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Despite the severe psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, some individuals do not develop high levels of psychological distress and can be termed resilient. Using the ecological resilience model, we examined factors promoting or hindering resilience in the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the 1034 participants (49.9±16.2 years; females 51.2%) from Italian general population, 70% displayed resilient outcomes and 30% reported moderate-severe anxiety and/or depression. A binary regression model revealed that factors promoting resilience were mostly psychological (e.g., trait resilience, conscientiousness) together with social distancing. Conversely, factors hindering resilience included COVID-19-anxiety, COVID-19-related PTSD symptoms, intolerance of uncertainty, loneliness, living with children, higher education, and living in regions where the virus was starting to spread. In conclusion, the ecological resilience model in the COVID-19 pandemic explained 64% of the variance and identified factors promoting or hindering resilient outcomes. Critically, these findings can inform psychological interventions supporting individuals by strengthening factors associated with resilience.

The spatial Simon effect is often asymmetric, being greater on one side than on the other. To date, not much attention has been paid to these asymmetries, and explanations of the Simon effect do not take them into account. In the present article, we attempt to clarify the statistical implications of the asymmetries so as to provide a useful tool for future empirical investigation. Starting with examples from our laboratory and previous well-known studies, we point out the consequences of ignoring the asymmetries in the Simon effect. We suggest an alternative data analysis that might render the results clearer. Finally, through a comparison of left- and right-handed subjects, we demonstrate that asymmetries in the Simon effect are linked to the lateralization of processes involved in the Simon task--that is, attention and response selection. This approach provides a strong argument against collapsing data from the two sides to measure the Simon effect.

Background: To date, the number of epidemiological studies on eating disorders (ED) in Italy and in other Mediterranean countries is still limited. This study evaluated the eating attitudes and the prevalence of eating disorders in a sample of 359 16-year-old Italian schoolgirls. Methods: The study followed a two-stage procedure consisting in a first screening stage followed by clinical interviews. A third stage consisting in a case register study and a 1-year follow-up confirmed the importance of evaluating subjects who chose not to participate in the survey. Results: Prevalence rates found in our sample are consistent with those of other prevalence studies conducted on adolescent girls: 0% for anorexia nervosa, 0.5% for bulimia nervosa and 3.7% for ED not otherwise specified. Also some important features associated with the presence of an ED appeared to be present in Italian female students, as in Anglo-Saxon populations: the tendency towards denial that led to an overrepresentation of ED among nonrespondents, and the ascertainment that just a small proportion of people seeks help for ED. The Italian sample reported higher scores on eating attitudes test compared to Anglo-Saxon samples. Conclusions: No evidence of different rates of ED was found in our Italian sample in comparison with non-Mediterranean samples. The importance of using a two-stage design and a third control stage in prevalence studies is emphasized by our findings.

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In the present study, the use of knowledge space theory (KST), jointly with formal concept analysis (FCA), is proposed for developing a formal representation of the relations between the items of a questionnaire and a set of psychodiagnostic criteria. This formal representation can be used to develop an efficient adaptive tool for psychological assessment. Rusch and Wille (1996) have shown some interesting connections between KST and FCA; these connections are applied in the construction of knowledge structures, starting from a formal context representing the relations between items and criteria. The proposed general methodology was applied, as an example, to the Maudsley Obsessional-Compulsive Questionnaire. We used a data set provided by a sample of patients with a diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder to validate the obtained structures. The parameters of the basic local independence model (BLIM) were estimated for the obtained knowledge structures. The fit of each model was tested by parametric bootstrap because of the sparseness of the derived data matrix. The results are discussed in light of both psychological and methodological relapses. In particular, we propose a reinterpretation of the BLIM parameters that seems suitable for testing reliability and construct validity; furthermore, it is pointed out how the obtained structures could represent the starting point for the development of a computerized assessment tool.A. Spoto, andrea.spoto@unipd.it; L. Stefanutti, luca.stefanutti@unipd.it; or G. Vidotto, giulio.vidotto@unipd.it

Background The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7) are self-report measures of major depressive disorder and generalised anxiety disorder. The primary aim of this study was to test for differential item functioning (DIF) on the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 items based on age, sex (males and females), and country. Method Data from nationally representative surveys in UK, Ireland, Spain, and Italy (combined N = 6,054) were used to fit confirmatory factor analytic and multiple-indictor multiple-causes models. Results Spain and Italy had higher latent variable means than the UK and Ireland for both anxiety and depression, but there was no evidence for differential items functioning. Conclusions The PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores were found to be unidimensional, reliable, and largely free of DIF in data from four large nationally representative samples of the general population in the UK, Ireland, Italy and Spain.

Research on hedonic and eudaimonic orientations has previously focused on their effects on well-being experiences. Very little is known about their associations with functioning. A preliminary objective of the study was to establish the factorial validity of the Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives for Activities-Revised (HEMA-R) on an Italian sample (N = 461) through a confirmatory factor analysis. The main objective was to study the distinctive patterns of correlates between different types of orientations to well-being and several outcome measures of positive experiences (flourishing, life satisfaction, positive affect), negative experiences (negative affect, depression, anxiety, stress) and functioning (dispositional coping strategies) by means of a multivariate linear model. The Italian version of the HEMA-R showed a three-factor structure, namely eudaimonic, pleasure, and relaxation orientations. Pleasure orientation was positively related to positive experiences of wellbeing and negatively related to negative experiences. Eudaimonic orientation was associated with positive experiences. Furthermore, eudaimonic orientation showed a positive relation with several adaptive coping strategies, whereas relaxation was associated with avoidant coping strategies. The results reflect that pleasure orientation is aimed at achieving pleasant feelings, while Eudaimonic orientation is aimed at living well. Our findings also suggest that pleasure orientation may reflect the "pursuit of pleasure" component of Hedonia, while relaxation orientation may reflect its "pain avoidance" component. Overall, this study supports the importance of distinguishing between Eudaimonia, and the pleasure and relaxation components of Hedonia to predict individual differences in subjective experiences and functioning.