Virginia Pupi

Early adolescence is a critical developmental period marked by emotional, behavioral, and biological changes. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted adolescents’ daily routines, potentially producing lasting effects on mental and physical health. This study investigated anxiety and depressive symptoms, risk of extreme social withdrawal, use of technological devices, physical activity, and sleep–wake functioning in 276 early adolescents (54% females; Mage = 12.28, SD = 0.81) living in a forested and geographically isolated area of Emilia-Romagna in Italy. Participants completed validated self-report questionnaires assessing internalizing symptoms, use of technological devices (including problematic online gaming and smartphone use), gaming motivations, physical activity, chronotype, sleep disturbances, and daytime sleepiness. Scores on the anxiety and depressive symptom scales were within the normative range, except for scores on certain scales suggesting a moderate degree of severity that was not clinically significant. Females reported higher levels of anxiety, depressive symptoms, and problematic smartphone use, whereas males showed greater involvement in problematic online gaming and stronger achievement-, social-, and immersion-related motives. A substantial proportion of participants reported excessive daytime sleepiness (42.4% of females; 26.1% of males). Significant patterns of association were found among internalizing symptoms, domains of sleep–wake functioning, use of technological devices, and risk of extreme social withdrawal. Overall, these findings support the relevance of predisposing preventive strategies aimed at improving different domains of physical and mental health among youth in underserved or geographically isolated communities.

This brief research report explored the relationships between hikikomori symptom severity (extreme social withdrawal), basic psychological needs of Competence, Autonomy, and Relatedness, and perceived parental bonding in Italian adults experiencing social isolation. Participants ( N = 33; M age = 27.83, SD = 7.46; 42.9% women) were individuals recruited online who scored above the high-risk cutoff for hikikomori on the Hikikomori Questionnaire-25 (HQ-25). They completed the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (BPNSFS) and the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI). Competence Frustration accounted for substantial variability in hikikomori symptom severity in this high-risk sample, explaining approximately 31% of the variance. Regarding perceived parental bonding, maternal Care was positively associated with Autonomy Satisfaction and negatively with Competence Frustration, whereas maternal Control was positively related to frustration of all three needs. Paternal Care was negatively related to Autonomy and Competence Frustration, while paternal Control was positively associated with Relatedness Frustration. Over 30% of participants perceived maternal bonding as Affectionless Control and paternal bonding as either Affectionless Control or Neglectful. No gender differences emerged. Findings suggest that Competence Frustration may represent a key psychological correlate of hikikomori symptom severity in this high-risk group. Moreover, distinct maternal and paternal patterns of perceived Care and Control were associated with need frustration and satisfaction, as well as with the hikikomori dimension of perceived lack of Emotional Support. Study limitations include small sample size, cross-sectional design, reliance on self-report measures, and potential selection bias toward help-seeking individuals. Replication in larger longitudinal samples is warranted to confirm these preliminary results.

Although Instagram is widely used among young people, it has only recently caught researchers’ attention. Following the perspective of the I-PACE model, the present study examined the relationship between neuroticism and problematic Instagram use (PIU) in Italian university students who had an Instagram account. We assumed that the relationship between neuroticism and PIU could be explained by direct and indirect paths, passing through Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) and motives for Instagram use. 362 Instagram users (72.1% female; M_age = 25.35, SD = 4.25) filled out a questionnaire assessing demographics, Instagram use features, Neuroticism, Problematic Instagram use, FoMO, and Motivations for Using Instagram. Results showed that neuroticism affected PIU only indirectly through FoMO, escapism and self-expression motives. Additionally, FoMO promoted higher levels of escapism and self-expression motives, increasing participants’ risk of PIU. This is the first study testing the mediating role of motives for using Instagram between personality predisposing factors and PIU. The findings provide new insights into the relationship between the factors that may promote PIU and have important clinical implications. These include the possibility for practitioners to prevent PIU more easily by acting on users’ motivations and cognitions, such as escapism, self-expession and FoMO, rather than working on predisposing personality factors, that are usually more stable over time.