Fabio Presaghi

The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping organizational practices, yet workers’ attitudes remain crucial for its successful integration. This study examines how perceived organizational ethical culture, organizational innovativeness, and job performance influence workers’ attitudes towards AI. A survey was administered to 356 workers across diverse sectors, with analyses focusing on 154 participants who reported prior AI use. Measures included the Attitudes Towards Artificial Intelligence at Work (AAAW), Corporate Ethical Virtues (CEV), Inventory of Organizational Innovativeness (IOI), and an adapted version of the In-Role Behaviour Scale. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that ethical culture dimensions, particularly Clarity and Feasibility, significantly predicted attitudes towards AI, such as anxiety and job insecurity, with Feasibility also associated with the attribution of human-like traits to AI. Supportability, reflecting a cooperative work environment, was linked to lower perceptions of AI human-likeness and adaptability. Among innovation dimensions, only Raising Projects, the active encouragement of employees’ ideas, was positively related to perceptions of AI adaptability, highlighting the importance of participatory innovation practices over abstract signals. Most importantly, perceived job performance improvements through AI predicted more positive attitudes, including greater perceived quality, utility, and reduced anxiety. Overall, this study contributes to the growing literature on AI in organizations by offering an exploratory yet integrative framework that captures the multifaceted nature of AI acceptance in the workplace.

This study contributes to the growing interest in evaluating environmental qualities and characteristics for the enhancement of social and individual well-being by introducing and validating the Landscape Assessment Scale (LAS), a standardized tool designed to assess key environmental qualities across both natural and urban landscapes within metropolitan settings. The scale comprises 30 items related to 10 key environmental components: coherence, complexity, ephemera, imageability, naturalness, safety, visual scale, stewardship, disturbance, and historicity of places. In study 1, the LAS was first tested on 327 participants, who evaluated either a natural (N = 176) or urban (N = 151) environment. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) revealed three correlated factors: Landscape Disharmony, Landscape Organized Complexity, and Landscape Naturalistic Impact. In study 2, participants (N = 185) were asked to select and to assess two environments (natural and urban) using the shortened LAS and the Perceived Restorativeness Scale (PRS). A Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to investigate the invariance of the LAS factor structure in both natural and urban environments, and the correlational analysis was used to investigate LAS convergent validity. The CFA supported the three-factor structure and showed significant correlations between LAS and PRS components, supporting convergent validity. By capturing key perceptual dimensions that are relevant across landscape types, the LAS offers a practical and scientifically robust tool for informing evidence-based urban planning and landscape design.

Natural environments are known to foster positive emotions and well-being, while Virtual Reality (VR) represents a powerful tool to explore such effects. This study investigates the restorative potential of virtual natural environments for emotional recovery, combining self-report and physiological measures. Fifty-two participants were divided into three Natural groups—formed spontaneously based on their preferred natural scenarios—and a Neutral group—exposed to a neutral scenario. The results reveal that virtual natural scenarios effectively restored positive emotions (valence) after exposure to arousing stimuli. Both neutral and natural scenarios reduced arousal, but the physiological data show higher activation in Natural groups. Interestingly, this activation was positively appraised, supporting emotional recovery. These findings confirm the restorative potential of VR nature, with nuanced arousal effects.

There is a lack of a synthesis of longitudinal studies that clarify the relationship between gaming disorder (GD) symptoms and mental health issues, psychological distress, and well-being.To address this gap, we undertook a systematic review with meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. The study protocol was preregistered online on PROSPERO (CRD42023407665). We included studies analyzing the association between GD or problematic/pathological videogame use, and internalizing psychopathology (i.e., depression and anxiety), psychological distress (i.e., loneliness, stress), or well-being (i.e., life satisfaction, quality of life, well-being) over time. Studies that only measured gaming time or video game use, as well as treatment and experimental studies, were excluded. We rated the risk of bias (study quality) using the National Institutes of Health quality assessment tool for observational cohort studies. Research articles were searched in PsycInfo, PsycArticles, PubMed, and Web of Science up until December 29, 2022. 36 articles (N subjects = 34,288) were included in the qualitative synthesis whereas 30 were considered for the quantitative synthesis (meta-analysis) (N = 28,782). Six studies were excluded because they lacked sufficient data to compute partial correlations. Effect sizes (i.e., partial correlation) were pooled using random-effects models. Sensitivity analyses were carried out excluding studies rated as “poor” and Chinese studies. Effect sizes for the association between GD and subsequent depression (n studies = 17, n subjects = 17,017, ρ = .077, 95% CI: .035, .118), emotional symptoms (i.e., a combination of internalizing symptoms) (n studies = 4, n subjects = 8,054, ρ = .083, 95% CI: .049, .116) and life satisfaction (n studies = 8, n subjects = 11,058, ρ = -.060, 95% CI: -.104, -.015) were weak but statistically significant. GD was not associated with subsequent anxiety (n studies = 9, n subjects = 7,149, ρ = .020, 95% CI: -.024, .064). On the other hand, depression (n studies = 18, n subjects = 17,756, ρ = .068, 95% CI: .020, .115), anxiety (n studies = 9, n subjects = 7,149, ρ = .076, 95% CI: .039, .113), emotional symptoms (n studies = 4, n subjects = 8,054, ρ = .075, 95% CI: .001, .148), life satisfaction (n studies = 8, n subjects = 11,058, ρ = -.053, 95% CI: -.080, -.025) and loneliness (n studies = 3, n subjects = 1,584, ρ = .096, 95% CI: .033, .160) were significantly associated with subsequent GD. Overall, sensitivity analyses supported the robustness of the results from the main analysis. In conclusion, this study found reciprocal associations between GD and depression, GD and life satisfaction, and GD and mixed emotional symptoms over time, a longitudinal effect of anxiety on GD (but no evidence for the inverse), and of loneliness on GD. However, the causal nature and practical relevance remain uncertain because effect sizes were small and based on observational studies. This research was supported by a Swiss Government Excellence Post-Doctoral Scholarship [2022.0033] awarded to the first author (SA).Keywords: gaming disorder; addictive disorder; meta-analysis; longitudinal; development.

The Gaia program is a 12-week mindfulness intervention based on cultivating body, emotional, and ecological self-awareness, which has been shown to be effective in reducing children’s and adolescents’ internalizing problems, and improving psychological well-being, and psychological distress in early adolescents. To clarify the psychological processes underlying mindfulness effects on mental health among adolescents, the present study aimed to examine whether emotion regulation strategies (i.e., cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) may be considered as key processes linking the Gaia program effects to improvements in psychological distress and well-being. A total of 361 adolescents (mean age 14 years) were randomly assigned to one of two groups: the Gaia program (i.e., experimental group; N = 210) and waiting list (i.e., control group; N = 151). Measures were administered at three time points, approximately every three months: one week before treatment, one week after treatment, and three months after treatment. Using a structural equation model (SEM), we found that the Gaia Program had a positive and significant indirect effect on psychological well-being only via cognitive reappraisal as measured at follow-up [B = 0.181, 95% C.I. (0.012; 0.395)], whereas no significant indirect effects were found on psychological distress through cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. Findings from this study provide evidence of key emotional processes underlying the effects of a mindfulness intervention on positive but not negative psychological outcomes.

A serious form of social withdrawal, initially described within Japan as hikikomori, has received increasing attention from the international scientific community during the last decade. The 25-item Hikikomori Questionnaire (HQ-25) was initially developed and validated in Japan. To date, data on its psychometric properties in other populations where cases of hikikomori have been described are still scarce. Thus, the aims of this study were to (1) translate, adapt, and validate the Italian version of the HQ-25 analyzing its psychometric properties; and (2) verify the association between hikikomori and personality functioning, social support, and problematic Internet use. A sample of 372 Italian adults aged 18 to 50 years completed the HQ-25 and measures of psychoticism, personality dysfunction, social support, and problematic Internet use were employed to test the convergent validity of the HQ-25. The data showed a satisfactory fit for a three-factor model, significantly better than a one-factor model. The three factors (socialization, isolation, and emotional support, as in the original study on the HQ-25) correlated positively with psychoticism, personality dysfunction, and problematic Internet use, and correlated negatively with social support. A lifetime history of hikikomori was present in 1.1% of the sample (n = 4). This is the first study to use the Italian validated version of the HQ-25 with an adult population. The findings from this study provide evidence of the satisfactory psychometric properties of the Italian version of the HQ-25 and support further investigation of the HQ-25 as an instrument to help screen for and investigate the presence of hikikomori.

Mind-mindedness (MM) refers to caregivers' proclivity to treat a child as having an active and autonomous mental life. It has been shown to be a powerful predictor of many developmental outcomes and to mitigate the impact of risk conditions. However, longitudinal studies on MM reporting changes over time and individual differences among mothers have been scant and quite inconclusive, mainly due to the investigation of changes between only two time points. The current study analyzes MM's developmental trajectories across four time points (3, 6, 9, and 12 months of infants' age) along with the moderating effects of four variables (maternal sensitivity, age, education, and family income). The sample included healthy mother-infant dyads (N = 93, 46 female infants), belonging to monolingual Italian predominantly middle-class families, with 15% (n = 14) classified as low income (below the relative poverty threshold). The dyads were videotaped during semistructured play interactions and transcripts were coded for appropriate mind-related comments (AMRCs) and nonattuned mind-related comments (NAMRCs). Mothers' AMRCs, compared to NAMRCs, showed more temporal stability. Both AMRCs and NAMRCs showed a linear decrease with individual differences across dyads decreasing over time, and dyads becoming increasingly similar one with the other. Low income moderated the normative trend of appropriate mind-related comments. These findings suggest that MM, while depending largely on an individual trait at earlier ages, when infants' mental states are less intelligible, adapts to the increase of infants' sociocommunicative repertoire over time. They also highlight the importance of ecological constraints on the quality of caregiving. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Hikikomori is a form of social withdrawal that is commonly described as having an onset during adolescence, a life stage when other psychiatric problems can also emerge. This study aimed to adapt the 25-item Hikikomori Questionnaire (HQ-25) for the Italian adolescent population, examining its psychometric properties; associations between hikikomori and psychoticism, depression, anxiety, problematic internet use (PIU), psychotic-like experiences (PLEs), to confirm convergent validity of the HQ-25; and the interaction effect between symptoms of hikikomori and PIU in predicting PLEs. Two-hundred and twenty-one adolescents participated in the study. Measures included the HQ-25, the Psychoticism subscale of the Personality Inventory for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the Depression and Anxiety subscales of the Brief Symptom Inventory, the Internet Disorder Scale, and the Brief Prodromal Questionnaire. Data showed a satisfactory fit for a three-factor model for the HQ-25 that is consistent with the original study on the HQ-25. Three factors (socialization, isolation, and emotional support) were associated with psychopathology measures. Six participants reported lifetime history of hikikomori. Symptoms of hikikomori and PIU did not interact in predicting PLEs. This is the first study to validate the HQ-25 in a population of adolescents. Findings provide initial evidence of the adequate psychometric properties of the Italian version of the HQ-25 for adolescents.

The present study investigated the moderating role of early communicative pointing on the developmental trends of word comprehension and production over the second year of life. Seventy-seven infants were involved in an experimental pointing task (T-POINT) in sessions at 9 and 12 months, and the MB-CDI questionnaire was filled in by their parents at 15, 18 and 24 months. Based on the age at which the infants were seen to use pointing, they were classified into three groups: the ‘Early’ pointers, who first pointed during the 9-month session; the ‘Typical’ pointers, who first pointed in the 12-month session; and the ‘Late’ pointers, who never pointed in either of the sessions. Using multilevel modelling, we traced the developmental trajectories and individual differences for the two lexical domains of word comprehension and production according to the three pointing groups. The main results showed that compared to the Typical pointers: (i) the Early pointers were faster for word comprehension development, and were similar for word production; (ii) the Late pointers showed lexical delay before 18 months for word comprehension, and between 18 and 24 months for word production. These data are discussed in light of the different roles of early pointing on receptive compared to expressive vocabulary development.