Religion has long been a primary motivation for journeys and it is considered the oldest non-economic reason for travelling. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the reasons tourists choose to travel to sacred sites, with the specific aim of discovering relationships between personality traits and motivations for religious travel. Participating in the research were 679 Italian travellers to Medjugorje sanctuary, who completed the travel motivation scale and big five questionnaire. The results show that motivation is focused prevalently on the need for discovery in men and socialisation in women. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that personality traits are predictive of motivation factors differently for males and females.

Research on the effects of guilt on interpersonal relationships has shown that guilt frequently motivates prosocial behavior in dyadic social situations. When multiple persons are involved, however, this emotion can be disadvantageous for other people in the social environment. Two experiments were carried out to examine the effect of guilt and empathy on prosocial behavior in a context in which more than two people are involved. Experiment 1 investigates whether, in three-person situations, guilt motivates prosocial behavior with beneficial effects for the victim of one’s actions but disadvantageous effects for the third individual. Participants were faced with a social dilemma in which they could choose to take action that would benefit themselves, the victim, or the other individual. The findings show that guilt produces disadvantageous side effects for the third individual person present without negatively affecting the transgressor’s interest. In Experiment 2, participants were faced with a social dilemma in which they could act to benefit themselves, the victim, or a third person for whom they were induced to feel empathic concern. Again, the results show that guilt generates advantages for the victim but, in this case, at the expense of the transgressor and not at the expense of the third person, for whom they were induced to feel empathic concern. Therefore, guilt and empathy seem to limit the transgressor’s interest. The theoretical implications are discussed.

(1) Introduction: The aim of our research was to explore emotional/behavioral changes in adolescents with neuropsychiatric conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, and parental stress levels through a standardized assessment, comparing the data collected before and during the first months of lockdown. Moreover, an additional goal was to detect a possible relationship between emotional/behavioural symptoms of adolescents and the stress levels of their parents. (2) Methods: We enrolled 178 Italian adolescents aged between 12–18 that were referred to the Child Neuropsychiatry Unit of the University Hospital of Salerno with different neuropsychiatric diagnoses. Two standardized questionnaires were provided to all parents for the assessment of parental stress (PSI-Parenting Stress Index-Short Form) and the emotional/behavioral problems of their children (Child Behaviour Check List). The data collected from questionnaires administered during the six months preceding the pandemic, as is our usual clinical practice, were compared to those recorded during the pandemic. (3) Results: The statistical comparison of PSI and CBCL scores before/during the pandemic showed a statistically significant increase in all subscales in the total sample. The correlation analysis highlighted a significant positive relationship between Parental Stress and Internalizing/Externalizing symptoms of adolescent patients. Age and gender did not significantly affect CBCL and PSI scores, while the type of diagnosis could affect behavioral symptoms and parental stress. (4) Conclusions: our study suggests that the lockdown and the containment measures adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic could have aggravated the emotional/behavioral symptoms of adolescents with neuropsychiatric disorders and the stress of their parents. Further studies should be conducted in order to monitor the evolution of these aspects over time.

Specific risk factors for self-harm and suicide in children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) may differ from those in the general population within this age range. In the present review paper, we conducted a narrative analysis of the literature, aiming to establish a connection between suicide and affective disorders in children and adolescents with NDD. Emotion dysregulation (ED) as an individual factor and adverse childhood experiences (ACE) as environmental factors are discussed as risk factors for suicidality in all individuals with NDD. We propose a theoretical model in which ED and ACE can directly lead to self-harm or suicide, directly or indirectly by interacting with depressive spectrum disorders. Additionally, we suggest that specific risk factors are more frequently associated with each of the neurodevelopmental disorders listed in the DSM-V. This review underlines the key points useful to improve the knowledge of the trajectory leading to suicide risk in NDDs with the purpose to facilitate the early identification of the suicide risk.

Several studies have already examined the psychological impact of COVID-19 on psychological well-being in samples of the general population. However, given the importance of future orientation for university students’ mental well-being, it is important to explore whether and how COVID-19 affected this vulnerable population. Therefore, the current study aims to investigate the protective role of future orientation and the mediating effect of resilience on negative emotional symptoms (anxiety and depression). An online questionnaire was administered to a sample of 244 non-infected Italian university students. The mediation analysis results indicated that resilience fully mediated the relationship between anxiety and depression. Finally, the perceived threat of death from COVID-19 moderated the association between resilience and anxiety. This study shows that university students with higher levels of future orientation exhibit higher resilience levels and, consequently, fewer symptoms of negative emotions.

The present experiment examined the effect of self-awareness on adult perspective-taking and egocentrism. After having indicated their own opinion on an ecology-related topic, university students estimated a fellow student’s opinion on the same matter. Participants did so either in front of a mirror or not, and either after having received a cue for the fellow student’s most probable opinion—his perspective—or not, resulting in a 2 (self-awareness: Low vs. high) × 2 (cue: Yes vs. no) between persons design. As expected, self-aware participants were more likely to correctly estimate the fellow student’s most probable opinion, reflecting perspective-taking, if a cue for his/her perspective was provided. Moreover, self-awareness also reduced participants’ false consensus beliefs (i.e., egocentrism)—when they had a cue for the fellow student’s perspective. The results conceptually replicate and extend previous findings on self-awareness, perspective-taking, and egocentrism.