medium–high level of tobacco addiction, 7.2% tested positive for compulsive shopping, 1.6% have cannabis dependence and 0.5% are pathological gamblers. Multivariate analysis reveals a relationship between high-risk alcohol consumption and cannabis dependence, and between tobacco addiction and compulsive shopping. Conclusions: The research reveals various consumption profiles and “minor dependences” which appear to be functional to the ways in which this specific target-group faces ordinary everyday life.

Previous research has shown that online poker players may be at a high risk of developing gambling problems and that there are various personality traits that may be associated with such risk. An online survey comprising 256 poker players (50.8 % professional players and 49.2 % recreational players) examined various aspects of their poker playing behavior. The goals of the study were to investigate: (i) the playing motivations of recreational and professional Texas Hold’em poker players, (ii) the psychological characteristics of online poker players in relation to narcissism, impulsivity, self-esteem, and problem gambling, and (iii) the differences between professional and recreational poker player on these psychological variables. Results showed that only 1.6 % poker players met the DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria for pathological gambling (n = 4). Generally, poker players had low scores on narcissism and impulsivity, and high scores on self-esteem. Implications for the study of online poker gambling are also discussed.

Approaches to mental health problems can historically be grouped into three theoreticalmethodological systems, i.e. the psychological, the bio-pharmacological and the socioenvironmental. Operators often tend ideologically to support one of these approaches, thereby emphasizing a distinction that originates from an old-fashioned separation between body and mind, and between individual and setting. The therapist with a biological education thus often brings the issue down to choosing the appropriate drug to eliminate the symptom; the therapist with a background in psychology is only interested in giving patients the most fitting interpretation of their symptoms to enable the latter to deal with them; and the educational therapist tends to search for social breakdowns (seen as the reason for the patient’s pathological behavior) and suggest more adequate relational models. The different types of therapist remain locked in their own world and often mistrust the other possible approaches, running the risk of misunderstanding the patient’s needs and providing only partial or ineffective intervention as a result. Many studies have focused on and compared the benefits of different treatment settings for different mental disorders (psychoses, eating disorders, mood disorders, behavioral problems, ADHD, etc), and reviewed the various treatment methods that have proved helpful in managing young patients (Bachmann et al., 2008a, 2008b; Connor et al., 2006; MTA, 2004; Velligan et al., 2009). Although different settings and a multimodal treatment approach (including individual psychotherapy, pharmacology and family-based interventions) are described and recommended, evidence-based findings on the effects of the various treatment methods are still limited (Herpertz-Dahlmann & Salbach-Andrae, 2009; Masi et al., 2008; Nutzel, Schmid, Goldbeck & Fegert, 2005; Steiner & Remsing, 2007).

Adolescents are particularly susceptible to feelings of loneliness and social relationships are therefore an important part of their development. The aim of the present study is to explore the patterns of adolescents' use of Social Network Sites, e.g. Facebook, in relation to friendships, focusing on the differences between teenagers with a high and low level of loneliness. Participants (N=988) were aged 14-22 (M age = 16.32, SD = 1.59) and attended secondary schools in the north of Italy. The “loneliness group” includes more girls, older adolescents and subjects dissatisfied with their online and offline relationships; lonely adolescents consider their online contacts less as “true friends” and meet friends less frequently in person than the “no loneliness” group; the “loneliness” group believe it is easier to relate with peers online. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Avere a cuore il benessere del bambino significa anche non dimenticarsi del benessere di chi si occupa di lui. In questo senso, il Benessere Bambino (Crocetti, 2008), quello stato esperienziale che il bambino sperimenta qualora i suoi bisogni, fragilità e richieste vengano assunte e contenute nella Mente Emozionale delle figure di accudimento, è un concetto che può essere esteso alle diverse fasi del ciclo di vita di ogni individuo. Sostenere quella condizione psicofisica orientata al gioco, al godimento, alla ricreazione costante di sé e del proprio essere nel mondo sia nella persona in età evolutiva, sia nell’adulto, consente all’individuo di espandere le proprie potenzialità e di rendere disponibile dentro di sé uno spazio per accogliere l’altro. Nelle professioni che implicano un costante coinvolgimento emotivo e relazionale, come quella educativa, migliore è lo stato complessivo di benessere dell’operatore (insegnante, educatore, pedagogista), maggiori energie potenzialmente positive possono essere rivolte agli allievi e alle attività a supporto degli apprendimenti. Per questo motivo, riteniamo che l’istituzione scolastica abbia il compito di pensare e contenere le esigenze degli insegnanti, di rispondere ai loro bisogni, e di offrire loro adeguate risposte organizzative e formative per favorire le migliori condizioni ambientali a sostegno dell’importante ruolo educativo svolto nei confronti dei bambini/ragazzi.

Numerose indagini trasversali, condotte a livello nazionale e internazionale, hanno prodotto risultati univoci sull’importanza del ruolo giocato dalle componenti emotive nei processi psico-educativi, e in particolare nelle interazioni sociali all’interno del contesto scolastico durante l’infanzia. A partire dall’interesse per lo studio delle emozioni che si è sviluppato nel corso degli anni Sessanta del Novecento, le ricerche empiriche in psicologia si sono focalizzate sullo sviluppo di alcuni costrutti (Intelligenza Emotiva, Consapevolezza Emotiva, Regolazione emozionale, ecc.) tra loro differenti, ma anche in parte affini e sovrapponibili, che emergono nelle diverse fasi evolutive . Si è giunti così a superare progressivamente l’idea che le emozioni siano qualcosa di irrazionale, vedendole invece come una risorsa per l’organizzazione mentale e comportamentale del soggetto. Le abilità emozionali, o competenze emotive, hanno quindi acquisito uno status sempre più rilevante nei quadri teorici che descrivono i processi di adattamento socio-affettivo in età evolutiva.

Il lavoro nella fascia 0-6 anni getta le fondamenta della formazione di futuri esseri umani responsabili, empatici, dotati di un pensiero critico. In quest’ottica, il Coordinamento Pedagogico è una struttura indispensabile per garantire una buona qualità delle esperienze educative nei nidi e scuole dell’infanzia e per impostarne l’attività. Questo contributo ha come obiettivo quello di presentare il delicato e complesso ruolo del coordinatore pedagogico nei servizi educativi rivolti ai bambini in età da zero a sei anni, figura che ancora troppo spesso rischia di venire confusa con l’insegnante o con lo psicologo scolastico e che invece ha una sua specificità e delle precise funzioni. Infatti, mentre per le Regioni Emilia-Romagna e Toscana questa figura professionale costituisce un tratto distintivo del sistema socio educativo e della progettualità che lo sottende, è da sottolineare che quella del coordinatore pedagogico non è una figura universalmente diffusa.