Prolonged school closures, forced isolation, and mutations in social interactions due to the COVID-19 pandemic have posed challenges for actors in the educational context; teachers, in particular, have had to develop new instructional strategies to ensure that lessons could continue. The present research measures in a group of 374 Italian teachers—curricular and specialist support teachers—the relationship between self-perceived instructional competence, self-efficacy, and burnout. The present research, conducted between April and December 2020, represents the second part of a larger study conducted from November 2018 to October 2019, which was replicated during COVID-19. Participants completed an anamnestic questionnaire, the Assessment Teaching Scale, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory in both phases of research; an ad hoc questionnaire (to measure teaching practices) and the Teacher Sense of Self Efficacy Scale were added in the second phase. Data confirm that general level of burnout increased and personal accomplishment was reduced during the pandemic; elevated personal accomplishment appears to be a predictor of emotional, socio-relational, and didactic competences before and during the pandemic. Feelings of frustration and accomplishment represent some manifestations of distress caused by the pandemic condition; these dynamics favor the crystallization of roles and behaviors towards the perception of metacognitive teaching processes.

Background: Gender beliefs represent cultural schemas for interpreting or making sense of the social and employment world, as they can influence attitudes, career aspirations, and the vocational decision process of young people, especially the adolescence. Materials and methods: This study examined the influence of gender stereotypes on the choice of career in adolescents. A group of 120 students were recruited to complete an ad hoc questionnaire, Scale of Perceived Occupational Self-Efficacy, and Semantic Differentials. The objectives of the study were to analyze the relationship between occupational self-efficacy and professional preference; to measure the influence of independent variables, such as age and gender, on the representation that students have of themselves and of the profession; and to identify the predictor variables of self-efficacy in the vocational decision. Results: Data showed that the distance between professional identity and social identity increases with age. Results underline that males seem to perceive themselves more self-efficient in military, scientific–technological, and agrarian professions than females. Furthermore, the type of job performed by parents appears to be a self-efficacy predictor variable in the choice of professions in the services area. Conclusion: Individuals’ perceived occupational self-efficacy, gender, age, and parents’ profession have implications for exploratory behavior. The conditions that make gender differences salient are more likely to favor self-representations of the career and consistent assessments with these representations.

Background: The literature emphasizes the role of early interpersonal experiences in the development of cognitive vulnerability; in particular, interruptions in early family relationships, parental unavailability and dysfunctional parenting are potential evolutionary precursors to negative cognitive style and emotional disorders. Materials and methods: This study measured the relationship of retrospective ratings on parental bonding with cognitive patterns in a group of Italian adults. The objectives of this study were as follows: to analyze the influence of age and education level on cognitive domains; to verify whether being parents and living at home with parents affect both parenting style and cognitive domains; to investigate how the type of the maternal and paternal parenting independently affects cognitive styles; to measure the predictive variables for the use of cognitive dysfunctional patterns and to investigate age as a moderating variable of the relation between parenting styles and cognitive domains in a group of adult men and women. The research involved 209 adults (118 males and 91 females) living in Sicily (Italy) aged between 20 and 60 years (M = 37.52; SD = 11.42). The research lasted for 1 year. The instruments used were the Parental Bonding Instrument to measure the perception of parenting during childhood and the Young Schema Questionnaire-3 to investigate cognitive patterns. Results: Data show that being a younger adult male with mother’s parenting style characterized by a lower level of nurturance is predictive of the disconnection and rejection domain, whereas, being a younger adult woman, with a higher level of maternal control is predictive of the impaired limits domain. Conclusion: This study underlines that because mothers and fathers establish different bonds with their children, care and control by both parents might impact different domains of development.

Posttraumatic stress symptoms, dissociation, and alexithymia in an Italian sample of flood victims Giuseppe Craparo,1 Alessio Gori,2 Elvira Mazzola,1 Irene Petruccelli,1 Monica Pellerone,1 Giuseppe Rotondo3 1Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, Kore University of Enna, Enna, Italy; 2Department of Psychology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy; 3Department of Psychology, Unit of Psychotraumatology, San Raffaele Giglio Hospital of Cefalù, Cefalù, Italy Background: Several studies have demonstrated a significant association between dissociation and posttraumatic symptoms. A dissociative reaction during a traumatic event may seem to predict the later development of posttraumatic stress symptoms. Moreover, several researchers also observed an alexithymic condition in a variety of traumatized samples.Methods: A total of 287 flood victims (men =159, 55.4%; women =128, 44.6%) with an age range of 17–21 years (mean =18.33; standard deviation =0.68) completed the following: Impact of Event Scale–Revised, Dissociative Experiences Scale II, Twenty-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale, and Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire.Results: We found significant correlations among all variables. Linear regression showed that peritraumatic dissociation plays a mediator role between alexithymia, dissociation, and posttraumatic stress symptoms.Conclusion: Our results seem to confirm the significant roles of both dissociation and alexithymia for the development of posttraumatic symptoms. Keywords: peritraumatic dissociation, posttraumatic symptoms, PTSD

Since the first half of the 1980s, burnout in teachers has been the object of particular attention by many international authors. Teachers are subject, more than other professions, to numerous and heavy pressures, covering the peculiarity of the profession. The objectives of the present research are to measure the predictive role of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment on the quality of teaching in a group of elementary school teachers. We carried out a cross-sectional study involving 324 Sicilian female teachers, who worked in three school orders: Kindergarten, primary school, and the first year of middle school. Participants completed a socio-demographic questionnaire, the assessment teaching scale for primary school teachers (ECAD-EP), and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). In reference to the level of burnout, the correlation analysis underlined the presence of a positive correlation between: Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization; and a negative correlation between exhaustion and depersonalization. Furthermore, a predictive role of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment on the quality of teaching in a group of primary school teachers was found.

Background: Job insecurity resulting from new types of employment contracts, together with organizational dynamics such as restructuring and internationalization, is emerging as an important source of organizational and individual stress, often transforming the workplace into a hostile and, above all, extremely demanding context from a psychological point of view. Materials and methods: The aim of this study was to identify the possible relationships between individual and organizational dimensions of work (such as engagement, autonomy, personal and collective efficacy at work, and satisfaction) and their impact on stress levels. The survey involved 120 Italian workers: 72 females (60%) and 48 males (40%), with a mean age of 41.8 years ±7.31 years. The groups of participants were selected on the basis of employment contract type (traditional or atypical) to emphasize potential differences. The study was conducted using a set of self-administered questionnaires, including the Psychological Stress Measure and Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. Results: The data show that personal and collective efficacy at work correlates negatively with stress, which in turn correlates negatively with engagement and satisfaction. The results support the hypothesis that job insecurity could be considered a strong predictor of poor health. Conclusion: The study should be considered as a preliminary assessment prior to studies of broader interventions to increase quality of life.