- Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Department of Human Sciences "R. Massa", Department Memberadd
- Assistant Professor in Developmental Psychologyedit
Teaching is a mentally and physically demanding profession that can be a source of stress and burnout. The COVID-19 pandemic put further pressure on teachers who had to face sudden challenges, such as online teaching and difficulties in... more
Teaching is a mentally and physically demanding profession that can be a source of
stress and burnout. The COVID-19 pandemic put further pressure on teachers who had to face sudden challenges, such as online teaching and difficulties in holding students’ attention in virtual environments. Research has demonstrated that the negative effects of stress factors on teachers’
wellbeing can be modulated by coping strategies. This work explores the main sources of stress that jeopardized Italian teachers’ wellbeing after the COVID-19 pandemic and the coping strategies that
they adopted. Eighty-six teachers, belonging to five school institutes located in Northern Italy, took
part in three semi-structured group interviews, where their perceptions about wellbeing at school and
occupational stress experiences were explored. Furthermore, they completed a survey with questions
about recent stressful life events and the coping strategies that they had adopted in the last month.
A thematic analysis revealed stressors related to four themes: adverse work conditions, a lack of
support (from both school administrators and families), precariousness, and a demanding school system. A total of 22% of teachers experienced stressful events in the last month (e.g., health problems and loss), and 30% reported that they had adopted coping strategies, especially emotion-focused ones.
The findings may drive educational policies to enhance protective factors for teachers’ professional wellbeing at school by reinforcing their individual resources and coping strategies, which can help them deal with challenging situations.
stress and burnout. The COVID-19 pandemic put further pressure on teachers who had to face sudden challenges, such as online teaching and difficulties in holding students’ attention in virtual environments. Research has demonstrated that the negative effects of stress factors on teachers’
wellbeing can be modulated by coping strategies. This work explores the main sources of stress that jeopardized Italian teachers’ wellbeing after the COVID-19 pandemic and the coping strategies that
they adopted. Eighty-six teachers, belonging to five school institutes located in Northern Italy, took
part in three semi-structured group interviews, where their perceptions about wellbeing at school and
occupational stress experiences were explored. Furthermore, they completed a survey with questions
about recent stressful life events and the coping strategies that they had adopted in the last month.
A thematic analysis revealed stressors related to four themes: adverse work conditions, a lack of
support (from both school administrators and families), precariousness, and a demanding school system. A total of 22% of teachers experienced stressful events in the last month (e.g., health problems and loss), and 30% reported that they had adopted coping strategies, especially emotion-focused ones.
The findings may drive educational policies to enhance protective factors for teachers’ professional wellbeing at school by reinforcing their individual resources and coping strategies, which can help them deal with challenging situations.
Research Interests:
In this study, we further developed prior research on risk and protective factors in adolescents' mental health. More specifically, we used structural equation modelling to assess whether relationships at school with teachers and peers,... more
In this study, we further developed prior research on risk and protective factors in adolescents' mental health. More specifically, we used structural equation modelling to assess whether relationships at school with teachers and peers, and life satisfaction predicted mental health in a large sample of adolescents, while also testing for age and gender invariance. The sample comprised 3,895 adolescents (M age = 16.7, SD = 1.5, 41.3% girls), who completed self-report instruments assessing their perceived life satisfaction, student-teacher relationship, school connectedness and mental health. Overall, the results suggested that life satisfaction acted as a mediator between adolescents' positive school relations and their mental health. Outcomes were invariant across genders, while quality of school relations and mental health declined with age. Limitations of the study and futures lines in mental health research among adolescents are briefly discussed.
Research Interests:
We investigated, through a cross-sectional study, whether and to what extent toddlers’ empathy is associated with a set of individual and family factors known to foster positive social skills in early childhood: children’s own emotion... more
We investigated, through a cross-sectional study, whether and to what extent toddlers’ empathy is associated with a set of individual and family factors known to foster positive social skills in early childhood: children’s own emotion regulation, language ability, and maternal emotion socialization style. Participants were 320 toddlers (Mage = 28.8 months; SD = 3.55) and their mothers. The children came from middle-SES families and were recruited at 34 infant-toddler centers. We used parent-report measures to assess the toddlers’ competences and a self-report questionnaire to evaluate maternal emotion socialization style (coaching vs. dismissing). Toddlers’ empathic responses, as reported by their mothers, were positively and significantly correlated, respectively, with their positive emotion regulation, language skills, and maternal emotion-coaching style. Stepwise regression analysis revealed that emotion regulation and maternal emotion-coaching style contributed to explaining variance in toddlers’ empathy, after controlling for the effects of children’s age and language ability. Moderation analysis showed that emotion regulation skills did not moderate the relationship between maternal emotion-coaching style and children’s empathy. We discuss the implications of these findings.
Research Interests:
Research findings: This study advances our understanding of early childhood teachers’ emotion socialization styles by innovatively exploring how these relate to teachers’ beliefs about emotions and levels of mind-mindedness, while... more
Research findings: This study advances our understanding of early childhood teachers’ emotion socialization styles by innovatively exploring how these relate to teachers’ beliefs about emotions and levels of mind-mindedness, while controlling for age, level of education, teaching experience, and training in emotion education. Sixty female teachers (Mean age = 40.24 years; SD = 11.65 years) took part in the study. They completed two self-report questionnaires assessing their beliefs about emotion and their use of emotion-coaching versus emotion-dismissing socialization styles, respectively. We evaluated their mind-mindedness via a mind-minded description task. There were significant associations among the investigated variables. We also tested the hypothesis that a linear discriminant function including lower beliefs in instructing and modeling emotions, higher beliefs in protecting children from negative emotions, and lower level of MM predicted teachers’ membership in the high emotion-dismissing group. Practice or policy: Our findings suggest the need for including in teachers’ preservice education and continuing professional development more attention to teachers’ awareness of their ideas about and representation of children’s inner world, with a view to fostering an educational approach to emotion that relies more on an emotion-coaching style and less on an emotion-dismissing one.
Research Interests:
This paper discusses the key role of social and emotional learning programmes for children with Learning Disability (LD). The first part of the paper discusses the difficulties students with learning disability may encounter in their... more
This paper discusses the key role of social and emotional learning programmes for children with Learning Disability (LD). The first part of the paper discusses the difficulties students with learning disability may encounter in their education, such as issues related to peer group acceptance, friendship and social isolation, low self-efficacy and self-esteem, and externalized and internalized behavior problems. The relationship between social and emotional learning programmes and learning disability is then discussed, underlining the benefits of social and emotional learning for students with LD. The paper concludes by highlighting the need for universal social and emotional learning as a vehicle for the academic and social inclusion of students with LD.
Research Interests:
Empathy is the basic ability to respond affectively to the emotions of others and is observed early in human development. This study (N = 304) tested the Italian version of the Empathy Questionnaire (EmQue), which is a parent scale... more
Empathy is the basic ability to respond affectively to the emotions of others and is observed early in human development. This study (N = 304) tested the Italian version of the Empathy Questionnaire (EmQue), which is a parent scale assessing empathy-related behaviors in toddlers. For this study, it was completed by participants’ mothers only. The EmQue measurement model and its factorial invariance across children’s gender were tested via confirmatory factor analysis.
Highly satisfactory goodness-of-fit indexes were found for a three factor-structure (contagion, attention to the feelings of others and prosocial actions) with 13 loading items. Furthermore, the data supported invariance of measurement across gender groups. These results suggest that the EmQue-I13 is a reliable instrument for investigating empathy and prosocial behavior in 18- to 36-month-old children in the Italian context.
Highly satisfactory goodness-of-fit indexes were found for a three factor-structure (contagion, attention to the feelings of others and prosocial actions) with 13 loading items. Furthermore, the data supported invariance of measurement across gender groups. These results suggest that the EmQue-I13 is a reliable instrument for investigating empathy and prosocial behavior in 18- to 36-month-old children in the Italian context.
Research Findings: Within the flourishing area of research demonstrating the efficacy of emotion-based interventions carried out by trained teachers in educational contexts in increasing children’s emotional skills, this study makes an... more
Research Findings: Within the flourishing area of research demonstrating the efficacy of emotion-based interventions carried out by trained teachers in educational contexts in increasing children’s emotional skills, this study makes an original contribution to the existing literature by focusing on the effects of this kind of intervention on toddlers’ prosocial and aggressive behavior. Ninety-five 26- to 36-month-olds participated in a 2-month intervention in which trained
teachers read emotion-based stories to small groups of children and then either involved them in conversations about emotions (experimental condition) or did not (control condition). Even after we controlled for age and general language ability, the children in the experimental condition were found to outperform the control group on measures of emotion knowledge and emotional-state talk. Furthermore, the intervention fostered gains in prosocial behavior,whereas it did not have a significant effect on the frequency of aggressive actions, which was lower at posttest in both groups. The positive effect of the training program on participants’ prosocial behaviorwas no longer significant when we controlled for gains in emotion knowledge and emotional-state talk. Practice or Policy: The results encourage the implementation of early educational programs focused on emotion knowledge in order to foster children’s prosocial behavior toward peers.
teachers read emotion-based stories to small groups of children and then either involved them in conversations about emotions (experimental condition) or did not (control condition). Even after we controlled for age and general language ability, the children in the experimental condition were found to outperform the control group on measures of emotion knowledge and emotional-state talk. Furthermore, the intervention fostered gains in prosocial behavior,whereas it did not have a significant effect on the frequency of aggressive actions, which was lower at posttest in both groups. The positive effect of the training program on participants’ prosocial behaviorwas no longer significant when we controlled for gains in emotion knowledge and emotional-state talk. Practice or Policy: The results encourage the implementation of early educational programs focused on emotion knowledge in order to foster children’s prosocial behavior toward peers.
Research Interests:
Emotion comprehension (EC) is known to be a key correlate and predictor of prosociality from early childhood. In the present study, we examined this relationship within the broad theoretical construct of social understanding which... more
Emotion comprehension (EC) is known to be a key correlate and predictor of prosociality from early childhood. In the present study, we examined this relationship within the broad theoretical construct of social understanding which includes a number of socio-emotional skills, as well as cognitive and linguistic abilities. Theory of mind, especially false-belief understanding, has been found to be positively correlated with both EC and prosocial orientation. Similarly, language ability is known to play a key role in children’s socio-emotional development. The combined contribution of false-belief understanding and language to explaining the relationship between EC and prosociality has yet to be investigated. Thus, in the current study, we conducted an in-depth exploration of how preschoolers’ false-belief understanding and language ability each contribute to modeling the relationship between children’s comprehension of emotion and their disposition to act prosocially toward others, after controlling for age and gender. Participants were 101 4- to 6-year-old children (54% boys), who were administered measures of language ability, false-belief understanding, EC and prosocial orientation. Multiple mediation analysis of the data suggested that false-belief understanding and language ability jointly and fully mediated the effect of preschoolers’ EC on their prosocial orientation. Analysis of covariates revealed that gender exerted no statistically significant effect, while age had a trivial positive effect. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
Research Interests:
BACKGROUND: The ability to understand and manage emotional experience is critical to children’s health. This study confirmed the validity of the How I Feel (HIF) Questionnaire, a measure of children’s emotional arousal and regulation,... more
BACKGROUND: The ability to understand and manage emotional experience is critical to children’s health. This study confirmed the validity of the How I Feel (HIF) Questionnaire, a measure of children’s emotional arousal and regulation, exploring its associations with measures of emotional and social functioning.
METHODS: The sample was comprised of 1379 Italian students (aged 8 to 12 years) who attended schools interested in the study aims. Participants completed the 30-item HIF scale, and measures of emotional self-efficacy and social desirability (SD). Factor structures were assessed using confirmatory factor analysis. Invariance by age and gender, internal consistency, temporal stability, and concurrent validity were also tested.
RESULTS: A 3-factor model was identified: frequency and intensity of (1) positive emotion - PE (8 items, α = .82), (2) negative emotion - NE (12 items, α = .86), and (3) positive and negative emotion control - EC (10 items, α = .77). This factor structure was invariant across age and gender groups. The HIF displayed moderate longitudinal stability over a 15-month period and a low social desirability effect. Positive emotion was positively associated with social acceptance and visibility, and negatively with social withdrawal.
CONCLUSIONS: The HIF is a reliable and valid measure for research and school intervention promoting students’ emotional and mental health.
METHODS: The sample was comprised of 1379 Italian students (aged 8 to 12 years) who attended schools interested in the study aims. Participants completed the 30-item HIF scale, and measures of emotional self-efficacy and social desirability (SD). Factor structures were assessed using confirmatory factor analysis. Invariance by age and gender, internal consistency, temporal stability, and concurrent validity were also tested.
RESULTS: A 3-factor model was identified: frequency and intensity of (1) positive emotion - PE (8 items, α = .82), (2) negative emotion - NE (12 items, α = .86), and (3) positive and negative emotion control - EC (10 items, α = .77). This factor structure was invariant across age and gender groups. The HIF displayed moderate longitudinal stability over a 15-month period and a low social desirability effect. Positive emotion was positively associated with social acceptance and visibility, and negatively with social withdrawal.
CONCLUSIONS: The HIF is a reliable and valid measure for research and school intervention promoting students’ emotional and mental health.
Research Interests:
Introduction. – As part of the flourishing line of enquiry into children’s emotion understanding, wereport the results of a conversation-based intervention study aimed at improving participants’ emotion comprehension, and exploring the... more
Introduction. – As part of the flourishing line of enquiry into children’s emotion understanding, wereport the results of a conversation-based intervention study aimed at improving participants’ emotion comprehension, and exploring the intervention effect as a function of attachment security. Method. – The study was conducted at school with the participation of 98 second-grade children (meanage: 7 years, 7 months; SD: 3.4 months). Participants were assigned to experimental and control groups that were balanced with respect to attachment security and insecurity as evaluated using the Separation Anxiety Test (SAT). The experimental group was exposed to a conversational intervention, in which short story readings with emotional content were used to stimulate discussion on the nature, causes and regulation of emotion. The children in the control group listened to the same stories, but did not take part in the conversational activity. Children from both groups were individually pre- and post-tested on measures of emotional lexicon (ELT) and emotion comprehension (TEC).
Results. – The training was found to have a significant effect on the emotion comprehension of the children allocated to the experimental group. In addition, non-secure children displayed higher gains in emotion comprehension than secure participants. The implications of the findings for educational and school contexts are discussed.
Results. – The training was found to have a significant effect on the emotion comprehension of the children allocated to the experimental group. In addition, non-secure children displayed higher gains in emotion comprehension than secure participants. The implications of the findings for educational and school contexts are discussed.
Research Interests:
Il presente lavoro, condotto all’interno del costrutto teorico di competenza emotiva, indaga le relazioni tra regolazione delle emozioni, autoefficacia emotiva ed empatia in un campione di 252 preadolescenti, equamente distribuiti tra... more
Il presente lavoro, condotto all’interno del costrutto teorico di competenza emotiva, indaga le relazioni tra regolazione delle emozioni, autoefficacia emotiva ed empatia in un campione di
252 preadolescenti, equamente distribuiti tra maschi e femmine (m = 12 anni e 6 mesi; ds = 4.01 mesi). Ai partecipanti sono stati proposti tre questionari (HIF, AEP e HIFds) relativi alle tre componenti indagate. L’analisi dei dati mostra che l’autoefficacia emotiva percepita media la relazione tra competenza empatica (sia affettiva che cognitiva) e regolazione delle emozioni, indipendentemente dal genere. I risultati sono discussi alla luce delle loro ricadute applicative in preadolescenza.
252 preadolescenti, equamente distribuiti tra maschi e femmine (m = 12 anni e 6 mesi; ds = 4.01 mesi). Ai partecipanti sono stati proposti tre questionari (HIF, AEP e HIFds) relativi alle tre componenti indagate. L’analisi dei dati mostra che l’autoefficacia emotiva percepita media la relazione tra competenza empatica (sia affettiva che cognitiva) e regolazione delle emozioni, indipendentemente dal genere. I risultati sono discussi alla luce delle loro ricadute applicative in preadolescenza.
Research Interests:
Recent years have seen the development and implementation of a range of training programs aimed at improving children's socio-emotional skills. Nevertheless, few studies have been conducted with toddlers attending nursery school. In this... more
Recent years have seen the development and implementation of a range of training programs aimed at improving children's socio-emotional skills. Nevertheless, few studies have been conducted with toddlers attending nursery school. In this study, we adopted observational and experimental paradigms to examine the efficacy of an intervention based on conversing about emotions with small groups of 2- to 3-year-old children. The intervention was designed to promote toddlers' mental-state talk, emotion understanding (EU), and prosocial behavior. The training group significantly outperformed the control group in the use of mental-state language, especially emotional-state lexicon, EU, and prosocial behavior toward peers. There was also a significant Group × Age interaction, with the older training group participants displaying greater gains in EU than the younger ones. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.
Research Interests:
We investigated whether conversational intervention focused on emotions could promote the development of emotion comprehension (EC), theory of mind (ToM), and prosocial orientation in preschoolers. Seventy-five 4- to 5-year-old children... more
We investigated whether conversational intervention focused on emotions could promote the development of emotion comprehension (EC), theory of mind (ToM), and prosocial orientation in preschoolers. Seventy-five 4- to 5-year-old children (Mage at pre-test: 5 years and 1 month; standard deviation = 6.83 months), assigned to experimental and control conditions, were pre- and post-tested for verbal ability, EC, false-belief understanding, and prosocial orientation. Over a 6-week intervention, all children were presented with brief illustrated scenarios based on emotional scripts. The training group was then involved in conversations about the nature, causes, and regulation of emotion whereas the control group engaged in free play, where conversation was minimized. The training group outperformed the control group in EC and prosocial orientation, even after controlling for gains in verbal ability whereas no differences were found for children’s false-belief understanding. The positive effect remained stable over time. Practical implications of the findings are discussed.
Research Interests:
We investigated whether training school-age children in emotion understanding had a significant effect on their social cognition. Participants were 110 children (mean age = 7 years 3 months) assigned to training and control conditions.... more
We investigated whether training school-age children in emotion understanding had a significant effect on their social cognition. Participants were 110 children (mean age = 7 years 3 months) assigned to training and control conditions. Over a 2-month intervention program, after the reading of illustrated scenarios based on emotional scripts, the training group was engaged in conversations on emotion understanding, whereas the control group was simply asked to produce a drawing about the story. The training group outperformed the control group on emotion comprehension, theory of mind, and empathy, and the positive training outcomes for emotion understanding remained stable over 6 months. Implications of the findings are discussed.
"The present study investigated the role of self-construal in explaining psychological wellbeing in two European countries. Eight hundred and fifteen Italian and Scottish students completed measures of life-satisfaction, optimism,... more
"The present study investigated the role of self-construal in explaining psychological wellbeing in two European countries. Eight hundred and fifteen Italian and Scottish students completed measures of life-satisfaction, optimism, subjective happiness
and a scale measuring interdependent and/or independent self-construal. We obtained three main findings. First of all, scores on the scales of psychological wellbeing were positively associated with scores on the independent scale and independence was found to be the factor that best explained variance in psychological wellbeing. Second, and contrary to our prediction, the Italian group had significantly higher scores for the Independence scale than Scots. Third, gender was found to have a significant effect with regard to interdependence of self, life satisfaction, and optimism."
and a scale measuring interdependent and/or independent self-construal. We obtained three main findings. First of all, scores on the scales of psychological wellbeing were positively associated with scores on the independent scale and independence was found to be the factor that best explained variance in psychological wellbeing. Second, and contrary to our prediction, the Italian group had significantly higher scores for the Independence scale than Scots. Third, gender was found to have a significant effect with regard to interdependence of self, life satisfaction, and optimism."
We carried out an investigation with primary-school children on the relationship between both use and comprehension of emotional-state language and emotion understanding. Participants were 100 students between 7 and 10 years old (mean... more
We carried out an investigation with primary-school children on the relationship between both use
and comprehension of emotional-state language and emotion understanding. Participants were 100
students between 7 and 10 years old (mean age8 years and 10 months; SD15.3 months), equally
divided by gender. They completed four tests evaluating their language ability, use of emotional-state
language, comprehension of emotional-state language and emotion understanding (EU) respectively.
Significant correlations were found between both use and comprehension of emotional-state talk and
children’s EU. In addition, regression analyses showed that comprehension of emotional-state
language, rather than its use, plays a significant role in explaining children’s emotion understanding.
and comprehension of emotional-state language and emotion understanding. Participants were 100
students between 7 and 10 years old (mean age8 years and 10 months; SD15.3 months), equally
divided by gender. They completed four tests evaluating their language ability, use of emotional-state
language, comprehension of emotional-state language and emotion understanding (EU) respectively.
Significant correlations were found between both use and comprehension of emotional-state talk and
children’s EU. In addition, regression analyses showed that comprehension of emotional-state
language, rather than its use, plays a significant role in explaining children’s emotion understanding.
Research Interests:
This study investigates the relationship between mental-state language and theory of mind in primary school children. The participants were 110 primary school students (mean age = 9 years and 7 months; SD = 12.7 months). They were evenly... more
This study investigates the relationship between mental-state language and theory of mind in primary school children. The participants were 110 primary school students (mean age = 9 years and 7 months; SD = 12.7 months). They were evenly divided by gender and belonged to two age groups (8- and 10-year-olds). Linguistic, metacognitive and cognitive measures were used to assess the following competencies: verbal ability, use of mental-state terms, understanding of metacognitive language, understanding of second-order false beliefs, and emotion comprehension. Correlations between children’ use of mental-state language and their performance on theory-of-mind tasks were moderate, whereas correlations between children’s comprehension of such language and ToM abilities were high. In addition, regression analyses showed that comprehension of metacognitive language was the variable which best explained children’s performance on both false belief tasks and an emotion comprehension test when verbal ability and age were controlled for.
The present study investigates whether training preschool children in the active use of emotional state talk plays a significant role in bringing about greater understanding of emotion terms and improved emotion comprehension.... more
The present study investigates whether training preschool children in the active use of emotional state talk plays a significant role in bringing about greater understanding of emotion terms and improved emotion comprehension. Participants were 100 preschool children (M=52 months; SD=9.9; range: 35–70 months), randomly assigned to experimental or control conditions. They were pre- and post-tested to assess their language comprehension, metacognitive Language comprehension and emotion understanding. Analyses of pre-test data did not show any significant differences between experimental and control groups. During the intervention phase, the children were read stories enriched with emotional lexicon. After listening to the stories, children in the experimental group took part in conversational Language games designed to stimulate use of the selected emotional terms. In contrast, the control group children did not take part in any special linguistic activities after the story readings. Analyses revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group in the understanding of inner state language and in the comprehension of emotion.
In this study the authors investigated whether training preschool children in the use of mental state lexicon plays a significant role in bringing about advanced conceptual understanding of mental terms and improved performance on... more
In this study the authors investigated whether training preschool children in the use of mental state lexicon plays a significant role in bringing about advanced conceptual understanding of mental terms and improved performance on theory-of-mind tasks. A total of 70 participants belonging to two age groups (3 and 4 years old) were randomly assigned to experimental and control conditions. All participants were pretested and posttested with linguistic and cognitive measures. Analyses of pretest data did not show any significant differences between experimental and control groups. During a 2-month period of intervention, children were read stories enriched with mental lexicon. After listening to a story, the experimental group took part in language games and conversations aimed at stimulating children to use mental terms. In contrast,the control group did not participate in any special linguistic activities. The results show that training had a significant effect on emotion understanding and metacognitive vocabulary comprehension in the 3-year-old group and on false-belief understanding and metacognitive vocabulary comprehension in
the 4-year-old group.
the 4-year-old group.
Research Interests:
In this study, situational antecedents and mentalization of guilt were examined by asking children and adolescents for written narratives. The sample of 240 participants, aged between 9 years and 15 years 6 months, was divided into two... more
In this study, situational antecedents and mentalization of guilt were examined by asking children and adolescents for written narratives. The sample of 240 participants, aged between 9 years and 15 years 6 months, was divided into two groups of 120 children (M¼9 years and 7 months; SD¼0.4) and 120 adolescents (M¼14 years and 7 months; SD¼0.4). Participants displayed typical development, were recruited at schools in Milan city, and came from middle-class backgrounds. There was an equal number of males and females in each of the two age groups. Both content analysis for antecedents and mental states language analysis for mentalization were applied to the texts. We found that the distribution of guilt antecedents varied as a function of age, and only in the adolescent group as a function of gender. We also found that the use of mental states language varied very significantly with age, but not with gender. The results support the idea that in the transition from childhood to adolescence antecedents shift their focus from externalizing behaviours to
internal thoughts and intentions; in addition, a more advanced ability to represent and reflect on the experience of feeling guilty is acquired.
internal thoughts and intentions; in addition, a more advanced ability to represent and reflect on the experience of feeling guilty is acquired.
Research Interests:
Very little research has been devoted to comparing the antecedents of moral emotions in Italian children and adolescents. In the present study, situational antecedents of guilt and shame were examined by asking children and adolescents... more
Very little research has been devoted to comparing the antecedents of moral emotions in Italian children and adolescents. In the present study, situational antecedents of guilt and shame were examined by asking children and adolescents for written narratives of autobiographical episodes. The sample of 200 participants aged between 9 and 14.6 years, was composed of two groups of 100 children (9 yrs.-10yrs. and 11 months ; M = 9 years and 6 months ; SD =0.4) and 100 adolescents (14yrs.-15 yrs. and 4 months ; M = 14,6 ; SD =0.3). Participants displayed typical development and were recruited at schools in Milan city and hinterland and came from middle class backgrounds. There was an equal number of males and females in each of the two age groups. Following the developmental literature, it was predicted that differences would be found as a function of age in the antecedents of both type of emotion. Content analysis was carried out on 400 texts, and a chi square test was applied to the coded categories. We found that the distribution of guilt antecedents varied as a function of age, and only in adolescent group as a function of gender, while the only variation in the distribution of shame antecedents was within the child group as a function of gender. The results are discussed in relation to findings from the literature on cognitive and socio-emotional development.
Autobiographical memory of emotionally salient events in adolescence: A narrative study. A descriptive narrative study was carried out in order to investigate emotionally salient events, and their link with the construction of self in... more
Autobiographical memory of emotionally salient events in adolescence: A narrative study. A descriptive narrative study was carried out in order to investigate emotionally salient events, and their link with the construction of self in male and female adolescents. Participants were 228 subjects, almost equally divided by gender, aged between 13 years and a half and 19 years and a half (M = 15 years and 7 months; SD = 1.7), recruited in Milan and hinterland. Participants were administered a 3-page narrative instrument called SRAE, tested in a pivotal phase of the research. They were asked to write three emotionall salient episodes of their life, particularly important for their story-life. Five hundred and twenty-eight narratives were transcribed and codified by two coders, who reached inter-rater agreements. Two types of analysis were applied to the narratives: a qualitative content analysis and a quantitative analysis of mental states language. Several types of emotion, emotional valence, autobiographical episodes, context and mental states language emerged from the analyses. Significant differences as a function of gender were found: male adolescents reported more autobiographical episodes related to happy events; female adolescents recalled a higher number of sad episodes. Males recalled more episodes focused on practical performances and achievement of goals, whereas females recalled more episodes about friendship and affective relationships. A variety of mental state lexicon emerged, and gender differences were not found. The overall findings are referred to a relational sense of self for females, and a more autonomous sense of self for males.