Disagreement exists about how to best spark young children's motivation to learn natural science. Both curiosity and wonder are considered important motivational factors for learning during early childhood (0-8 years). This systematic literature review explores research about scientific curiosity and wonder in early childhood education and care…

This study conducted on a sample of 295 Dutch and Italian undergraduate and graduate students aims to investigate how psychopathic personality traits (meanness, boldness and disinhibition) may lead to cheating behavior, and to study whether there are correlations between psychopathic traits, motivation, moral disengagement, the perception of…

Perfectionism measures developed in English-speaking populations have become frequently used in many non-English contexts, including in Italy. Establishing structural and measurement equivalence of instruments between Canadian and Italian samples is therefore important in establishing the validity of these concepts and instruments in Italian…

The instability resulting from major changes in recent decades has fostered a climate of uncertainty and risk that has had repercussions in terms of unemployment, social inequality, and precariousness. To cope with this phenomenon, especially in the context of career transitions, individuals have had to activate multiple psychological resources.…

The present study addressed an area of research not yet sufficiently investigated: the environmental sensitivity trait in relation to perceived marginalization in the classroom, dropout intentions, and the quality of teacher-student relationship. Adopting a psychosocial perspective and based on a single study survey with a group of Italian…

This project developed and examined the psychometric properties of an Italian version of the Courage Measure, the reduced version composed of six items as suggested by Howard and Alipour (J Posit Psychol 9:449-459, 2014). Two studies were conducted with independent samples of Italian adults, providing psychometric support for the Italian…

In order to evaluate the effect of a policy or treatment with pre- and post-treatment outcomes, we propose an approach based on a transition model, which may be applied with multivariate outcomes and accounts for unobserved heterogeneity. This model is based on potential versions of discrete latent variables representing the individual…

This study aimed to examine the main predictors of employability, building on a recent conceptual model on employability developed by Lo Presti and Pluviano (Organ Psychol Rev 6(2): 192-211, 2016). Survey based data were collected from a sample of 263 Italian job-seekers through a longitudinal study. The results revealed that employability was…

Decisions to invest in human capital depend on people's time preferences. We show that differences in patience are closely related to substantial subnational differences in educational achievement, leading to new perspectives on longstanding within-country disparities. We use social-media data -- Facebook interests -- to construct novel regional…

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted an abrupt adoption of online learning worldwide challenging students' scholastic engagement and their ability to self-regulate their learning. Under these unexpected conditions, adaptability (one's capacity to adjust thoughts, behaviors, and emotions in new and uncertain situations) might have sustained students to…

We use three studies to develop and validate the new concept of playful study design -- the cognitive-behavioral orientation towards study tasks with the aim to make these tasks more fun and/or more challenging. Based on play and proactive motivation theories, we propose that playful study design can be assessed by items indicating two dimensions:…

We aimed to validate a long and a short version of the popular SDO6 scale for children, by testing their reliability and factorial structure, as well as divergent and criterion validity. Italian fourth- and fifth-graders (N = 271; 49.45% female) were administered the Child SDO6 scale, composed of 16 items, along with a series of personality and…

Establishing a coherent meaning in life has long been considered to be a protective factor of well-being, but this construct has been understudied in early adolescent development. The current study investigated the relationships between family allocentrism and depressive symptoms as well as the mediation effect of meaning in life in 214 Chinese…

The context of contemporary work scenarios features constant change and innovation in the field of information and communication technologies, which result in frequent work transitions and job insecurity. Such circumstances are highly threatening to the wellbeing of workers. Moreover, the instability and precariousness of the labour market are…

Research on the effects of nursery school attendance still presents divergent results: a possible explanation is that the effects of child care on development outcomes can be modulated by individual characteristics, such as gender or temperament. In the present study, gender differences in nursery adaptation (evaluated by social skills and…