Nicla Cucinella

This study explores students’ attitudes towards technology for learning, their cellphone use in class, and their digital distraction during educational activities, also considering the potential role of some sociodemographic characteristics. Participants were 803 Italian middle school students (M_age = 12.2 years, SD = 0.9; 53% female). Using Latent Profile Analysis (LPA), we identified five profiles: Low-engagement users, Highly distracted, Disengaged distracted users, Self-regulated users, and Moderate users. Results highlighted small differences between profiles associated with age and maternal educational level. These findings underscore the dual nature of technology as both a valuable tool and a source of distraction from school activities, highlighting the importance of tailored strategies to promote balanced and mindful technology use. Future research should further explore how these profiles interact with broader psychosocial and developmental factors.

Motivations underlying major life decisions, such as having children, vary in intensity and quality. Grounded in Self-Determination Theory (SDT), the Motivation to Have a Child Scale (MCS) assesses five related forms of motivation: intrinsic, identified, introjected, external regulation, and amotivation. This multistudy aimed to adapt the MCS to the Italian context and evaluate its psychometric properties. Study 1 examined factorial structure, reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity in a sample of 471 Italian young adults. Study 2 tested factorial structure, reliability, gender invariance, and construct validity in a sample of 644 Italian primiparous parents. Results supported a well-fitting five-factor model with adequate reliability and invariance across gender. MCS dimensions were significantly associated with need satisfaction/frustration, stress, depression, and romantic relationship satisfaction. Overall, findings support the MCS as a reliable SDT-based instrument for assessing motivations to have children and their implications for well-being.

Several studies have stated that coaches’ ability to teach life skills to their athletes intentionally is associated with various aspects of positive youth development. This study aimed to adapt and validate the English version of the Coaching Life Skills in Sport Questionnaire in the Italian context (IT-CLSS-Q), a tool developed to assess the intentionality of coaches in teaching and transferring life skills through sport. The original English version was adapted to Italian using the back-translation procedure. A sample of 590 youth sport coaches completed the IT-CLSS-Q. The confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the five-factor structure of the original questionnaire, and the reliability analyses demonstrated high internal consistency for all subscales. Measurement invariance testing showed consistency between groups with different coaching experience, while significant correlations with empathy and leadership self-efficacy supported the construct validity of the questionnaire. Overall, the results indicate that IT-CLSS-Q is a useful tool for evaluating life skills coaching in Italy, providing a foundation for future research and interventions to improve positive youth development through sport. Future research should include a more balanced representation of disciplines and genders, integrating athletes’ perspectives and longitudinal studies to deepen understanding of the long-term impact of life skills transfer.

Background/Objectives: This study examines the relations between democratic parenting and adolescents’ subjective well-being, focusing on the potential moderating role of youth environmental sensitivity. Three environmental sensitivity models (diathesis–stress, vantage sensitivity, differential susceptibility) were tested to unveil the heterogeneity of the effects of democratic parenting on adolescents’ subjective well-being according to the type of environmental influences (positive, negative, both positive and negative) youths are more susceptible to. Methods: A sample of 321 Italian adolescents (75% females; M_age = 16.83, SD = 1.35) completed online self-report measures assessing perceptions of democratic parenting, environmental sensitivity, and various dimensions of subjective well-being (positivity, vitality, anxiety, and general health). Results: Three path analysis models were run to evaluate the associations between democratic parenting, environmental sensitivity, and youths’ well-being. The results showed that democratic parenting was positively related to adolescents’ positivity, vitality, and general health and negatively to anxiety. Adolescents with higher environmental sensitivity reported reduced subjective well-being. A moderating effect of environmental sensitivity was detected such that highly sensitive adolescents had lower general health when democratic parenting was low. Conclusions: These findings support a diathesis–stress model, suggesting that environmental sensitivity might be a vulnerability factor in less supportive environments.

As outlined by the Council of Europe’s Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC), civic competences are core elements for active participation in a democratic society. This study aimed to examine the linkages between four civic competences (empathy, respect, responsibility, and cooperation) and civic engagement (attitudes and behaviors) during adolescence, as well as test the potential role played by gender, both as a covariate and a moderator. We recruited a sample of 446 adolescents (70% females; M _age = 16.51, SD = 1.35) from a high school in Southern Italy and administered a set of online self-report scales: civic attitudes and behaviors were evaluated through the Civic Engagement Scale; empathy was assessed through the Empathic Concern subscale of the Brief Interpersonal Reactivity Index; cooperation was assessed through the Cooperation Scale; responsibility and respect were measured through a set of descriptors provided by the RFCDC. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) was run to test the hypothesized associations, and a series of multiple group SEM was performed to evaluate the moderating role of gender on the relations between civic competences and civic engagement. Our findings showed only empathy and cooperation were positively and significantly related to civic attitudes and civic behaviors. Gender differences were found for empathy, cooperation, and respect, with girls reporting higher levels than boys. Adolescents’ gender was also found to be a significant moderator of relations linking empathy, cooperation and respect with civic engagement. Limitations and implications are discussed.

Climate change is one of the greatest global threats that has ecological, economic, social, and psychological consequences. Nowadays, young people are the target of political agenda since they represent potential future policymakers. Consequently, it is crucial to identify the psychological features that contribute to engagement of young people in climate change issue. This study aimed at identifying and describing different configurations of youth perceiving and experiencing climate change. A sample of 224 participants (61% females; M_age = 21.04, SD = 1.65) were involved in study. From a cluster analysis emerged three distinct profiles, Eco-Disengaged, Eco-Engaged/Oriented and Eco-Engaged/Disoriented, which differ in levels of climate change awareness, worry and anxiety. Findings suggest that institutions might develop green education programs based on young people’s individual differences.

This study was aimed at evaluating the associations between maternal parenting practices (positive, negative/inconsistent, and punitive), children’s difficulties (such as conduct problems, emotional symptoms, peer problems, and hyperactivity), and prosocial behaviors. Participants were 131 Italian mothers of primary school children; mothers were aged between 26 and 52 years (M = 38.38, SD = 5.46); children (54% girls) were aged between 6 and 10 years (M = 7.15, SD = 0.98). Mothers completed two scales assessing their parenting practices and their children’s psychosocial adjustment. A path analysis was run to test the hypothesized model. The results showed the following: (a) maternal positive parenting was negatively and significantly related to children’s conduct problems and hyperactivity, and positively and significantly to children’s prosocial behavior; (b) maternal negative/inconsistent parenting was positively and significantly related to children’s conduct problems, emotional symptoms, and hyperactivity; (c) maternal punitive parenting was positively and significantly related to children’s conduct problems and emotional symptoms. Moreover, the results showed that, according to the mothers’ perceptions, boys tended to exhibit higher levels of hyperactivity and peer problems and lower levels of prosocial behaviors than girls. Overall, this study highlights the unique role of different maternal parenting practices in the psychosocial adjustment of primary school children.

Previous research reported that positive parenting and parenting stress might impact children’s psychosocial adjustment. The current longitudinal study aimed at evaluating the associations over time between mothers’ positive parenting, their parenting stress, and their preschoolers’ social–emotional competence and emotional–behavioral difficulties. Participants were 53 Italian mothers, aged between 24 and 47 years (M = 35.30, SD = 5.28) at T0, and their children (females = 51%), aged between 3 and 6 years (M = 4.48, SD = 0.84) at T0. Mothers completed self-report scales at 2 time points (with a 2-year lag). An autoregressive cross-lagged model was tested that had a good fit to the data, χ²(6) = 3.37 ns, CFI = 1.00, RMSEA = 0.00. The results showed that maternal positive parenting at T0 negatively predicted maternal parenting stress at T1; maternal parenting stress at T0 negatively predicted children’s social–emotional competence at T1. Moreover, at each time point, children’s social–emotional competence was associated positively with maternal positive parenting and negatively with maternal parenting stress; children’s emotional–behavioral difficulties were positively associated with maternal parenting stress. The results confirm that interactions with mothers are fundamental for children’s psychosocial adjustment. Implications for research and practice aimed at reducing parenting stress and fostering positive parenting are discussed.