Papers by Valeria Castellani
Psychology & Health, 2015
The purpose of this study was to examine the longitudinal relationship between Positivity (POS), ... more The purpose of this study was to examine the longitudinal relationship between Positivity (POS), defined as a stable disposition to view at experience under a positive outlook, and physical and psychological functioning in a sample of cancer patients immediately after diagnosis and one year later. 110 patients (40% males) with pulmonary, colorectal and breast cancer, aged 30-75 (M age= 59.62; SD=10.33), have been prospectively enrolled between 2012 and 2013, at the S. Andrea Hospital in Rome. All patients were previously aware of their diagnosis. A follow-up one year after diagnosis was conducted. We used SEM in order to analyze the specific effects of POS on functioning impairment from diagnosis to follow up. Pos was associated with less functioning impairment both at diagnosis and follow- up assessments. Furthermore, POS level at diagnosis continued to be associated with less functioning impairment one year later, after controlling for its stability. Patients with higher level of POS tended to report less symptoms associated with negative affect such as anxiety and despondency and to preserve their habitual relationships and social roles. POS may act as a basic disposition that sustains patients' efforts to deal efficaciously with severe illness, by complying with medical treatment and by using cognitive strategies that enable individuals to cope with concurrent and prospective challenges of illness.
Journal of Adolescence, 2014
The goal of this study was to investigate the development of mother-adolescent hostile aggressive... more The goal of this study was to investigate the development of mother-adolescent hostile aggressive conflict (MHAC) from late adolescence to young adulthood. The role of child' depressive and delinquency problems and family characteristics, as well as the relation of level and change in MHAC to adolescents' delinquency and depression in early adulthood will be investigated. From the Genzano Longitudinal study 385 adolescents (51% males) participated in this study and completed self report measures. Latent growth curve modeling, separately by gender, indicated that the overall level MHAC exhibited a modest decline over time. For both males and females, depressive problems were associated to higher initial levels of MHAC and early maternal age predicted less decline of MHAC. Starting levels of MHAC were associated with Delinquency in males and with Depression in females, while the growth of MHAC was associated to delinquency in males and females and to depression in males.
This 16-year longitudinal study examines individual uncertainties concerning work and career, as ... more This 16-year longitudinal study examines individual uncertainties concerning work and career, as perceived by 213 employed and unemployed Italian young adults, and reflecting the precarious situation in the Italian labor market in times of globalization. Predictors were individuals’ academic and social adjustment during adolescence and current characteristics of educational achievement and employment status. As expected, a two-group path analysis revealed that those employed perceived a lower load of work-related uncertainties than those unemployed. Moreover, the employment status moderated the associations between earlier adjustment and perceived uncertainties in adulthood. Whereas better academic adjustment was significantly related to a lower load of perceived uncertainties in the unemployed group, the association was insignificant in the employed group. Likewise, better social adjustment was only relevant for a lower load of uncertainties in the employed group, but not in the unemployed. The results reveal the complex role of early adjustment risks for successfully establishing oneself in a precarious labor market characteristic of southern European countries.
Trajectories of prosocial behavior from adolescence to early adulthood: Associations with personality change.Kanacri, B., Pastorelli, C., Eisenberg, N., Zuffianò, A., Castellani, V., & Caprara, G. (2014).
Objective: The present study examined the longitudinal relations of adolescents' selfreported ego... more Objective: The present study examined the longitudinal relations of adolescents' selfreported ego-resiliency to their emotional self-efficacy beliefs in expressing positive emotions and in managing negative emotions as they moved into early adulthood. Method: Participants were 239 females and 211 males with a mean age of 17 years (SD = .80) at T1, 19 years (SD = .80) at T2, 21 years (SD = .82) at T3, and 25 years (SD = .80) at T4. A four-wave cross-lagged regression model and mediational analyses were used. Results: In a panel structural equation model controlling for the stability of the constructs, reciprocal relationships across time were found between egoresiliency and emotional self-efficacy beliefs related to the expression of positive emotions and to the management of negative emotions. Moreover, the relation between ego-resiliency assessed at T1 and T3, and ego-resiliency assessed at T2 and T4 was mediated through emotional self-efficacy beliefs (at T2 and T3, respectively), and vice versa. Conclusions: The posited conceptual model accounted for a significant portion of variance in ego-resiliency and has implications for understanding the development of ego-resiliency.
The goal of this longitudinal study was to investigate the relation of adolescents' Big Five fact... more The goal of this longitudinal study was to investigate the relation of adolescents' Big Five factor (BFF) personality to the development of different patterns of mother-adolescent hostile, aggressive conflict (MHAC) from late adolescence to young adulthood. Furthermore, we examined the prediction of Antisocial Problems (AP) and Depressive Problems (DP) in emerging adulthood from BFF and MHAC trajectories. 385 adolescents participated in this study (age 15-16 at Time 1 and 21-22 at Time 4). Using latent growth curve analysis, Low stable (69.1%), Medium Increasing, (23.3%), and High decreasing (7.6%) trajectories were distinguished. Low adolescents' emotional stability was directly related to AP and indirectly related to DP, throughout the mediation of both Medium Increasing and High Decreasing trajectories. Agreeableness was directly negatively related to DP and indirectly throughout the mediation of High Decreasing trajectory. Low Conscientiousness was indirectly related to DP, throughout the mediation of Medium Increasing trajectory. 385 adolescents participated in this study (age 15-16 at Time 1 and 21-22 at Time 4). Using latent growth curve analysis, Low stable (69.1%), Medium Increasing, (23.3%), and High decreasing (7.6%) trajectories were distinguished. Low adolescents' emotional stability was directly related to AP and indirectly related to DP, throughout the mediation of both Medium Increasing and High Decreasing trajectories. Agreeableness was directly negatively related to DP and indirectly throughout the mediation of High Decreasing trajectory. Low Conscientiousness was indirectly related to DP, throughout the mediation of Medium Increasing trajectory. Ó
Il presente studio esamina gli andamenti di sviluppo dell'Irritabilità nel corso dell'adolescenza... more Il presente studio esamina gli andamenti di sviluppo dell'Irritabilità nel corso dell'adolescenza in un campione italiano composto da 479 adolescenti, analizzato dai 14 ai 20 anni. Sono stati perseguiti tre obiettivi: 1) identificazione di traiettorie di sviluppo caratterizzate da diversi livelli e andamenti di Irritabilità; 2) distribuzione di ragazzi e ragazze all'interno di ciascuna traiettoria; 3) infine, esame dei correlati aggressivi e depressivi associati ai diversi andamenti di Irritabilità. Il modello di sviluppo identificato è caratterizzato da quattro diversi percorsi di sviluppo. Per la maggior parte degli adolescenti i livelli medi di Irritabilità restano stabili nel corso del tempo e solo un gruppo di adolescenti (circa il 30% del campione totale) diventa sempre meno irritabile nel corso del tempo. Inoltre, a diversi andamenti di Irritabilità si associano diversi livelli di aggressione e depressione. In particolare, i risultati attestano che la traiettoria con livelli più elevati di Irritabilità è composta soprattutto da ragazze, e si associa specialmente ad esperienze di tipo depressivo.
Physical aggression declines for the majority of children from preschool to elementary school. Al... more Physical aggression declines for the majority of children from preschool to elementary school. Although this desistance generally continues during adolescence and early adulthood, a small group of children maintain a high level of physical aggression over time and develop other serious overt and covert antisocial behaviors. Typically, researchers have examined relations of developmental changes in physical aggression to later violence with teachers' or mothers' reports on surveys. Little is known about the degree to which children's self-reported physical aggression predicts later antisocial behavior. The longitudinal study in this article had a staggered, multiple cohort design. Measures of physical aggression were collected through self-and mother reports from age 11-14 years, which were used to construct trajectory groups (attrition was 6 and 14% from age 11-14, respectively, for self-and mother reports). Overt and covert antisocial behaviors were self-reported at age 18-19 years (attrition was 36% from age 11 to 18-19). Four trajectory groups (low stable, 11%; moderate-low declining, 34%; moderate declining, 39%; high stable, 16%) were identified from self-reports, whereas three trajectories (low declining, 33%; moderate declining, 49%; high stable, 18%) were identified from mothers' ratings. We examined the prediction of overt and covert antisocial behaviors in early adulthood from the high stable and the moderate declining trajectories. According to both informants, higher probability of belonging to the high stable group was associated with higher overt and covert antisocial behavior, whereas higher probability of belonging to the moderate declining group was associated with higher covert antisocial behavior. Our results support the value of children's as well as mothers' reports of children's aggression for predicting different types of serious antisocial behavior in adulthood.
Little is known about changes in religious coping and their relations to adolescents' and young a... more Little is known about changes in religious coping and their relations to adolescents' and young adults' functioning. In 686 Italian youths, trajectories of religious coping were identified from age 16-17 years to age 22-23 years; cohorts of youths reported at 3 of the 4 assessments. Four trajectories of religious coping were identified: decreasing, low stable, high stable, and increasing. A decline in religious coping was associated with high levels of externalizing problems at age 16-17, whereas an increase in religious coping was associated with higher externalizing problems at ages 18-19 and 20-21 years and with relatively high involvement with deviant peers. High stable religious copers were high in prosocial behavior at three ages; low stable religious copers were higher than people undergoing change in their religious coping from midadolescence into early adulthood. These results can expand our current thinking about religious coping and adolescent adjustment. 85287-1104.
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Papers by Valeria Castellani