Italian Student Research Articles

Lifetime prevalence and characteristics of sleep paralysis in Italian university students population

Sleep paralysis (SP) is a REM-related parasomnia, characterized by the inability to perform voluntary movements. It is a relatively widespread phenomenon in the general population and, although usually not dangerous, it is experienced with intense fear. The current study aims to evaluate the lifetime prevalence and characteristics of SP in the Italian student population. The study was conducted online, through an online battery of questionnaires. We used the Unusual Sleep Experience Questionnaire to investigate the prevalence of the disorder and the typical characteristics, metacognitive beliefs on the episodes, and previous distress factors. We also collected information about anxiety and depression symptomatology, sleep quality, and circadian preferences. Four hundred and thirty-two participants (333 F, 22.8 ± 2.57 y) took part in the study and 37.5 % of them reported having experienced at least one SP episode in their lifetime. On a physiological level, the most common features were the inability to speak followed by a tingling sensation and the inability to open the eyes, consistent with REM muscle atonia. Cognitive features during episodes include the perception of a presence in the room, followed by the fear of dying. Participants who reported SP had higher anxiety and worse sleep quality, and were more associated with evening chronotypes compared to non-SP responders. Our results show that SP is generally widespread in Italian students, in line with the prevalence reported in previous studies. Further studies could investigate the effects of suggested therapies to decrease the number of episodes of the disorder, especially in those who experience it recurrently.

Measuring the psychosocial impact of COVID-19 by means of the “international student well-being study questionnaire”: Evidence on Italian university students

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic appeared as an unpredictable disruption of daily activities. This situation produced a unique mental health impact for the general population, youth, and vulnerable groups. A documented consequence has been alcohol abuse and impaired mental health. To our knowledge, no published study has yet evaluated the rates of depressive symptoms, academic frustration, and substance abuse in the Italian student population in the COVID era linking them to sociodemographic variables. AimsTo investigate the incidence of depressive symptoms, academic frustration, and substance abuse students developed in one university in Northern Italy during the first COVID-19 outbreak, using a student wellbeing framework borrowed from Allardt's and Bronfenbrenner's theories. MethodsDescriptive statistics, correlations, Wilcoxon test and factorial ANOVA were performed on data gathered through an online questionnaire sent to a convenience sample of university students. Data collection occurred between 18 May and June 21, 2020. ResultsAccording to the framework used, Being was the dimension of sociodemographic variables, Having was economic support and Loving was social support. Students experienced academic frustration and related depressive symptoms. Male gender seemed to be less affected by the depressive syndrome. With regard to economic support and related repercussions on depressive symptoms, students who reported that they could not obtain a loan showed significantly higher depressive symptoms. Students benefiting from greater financial support showed less academic frustration. Age appeared to be a predictor of academic frustration since young students proved to be the most frustrated. The examined students’ population showed a significant decrease in alcohol and cigarettes consumption. ConclusionsHaving and Being dimensions influenced depression and academic frustration. Having and Loving dimensions were related with use of substances. The study findings support the implementation of interventions to help students, at a psychological, social, financial level aiming at fostering the quality of students’ educational life.

Italian Higher Education Student Engagement Scale (I-HESES): initial validation and psychometric evidences

ABSTRACT Student engagement is an important construct predicting students’ academic achievement and success. In order to broaden the choice of short, complete, effective, and Italian language scales for the measurement of this construct, the goal of the present study was to carry out an adaptation and initial validation, accompanied by appropriate psychometric analyses, of an Italian version of the Higher Education Student Engagement Scale (I-HESES) in a sample of 335 Swiss-Italian and South-Italian adult students. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses permitted to validate the Italian adapted version of the HESES, resulting in an instrument with three second order dimensions (academic engagement, psychological engagement and social engagement) each one having two subdimensions. Each subdimension is measured using three items. The internal consistencies were adequate for all subscales, ranging from .63 to .86. Evidence of partial strong measurement invariance across gender and countries was observed. Moreover, as expected, the I-HESES dimensions were meaningfully related to student self-efficacy and value accorded to education. These findings indicate that the I-HESES might be a valid instrument for assessing and studying student engagement of adults attending higher education in the Swiss-Italian and South-Italian contexts.

Teaching resilience in fragile times

Teaching resilience in fragile times

Dante e fumetti: Ricadute nella didattica, suggestioni divulgative

Dante’s Divina Commedia is one of the most influential literary works in Italy and not only. Reading, understanding and analysing it are a fundamental part of the skills every Italian student should reach, due to the national school programs, particularly in middle and high school. Many Italians and internationals comics’authors worked on Divina Commedia, feeding the collective imagination about Dante, giving new readings of popular suggestions – in this paper, we’ll partially analyse Marcello Toninelli’s and GōNagai’s works, as influences in didactics, but also as peculiar products, with a universal approach, inspired by Dante’s world. So comics can also be considered didactic media. In fact students can be involved in a process where they could build their own comics based on Divina Commedia. Considering both Divina Commedia and comics linguistic media, every student will be able to join a travel from literature to comics and back, creating a final original product, testifying comprehension and personalization of the original literary work.

Vendere virilità virtuale. Il corpo nel sex work on-line tra uomini

This contribution intends to study the theme of the body in online male sex work starting from the analysis of an in-depth interview carried out with an italian university student who plays the role of cash master for a male clientele. The body of the sex worker and that of the client are involved in an exclusively visual erotic game in which the masculinity of both becomes a conscious performance and, at the same time, the instrument and effect of a construction of models - normative and/or transgressive - of gender. The epistemological approach adopted is based on Simon and Gagnon's theory of "sexual scripts" that, by allowing us to examine the ways in which individuals organise and construct their sexual meanings, appears to be a privileged theoretical tool in the reading of the socio-sexual dimension of the body. This exquisitely pedagogical theme of investigation shows the plural dynamics of the formation (and reconstruction) of masculinity, not only in adolescence (as we have by now learnt to recognise) but also in adulthood, proposing, moreover, a theoretical challenge to the concept of the body itself, whose boundaries, ramifications and virtual hybridisations are explored.

From Italy to Little Italy to Big ’merica and Beyond: Thoughts on Italian Diaspora Studies

From Italy to Little Italy to Big ’merica and Beyond: Thoughts on Italian Diaspora Studies

On Subtle Bodies, Out-of-Body Experiences, and Apparitions of the Living: A Review of Ernesto Bozzano's Study of "Bilocation"

For many years there have been phenomena such as apparitions of the living, photographs of the living at a distance, near-death experiences, emanations of light from the dying, fog, or incorporeal “doubles,” which have suggested the existence of a spirit, or “subtle body,” able to separate itself from the physical body, sometimes bringing consciousness with it. This idea also underpins the projection model for Out-of-Body Experience (OBE) cases, which has an interesting history (Alvarado, 2009, 2011, 2019). Here I briefly review that concept through the analysis of a work written by the Italian student of psychic phenomena Ernesto Bozzano, published for the first time in 1934 (Bozzano, 2020) and recently re-edited in the original language by Golem Libri, a young publishing house specializing in “psychic” topics.
 In discussing this book my approach is mainly historical. I hope both to help modern readers to get more acquainted with Bozzano’s work, and to highlight those passages that deepen our understanding of specific aspects of the topic, especially with reference to the ideas on OBEs published before the 1930s. I am convinced that while the issues discussed by Bozzano have a limited value today, they can stimulate further discussions.

The Role of Phonetics and Prosody during a Second Language Learning Plan

New technologies have changed the methodology applied to the teaching of foreign languages. Moreover, teachers do not use them sufficiently. The oral language should gain more ground because communication uses speech more than writing. Each language has its phonetic, phonological and prosodic system. These features become important during a foreign language learning process, since the learner tends to assimilate the foreign sound to the sounds of his/her mother tongue because 1) his/her ear is not able to distinguish them, and 2) the brain couples the sound with the written sign. By following a traditional methodology, students achieve an adequate level in constructing correct sentences, but their oral performance remains poor. New technologies help students to practice the new sounds more precisely, thus, provoking the muscle of the phonetic apparatus to become so stretched to be able to produce them easily. Talking in a new language is the equivalent of making a physical exercise; it is a question not only of new commands received by the brain, but also of a flexible vocal tract. It is a physical, psychological and mental process, which, considering Italian and English, becomes even more difficult, because the two alphabets have more or less the same written signs (a,b,c, d, t, etc.). Rather, if we consider an Italian student of Arabic the problems are different for two reasons: 1) the letters, having different shape, avoid overlapping, so that the student 2) has only to develop the muscles for the emphatic and guttural letters (ع غ ص ض ط ظ). His/her mind has not the duty to cancel the sounds of the mother tongue and to substitute them with a new pronunciation. In this study, my challenge is to give much more emphasis to phonetics, phonology, stress and intonation, so to facilitate interaction during a speech act using real and not a limited classroom language. For these reasons, I planned a specific course in pronunciation, helped by spectrographs and laryngographs, for a separate group of students with the purpose to stress phonetics and phonology more than grammar. The results obtained after one year, at last, gave voice to my suppositions. Keywords: methodology, foreign languages, phonetics, phonology, prosody

Italian Language Learning and Student Motivation at Australian Universities

ABSTRACT Motivation in learning languages other than English has not being extensively explored. This appears to be particularly true for Italian at university level, for which few studies in the motivational literature can be found. It is particularly relevant then that, in this study, we focus on understanding the reasons why university students in Australia choose to learn Italian, and what motivates them over time once they have begun. In order to answer these questions, we collected qualitative data via two rounds of questionnaires. To facilitate our analysis, a three-level model (i.e. micro, meso, and macro) was adopted, following Gayton and the Douglas Fir Group. The levels were linked to three principal component factors with each one bringing together multiple motivational elements, which changed over time highlighting the dynamic nature of motivation for learners of Italian.

Creativity, divergent thinking, attitudes, values, ideational behaviour and personality in a sample of Italian university student.

In order to understand how creativity can be developed, it is necessary a multi-dimensional approach that take into consideration the different factors that influence the creative behavior. Aim of this work is to analyze some psychological and personal variables in association with creative performance. The sample involved is composed of 1069 students attending the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio. The research has predicted the online administration of 4 types of self-report questionnaires that are part of the Runco Creativity Assessment Battery (rCAB): Divergent Thinking, DT 3Figures, Ideational Balance of Behavior, Attitudes and Values, How you would describe yourself. The data collected was inserted into the matrix and statistically analyzed through the SPSS program.

Characteristics of Internet Use amongst Italian University Students.

Problematic Internet use (PIU), that may be defined as the inability to control one's use of Internet with negative consequences in daily life, is an emerging problem involving primarily, but not only young generations. Different studies have shown that students are particularly vulnerable to PIU. Given the paucity of information on PIU in our country, the aim of this paper was at investigating the characteristics of PIU amongst Italian University students. A self-assessment questionnaire, referred by the acronym QUNT ("Questionario sull'Utilizzo delle Nuove Tecnologie"), composed by 101 items grouped together to identify a series of factors, was developed and sent through e-mail invitation to several students from three Italian Universities. The returned questionnaires were 3324, out of a total of 51,304 sent, with no difference between the two sexes. On the contrary, the distribution of the QUNT factors was different in the two sexes, in people living alone and in overweight subjects. Men resulted to be more involved in online recreational activities, whereas women seemed more attracted to instant messaging and generally to social networks. PIU was significantly more present in men than women. The comparisons of QUNT factor scores in the four BMI categories showed that the greater the BMI the greater the score of some factors. The findings of the present study indicate that the use of Internet through new technologies may exceed its real utility amongst Italian university student, with some sex-related differences. Men seem more prone to use Internet for passing time and women for social relationships. Men are also at risk of developing PIU. Again, Internet use might be a basic vulnerability factor of increasing weight gain and obesity amongst young people.

Portrait of young Italian university smoker student

Abstract Background Smoking is a widespread problem in all age and social groups. Number of smokers is increasing among students and the years of university are those in which it is most common to start smoking. The aim of this study is to outline the profile of the smoker university student. Methods Between October 2018 and January 2019, a sample of 150 smoking students of Siena University were randomly selected. We administered the structured Fagerstrom test. This test contained six items to evaluate the dependence and the quantity of cigarettes consumption. We conducted a descriptive analysis and a linear regression using software Stata. Results The sample was composed of 75 males (50%) and 75 females (50%), with a mean age of 24.6 years (sd 3.1). About 45% of the participants smoked between 11 and 20 cigarettes a day. Fifty per cent of the respondents lighted the first cigarette after 1 hour since they woke up, indeed only about the 25% preferred to smoke just woke up and would hardly give up the first cigarette. About the 80% did not show difficulty to avoid smoking in forbidden places or when they were ill. The mean degree of dependence of cigarettes was 2.7 (sd 2.3), considered as medium-low level of dependence. The degree of dependence (0 -10) was correlated with every items of the test, resulting: time to lighted the first cigarette (r = 0.71, p < 0.005), difficulty to refrain from smoking in places where is forbidden (r = 0.41, p < 0.005), cigarette hate to give up (r = 0.32, p < 0.005), number of cigarettes smoked a day (r = 0.69, p < 0.005), smoking more frequently in the morning (r = 0.26, p < 0.005), smoking even if being sick (r = 0.27, p < 0.005). The gender did not show correlation with any variables. Conclusions The our sample showed a medium-low level of dependence from nicotine (11-20 cigarettes a day) with the time to light up the first cigarette after 60 minutes; as resulted from the linear regression analysis. The gender did not have correlation with the dependence from cigarettes. Key messages Outline the profile of the joung smoker university student. Smoking is a widespread problem in all age and social groups.

Being an Italian medical student during the Covid-19 outbreak

Many students around the world have been wondering how their life will change since the very first outbreak of Covid-19. In my experience article I have tried to give a flavor of how has the academic world changed in quarantine. Difficulties and opportunities have been analyzed. Questions regarding the validity of e-learning have been posed. In an arduous period as the one we are experiencing, having an idea of what life could be in worst case scenario could be helpful.

Men Should Be Competent, Women Should Have it All: Multiple Criteria in the Evaluation of Female Job Candidates

The present research investigated whether evaluations of female and male job candidates rely on different dimensions. Going beyond previous studies on the role of gender stereotypes, we examined the relative importance of competence, morality, and sociability in employment decisions. In Study 1, we content-analyzed 68 archival reports of professionals to explore the extent to which they spontaneously referred to the three dimensions in evaluations of women and men. In Study 2, 259 Italian student participants rated the importance of different traits in hiring a female or male candidate for a job position. Additionally, we tested the relative influence of specific information about candidate competence and morality in predicting hiring (Study 3; n = 123 Italian students) and contract renewal (Study 4; n = 108 Italian students) decisions. Findings consistently showed that competence was the most important dimension in evaluations and decisions concerning male candidates, whereas all dimensions were important for female candidates. Moreover, decisions concerning women were influenced by the dimension on which they appeared to be relatively weak. Overall, findings suggest that women are evaluated against multiple criteria and might therefore be asked to meet more requirements than men to be selected and make a career. These findings can help evaluators and decision makers adopt assessment strategies that prevent more critical evaluations of women, such as establishing specific evaluation criteria before the disclosure of a candidate’s gender.

An analysis of Differential Item Functioning on INVALSI tests, designed to explore gender gap in mathematical tasks

This study presents a quantitative approach based on Differential Item Functioning analysis within the Item Response Theory framework, to quantify gender differences in tackling specific mathematical items. We use this approach to explore two crucial topics in mathematics education (misconceptions in decimal numbers, and estimation) by analysing answers given by Italian students to specific mathematical items taken from a sample of 1400 items administered in INVALSI tests since 2008. For each item, we have a sample of 30,000 students per year, statistically representative of the entire Italian student population. The results section presents a didactic interpretation of the statistical evidence and shows how interdisciplinarity between statistics and mathematics education, with a mixed-method approach (Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004), represents a good approach to exploring the gender gap in relation to specific constructs of math education. This approach, common in many disciplines, can also make an interesting contribution to mathematics education research.

Italian Students as a Political Actor. The Policy Impact of the Recent Student Mobilizations in the Field of Higher Education

After decades of political passivity, Italian students have massively mobilized in the years 2008 and 2010 to protest the implementation of two political measures fostering a neoliberal conception of higher education. More notably, the casus belli of these mobilizations concerned the implementation of a financial measure cutting public funding for higher education in 2008, accompanied by a New Public Management (NPM) reform of university governance in 2010. Despite a high rate of participation, none of the two mobilizations managed to alter the political course of events. The Italian government approved and implemented the two measures and the Italian student movement lost this political battle. In short, recent student mobilizations failed to produce any policy impact on the Italian field of higher education. Why was this the case? My argument is that organizationally and politically fragmented protests are not able to influence policy issues that have a low public relevance, especially in periods of economic crisis and political austerity. I contend that this was precisely the case of the Italian student protests of 2008 and 2010.

Italy in the Middle East and the Mediterranean

The Mediterranean and the Middle East have long constituted an important “circle” in Italy’s foreign policy, with Egypt and Libya playing a particularly important role. During 2016, two sources of tension emerged in Italy’s relations with these countries. The first reflects a wider European situation. Like the rest of the EU, Italy has followed strategic interests—on migration, energy, and security—that sometimes conflict with the promotion of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law, which the EU claims to promote in its external relations. The Regeni affair, involving a murdered Italian graduate student, exemplified this tension. The second source results from the role of corporate interests in Italy, especially those of oil and energy companies, in relation to the country’s “national interests.” Italian foreign policy toward both Libya and Egypt seems to have been driven by a combination of somewhat overlapping but also divergent national and corporate interests.

Let Us Raise and Clang Our Glasses! Tracing the History of the Student Songs

Let Us Raise and Clang Our Glasses! Tracing the History of the Student Songs

Measuring psychological mindedness: validity, reliability, and relationship with psychopathology of an Italian version of the Balanced Index of Psychological Mindedness

Psychological mindedness (PM) is an underinvestigated, but important construct in psychoanalytic psychotherapy research and practice. It refers to the interest in and ability for reflecting on one's thoughts and feelings, and it represents an important precondition for insight-oriented therapy to be successful. Notwithstanding, very few instruments are available to measure PM. The current investigation aimed at evaluating the validity and reliability of the Balanced Index of Psychological Mindedness (BIPM; NyklíČek & Denollet, 2009, Psychological Assessment, 21, 32–44), a brief measure of PM. In a first study, factor structure, internal consistency, and concurrent validity of the BIPM were tested, along with the relationship between the BIPM and a continuous measure of general distress, using a sample of 298 Italian students. In a second study, test-retest stability analyses were completed using a new, different, Italian student sample (N = 58). In a third study, the BIPM scores of a clinical sample with diagnosis of mood spectrum disorders (N = 30) were compared to those of an age-, gender-, and education-matched nonclinical sample. Overall, results indicate that the BIPM is a psychometrically sound instrument that can be used in clinical practice to obtain rapid information about the client's mentalization skills and assess PM.