A Retrospective Study on Adoptive Parenthood in the First Year after the Adoption: The Role of Parents' Attachment and Empathy on Communicative Openness.

Communicative openness (CO) defines the willingness of parents and children to explore the significance of adoption. Especially in the first year of adoption, CO could be challenging for adoptive parents, who are influenced by personal characteristics. Using a retrospective assessment, we investigated parents' communicative experiences in the first year of adoption and whether these are affected by romantic attachment and empathy. In the study, 290 adoptive parents (females = 73%, mean age 50 years) filled (a) an ad hoc questionnaire for CO, (b) Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R) for attachment, and the (c) Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) for empathy. During the first year, most parents reported difficulties in controlling their emotions and understanding their children's emotions. Parents with an avoidant attachment and personal distress in empathy were more likely to feel fatigued in sharing and controlling personal feelings and understanding their children's feelings. Open adoption-related communication is a complex and challenging process for adoptive parents, which can be facilitated or not by individual characteristics such as avoidant attachment and personal distress in emotional situations. These results could help develop psychological interventions targeting adoptive parents during the first year after the child enters the family system.

Eudaimonic Well-Being of Italian Young Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Predictive and Mediating Roles of Fear of Death and Psychological Inflexibility.

The literature has widely acknowledged the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of young adults. Despite extensive research, eudaimonic well-being, which focuses on self-knowledge and self-realization, has been scarcely investigated. This cross-sectional study aimed to add knowledge on the eudaimonic well-being of young adults one year after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, verifying its potential linkages with fear of death and psychological inflexibility. A total of 317 young Italian adults (18-34 years), recruited through a chain sampling method, completed measures of psychological inflexibility, fear of death, and eudaimonic well-being included in an online survey. The study's hypotheses were tested with multivariate multiple regression and mediational analyses. Results showed that psychological inflexibility was negatively associated with all the dimensions of well-being, while fear of the death of others was associated with autonomy, environmental mastery, and self-acceptance. Furthermore, in the association between fear of death and well-being, the mediation role of psychological inflexibility was verified. These results contribute to the extant literature on the factors associated with eudaimonic well-being, providing clinical insights into the work with young adults within challenging times.

Sensitivity and Attachment in an Italian Sample of Hikikomori Adolescents and Young Adults.

Hikikomori is a severe form of social withdrawal increasing among the young Italian population. Hikikomori has been connected to psychological problems and high environmental sensitivity. Nevertheless, only a few studies have been carried out in the Italian context, and they did not analyze several aspects strictly related to the hikikomori phenomenon, such as the role of attachment and sensitivity. We aimed to investigate the relationship between attachment, sensitivity, and psychological problems in a sample of Italian hikikomori. Our sample comprised 72 Italian adolescents and young adults (49 males and 23 females), meanly aged 22.5 years, recruited through online forums and clinical centers for the hikikomori phenomenon. Our participants fulfilled the Highly Sensitive Person Scale (HSPS), the Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ), and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (SCL-90-R). The results showed high psychological issues (i.e., depression and anxiety), environmental sensitivity, and insecure attachment orientations. Moreover, we discovered a significant relationship between attachment dimensions, environmental sensitivity, and psychopathology. Our study sheds light on a novel research path and could help both the researchers and the clinicians who work with people suffering from social withdrawal.

'I feel like I was born for something that my body can't do': a qualitative study on women's bodies within medicalized infertility in Italy.

OBJECTIVE: In the context of infertility, women's bodies have a central physical, psychological, and social role. Medically assisted reproduction (MAR) treatment includes highly intrusive procedures targeting women's bodies. This study aimed to develop a preliminary understanding of women's core meanings around their bodies within their experiences of medicalized infertility in Italy. DESIGN: 104 Italian women dealing with infertility and MAR treatments answered open-ended questions, which were part of a broader online survey. A reflexive thematic analysis was performed. RESULTS: Three themes were identified: (a) the paradox of the body: 'I feel like I was born for something that my body can't do'; (b) 'Something only mothers can do': meanings attributed to the physical body; (c) Internalized 'clinical gaze': medicalized body representations. CONCLUSIONS: This work provides insights into the meanings assigned to their bodies by Italian women dealing with MAR. This study outlined women's ambivalence towards their bodies, describing them as 'fragmented' into parts and as 'deposits' of their reproductive hopes. Results suggest that Italian pronatalist culture may have potential fallouts for women's gendered sense of self and the integration between their biological and psychosocial body experiences. Study limitations, future research directions, and clinical implications are presented.

Romantic attachment, infertility-related stress, and positive body image of women dealing with infertility.

Introduction: Infertility is a condition that can affect the physical, emotional, social, and relational well-being of women. Women's bodies seem to assume a crucial relevance as part of the experience of infertility and its treatments. An extended body of literature supports the role of romantic attachment orientations in facing infertility-related stress. However, the association between romantic attachment orientations, infertility-related stress, and women's body image has not been explored. Methods: This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the role of romantic attachment and infertility-related stress concerning positive body image in 113 women dealing with infertility. Data were analyzed with correlation and mediation path analyses. Results: Results showed that high levels of attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, and infertility-related stress were negatively associated with positive body image. Path analyses indicated that positive body image may be directly associated with romantic attachment anxiety. The negative association of attachment avoidance with body image appeared to be mediated by infertility-related stress. Discussion: Findings suggest that romantic attachment insecurities and infertility-related stress are significantly associated with a worsened body image in infertile women. Implications for future research are discussed.