Chiara A. Veneziani

Refining the association between intergroup contact and intergroup forgiveness in Northern Ireland: Type of contact, prior conflict experience, and group identification

We conducted a secondary analysis of a general sample of the population in Northern Ireland, including a significant proportion of respondents with “personal experience” of the sectarian conflict, to provide a refined test of whether contact was associated with more forgiveness and less prejudice. We tested the association between two measures of intergroup contact (outgroup friendship and generic contact) and both intergroup forgiveness and prejudice among people who varied in their personal experience of conflict, while simultaneously considering the role of ingroup identification as an inhibitor of forgiveness, and accounting for relevant demographic variables. Contact was positively associated with forgiveness, marginally more so in the case of friendship than general outgroup contact, whereas both conflict experience and identification were negatively associated with forgiveness. While outgroup friendship robustly predicted forgiveness, generic outgroup contact was moderated by conflict experience and ingroup identification. Effects of both forms of contact on prejudice were not moderated. Results are discussed in terms of the greater impact of friendship contact, forgiveness as a more demanding criterion, and the need to pursue research on intergroup forgiveness among large samples of people directly impacted by the events for which forgiveness is relevant.

The Italian adaptation of the Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale-Revised

The Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale-Revised (CAMS-R; Feldman, Hayes, Kumar, Greeson, & Laurenceau, 2007) consists of 12 items aiming to detect a broad conceptualization of mindfulness. This research intends to create an Italian adaptation of the CAMS-R, to explore its psychometric characteristics, and to investigate initial issues of validity. A questionnaire was administered to 459 respondents. As for the original version, the confirmatory factor analysis sustained a model with four firstorder latent factors and one second-order latent factor. Furthermore, the CAMS-R Italian version showed an acceptable level of internal reliability. Concerning convergent and divergent validity, the CAMS-R Italian version was positively related to the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS; Brown & Ryan, 2003) and negatively to rumination. Finally, we showed that the scale is likely to be vulnerable to socially desirable responding, especially to self-deceptive enhancement. Implications and limits of the study are discussed.

Impact of pre-war and post-war intergroup contact on intergroup relations and mental health: Evidence from a Bosnian sample.

Using a sample of Bosnian adults (N = 381) we investigated the association between intergroup contact, measures of intergroup relations, and mental health. Structural equation models with latent variables showed that postwar contact had beneficial effects, being positively related to outgroup trust and intergroup forgiveness, and negatively associated with social distance. Moreover, postwar contact had indirect effects on reduced morbidity and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms via increased intergroup forgiveness and reduced social distance. We also analyzed the role of potential inhibitors and facilitators of the beneficial effects of postwar contact, and found that experience of violence played a detrimental role, while prewar contact was related to positive outcomes. Moderation analyses revealed the interactive effects of prewar and postwar contact, as positive effects of present-day contact on intergroup relations (promoting trust and reducing social distance) were strongest when prewar contact was high. Conversely, postwar contact was positively associated with outgroup trust only for respondents with low levels of experience of violence. Findings underline the value of promoting intergroup contact in postconflict settings.

Assessing passionate love: Italian validation of the PLS (reduced version)

Abstract In the last few years, scientists have been trying to better comprehend the complex mechanism of love. The Passionate Love Scale (PLS) has been shown in previous research to measure a general dimension of passionate love. Due to the increase of its administration in neuroscientific studies, there is a need for a validated Italian version of the scale. The aim of this study was to validate the unidimensional structure of the reduced version of the PLS (PLS‐R) in a group of Italians adults. A cross‐validation approach was used on a sample of 784 participants. The diagonal weighted least squares method was implemented, which represents a useful option for Likert scales. The results were consistent with previous studies from other cultures and suggest that the Italian translation of the PLS‐R is a valid instrument to assess passionate love among the Italian population.

Differences in the Way to Conceive Happiness Relate to Different Reactions to Negative Events

This paper aimed to assess whether differences in the way to conceive happiness, measured by the Orientations to Happiness measure, were associated with specific reactions to negative events. We hypothesized that among orientations to pleasure (portraying hedonism), to meaning (representing a eudaimonic approach to life), and to engagement (derived from the experience of flow), orientation to meaning would have displayed a stronger protective role against recent negative and potentially stressful events. After providing a validation of the Italian version of the Orientations to Happiness measure (Study 1), we performed regression analyses of the three orientations on positive and negative emotions linked to a self-relevant negative event (Study 2), and moderation analyses assessing the interactive effects of orientations to happiness and stressful events on well-being indicators (Study 3). Our findings supported the hypotheses. In Study 2, meaning was associated with positive emotions characterized by a lower activation (contentment and interest) compared to the positive emotions associated with pleasure (amusement, eagerness, and happiness). In Study 3, only meaning buffered the effect of recent potentially stressful events on satisfaction with life and positive affect. Results suggest that orientation to meaning might help individuals to better react to negative events.

Affective organizational commitment and dispositional mindfulness as correlates of burnout in health care professionals

ABSTRACT A study conducted on 98 Italian health professionals investigated the associations between mindfulness, organizational commitment, and burnout syndrome, controlling for the effect of potentially stressful events. Results showed that affective commitment and dispositional mindfulness were negatively associated with burnout. Dispositional mindfulness also moderated the relation between potentially stressful events and two burnout dimensions, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. These findings suggest that affective commitment and dispositional mindfulness are important factors in protecting against the onset of burnout in healthcare professionals. Moreover, mindfulness seems to contain the adverse consequences of potentially stressful events.