I bambini raccontano e interpretano le storie familiari

Alcuni studiosi che si occupano di narrazioni sostengono che le storie familiari contribuiscono alla definizione delle identità individuali e familiari, ma anche al mantenimento dei legami sociali ed emotivi oltre che al benessere ed alla resilienza individuale. Gli Autori presentano una ricerca condotta su bambini di quarta e quinta elementare e di scuola media a cui è stato chiesto di scrivere una storia familiare e, al termine, di rispondere ad un sistema standard di domande con cui veniva valutata la comprensione del significato della storia. La riflessione sui contenuti delle storie e sulla loro interpretazione sembra suggerire che le storie familiari raccontano ciò che è accaduto nel passato, ma forniscono anche informazioni sulla vita emozionale di ciascuna famiglia e, altre volte, trasmettono insegnamenti che serviranno per prevedere e affrontare le esperienze future

Relazione scuola-famiglia: alleanza e corresponsabilità educativa

The school-family educational alliance is a relationship defined by two dimensions: the frequency of contacts between these two systems and the quality of the undertaken relationships. A good educational alliance promotes a concrete implementation of the school-family co-responsibility pact. In order to provide tools and empirical evidence on how this relationship can be built, this paper documents a participatory research carried out with teachers, parents and pupils in a network of schools. The result was the construction of a “Co-responsibility Pact” inspired by the principles of comparison, sharing, mediation and participation

Conflict Interpretation: A Comparison of Canadian and Italian Aggressive and Non-Aggressive Youth

The impact of persistent aggression on youths’ social and psychological well being is well documented. What is less well understood is the shaping effect of cultural differences on how such conflict is experienced and responded to. In this study, we asked youth to write a story about a conflict they experienced and describe their associated feelings. Participants included Canadian and Italian girls and boys from grades 4 and 7 who were rated by their teachers as either aggressive or non-aggressive. Results indicated that although there were no significant main effects for behavioural group or country in the description of the conflict, significant differences appeared in participants’ descriptions of associated feelings. Specifically, non-aggressive participants were significantly better at generating psychological interpretions of actors’ intentions and experienced significantly more congruent associated feelings. Additionally, Canadian participants were significantly better than Italian participants in generating psychological interpretation of conflicts

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Affect, Fear, and Personality of Primary School Children Measured During the Second Wave of Infections in 2020

In relation to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, a large body of research has identified a negative impact on individuals' affectivity, frequently documented by increased prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms. For children, this research was less extensive, was mainly based on caregivers' reports and neglected personality assessment. In order to measure the impact of the pandemic, and the fears it caused, on primary school children's affect and personality, 323 (180 boys and 143 girls) Italian third, fourth and fifth graders were assessed between October and November 2020, namely during the second wave of COVID-19 infections in Italy, with validated self-reports of affect (Positive and Negative Affect Scale for Children, PANAS-C), fear of COVID-19 (Fear of COVID-19 Scale, FCV-19S) and personality (junior Temperament and Character Inventory, jTCI). In comparison with PANAS-C and jTCI normative scores collected prior to the pandemic, data obtained from children in 2020 showed unchanged affect scores in the overall sample, a decrease of Positive Affect in girls, and a decrease in the Harm Avoidance and an increase in the Self-Transcendence scales of personality. Fear of COVID-19 scores were positively correlated with Negative Affect scores and negatively predicted by children's personality profile of resilience (calculated using scores on the Harm Avoidance and the Self-Directedness scales of personality). These results suggested that Italian primary school children, especially boys, maintained their pre-pandemic levels of affect (or restored them after the first COVID-19 wave) and partially diverged from the typical development of personality in an apparently positive sense, namely toward more courageous/optimistic and spiritual profiles. This sort of children's post-traumatic growth might also be attributed to children's family and education systems, which should continue to be supported to promote and maintain community mental health