Numerose ricerche sugli effetti della pandemia da COVID-19 su famiglie e bambini si sono focalizzate sul periodo del lockdown, evidenziando importanti conseguenze disadattive, mentre minori sono i dati sulle fasi successive, analizzate invece nel nostro studio attraverso un questionario online compilato da 945 genitori di bambini in età prescolare. L'analisi dei dati evidenzia un aumento delle problematiche emotive e comportamentali dei bambini durante il lockdown, e un decremento nei mesi successivi, ma con consistenti strascichi dei sintomi, che permangono più alti rispetto alla fase non emergenziale, con differenze associate a genere ed età dei bambini, clima familiare e vissuti emotivi genitoriali. È, dunque, fondamentale intervenire per ridurre i fattori di rischio attraverso la presa in carico delle vulnerabilità del sistema familiare e promuovere strategie di resilienza.
Early child care experiences and individual differences: the role of gender and temperament in social skills and problem behaviors in Italian toddlers Research on the effects of nursery school attendance still presents divergent results: a possible explanation is that the effects of child care on development outcomes can be modulated by individual characteristics, such as gender or temperament. In the present study, gender differences in nursery adaptation (evaluated by social skills and behavioral problems) have been explored: participants are 525 toddlers, attending 32 nursery schools with similar levels of quality in a large city in northern Italy. Associations with age of enrolment, hours of attendance and child temperament have also been analyzed. Results indicate that males are more vulnerable than females: spending more time in the nursery increases the risk of behavioral problems in males but not in female, and an early enrolment (under one year of age) results in greater relational skills only for females. Difficult temperamental traits are also associated with behavioral problems with genderspecific aspects. Educational implications are discussed.
Background: Early childhood educators are attachment figures for babies and play an important role in emotion socialization. This study aims to analyze the role of educators as emotional socializers and its relationship with infants’ social competence and attachment security, considering various characteristics of educators (age, years of experience, level of knowledge of development and parenting) and the context (day-care center–family communication). Methods: 563 infants attending day-care centers (age: M = 25.98 months SD = 5.41) and their 223 early childhood educators (age: M = 42.61 SD = 11.02) took part in this study. The educators completed: CEESQ—Crèche Educator Emotional Style Questionnaire, Information Sources Questionnaire, two sub-scales of KIDI—Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory, QRS-F—Questionnaire on the Relationship between Services and Families, QPI—Questionnaire on Peer Interactions, and AQS—Attachment-Q-Sort. Results: Results showed that the educator’s coaching style has a relationship with attachment security and social skills and is positively correlated with the educators’ emotional self-efficacy and with the level of communication between day-care centers and families, while the correlation with knowledge of parenting is weak. Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of enhancing not only educators’ knowledge about educative strategies, but above all their emotional competence to promote children adaptation to day-care centers.
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