Study Objectives: The purpose of this study was to analyze differences between preadolescents and adolescents on the use of technology and to test the contribution of using Internet and mobile phone, and circadian preference on sleep quality. Methods: We recruited a sample of 850 (364 males) preadolescents and adolescents. Self-report questionnaires about sleep schedule, sleep wake behavior problems, circadian preferences, and the use of technology (e.g., Internet and mobile phone) were administered. Students were asked to fi ll out the School Sleep Habits Survey, a self-report questionnaire on the use of technology, the Mobile Phone Involvement Questionnaire (MPIQ), and the Shorter Promis Questionnaire (SPQ). Results: Adolescents reported more sleep problems, a tendency toward eveningness, and an increase of Internet and phone activities, as well as social network activities, while preadolescents were more involved in gaming console and television viewing. The regression analysis performed separately in the two age groups showed that sleep quality was affected by the circadian preference (eveningness) in both groups. Adolescents' bad sleep quality was consistently associated with the mobile phone use and number of devices in the bedroom, while in preadolescents, with Internet use and turning-off time. Conclusions

Study Objectives: To longitudinally examine sleep patterns, habits, and parent-reported sleep problems during the fi rst year of life. Methods: Seven hundred four parent/child pairs participated in a longitudinal cohort study. Structured interview recording general demographic data, feeding habits, intercurrent diseases, family history, sleep habits, and parental evaluation of the infant's sleep carried out at 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months Results: Nocturnal, daytime, and total sleep duration showed a high inter-individual variability in the fi rst year of life associated with changes in the fi rst 6 months and stability from 6 to 12 months. Bedtime was at around 22:00 and remained stable at 6, 9, and 12 months of age. Approximately 20% of the infants had more than 2 awakenings and slept more often in the parent bed. Nearly 10% of the infants were considered as having a problematic sleep by parents and this signifi cantly correlated with nocturnal awakenings and diffi culties falling asleep. Conclusions: Sleep patterns change during the fi rst year of life but most sleep variables (i.e., sleep latency and duration) show little variation from 6 to 12 months. Our data provide a context for clinicians to discuss sleep issues with parents and suggest that prevention efforts should focus to the fi rst 3-6 months, since sleep patterns show stability from that time point to 12 months. S C I E N T I F I C I N V E S T I G A T I O N SS leep patterns and sleep structure show signifi cant changes during the fi rst year of life; the circadian rhythm is not established in the fi rst months, and sleep is distributed throughout the day and night with a basic rest/activity cycle, similar to that of fetal life. At 1-2 weeks of age the fetal circadian rhythms starts to fade away and, at 1-2 months, the circadian activity rhythm develops with colic as the fi rst sign of circadian rhythmicity; at 3-4 months of age, infants are entrained to the 24-h cycle and melatonin production is stable. At 6-9 months, wakefulness increases, daytime naps are established, and fi nally, at 12 months 70% to 80% of infants sleep mostly at night. 2 demonstrated that daytime sleep is mostly determined by maturation (age), whereas nocturnal sleep is better predicted by ecological factors. More specifi cally, studies of infant sleep correlates showed that intense parental involvement and reduced self-soothing skills may interfere with nighttime sleep consolidation.2,3 Not only major developmental steps are determined by the interaction between maturational processes and ecological factors; sleep-wake patterns are also heavily infl uenced by biological and cultural factors, and therefore the concept of "normal sleep" varies according to cultural BRIEF SUMMARYCurrent Knowledge/Study Rationale: To our knowledge, most of the data on the sleep pattern development in the previous reports were derived from longitudinal studies designed to collect different information but not exclusively intended to assess sleep structure and ecology. Our study represents the fi r...

Parental responses to youths' coming out (CO) are crucial to the subsequent adjustment of children and family. The present study investigated the negative parental reaction to the disclosure of same-sex attraction and the differences between maternal and paternal responses, as reported by their homosexual daughters and sons. Participants' perceptions of their parents' reactions (evaluated through the Perceived Parental Reactions Scale, PPRS), age at CO, gender, parental political orientation, and religiosity involvement, the family functioning (assessed through the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales), were assessed in 164 Italian gay and lesbian young adults. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to assess the relation between family functioning and parental reaction to CO. The paired sample t test was used to compare mothers and fathers' scores on the PPRS. Hierarchical multiple regression was conducted to analyze the relevance of each variable. No differences were found between mothers and fathers in their reaction to the disclosure. The analysis showed that a negative reaction to CO was predicted by parents' right-wing political conservatism, strong religious beliefs, and higher scores in the scales Rigid and Enmeshed. Findings confirm that a negative parental reaction is the result of poor family resources to face a stressful situation and a strong belief in traditional values. These results have important implications in both clinical and social fields.

In this paper, we explore how maternal representations, and in particular their contents, are structured during pregnancy. Twenty‐three primiparous women were recruited for participation in a longitudinal study about mothers' thoughts and feelings about their infants. A semistructured interview was conducted with each of the subjects in the third trimester of pregnancy. During the interview, subjects were also given five adjective lists based on the semantic differential model. Results from this sample indicate similarities in the content‐free aspects of representations of self and baby, but differences in the content of these presentations. Implications of these results are discussed with regard to the construction of an internal representation of the child in the third trimester of pregnancy.

The purpose of the current study was to identify demographic, social, and psychological variables associated with suicidal ideation in an Italian sample and a Spanish sample, taking into account the relevance of sexual orientation as a risk factor for suicide. Three hundred twenty gay and bisexual men, 396 heterosexual men, 281 lesbians and bisexual women, and 835 heterosexual women were recruited. In chi-square and multivariable logistic regression analyses we identified several consistent cross-national risk factors for suicidal ideation: having lower education, not being religious, being homosexual or bisexual, not being engaged in a stable relationship, having lower level of peer and parental attachment, and having depressive symptoms. Interestingly, the strongest risk factor in both samples, after depression symptoms, was sexual orientation.