Emergency situations have been associated with negative psychological adjustment outcomes in healthcare professionals, although studies on the impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic amongst Italian health workers are limited. The main aim of this study was to investigate the psychological adjustment of healthcare professionals during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, evaluating differences according to working or not with patients affected by COVID-19 and in areas with a more severe spread of this pandemic. Healthcare professionals’ attitudes toward psychological support were analyzed. The levels of anxiety, depression, psychological stress, and professional quality of life (compassion satisfaction, burnout, and compassion fatigue) and attitudes toward psychological support were measured among 627 Italian healthcare workers (mean age = 40.55 years; SD = 11.49; range: 27–72). Significantly higher levels of stress, burnout, secondary trauma, anxiety, and depression were observed among professionals working with COVID-19 patients. Higher levels of stress and burnout and lower levels of compassion satisfaction were detected in professionals working in areas with higher rates of contagion. No interaction effects were found between working (or not) with patients affected by COVID-19 and working (or not) in areas with a more severe diffusion of this pandemic. Finally, in the group of professionals who worked with COVID-19 patients, the percentage of professionals who thought to ask for psychological support was twice that of the group that did not work with COVID-19 patients. The overall findings indicate that the mental health of frontline healthcare workers requires further consideration and that targeted prevention and intervention programs are necessary.

Research has studied family functioning in families of patients suffering from eating disorders (EDs), particularly investigating the associations between mothers’ and daughters’ psychopathological symptoms, but limited studies have examined whether there are specific maladaptive psychological profiles characterizing the family as a whole when it includes adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), and binge eating disorder (BED). Through the collaboration of a network of public and private consultants, we recruited n=181 adolescents diagnosed for EDs (n=61 with AN, n=60 with BN, and n=60 with BEDs) and their parents. Mothers, fathers, and youths were assessed through a self-report measure evaluating family functioning, and adolescents completed a self-report questionnaire assessing psycho-pathological symptoms. Results showed specific family functioning and psychopathological profiles based on adolescents’ diagnosis. Regression analyses also showed that family functioning characterized by rigidity predicted higher psychopathological symptoms. Our study underlines the importance of involving all members of the family in assessment and intervention programs when adolescent offspring suffer from EDs.

Adolescents are the main users of new technologies and their main purpose of use is social interaction. Although new technologies are useful to teenagers, in addressing their developmental tasks, recent studies have shown that they may be an obstacle in their growth. Research shows that teenagers with Internet addiction experience lower quality in their relationships with parents and more individual difficulties. However, limited research is available on the role played by adolescents' attachment to parents and peers, considering their psychological profiles. We evaluated in a large community sample of adolescents (N = 1105) the Internet use/abuse, the adolescents' attachment to parents and peers, and their psychological profiles. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to verify the influence of parental and peer attachment on Internet use/abuse, considering the moderating effect of adolescents' psychopathological risk. Results showed that adolescents' attachment to parents had a significant effect on Internet use. Adolescents' psychopathological risk had a moderating effect on the relationship between attachment to mothers and Internet use. Our study shows that further research is needed, taking into account both individual and family variables.

International research has underlined that both interpersonal, self-regulation, and comorbid variables can lead to a higher risk of developing internet addiction (IA) among young adults. To date, no studies have explored the interplay between young adults’ family functioning, impulsivity, and psychopathological difficulties. In a community sample of 244 young adult university students, this study aims to assess the relationship between young adults’ IA and young adults’ gender, the perception of their family functioning, impulsivity level, and depressive and anxiety symptoms, considering the possible interplay between these variables. The presence and the severity of IA were addressed through the Internet Addiction Test (IAT). Moreover, young adults filled out self-reporting questionnaires, assessing their perception of family functioning and their impulsivity levels and psychopathological symptoms. Results showed no significant association between the youth’s gender and IA. However, moderately addicted young adults were more likely to report poorer quality of family affective involvement and higher attentional impulsivity and depressive problems than other groups. Moreover, young adults’ attentional impulsivity mediated the relationship between family affective involvement and IA. This study provides new evidence on the complex interaction between individuals and interpersonal risk factors involved in IA among young adults, with important implications for the planning of intervention treatments.

Maternal Binge Eating Disorder (BED) has been suggested to be associated with poor parent–infant interactions during feeding and with children’s emotional and behavioral problems during infancy (Blissett and Haycraft, 2011). The role of fathers has received increasing consideration in recent years, yet the research has not focused on interactional patterns between fathers with BED and their children. The present study aimed to longitudinally investigate the influence of BED diagnosis, in one or both parents, on parent–infant feeding interactions and on children’s emotional–behavioral functioning. 612 subjects (408 parents; 204 children), recruited in mental health services and pre-schools in Central Italy, were divided into four groups: Group 1 included families with both parents diagnosed with BED, Group 2 and 3 included families with one parent diagnosed with BED, Group 0 was a healthy control. The assessment took place at T1 (18 months of age of children) and T2 (36 months of age of children): feeding interactions were assessed through the Scale for the Assessment of Feeding Interactions (SVIA) while child emotional–behavioral functioning was evaluated with the Child Behavior Check-List (CBCL). When compared to healthy controls, the groups with one or both parents diagnosed with BED showed higher scores on the SVIA and on the CBCL internalizing and externalizing scales, indicating poorer adult–child feeding interactions and higher emotional–behavioral difficulties. A direct influence of parental psychiatric diagnosis on the quality of mother–infant and father–infant interactions was also found, both at T1 and T2. Moreover, dyadic feeding interactions mediated the influence of parental diagnosis on children’s psychological functioning. The presence of BED diagnosis in one or both parents seems to influence the severity of maladaptive parent–infant exchanges during feeding and offspring’s emotional–behavioral problems over time, consequently affecting different areas of children’s psychological functioning. This is the first study to demonstrate the specific effects of maternal and paternal BED on infant development. These results could inform prevention and intervention programs in families with one or both parents diagnosed with BED.

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The article aims to study mother-child and father-child interactions with 24-month-old children during feeding, considering the possible influence of time spent by the parent with the child, the infantile temperament, and the parental psychological profile. The families were recruited from 12 preschools in Italy (N = 77 families). Through an observation of the feeding [Scala di Valutazione dell'Interazione Alimentare (SVIA - Feeding Scale; I. Chatoor et al., ; L. Lucarelli et al., )], self-reporting [Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R; L.R. Derogatis, ), and report-form questionnaires [Italian Questionnaires on Temperament (QUIT; G. Axia, )], and information provided by the parents about the amount of time spent with their children, results showed that the overall quality of father-child interactions during feeding is lower than that of mother-child interactions. Fathers showed higher psychological symptoms than did mothers. No associations were found between the fathers' psychopathological risk and the quality of interactions with their children during feeding. Mothers' psychopathological risks predicted less contingent exchanges interactions with their children during feeding. Children's temperaments significantly influence mother-child interactions, but no association exists between maternal involvement and the quality of interactions with their children. Paternal involvement predicts a better quality of father-infant interactions when associated with a child's higher scores on Social Orientation. The quality of parents' interactions with their children during feeding are impacted by different issues originating from the parent's psychological profile, the degree of involvement, and from the child's temperament.

BackgroundThe effect of gene polymorphisms and promoter methylation, associated with maladaptive developmental outcomes, vary depending on environmental factors (e.g., parental psychopathology). Most studies have focused on 0- to 5-year-old children, adolescents, or adults, whereas there is dearth of research on school-age youths and pre-adolescents.MethodsIn a sample of 21 families recruited at schools, we addressed parents’ psychopathological symptoms (through SCL-90-R); offspring emotional–behavioral functioning (through CBCL-6–18); dopamine transporter gene (DAT1) for epigenetic status of the 5′-untranslated region (UTR) and for genotype, i.e., variable number of tandem repeats polymorphism at the 3′-UTR. Possible associations were explored between bio-genetic and psychological characteristics within the same individual and between triplets of children, mothers, and fathers.ResultsDAT methylation of CpG at positions M1, M6, and M7 in mothers was correlated with maternal (phobic) anxiety, whereas in fathers’ position M6 was related to paternal depression, anxiety, hostility, psychoticism, and higher Global Severity Index (GSI). No significant correlations were found between maternal and offspring DAT methylation. Significant correlations were found between fathers’ methylation at CpG M1 and children’s methylation at CpG M6. Linear regressions showed that mothers and fathers’ GSI predicted children’s methylation at CpG sites M2, M3, and M6, whereas fathers’ GSI predicted children’s methylation at CpG sites, particularly M1, M2, and M6. Moreover, offspring methylation of DAT at CpG M2 predicted somatic complaint, internalizing and attention problems; methylation of DAT at CpG M6 predicted withdraw.ConclusionThis study may have important clinical implication for the prevention and treatment of emotional–behavioral difficulties in children, as it adds to previous knowledge about the role of genetic and environmental factors in predicting psychopathological symptoms within non-clinical populations.