Silvana Miceli

Decisional Procrastination in Academic Settings: The Role of Metacognitions and Learning Strategies

Nowadays, university students suffer from a broad range of problems, such as educational underachievement or the inability to control themselves, that lead to procrastination as a consequence. The present research aimed at analyzing the determinants of decisional procrastination among undergraduate students and at assessing a path model in which self regulated learning strategies mediated the relationship between metacognitive beliefs about procrastination and decisional procrastination. 273 students from Southern Italy filled out a questionnaire composed by: the socio-demographic section, the Metacognitive Beliefs About Procrastination Questionnaire, the procrastination subscale of the Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire, and the Anxiety, the Time Management, and the Information Processing subscales of the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory. Results showed that the relationship between negative and positive metacognitive beliefs about procrastination and decisional procrastination was mediated only by time management and anxiety. Such findings underlined the crucial role played by learning strategies in predicting the tendency to delay decisional situations and in mediating the relationship between metacognitive beliefs about procrastination and decisional procrastination.

Measurement Invariance of the Nine-Item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale (IGDS9-SF) Across Albania, USA, UK, and Italy

The IGDS9-SF, which assesses Internet Gaming Disorder behaviors, has been validated in a number of countries (Portugal, Italy, Iran, Slovenia), although the psychometric equivalence of the instrument has been assessed only across Australia, the USA, the UK, and India. This research aimed at providing further cross-cultural insights into IGD by assessing the factorial structure of the IGDS9-SF in Albania and investigating its measurement invariance across Albanian, Italian, American, and British gamers. Multi-Group Confirmatory Factor Analyses were performed on a sample of 1411 participants from Albania (n = 228), USA (n = 237), the UK (n = 275), and Italy (n = 671). The CFAs confirmed the single-factor structure in the four countries. Measurement invariance supported the configural invariance and partially supported the metric and scalar invariance. Overall, the findings provided evidence for the underlying factor assessing IGD across the countries, although the specific meaning of the construct was non-identical.

Three Effective Ways to Nurture Our Brain

A growing body of research suggests that physical activity, healthy eating, and music can, either directly or indirectly, have positive effects on our brain and cognition. More specifically, exercising and eating seem to enhance cognitive abilities, such as memory, creativity, and perception. They also improve academic performance and play a protective role from many degenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease. Concerning music, research has shown that there exists a general positive relation between music aptitude and cognitive functioning. Furthermore, the presence of music seems to create a positive mood and a higher arousal, which translates into better performance in many cognitive tasks. This literature review provides an overview of the major empirical findings in this domain. Studies on both healthy and clinical individuals are reviewed and discussed. We conclude with suggestions for educators, policymakers, people in helping professions, and any others interested in making informed decisions about possible ways to nurture their own brain or the brain of the people they are trying to help. We also provide suggestions for additional research on this important topic.

The Italian Version of the Cognitive Style Indicator and its Association with Decision-Making Preferences

The Cognitive Style Indicator (CoSI) includes 3 cognitive dimensions: creating (flexible, open-ended and inventive), knowing (emphasizing facts, details, objectivity, and rationality), and planning (guided by preferences for certainty and well-structured information). The first aim of this research was to validate the 3-factor structure of the CoSI within the Italian context. The second was to verify whether cognitive styles, as measured by the CoSI, accounted for individual differences in decision-making processes. Two studies were conducted using 2 different samples (n = 549 and n = 397). Confirmatory and multigroup factor analysis corroborated the 3-factor model and the measurement invariance of the instrument across genders. Reliability indices showed good internal consistency, as well as good levels of convergent and discriminant construct validity. Results from structural equation model revealed that cognitive styles, as measured by the CoSI, predicted individual differences in intuitive and deliberative decision-making processes. Findings gave evidence for the validity of the Italian version of the CoSI and for the causal relationship between cognitive styles and decision-making processes. Further research is needed to explore a more comprehensive model that includes, for example, personality.

Do personality traits and self-regulatory processes affect decision-making tendencies?

Abstract Objective This research attempted to clarify the role played by personality traits and self‐regulated motivation in affecting decision‐making tendencies. Method Study 1 (n = 209) examined whether the Big Five personality traits predict minimising, maximising, and satisficing tendencies; Study 2 (n = 460) tested the mediating role of self‐regulatory orientations in the relationship between personality traits and decision‐making tendencies by performing structural equation modelling with latent variables. Results Conscientiousness emerged as the strongest positive predictor of maximising, whereas openness to experience, conscientiousness, and agreeableness emerged as negative predictors of satisficing. As for the mediational model, both locomotion and assessment played a role in mediating the relationships between the personality traits and decision‐making tendencies. Conclusions This research provided interesting insights into the underlying motivations and strategies that lead individuals to maximise, satisfice, or minimise.

Il ruolo dell’apprendimento autoregolato nella procrastinazione accademica

Tra le varie tipologie di procrastinazione quella accademica e una delle piu studiate a causa dei suoi effetti negativi sulle performance degli studenti. Considerata come forma di fallimento nell’autoregolazione, e stata indagata all’interno del modello teorico dell’apprendimento autoregolato. Al fine di fornire maggiore evidenza empirica del ruolo svolto dalle strategie di apprendimento autoregolato nell’influenzare la procrastinazione accademica, questo studio ha esaminato in un campione di studenti universitari se, oltre alla gestione del tempo, l’autoregolazione metacognitiva e il pensiero critico aggiungono varianza nel predire la procrastinazione. Il fattore maggiormente determinante e risultato la difficolta a gestire il tempo, seguita da quella dell’autoregolazione metacognitiva.

Dipendenza da internet e social media negli adolescenti: il ruolo dei processi identitari

L’ampia diffusione di internet e dei social media negli ultimi decenni ha influenzato il modo di comunicare e di pensare. Ma l’abuso di internet puo causare perdita delle relazioni interpersonali, cambi di umore, pensiero orientato all’uso della rete e alterazione del vissuto temporale specialmente negli adolescenti. Scopo del presente studio e stato quello di analizzare in quale misura gli stili identitari sono fattori di protezione o di rischio che potrebbero contrastare o favorire le dipendenze tecnologiche. 310 adolescenti italiani (M = 163; eta media = 18.09) hanno compilato un questionario volto a valutare stili identitari, dipendenza dai social media e da internet. Sono state condotte analisi descrittive e causali. I risultati hanno confermato il ruolo dello stile diffuso-evitante come fattore di rischio nello sviluppo dei comportamenti maladattivi.

Credenze metacognitive, strategie di apprendimento e procrastinazione decisionale: un modello di mediazione

Affrontare un percorso formativo universitario in un contesto di scenari preoccupanti, che vanno dall’insicurezza per il futuro all’assenza dei contenitori affettivi e cognitivi, sta producendo effetti innegabili sugli studenti, bloccati in posizioni agnostiche di fronte alle scelte. Questo studio valuta un modello di path analysis in cui le strategie di apprendimento autoregolato mediano la relazione tra credenze metacognitive sulla procrastinazione e la procrastinazione decisionale. 297 studenti universitari hanno compilato un questionario volto a valutare le credenze metacognitive sulla procrastinazione, l’ansia, la gestione del tempo, l’elaborazione delle informazioni e la procrastinazione decisionale. I risultati evidenziano come solo la gestione del tempo e l’ansia mediano la relazione tra metacognizioni sulla procrastinazione e la procrastinazione decisionale.