Giovanni Giulio Valtolina

Psychological Well-Being, Family Relations, and Developmental Issues of Children Left Behind

The phrase “children left behind” refers to minors who are left in their home country while one or both of their parents emigrate for work for at least six months. From a quantitative point of view, children left behind in countries with strong migratory pressure are many. Separation of families in migration is tied to implications about well-being of the people involved—mainly the children—and of the communities to which they belong. The emotional neglect felt by these children is associated with lack of affection and physical intimacy. Through a review of the literature, the purpose of this paper was to show that distress in this pattern of deprivation is manifested by the children in several ways and in different contexts: low school performance, drop-out from school, conflicts with teachers and peers, anxiety, low self-esteem, tendency to feel depressed, apathy, suicidal behaviour, and substance abuse.

Systemic perspective on obesity in childhood: a preliminary study on power interactions between mother and child.

33 mother-child dyads with an obese child (aged 9 to 12 years) and a similar control group were studied. The power interaction was used as an indicator of the style of the relationship between mother and child. To analyse the interactions the model of Watzlawick, Beavin, and Jackson was used because it considers three different possible situations of complementarity, symmetry, and parallelism. A revised version of the Scoresby Relationship Style Inventory was given. Analysis showed that dyads with obese children differ in some ways from the control dyads. These differences include the mothers dominant position in the relationship and the tendency of the obese child to avoid conflict and symmetry and to adopt a ‘one-down’ complementary position. We conclude it is important to improve the study of childhood obesity from a systemic perspective and to extend this analysis to other aspects of the complex familial picture to prevent overweight or to maintain it within reasonable limits thereby avoiding more serious complications.

THE EFFECTS OF EXPRESSIVE WRITING ON POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION AND POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS SYMPTOMS

This study investigated whether an Expressive Writing intervention decreased depression and posttraumatic stress symptoms after childbirth. 113 women (M age = 31.26 yr., SD = 4.42) were assessed at Time 1 for depression (Beck Depression Inventory) and PTS (Perinatal PTSD Questionnaire) in the first days after childbirth, then randomized to either expressive writing or neutral writing conditions and reassessed at Time 2, 3 months later. The results (ANCOVAs, regression models) show that at 3 mo. depressive and posttraumatic symptoms were lower in women who performed the expressive writing task than in the neutral writing group. Moreover, the intervention condition was associated significantly with decreased depression at the high and at the mean levels of baseline depression at Time 1. Regarding PTSD, the results showed that the intervention condition was linked significantly to reductions of the symptoms at all levels of baseline PTSD. Mainly, these outcomes suggest that Expressive Writing can be a helpful early and low-cost universal intervention to prevent postpartum distress for women.

Maternal mind-mindedness as a linking mechanism between childbirth-related posttraumatic stress symptoms and parenting stress

ABSTRACT The researchers of this study have two aims. The first aim is to verify whether posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms, evaluated at 87 hours and at 3 months postpartum, are associated with maternal mind-mindedness (MM) and parenting stress, measured at 17 months postpartum. The second aim is to investigate, at 17 months, the predictive effects of PTS symptoms on the dimensions of parenting stress and to explore whether MM mediates these associations. Forty-one mother–infant dyads participated in the study. The results show that at 17 months, hyper-arousal symptoms predicted both MM and parenting stress. MM was a linking mechanism between maternal PTS symptoms and parenting stress.

Contesto culturale, controllo genitoriale e punizioni fisiche

Nonostante il tema delle punizioni fisiche che i genitori impartiscono ai loro figli sia da anni affrontato e discusso approfonditamente, molti aspetti restano ancora da chiarire e da definire. Uno di questi e rappresentato dall’influenza che la tradizione culturale esercita sulla scelta di specifici metodi educativi da parte dei genitori. L’articolo presenta una rassegna degli studi piu recenti che hanno analizzato la complessa relazione tra punizioni fisiche e ruolo del contesto culturale.

Crossing alone the Mediterranean sea. Some critical issues about unaccompanied minors in Europe

Despite the increasing social impact of unaccompanied migrant minors (UAMs) in many European Union (EU) member states, EU regulations on UAMs are still inadequate and the necessary protection measures are thus insufficient. More specifically, the “best interest of the child”, stated in a large number of international documents, may not be properly guaranteed. In addition, there is often a discrepancy between the rights of migrant children, according to the international legislation, and the actual protection they receive. Moreover, despite the declared aim of reaching a common standard of reception and inclusion, policies and practices across Europe are still very different. The paper attempts to highlight and discuss some critical issues regarding UAMs in Europe. Over and beyond the need for the EU to develop a common framework, greater efforts should be made in order to improve inclusion of UAMs, especially to ensure the management of the phenomenon beyond the current emergency