Background: This study aims to verify the main psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Impact of Event Scale – Revised (IES-R) in a sample of flood victims. Methods: The sample was composed of 262 subjects involved in the natural disaster of 2009 in the city of Messina (Italy). All participants completed the IES-R and the Dissociative Experiences Scale-II (DES-II) in order to verify some aspects of convergent validity. Results: The exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, used to verify the construct validity of the measure, showed a clear factor structure with three independent dimensions: intrusion, avoidance, and hyper-arousal. The goodness-of-fit indices (non-normed fit index [NNFI] = 0.99; comparative fit index [CFI] = 0.99; standardized root mean square residual [SRMR] = 0.04; and root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = 0.02) indicated a good adaptation of the model to the data. The IES-R scales showed satisfactory values of internal consistency (intrusion, α = 0.78; avoidance, α = 0.72; hyper-arousal, α = 0.83) and acceptable values of correlation with the DES-II. Conclusion: These results suggest that this self-reported and easily administered instrument for assessing the dimensions of trauma has good psychometric properties and can be adopted usefully, both for research and for practice in Italy.

Internet Addiction Test (IAT): Which is the Best Factorial Solution?

Alexithymia is a personality construct that inhibits and interferes with normal affect regulating abilities. The purpose of our study was to assess psychometric properties of TAS-20 in younger adolescents. Data were collected from 508 younger adolescents (48.8% male and 51.2% female) with a mean age of 12.56 years (DS=0.50, range: 12-13 years). We administered the following scales: 20-Item-Toronto Alexithymia Scale. The confirmatory factor analysis performed on the second random subsample showed reasonable goodness-of-fit for the oblique bi-factorial model: [chi](2) (32, n=254)=54.22; p=0.008; χ(2)/df=1.69; NNFI=0.92; CFI=0.95; SRMR=0.05; RMSEA=0.05; 90% confidence interval=0.027-0.078. Based on the outcomes of our research we support the idea of evaluating adolescents for alexithymia.

Background: There is a growing attention toward the construct of courage from a psychological point of view; recently, courage has been related with numerous positive individual behaviors and outcomes, such as coping strategies and subjective wellbeing, and an increasing number of studies explore the role of courage in the working and organizational environments. The present study is aimed to analyze the effect that individual courage—together with risk intelligence—and workplace social courage have on working performance; Methods: The participants are 961 Italian workers, balanced by gender; the measures used are: Courage, Subjective Risk Intelligence Scale, Workplace Social Courage Scale, and Performance Scale. Data were analyzed using Structural Equation Models; Results: The results show the effect of subjective risk intelligence and courage on working performance, both directly and through the mediation of workplace social courage; Conclusions: Suggestions for further research and practical implications are discussed.