The manifestation of performance at the top of a given talent distribution constitutes giftedness. While identifying talented youths based on IQ has been the focus of previous research, examining their cognitive profile is a new endeavor. The present study assessed the IQ and cognitive abilities of a sample of gifted Italian children and compared them to their parents using the Wechsler scales. Fifty-nine gifted children aged 6 to 14 years were administered the WISC-IV while their parents (N = 53 mothers and N = 55 fathers) took the WAIS-IV. The gifted children (IQ ≥ 120) obtained particularly high scores in verbal comprehension (VCI) and visual-perceptual reasoning (PRI). More than two-thirds of the mothers and over half of the fathers also achieved an IQ ≥ 120. The gifted children scored significantly higher than both mothers and fathers in VCI and PRI. The mothers were significantly higher than their children in the processing speed domain. Correlational analyses highlighted that children’s IQ was positively related to that of their mothers. In keeping with the literature, the cognitive profile of gifted children was found to vary across cognitive abilities. It follows that the General Ability Index was the WISC-IV index that best matched the potential of gifted youths. Consistent with previous research, our study suggests that intellectual abilities, especially working memory and processing speed, are maintained and presumably passed on from one generation to the next.

Background/Objectives: Adolescence is a crucial developmental stage characterized by significant psychological and emotional changes. Within the school context, academic self-efficacy (ASE) influences students’ emotional well-being, including positive and negative affective states. Research has shown that both ASE and emotional well-being are associated with socioeconomic status (SES) and immigrant background. This study aims to examine whether SES and immigrant background moderate the relationship between ASE and positive/negative affect among adolescents. Methods: Data were collected from a representative sample of 26,564 10th-grade students in Italian schools. ASE, positive and negative affect, SES, and immigrant background were assessed through validated measures. Multigroup structural equation modeling (multigroup SEM) was conducted to test the moderating roles of SES (low, middle, high) and immigrant background (native, first-generation immigrant, second-generation immigrant) on the relationship between ASE and affective states. Results: The results indicated that ASE significantly predicted positive affect (β = 0.34, p < 0.001) and negative affect (β = −0.17, p < 0.001) across all groups. However, results indicated no significant differences in the ASE–emotional affect relationship across SES and immigrant background groups, indicating that neither SES nor immigrant background moderated these associations. Conclusions: The findings suggest that ASE is associated with both positive affect and negative affect in adolescents, irrespective of SES and immigrant background. This highlights the universal importance of fostering ASE in school settings to support emotional well-being across diverse demographic groups.

(1) Background: Physical activity is known to promote health and psychological well-being in older adults, yet global inactivity rates in this population remain high. Among the factors associated with physical activity, self-efficacy for exercise represents a key predictor for developing effective interventions in older adults. This study aimed to validate the Self-Efficacy for Exercise Scale (SEE) in individuals over 65. (2) Methods: A sample of 726 older adults from the USA and Italy (51.1% females; age range = 65–95 years; Mage = 72.57, SDage = 6.49) completed the SEE, along with the Godin–Shepard Leisure-Time Physical Activity Questionnaire (GSLTPAQ), the Big Five Inventory 2—Extra Short Form (BFI-2-XS), and the 12-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12). (3) Results: The SEE showed a Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.88 and a Composite Reliability of 0.89. Moreover, it demonstrated a unidimensional factor structure and good fit indices. Full measurement invariance was achieved across gender and age, while partial scalar invariance was found across countries, suggesting minor cultural differences. Correlation with the GSLTPAQ, the BFI-2-XS, and the SF-12 support the convergent and nomological validity of the SEE. (4) Conclusions: These findings provide evidence that the SEE is a reliable and valid measure of self-efficacy for exercise among older adults and that the items are interpreted similarly across different ages, genders, and cultures.

The aim of this study is to focus on the verbal stimuli of the Vocabulary subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV). To our knowledge, this is the first research to examine whether the abstractness/concreteness and the lexical category of the words in the WAIS-IV vocabulary subtest influence the ability to explain their meaning. In the first step, we collected ratings of the degree of abstractness/concreteness and the lexical category of the 27 verbal stimuli of vocabulary subtest. From the second step, the results showed that the ability to explain the meaning of words for 497 participants (aged 19–89) was better with concrete concepts than with abstract ones; and the concreteness effect, i.e., the advantage in the processing of the concrete over the abstract terms, does not disappear with age. More specifically, the ability to define the abstract words does not decline with age. Still, this ability is maintained likely because linguistic knowledge is preserved in healthy elderly. Besides, the correctness in defining nouns is always superior to that in defining adjectives and verbs across all age groups. The nouns are defined more correctly than adjectives in the all age groups. The verbs are defined more correctly than adjectives in the all age groups except for the groups over 60 years of age, although at 80–89 years of age the verbs are statistically more difficult to define than adjectives.

Several studies have indicated that parental education predicts children’s intelligence. In contrast, fewer studies have simultaneously analyzed the role of parental intelligence, education, and personality in shaping their children’s giftedness. This study investigated the effects of parental education, cognitive abilities (based on CHC theory), and personality traits (based on the Five-Factor Model) on the expression of gifted children’s cognitive abilities. Sixty-five gifted children (IQ ≥ 120) aged 6 to 14 years (M = 9.91 years; SD = 2.24 years) were assessed using the WISC-IV, while parents (65 mothers, M = 44.00 years; SD = 4.20 years, and 61 fathers, M = 45.70 years; SD = 5.40 years) completed the WAIS-IV and the Big-Five Inventory. The results indicated that maternal education was a key predictor of children’s Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI) in bivariate analyses, though its effect was not robust in multivariate models. Children’s Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI) was associated with maternal conscientiousness, and fathers’ short-term memory (Gsm) emerged as the primary predictor of children’s Working Memory Index (WMI). Maternal processing speed (Gs) was the strongest predictor of children’s Processing Speed Index (PSI) across both bivariate and multivariate analyses. While personality traits, such as maternal conscientiousness, played a role in facilitating visual-spatial reasoning, their effects were weaker compared to cognitive and educational factors. The findings obtained, which are only partly consistent with data in the literature, highlight the domain-specific influence of parental characteristics on children’s giftedness and underscore the need for further research into the interplay of genetic, cognitive, and environmental factors.

The demographic challenges posed by the aging population, represent a strain on national healthcare systems and highlight the need for preventive measures to improve this population's health. Previous studies have emphasized the benefits of Physical activity (PA) on cognitive and physical health, especially in late life. Despite the well-established advantages of PA, a substantial portion of the global population remains insufficiently engaged in such activities. In this scenario technologies, such as smartphones, wearable devices, exergaming, and virtual reality, have the potential to promote an active lifestyle. The primary aim of the present systematic review is to summarize the evidence regarding the motivational factors associated with technological devices that lead to an increase in engagement in PA by healthy older adults through different measures of motivation. To further understand the role of technologies, this study considers if the outdoor environment and technology might enhance motivation for PA more effectively than either element alone. Results of the study showed that technologies have shown the potential for increasing PA in this population, activating different motivational dynamics. Moreover, the meta-analysis results showed a small significant effect of technologies on Intrinsic Motivation (i.e., exercising for the inherent enjoyment or satisfaction it provides). However, the included literature has shown major limitations such as a lack of a clear definition of the construct of motivation, the presence of methodological biases, and high heterogeneity. Future research should overcome those limitations and provide more solid evidence of the motivational effect of technologies in the old adult population.