Ricerc@Sapienza

International research has underlined that both interpersonal, self-regulation, and comorbid variables can lead to a higher risk of developing internet addiction (IA) among young adults. To date, no studies have explored the interplay between young adults’ family functioning, impulsivity, and psychopathological difficulties.

Alexithymia and family functioning in adolescence: a study on family clusters

The aim of this study is to validate the Italian version of the Helicopter Parenting
Instrument (HPI), a self-report instrument that evaluate adolescents’ and young
adults’ perception of parenting behaviors. The term helicopter parenting describes a
style of child-rearing characterized by parents who are over-involved in every aspect of
their children’s lives in inappropriate ways, compromising their autonomy. The HPI
(maternal and paternal version) was administered to 602 adolescents (356 females),

The purpose of the study was to investigate how family functioning (defined as the ability that family members hold to manage stressful events, and intimate and social relationships), the degree to which family members feel happy and fulfilled with each other (called family satisfaction), and the demographical characteristics of siblings (age and gender) impacted on sibling relationships. The Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Systems and Behavioral Systems constituted the theoretical frameworks that guided our study.

Objective: Seventy gay fathers through surrogacy, 125 lesbian mothers through donor insemination, and 195 heterosexual parents through spontaneous conception, all with children aged 3 to 11 years and living in Italy, were compared on children's psychological adjustment and prosocial behavior, as well as parental self-efficacy, dyadic adjustment, family cohesion, and flexibility. Associations among family structures, family processes, and child health outcomes were also tested. Methods: Participants were matched for child characteristics.

Online exchange of sexual content (“sexting”) is associated with potentially negative consequences, especially for girls. We investigated possible associations between family functioning and girls’ sexting.

The early identification of ruminative processes in children and early adolescents is particularly important to prevent the development of a stable ruminative style in later stages of development. The present study first aimed at validating a child-friendly tool, Kid Rumination Interview (KRI), to be used in a sample aged 7–12 years (n?=?100; 50% females). Second, we hypothesized that maternal depression, family functioning and participants’ emotion regulation skills would be associated with children’ levels of rumination.

In adults, rumination has been associated with costs at affective, cognitive, and physiological levels. We examined if rumination in children is characterized by the same dysfunctional consequences and the possible moderating role of family functioning (cohesion and flexibility) and parents' trait rumination and depression. After induction of rumination, forty children (20 girls; 9.6 years) performed a tracking task with thought probes while their mood, reaction times (RT), heart rate (HR), and variability (HRV) were assessed.