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Dive into the research topics where Martina Smorti is active.

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Featured researches published by Martina Smorti.


Amyloid | 2012

Anxiety and depression among AL amyloidosis patients: The role of cardiac symptoms

Martina Smorti; Francesco Cappelli; Franco Bergesio; Federico Perfetto

Light-chain (AL) amyloidosis has the worst prognosis out of the different forms of cardiac amyloidosis, However, data are not available about the incidence of the disease-related psychological impact of AL amyloidosis in this population. In particular, no data are available about the impact of diagnosis communication or about the impact of cardiac symptom onset and severity on anxiety and depression levels among AL patients. Aim: To evaluate the role of time that has passed since the diagnosis was communicated, time that has passed since the onset of cardiac symptoms, and actual cardiac symptom severity have on level of anxiety, depression and psychological stress among cardiology patients with AL. Thirty-two AL patients with cardiac-related symptoms were administered General Health Questionnaire, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and Centre for Epidemiological Study–Depression Scale. Clinical variables such as months gone by since diagnosis, months gone by since the onset of cardiac symptoms, and cardiac symptom severity (New York Heart Association (NYHA) class) were measured. Troponin, NT-pro BNP levels, Mayo Stage and echocardiographic characteristics were also collected. Results: According to questionnaire normative values, AL patients presented severe psychological distress, severe anxiety and clinical depression. Moreover, anxiety levels were determined by psychological distress (p < 0.001) and months gone by since the onset of cardiac symptoms (p < 0.01) while depression levels were influenced by NYHA class (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Our results suggest that there is a need to plan psychological support for these patients with consideration for the onset of cardiac symptoms and symptom severity.


Journal of Social Psychology | 2016

Do aggressive driving and negative emotional driving mediate the link between impulsiveness and risky driving among young Italian drivers

Martina Smorti; Silvia Guarnieri

ABSTRACT The present study examined the contribution of impulsiveness and aggressive and negative emotional driving to the prediction of traffic violations and accidents taking into account potential mediation effects. Three hundred and four young drivers completed self-report measures assessing impulsiveness, aggressive and negative emotional driving, driving violations, and accidents. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the direct and indirect effects of impulsiveness on violations and accidents among young drivers through aggressive and negative emotional driving. Impulsiveness only indirectly influenced drivers’ violations on the road via both the behavioral and emotional states of the driver. On the contrary, impulsiveness was neither directly nor indirectly associated with traffic accidents. Therefore, impulsiveness modulates young drivers’ behavioral and emotional states while driving, which in turn influences risky driving.


Psychology Health & Medicine | 2014

Depression and cardiac symptoms among AL amyloidosis patients: the mediating role of coping strategies

Martina Smorti; Francesco Cappelli; Silvia Guarnieri; Franco Bergesio; Federico Perfetto

Background: Amyloidosis is a rare disease group. AL amyloidosis represents the most common type of systemic amyloidosis and cardiac involvement determines prognosis. Although some studies have revealed that amyloidosis patients present high levels of depression, few data are available about depression-contributing factors. No investigations have been conducted about the coping strategies that AL amyloidosis patients use to face the disease and there is little research on patients with cardiac symptoms that are strongly related to the prognosis. Objectives: to examine coping strategies (avoidance, social support seeking and problem-solving) as potential mediator in the relationship between cardiac symptom severity (independent variable) and depressive symptoms (dependent variable) in AL cardiologic patients. Method: Thirty-four AL patients with cardiac-related symptoms were administered the Coping Strategy Indicator and the Centre for Epidemiological Study–Depression Scale. Clinical variables such as months since cardiac symptom onset and cardiac symptom severity were collected. Results: According to questionnaire normative values, all patients presented clinical depression. Moreover, out of the coping strategies, avoidance and social support seeking mediated the link between cardiac symptom severity and depressive symptoms. No mediational effect was found for problem-solving. Discussion: As cardiac symptoms have low severity, AL patients can avoid the disease. However, as cardiac symptoms proceed and interfere with daily activities, they can no longer ignore their signs thus perceiving the severity of their medical condition. This status makes individuals prone to seek less social support and thus to prefer social isolation. Results suggest the need for early psychological support on coping strategies for AL cardiologic patients.


Journal of Family Violence | 2016

The Words of Violence: Autobiographical Narratives of Abused Women

Franca Tani; Carole Peterson; Martina Smorti

Personal narratives tell the stories of people’s lives as well as provide insight into the meaning of those experiences. These narratives both reflect and are influenced by the relationships within which an individual is embedded. In this study, autobiographical narratives for two groups of women were compared: women who had experienced habitual gender-based domestic violence in their couple relationships and women who had not. The language of narratives was analyzed by LIWC (Language Inquiry and Word Count procedure). Results showed that the language and structure of narratives by women with a history of domestic violence indicated greater stress and trauma, more incoherent space-time organization, and poorer relationship quality. Women who experienced violence wrote longer narratives that contained proportionately more negative emotion words and more references to cognitions and physical/body issues, and indicated more disorganized structure by means of incoherent use of verbal tense, more impoverished use of connectives, and greater use of negative sentence syntax and discrepancy words. They also included proportionately more pronoun references to ‘I’,‘You’,’ and ‘He’, indicating self vs. partner conflictual relationships. However, women who had experienced relationship violence for longer decreased their references to the emotions of fear and anxiety, suggesting adaptation to violence over time.


European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing | 2016

Anxiety and depression among amyloid light-chain cardiac amyloidosis patients: The role of life satisfaction

Martina Smorti; Silvia Guarnieri; Franco Bergesio; Federico Perfetto; Francesco Cappelli

Background: The present study aimed to provide a contribution to the study of a rare disease, amyloid light-chain (AL) cardiac amyloidosis, which is the most common type of systemic amyloidosis. In AL amyloidosis prognosis is determined by cardiac involvement. Although the association between psychological distress (e.g. anxiety and depression) and AL cardiac amyloidosis is documented, very little is known about the psychosocial variables that may mediate the association. Aims: The aim of the study is therefore to examine the potential mediating role of life satisfaction in the relationship between cardiac symptom severity (independent variable) and anxious and depressive symptoms (dependent variables) in AL patients. Method: Forty-three AL amyloidosis patients (57.1% males) with cardiac amyloidosis were administered the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Centre for Epidemiological Study–Depression Scale. Clinical variables such as months since cardiac symptom onset and cardiac symptom severity were collected. Results: Findings showed significant relationships between symptom severity and psychological disorders (e.g. anxiety and depression) and these were mediated by life satisfaction. Conclusion: Overall, findings highlight the importance of subjective well-being (e.g. life satisfaction) to reduce anxious and depressive symptoms and to improve general health in AL patients.


Substance Use & Misuse | 2015

The Parental Bond and Alcohol Use Among Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Drinking Motives

Martina Smorti; Silvia Guarnieri

Background: Alcohol use and alcohol-related problems represent a significant health concern. Few empirical researches focused on understanding the interrelationships and links between the parental bond, drinking motives, and alcohol use during adolescence. Objectives: The present study examined the relationships between a supportive parental bond, drinking motives, and alcohol use, with a focus on the role of mediation. Methods: The sample comprised 298 adolescents, aged from 16 to 20 years. The technique of structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to assess the direct and indirect effects of the parental bond on alcohol use among adolescents through motives for drinking. Results: The relationship between the parental bond and frequency of alcohol use by adolescents was not mediated by any motives for drinking, neither for males nor females. Regarding the relationships between the parental bond and quantity of adolescent alcohol consumption, findings for females showed significant indirect effects of maternal bond on alcohol quantity, when coping, enhancement, and social drinking motives were entered as mediator variables. Rather, paternal bond did not predict drinking quantity, not even indirectly. On the contrary, results for males indicated that the parental bond was neither directly nor indirectly associated with adolescent alcohol use. Conclusions/Importance: Mothers are the relational fulcrum of the family, while fathers seem to maintain a more peripheral position. Gender differences are discussed on the basis of the different cultural and parental socialisation processes that operate for male and female adolescents.


Archive | 2016

Exploring the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Manchester Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ) in an Italian sample

Martina Smorti; Silvia Guarnieri

The goal of the present study is to provide a contribution to the adaptation and validation of the Italian version of the Manchester Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ). Findings are based on a self-report questionnaire survey filled out by 360 drivers (50% males), between 18 and 41 years of age. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis showed that the hypothesized four-factor structure of the DBQ was identified. Reliability of the scale was also confirmed within the Italian context. In addition to the four first-order factors, two second-order factors (violations and unintentional mistakes) were found, supporting the original structure proposed by Reason, Manstead, Stradling, Baxter, and Campbell (1990). Finally, the present study provided support for the good criterion-related and construct validity of the DBQ. Altogether, the Italian version of the DBQ demonstrated a robust factor structure and good psychometric properties, confirming the reliability and validity of the tool also within the Italian context.


The Open Psychology Journal | 2014

Shyness and Psychological Adjustment During Adolescence: The Moderating Role of Parenting Style

Franca Tani; Lucia Ponti; Martina Smorti

Although shyness constitutes a risk factor for maladjustment, parenting style may influence these developmental trajectories during childhood. Little is known about the role of parental style in the relationship between shyness and psychological adjustment during adolescence. Aims: To explore the relationship between shyness and parenting style and to analyse the moderating role of the quality of parenting in the relationship between shyness and internalizing difficulties during adolescence. Method: 787 11 to 19 year-old participants (divided in early and late adolescents) were recruited for this study. Participants completed Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale, Parental Bonding Instrument and internalizing scale of Youth Self Report. Results: Shy adolescents perceived parents to be less warm and close, less encouraging of their autonomy and independence, and more overprotective and intrusive than did other participants. During early-adolescence participants who perceived their parents as supportive and not intrusive showed significantly fewer internalizing problems related to shyness.


RICERCHE DI PSICOLOGIA | 2011

Le relazioni fraterne durante la vita adulta

Martina Smorti; Silvia Guarnieri

Le relazioni fraterne costituiscono un punto di riferimento centrale per la vita affettiva dell’individuo durante l’intero arco di vita in quanto promuovono la sua competenza cognitiva, affettiva e sociale e contribuiscono fortemente al suo generale benessere psicologico. Nonostante la rilevanza di tali relazioni, risultano ancora scarsi gli studi sulla qualita che connota questi legami durante la vita adulta. La presente ricerca intende quindi indagare la qualita delle relazioni fraterne durante la vita adulta ed esaminare il ruolo che tali relazioni hanno nella promozione della globale qualita di vita dell’individuo. Partecipanti. 288 soggetti (124 maschi e 164 femmine), divisi in due diverse fasce d’eta: 148 giovani adulti d’eta compresa tra i 20 e i 35 anni e 140 adulti di eta compresa tra i 40 e i 55 anni. Strumenti. Per misurare gli aspetti qualitativi che connotano la relazione fraterna e stata utilizzata la versione italiana (Tani, Guarnieri, Ingoglia, submitted) dell’Adult Sibling Relationship Questionnaire - ASRQ (Stocker, Lanthier, Furman, 1997). Per rilevare la qualita di vita e stato utilizzato il cluster Qualita di Vita del Psychological Treatment Inventory - PTI (Gori, Giannini, Schulberg, 2008). I risultati hanno evidenziato come durante la vita adulta, in relazione al raggiungimento di una maggiore maturita, si attenuino alcuni aspetti del legame fraterno legati alla conflittualita e alla rivalita e, parallelamente, acquistino maggiore rilevanza gli aspetti legati all’affettivita. La qualita della relazione fraterna risulta inoltre essere un significativo predittore della qualita di vita anche durante l’eta adulta.


Journal of Social and Personal Relationships | 2018

The roles of parental attachment and sibling relationships on life satisfaction in emerging adults

Lucia Ponti; Martina Smorti

Most research investigating relationships during emerging adulthood has focused on the quality of friendships and romantic relationships while devoting little attention to family relationships. The present study considered the quality of attachment to both parents in a sample of 253 emerging adults, aged 20–31 (M = 24.32; SD = 2.22), examining how these could influence the quality of sibling relationships and analyzing the link of these family relationships with the level of life satisfaction. Results showed that the attachment to both the mother and the father was linked to the quality of sibling relationships. Moreover, parental attachment to both parents and sibling relationships affected the level of perceived life satisfaction during emerging adulthood. Limitations, strengths, and theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.

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Franca Tani

University of Florence

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Lucia Ponti

University of Florence

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