Elisa Delvecchio

Anorexia and attachment: dysregulated defense and pathological mourning

The role of defensive exclusion (Deactivation and Segregated Systems) in the development of early relationships and related to subsequent manifestations of symptoms of eating disorders was assessed using the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System (AAP). Fifty-one DSM-IV diagnosed women with anorexia participated in the study. Anorexic patients were primarily classified as dismissing or unresolved. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of defensive exclusion were carried out. Results showed potential benefits of using the AAP defense exclusion coding system, in addition to the main attachment classifications, in order to better understand the developmental issues involved in anorexia. Discussion concerned the processes, such as pathological mourning, that may underlie the associations between dismissing and unresolved attachment and anorexia. Implications for developmental research and clinical nosology are discussed.

The Affect in Play Scale: confirmatory factor analysis in elementary school children.

The aim of this paper was to study the construct validity of the Affect in Play Scale, an empirically based measure of pretend play, in a group of 519 Italian children ages 6 to 10 years. In confirmatory factor analysis, a correlated two-factor structure with a cognitive and an affective factor was identified. Possible differences in factor scores by sex and age were investigated but no significant differences were found.

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Pretend Play in U.S. and Italian Children

Pretend play reflects cognitive, representational, and affective expression abilities in children. Cross-cultural studies stress the importance of culture-specific practices involved in shaping the context for play. Differences in the cultural environment and the parental care-giving system could influence children’s pretend play activities. There is a need for cross-cultural comparisons of play that use the same standardized measure of play. The current study was a cross-cultural comparison of two samples of American and Italian children 6 to 8 years old. All children were administered the Affect in Play Scale. As hypothesized, Italian children had significantly more types of affect expression in play than children in the United States, showing a medium effect size. Children in the United States had more imagination in their play, although with a small effect size. Implications of these findings are discussed.

The role of co-parenting alliance as a mediator between trait anxiety, family system maladjustment, and parenting stress in a sample of non-clinical Italian parents

This study investigated the role of co-parenting alliance in mediating the influence of parents’ trait anxiety on family system maladjustment and parenting stress. A sample of 1606 Italian parents (803 mothers and 803 fathers) of children aged one to 13 years completed measures of trait anxiety (State Trait Anxiety Inventory—Y), co-parenting alliance (Parenting Alliance Measure), family system maladjustment (Family Assessment Measure—III), and parenting stress (Parenting Stress Inventory—Short Form). These variables were investigated together comparing two structural equations model-fitting including both partners. A model for both mothers and fathers was empirically devised as a series of associations between parent trait anxiety (independent variable), family system maladjustment and parenting stress (dependent variables), mediated by co-parenting alliance, with the insertion of cross predictions between mothers and fathers and correlations between dependent variables for both parents. Results indicated that the relation between mothers and fathers’ trait anxiety, family system maladjustment and parenting stress was mediated by the level of co-parenting alliance. Understanding the role of couples’ co-parenting alliance could be useful during the family assessment and/or treatment, since it is an efficient and effective tool to improve the family system maladjustment and stress.

Self-Perception of Parental Role, Family Functioning, and Familistic Beliefs in Italian Parents: Early Evidence.

Recent research has explored the relationships between family and cultural issues, claiming attention on the need to consider and evaluate cultural values and beliefs as useful factors to promote positive family adjustment and parenting outcomes (Cardoso and Thompson, 2010; Taylor et al., 2012). This paper explored self-perception of parental role, family maladjustment and cultural beliefs in a sample of Italian parents. More specifically, 204 mother and 204 fathers of adolescents (13–17 years old) filled self-report questionnaires about family system maladjustment (Family Assessment Measure-III), self-perception of parental role (Self-Perception of Parental Role), parents’ beliefs and attitudes toward the family (Attitudinal Familism Scale), and parents’ cultural values (Cultural Values Survey). Results showed that parents have a similar self-perception of family functioning and they share common cultural beliefs and values toward the family. However, fathers felt more satisfied and involved in parenting then mothers and they were more able to balance the different roles of their life. Mothers and fathers showed a similar path of correlations, in which greater level of satisfaction in parenting and better ability in role balancing correlated with a more positive family adjustment. Moreover, a higher perception of family maladjustment was associated to lower levels of family cohesion and cooperation. Furthermore, higher levels of satisfaction were associated to higher scores in family solidarity, equality among sexes and equality in decision takers. These results introduce important implications for family studies in Italian culture, and open to comparison with parenting in other cultures.

Assessing Separation Anxiety in Italian Youth: Preliminary Psychometric Properties of the Separation Anxiety Assessment Scale

This study examined the internal consistency and construct validity of the Separation Anxiety Assessment Scale for Children in a non-clinical Italian sample of 358 children ages 6 to 10 years. Statistically significant differences were examined by sex and age. Two exploratory factor analyses were carried out: (a) on the symptom sub-dimensions which led to three interpretable factors of Fear of Abandonment and of Physical Illness, Fear of Calamitous Events, Fear of Being Alone and (b) on all Separation Anxiety Assessment Scale for Children items, which led to three interpretable factors: Fear of Abandonment and Safety Signals, Fear of Calamitous Events, and Fear of Being Alone and Left Alone. Preliminary findings for validity were described with the Separation Anxiety Symptoms Inventory for Children and the Italian Fear Schedule for Children (convergent validity). Implications regarding the clinical utility of the Separation Anxiety Assessment Scale for Children are discussed.

Adult Attachment, Social Adjustment, and Well-Being in Drug-Addicted Inpatients

In recent years, attachment studies have gathered overwhelming evidence for a relation between insecure attachment and drug addiction. The existing literature predominantly addresses attachment styles and little attention is given to attachment-pattern–oriented studies. The current study explored how attachment, social adjustment, and well-being interact in 40 (28 men, 12 women; ages 20–52 years, M = 32.3, SD = 9.4) inpatients with drug addiction. The Adult Attachment Projective Picture System (AAP), the Social Adjustment Scale–Self-report (SAS-SR), and the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28) were administered. Descriptive statistics were computed as well as differences between patterns of attachment in all variables were measured. None of the inpatients showed a secure attachment pattern: 7 scored as dismissing (18%), 5 preoccupied (12%) and 28 unresolved (70%). AAP stories were mainly connected with themes of danger, lack of protection, and helplessness. Inpatients classified as unresolved reported significantly higher maladjustment on the SAS-SR and GHQ-28 than those with resolved attachment patterns. Implications for clinicians and researchers are presented.

From China to Italy: Validation of the adolescent self-consciousness questionnaire

This study aimed at validating a Chinese questionnaire on self-consciousness for Italian adolescents. Self-consciousness is a hierarchical construct of self which comprehends self-evaluation, self-experience and self-monitoring. 1138 Italian adolescents filled in the Adolescent Self-Consciousness questionnaire and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis with cross-validation procedure was adopted to strengthen the findings. Results confirmed the second-order factor structure proposed by the authors showed good psychometric properties and discrete criteria validity, suggesting that the ASC could be a reliable and suitable measure to assess self-consciousness in Italian youths.

Family allocentrism and its relation to adjustment among Chinese and Italian adolescents

Family allocentrism is a domain-specific collectivistic attribute referring to the family. This research tested the one-factor structure of the Family Allocentrism Scale (FAS), examined the association between family allocentrism and adjustment outcomes, and compared the factor means and the correlations with adjustment between Chinese and Italian adolescents. To this end, 484 Chinese and 480 Italian adolescents participated in the study by answering a battery of self-report measures. The results confirmed the one-factor structure of the FAS. Family allocentrism was related to a number of adjustment outcomes. More importantly, Chinese adolescents reported more family allocentrism than their Italian counterparts did, but the relations between family allocentrism and adjustment outcomes were equivalent in magnitude between the two samples. Collectively, these findings provide crucial evidence for the psychometric properties of the FAS and shed light on the importance of family allocentrism in promoting positive youth development from a cross-cultural perspective.

From Research to Clinical Settings: Validation of the Affect in Play Scale – Preschool Brief Version in a Sample of Preschool and School Aged Italian Children

Affect in Play Scale-Preschool (APS-P) is one of the few standardized tools to measure pretend play. APS-P is an effective measure of symbolic play, able to detect both cognitive and affective dimensions which classically designated play in children, but often are evaluated separately and are scarcely integrated. The scale uses 5 min standardized play task with a set of toys. Recently the scale was extended from 6 to 10 years old and validated in Italy preschool and school-aged children. Some of the main limitations of this measure are that it requires videotaping, verbatim transcripts, and an extensive scoring training, which could compromise its clinical utility. For these reasons, a Brief version of the measure was developed by the original authors. This paper will focus on an APS-P Brief Version and its Extended Version through ages (6–10 years), which consists “in vivo” coding. This study aimed to evaluate construct and external validity of this APS-P Brief Version and its Extended Version in a sample of 538 Italian children aged 4-to-10 years. Confirmatory factor analysis yielded a two correlated factor structure including an affective and a cognitive factor. APS-P-BR and its Extended Version factor scores strongly related to APS-P Extended Version factor scores. Significant relationships were found with a divergent thinking task. Results suggest that the APS-P-BR and its Extended Version is an encouraging brief measure assessing pretend play using toys. It would easily substitute the APS-P and its Extended Version in clinical and research settings, reducing time and difficulties in scoring procedures and maintaining the same strengths.