Italian adolescents were confined at home for 3 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which exposed them to feelings of fear, uncertainty, and loneliness that may have increased their vulnerability to emotional-behavioral symptoms (e.g., anxiety) and binge-eating attitudes. Potential risk factors for these psychopathological symptoms are problematic social media usage and attachment insecurity. Therefore, this study aimed: (1) to assess emotional-behavioral symptoms, binge eating, problematic social media usage, and attachment representations of adolescents during the pandemic, comparing them with prepandemic similar samples; (2) to investigate relationships among variables, exploring the role of problematic social media usage and insecure attachment as risk factors for more psychopathological symptoms. Participants were 62 community adolescents aged 12–17 years, enrolled through schools, and assessed online through the following measures: Youth Self-Report for emotional-behavioral problems, Binge-Eating Scale for binge eating, Social Media Disorder Scale for problematic social media usage, and the Friends and Family Interview for attachment. The main results were: (1) 9.4% of adolescents showed clinical rates of emotional-behavioral symptoms and 4.8% of binge eating attitudes. The comparison with pre-pandemic samples revealed that pandemic teenagers showed lower internalizing, but higher other problems (e.g., binge drinking, self-destructive behaviors) and more problematic social media usage than pre-pandemic peers. No differences in binge-eating attitudes and attachment were revealed (76% secure classifications). (2) Problematic social media usage was related to more binge eating and emotional-behavioral problems, predicting 5.4% of both delinquent and attention problems. Attachment disorganization predicted 16.5% of internalizing problems, somatic complaints, and social and identity-related problems. In conclusion, confinement did not increase adolescents' internalizing symptoms -i.e., vulnerability to mood disorders of an anxious-depressive type- which even decreased. However, teenagers may have expressed their discomfort through other problems and symptoms of social media disorder. Further studies should explore the role of adolescents' problematic social media usage and attachment insecurity as risk factors for additional psychopathological symptoms.

Despite the number of empirical contributions on the topic, scientists have offered contrasting perspectives on the role of adaptive versus maladaptive emotion regulation (ER) strategies in suicidality. Moreover, suicidal attempts and suicidal ideation are likely to be differentially related to single ER strategies. To provide more systematic knowledge that can be used to draw sound conclusions and formulate clinical indications, we carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis that we reported in compliance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) standards (Moher et al., 2009). From an initial pool of 16,530 articles retrieved from scientific databases (APA PsycInfo, APA PsycArticles, Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed) and a search for gray literature, 226 articles were selected to perform 15 meta-analyses. In addition, metaregressions were carried out to test a series of moderators, including the type of suicidality investigated. Among adaptive strategies, results evidenced the role of reappraisal, mindfulness, and several aspects of problem solving. In contrast to our hypothesis, reflective attitude was positively associated with suicidality, calling into question the traditional distinction between adaptive and maladaptive strategies. Regarding maladaptive ER strategies, suppression, avoidance, rumination, brooding, negative problem orientation, and both impulsive and avoidant problem solving proved to be significantly associated with suicidality. Finally, several moderation effects involving age, gender composition, and type of suicidality were observed, supporting the importance of adopting a complex perspective when approaching the topic. Despite the interesting preliminary results, additional research is needed to provide a greater understanding of the interplay between the different ER strategies and suicidality and to develop effective protocols of intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

This paper reports on a long-term follow-up of a longitudinal study conducted in Italy that assessed attachment patterns of late-adopted children (placed between 4 and 8 years old) and their adoptive mothers, in three phases: T1, at placement; T2, in childhood (7–8 months after adoption); and T3, in adolescence (current study). The following hypotheses were tested: 1) children’ IWMs will shift from insecurity towards security in a long-term follow-up; and 2) there will be a significant association between adoptees’ and adoptive mothers’ IWMs in adolescence. Participants were 22 late-adopted adolescents (aged 11–16) and their adoptive mothers, all assessed in previous phases. Participants completed several measures of attachment, including the Separation-Reunion Procedure (T1, T2), Manchester Child Attachment Story Task (T2), Friends and Family Interview (T3), and Adult Attachment Interview (T1, T3). Late-adopted adolescents showed both an increase in attachment security and a decrease in disorganized attachment from childhood to adolescence. Adoptive mothers’ (T3) secure states of mind were associated significantly to their adopted children attachment security in adolescence. These findings reinforce the importance of taking attachment into account for adoptive families from the beginning of adoption.

In this study, 117 adolescents (12–19 years) from three groups (39 each), two groups from adverse caregiving environments as placed in residential-care (RC; i.e. istitutions) or late-adopted (LA; i.e. adopted after 12 months), and one of low-risk community adolescents (COM), were compared for the attachment distribution of categories in the Friends and Family Interview (FFI), and in several attachment-related domains where RC and LA showed difficulties during childhood. Only institutionalized adolescents showed more insecure and disorganized categories than both late-adopted and community peers, who did not differ. In the attachment-related domains, only RCs showed lower coherence, reflective functioning, secure-base/safe-haven parents, social and school competence, adaptive response, and more parental anger and derogation than the other two groups. Late-adoptees only showed higher hostility towards sibling(s) than COM.Therefore, only residential-care adolescents were at “high-risk” in attachment, but the analysis of attachment-related domains helped to detect vulnerabilities in both groups.

Adolescents’ depressive social withdrawal is a relevant concern for mental health professionals, and it is widespread among community teenagers in form of subclinical symptoms. Different studies suggest that insecure attachment representations increase the adolescents’ likelihood to show symptoms of withdrawal (e.g., loneliness). This study explored the effect of the general attachment internal working model (IWM) and the independent and cumulative effects of the specific attachment representations of parents—in terms of secure base/safe haven—and peers on adolescents’ withdrawal. Additionally, the mediation of peer attachment on the effect of parental attachment on symptoms was explored. All analyses were conducted controlling for the difference between teenagers living with parents together or divorced/separated, as children of divorcees are considered more exposed to stressors. Ninety-one adolescents aged 12–17 years old were assessed online during the COVID pandemic period, employing the Youth Self-Report to assess withdrawal and the Friends and Family Interview to assess attachment-general IWM and attachment-specific representations. Results show no influence of parents together/separated or of the general IWM on withdrawal, but higher parent secure base/safe haven and peer attachment cumulatively predicted 10–21% less withdrawal. Moreover, more positive peer attachment mediated 61% of the effect of the parental secure attachment on withdrawal, revealing an indirect effect of parental attachment on withdrawal through peer attachment. In conclusion, both parents and peers are influential on adolescent mental health, and fostering positive peer relationships can buffer the effect of dysfunctional family relationships on teenagers’ withdrawal.