An exploration of the differential effects of parents\u2019 authoritarianism dimensions on pre-school children\u2019s epistemic, existential, and relational needs.

Research on adult populations has widely investigated the deep differences that characterize individuals who embrace either conservative or liberal views of the world. More recently, research has started to investigate these differences at very early stages of life. One major goal is to explore how parental political ideology may influence children's characteristics that are known to be associated to different ideological positions. In the present work, we further investigate the relations between parents' ideology and children cognitive processing strategies within the framework of political ideology as motivated social cognition (Jost et al., 2003) and the dual process model of political ideology (Duckitt et al., 2002). Specifically, epistemic (implicit attitudes toward order vs. chaos), existential (negativity and threat bias), and relational needs (conformity measure) were assessed in pre-school children (N = 106; 4-6 years). For each child at least one parent completed both the Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) and the Right Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) measures. Interestingly, results indicated that mothers' and fathers' responses had unique associations with children's socio-cognitive motivations, and different findings emerged in relation to the two facets of parental authoritarianism, namely dominance (i.e., SDO) and submission (i.e., RWA). More specifically, children's existential needs appeared to be more related to mothers' RWA scores, whereas children's epistemic needs appeared to be more related to fathers' SDO. Finally, parents' RWA and SDO scores appeared to have opposite effects on children's relational needs: children's conformity increased at increasing levels of mothers' RWA and decreased at increasing levels of fathers' SDO. Overall, however, results were relatively weak and several links between the responses of parents and their children were not significant, suggesting caution in drawing strong conclusions about the impact of parents' ideology. Limitations and future developments will be discussed

Portion size tells who I am, food type tells who you are: Specific functions of amount and type of food in same- and opposite-sex dyadic eating contexts

Previous research has shown that women eating small portions of food (vs. eating big portions) are perceived as more feminine, whereas men eating large portions are perceived as more masculine. The specific type of food items have also been shown to carry connotations for gender stereotyping. In addition, matching the co-eater's food quantity is also a means to ingratiate him or her. Thus, a potential motivational conflict between gender identity expression and ingratiation arises when people eat in opposite-sex dyads. Scholars have, thus far, focused their attention on one of these two dimensions at a time, and rarely in relation to the co-eaters\u2019 sex. The present study investigated, through a restaurant scenario, the way in which women and men, when asked to imagine having lunch in dyads, combine food choice and quantity regulation as a function of the co-eater's sex. Results showed that participants use the quantity dimension to communicate gender identity, and the food type dimension to ingratiate the co-eater's preferences by matching her/his presumed choice, following gender-based stereotypes about food. In opposite-sex dyads, dishes that incorporate the two dimensions were chosen above the expected frequency

Who Cares for Reputation? Individual Differences and Concern for Reputation

Reputation is highly important within groups as it provides a number of benefits, both instrumental (including access to valuable resources and the likelihood to influence others) and symbolic ones (e.g., satisfaction of fundamental esteem needs). In the present paper, we proposed and found that the degree to which people are concerned about their reputation is sensitive to personality differences. We found evidence that prevention focus and others’ approval as contingency of self-worth predict concern for reputation via self-monitoring orientation (mediation model). Results are discussed in terms of reputation management, and future research avenues are proposed

Veg*ns’ and omnivores’ reciprocal attitudes and dehumanization: The role of social dominance orientation, ingroup identification, and anticipated reproach

Two studies compared omnivores’ and veg*ns’ attitudes and dehumanization tendencies toward each other and identified the social psychological factors explaining them. Study 1 (N = 208, Italians) showed that veg*ns’ hold less positive attitudes toward omnivores than the reverse, and attributed to them less human uniqueness and nature; these differences were explained by veg*ns’ stronger identification with the ingroup and higher perceptions of reproach from the outgroup, even if omnivores’ higher levels of social dominance orientation worsened their attitude toward veg*ns. Study 2 (preregistered, N = 200, mostly from UK) overall replicated Study 1 findings at the explicit level. Interestingly, omnivores’ and veg*ns’ implicit attitudes were equally positive (but less positive than self-reported attitudes) and not predicted by the same mediators associated with the explicit measures. This work suggests that neither veg*ns nor omnivores hold negative attitudes toward each other: they were both positive or neutral toward the outgroup, even if at the explicit level this positivity is greater for omnivores

COVID-19 Severity in Multiple Sclerosis: Putting Data Into Context

Background and objectives: It is unclear how multiple sclerosis (MS) affects the severity of COVID-19. The aim of this study is to compare COVID-19-related outcomes collected in an Italian cohort of patients with MS with the outcomes expected in the age- and sex-matched Italian population. Methods: Hospitalization, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and death after COVID-19 diagnosis of 1,362 patients with MS were compared with the age- and sex-matched Italian population in a retrospective observational case-cohort study with population-based control. The observed vs the expected events were compared in the whole MS cohort and in different subgroups (higher risk: Expanded Disability Status Scale [EDSS] score > 3 or at least 1 comorbidity, lower risk: EDSS score ≤ 3 and no comorbidities) by the χ2 test, and the risk excess was quantified by risk ratios (RRs). Results: The risk of severe events was about twice the risk in the age- and sex-matched Italian population: RR = 2.12 for hospitalization (p < 0.001), RR = 2.19 for ICU admission (p < 0.001), and RR = 2.43 for death (p < 0.001). The excess of risk was confined to the higher-risk group (n = 553). In lower-risk patients (n = 809), the rate of events was close to that of the Italian age- and sex-matched population (RR = 1.12 for hospitalization, RR = 1.52 for ICU admission, and RR = 1.19 for death). In the lower-risk group, an increased hospitalization risk was detected in patients on anti-CD20 (RR = 3.03, p = 0.005), whereas a decrease was detected in patients on interferon (0 observed vs 4 expected events, p = 0.04). Discussion: Overall, the MS cohort had a risk of severe events that is twice the risk than the age- and sex-matched Italian population. This excess of risk is mainly explained by the EDSS score and comorbidities, whereas a residual increase of hospitalization risk was observed in patients on anti-CD20 therapies and a decrease in people on interferon

DMTs and Covid-19 severity in MS: a pooled analysis from Italy and France

We evaluated the effect of DMTs on Covid-19 severity in patients with MS, with a pooled-analysis of two large cohorts from Italy and France. The association of baseline characteristics and DMTs with Covid-19 severity was assessed by multivariate ordinal-logistic models and pooled by a fixed-effect meta-analysis. 1066 patients with MS from Italy and 721 from France were included. In the multivariate model, anti-CD20 therapies were significantly associated (OR = 2.05, 95%CI = 1.39–3.02, p < 0.001) with Covid-19 severity, whereas interferon indicated a decreased risk (OR = 0.42, 95%CI = 0.18–0.99, p = 0.047). This pooled-analysis confirms an increased risk of severe Covid-19 in patients on anti-CD20 therapies and supports the protective role of interferon

De gustibus: l\u2019influenza sociale nella costruzione dei repertori alimentari

La presente rassegna si propone di fare il punto sulla conoscenza oggi disponibile circa il ruolo delle influenze che genitori e pari esercitano sulla formulazione degli atteggiamenti verso il cibo e la messa in atto dei comportamenti alimentari nell\u2019infanzia e nell\u2019adolescenza. Dopo aver brevemente delineato i processi di acquisizione degli atteggiamenti e dei comportamenti alimentari, illustriamo i processi attraverso i quali si esercita l\u2019influenza dei genitori sui figli (trasmissione dei geni, restrizione del campo di esperienza alimentare, modellamento, pratiche e stili parentali), quella dei figli sui genitori e quella fra pari, discutendo gli esiti in cui tali processi sfociano. La rassegna si conclude con l\u2019indicazione delle direzioni di approfondimento per la ricerca in questo ambito