Andrea Greco

University of Bergamo | UNIBG · Department of Human and Social Sciences

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) reflect a huge and diversified condition that influences patient quality of life (QoL) both in the physical and mental aspects, especially in older adults who often present comorbidities and may be affected by cognitive decline. The concept of cognitive reserve (CR), which is built through life course experiences, has...

Background Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally. Arterial hypertension is one of the main cardiovascular risk factors. Despite this, individuals with hypertension often fail to follow medical advice to counteract cardiovascular risks. A physically active lifestyle is one of the most challenging beha...

Previous research has highlighted the positive impact of greater health-related quality of life (Hr-QoL) and subjective well-being (SWB) on chronic diseases’ severity and progression. There is a paucity of studies investigating the long-term trajectories of these variables among hypertensive patients. The present study aims to investigate the relat...

The self is the core of our mental life which connects one's inner mental life with the external perception. Since synchrony is a key feature of the biological world and its various species, what role does it play for humans? We conducted a large-scale psychological study (n = 1072) combining newly developed visual analogue scales (VAS) for the per...

This study proposes a psychometric validation of the Italian version of the Child–Parent Relationship Scale (CPRS) developed by Pianta in 1992. Based on attachment theory, the scale assesses parents’ relationship perceptions with their own child and comprises three scales: Closeness, Conflict, and Dependency. A sample of 501 parents (188 fathers an...

Il presente studio ha indagato i pensieri futuri episodici durante il primo lockdown della pandemia da Covid-19. Hanno partecipato alla ricerca due gruppi di studenti universitari: il primo (n = 29) era formato da persone che avevano vissuto una o più esperienze traumatiche associate alla pandemia; il secondo (n = 56) includeva invece persone senza...

This large, international dataset contains survey responses from N = 12,570 students from 100 universities in 35 countries, collected in 21 languages. We measured anxieties (statistics, mathematics, test, trait, social interaction, performance, creativity, intolerance of uncertainty, and fear of negative evaluation), self-efficacy, persistence, and...

This study aimed to examine the role of resilience resources in patients' lifestyle changes after the first Acute Coronary event. 275 Italian patients (84.0% men; mean age = 57.5, SD = 7.9) participated in a longitudinal study. Resilience resources (Self-esteem, Dispositional Optimism, Sense of Coherence – SOC, General and Disease-specific Self-eff...

Parental monitoring (PM) is a key construct in research on children's well‐being and healthy development referring to the attention parents pay to their children's activities and whereabouts. However, existing literature suggests that the psychometric properties of its measurement tools are still perfect. For this study, a revised Italian parental...

Purpose The present study examined the longitudinal trajectories, through hierarchical modeling, of quality of life among patients with head and neck cancer, specifically symptoms burden, during radiotherapy, and in the follow-up period (1, 3, 6, and 12 months after completion of radiotherapy), through the M.D. Anderson Symptom Inventory Head and N...

Lifestyle is a complex and often generic concept that has been used and defined in different ways in scientific research. Currently, there is no single definition of lifestyle, and various fields of knowledge have developed theories and research variables that are also distant from each other. This paper is a narrative review of the literature and...

Introduction: A stroke survivor’s Quality of life (QOL) could be associated with the caregiver’s anxiety, depression and burden. The identification of specific trajectories in stroke survivors and their associations with caregivers’ outcomes, would be helpful for developing more tailored interventions for survivors and caregivers within the first y...

La dispersione scolastica rappresenta nel panorama nazionale e internazionale un fenomeno complesso che richiede una lettura ecosi-stemica, storica ed evolutiva, sia della sua fenomenologia, sia delle strategie di intervento, troppo spesso orientate all'individuo e all'ottica preventiva. La dispersione non riguarda solo singolo, o solo il sistema s...

Objective: to longitudinally investigate the effects of individual's factors on subsequent burn-out/psychological distress in a sample of mental health practitioners, testing if higher attachment anxiety and avoidance, and lower reflective functioning (i.e., certainty and uncertainty of mental states) and well-being at baseline may lead to a great...

Introduction: Stroke symptoms often predict disability and low quality of life (QOL) in stroke survivors. Stroke survivors’ QOL could have an influence on their caregivers’ variables, such as anxiety, depression or burden and consequently caregivers’ QOL. Hypothesis: The aims of this study were to: 1) identify the distinct trajectories of the strok...

This large, international dataset contains survey responses from N = 12,570 students from 100 universities in 35 countries, collected in 21 languages. We measured anxieties (statistics, mathematics, test, trait, social interaction, performance, creativity, intolerance of uncertainty, and fear of negative evaluation), self-efficacy, persistence, and...

A key factor to successful secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is optimal patient adherence to treatment. However, unsatisfactory rates of adherence to treatment for CVD risk factors and CVD have been observed consistently over the last few decades. Hence, achieving optimal adherence to lifestyle measures and guideline-directed med...

Objective: Previous research provides support for the role of psychosocial variables in the progression of hypertension. However, few studies have rigorously tested the longitudinal interplay between blood pressure and depressive symptoms, quality of life, and well-being. Fewer still disaggregate the effects of changes of these psychological varia...

COVID-19 has changed people’s routines and imposed new ways of living. This study investigated variations in lifestyles (namely, physical activity, diet, alcohol consumption, and cigarette smoking) between the prepandemic and the pandemic period in a sample of older adults with hypertension. Moreover, it investigated predictors of adherence to gove...

Objective: Although several studies suggest an association between psychological distress and increased morbidity and mortality in various cardiac populations, little is known about positive psychological resources, like Sense of Coherence (SOC), that may reduce distress. This longitudinal observational study aimed to test the hypothesis that a st...

Past research explored the relationship between personality, moral disengagement, and deception and found a general trend showing that the lower people score on the big five personality factors, but the higher they score on moral disengagement and Machiavellianism, the higher their lying tendency. However, a limitation of past research is that it h...

Mentalization is a key social ability that develops from infancy to adulthood, starting from early familiar attachment relationships. Children experience several contexts, in particular, educational ones such as school, where they build new attachment relationships with teachers. Although the amount of research on the links between mentalization an...

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally. A physically active lifestyle can improve the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of people with CVD. Nevertheless, adherence to a physically active lifestyle is poor. This study examined the longitudinal (pre-event, 6-, 12-, 24-, and 36-month follow-ups) phys...

AimHealthy lifestyle behaviors and a good adherence to pharmacological treatments are important predictors of lower recurrence rates and better overall outcomes among patients with an established acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The present study sought to investigate the longitudinal trajectories of these behaviors years after the onset of an ACS.Su...

The issue of cancer and pregnancy will be increasingly topical giving the rising trend of women diagnosed with cancer during childbearing period. Although oncological progress has allowed women who receive cancer diagnosis before or during pregnancy to satisfy their desire for maternity and to carry on gestation, there is still few awareness.In thi...

Excessive use of technology has become a worldwide problem due to its high prevalence, fast growth rate, and undesirable consequences. However, little is known about underlying psychological mechanisms that maintain excessive use of technology. We investigated the mediating role of self-esteem, novelty seeking, and persistence on the relationship b...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has had clear and dramatic repercussions on health, the economy, and psychosocial well-being. Behavioral measures, such as wearing facemasks and maintaining distance from others, have proven crucial in fighting the contagion’s spread. This study aimed to investigate Type A personality traits and sociodemographic pre...

Academic self-efficacy beliefs influence students’ academic and career choices, as well as motivational factors and learning strategies promoting effective academic success. Nevertheless, few studies have focused on the academic self-efficacy of university students in comparison to students at other levels. Furthermore, extant measures present seve...

In the past, deception detection research has explored whether there were specific personal characteristics that were related to lying and found that factors such as personality and morality are indeed related to lying. However, past research has usually focused on a variable-centered approach. Yet, a person-centered might be more suitable here as...

The Coronavirus pandemic has impacted the entire school population’s emotions and the disruption of the organization of the school world. In this context it is important to reflect on the role of health promotion at school. The present study aimed at exploring school leaders’ and teachers’ perspectives and experiences about COVID-19 pandemic and it...

La psicologia può essere definita "solo" come professione sanitaria? La presenza della psi-cologia nei contesti sanitari è irrinunciabile, ma ridurla a questa presenza è inappropriato e im-possibile, anche perché "oggetti", "questioni" e "contesti" rilevanti per la salute non sono riducibili al sistema sanitario e sembrano piuttosto richiedere appr...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249272.].

COVID-19 has brought considerable changes and caused critical psychological responses, especially among frail populations. So far, researchers have explored the predictive effect of diverse factors on pandemic-related psychological distress, but none have focused on the impact of prior depression and anxiety symptomatology adopting an extended (10-...

A balanced diet is a fundamental component of athletes’ health, training, and performance. The majority of athletes choose adequate quantities of macronutrients but, at the same time, do not respect World Health Organization dietary guidelines, eating a lot of discretionary food and not drinking enough water. Athletes need more nutritional educatio...

Dermocosmetology and breast cancer patients: effectiveness on physical and mental wellbeing

Objectives. When a pregnancy has the added burden of cancer, women are at greater risk of experiencing psychological distress. A biomarker of stress is cortisol. Dysregulations in the detection of cortisol level can lead to serious health and mental problems, negatively affecting the mother-infant relationship. The objective of this study is to exa...

Objective: Lombardy was the most affected Italian region by COVID-19. To limit the spread of infection, the government issued a national social lockdown. The obstetrical-gynaecological emergencies and essential services were guaranteed to protect pregnant women's health, and a return to a medicalised childbirth was necessary. This situation could...

This study proposes a psychometric validation of the Italian version of the Mentalized Affectivity Scale (MAS) developed by Greenberg and colleagues in 2017. The mentalized affectivity construct integrates mentalization ability in the process of emotional regulation. An adult sample (N = 506) completed the 60-items MAS online version. In contrast t...

Purpose Head and neck cancer (HNC) patients are likely to develop severe side effects, which may persist long after the end of treatment and may be responsible for decrease patient’s quality of life. The M.D. Anderson Symptom Inventory- Head and Neck Module (MDASI-HN) is a questionnaire developed to detect patient’s symptom burden. To conduct an It...

In the context of externalising behaviour problems, risk factor research (RFR) focuses on risk and protective factors of juvenile delinquency, which can pertain to individual, system, and societal levels. Several instruments aiming at measuring these factors have been developed, but a comprehensive research tool is missing. The aim of the present s...

Introduction: Research on the trajectory of survivors’ quality of life over time has generally focused on the first six months post-stroke, and results are inconsistent. Indeed, while some studies found an improvement of the stroke survivors’ quality of life from one to six months post-stroke, other studies showed an improvement during inpatient re...

Cardiovascular disease is one of the most common causes of hospitalization and is associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. Among the most important modifiable and well-known risk factors are an unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle. Nevertheless, adherence to healthy lifestyle regimes is poor. The present study examined longitudinal tra...

Aim: To investigate the longitudinal growth trajectories of disease-specific quality of life (QoL) dimensions and their associations over 1 year. Design: A longitudinal design. Data were collected between February 2015-May 2017.Methods: Four hundred and fifteen stroke survivors (mean age 70.6 years; 81% ischaemic stroke) were recruited after disch...

The topic of lactation following cancer diagnosis will become increasingly more current. Although oncological research confirms that breastfeeding after cancer might be possible, there is a lack of guidelines and a good recommendation for oncological women. In the absence of specific recommendations, women with past cancer may be at higher risk for...

Background: Engagement with physical activity mobile apps has been reported to be a core precondition for their effectiveness in digital behavior change interventions. However, to date, little attention has been paid to understanding the perspectives, needs, expectations, and experiences of potential users with physical activity mobile apps. Objec...

Objective: Bucci's multiple code theory maintains that for a significant change the patient-therapist relationship should foster a referential process shaping in three alternating phases: arousal of emotion schemas, symbolizing/narrating emotional experiences, and reflecting/reorganizing the emotional meanings. Until now to monitor these phases cl...

Previous studies have emphasized the effect of insecurity attachment on youth's Internet and smartphone addiction. In this study, we examine the mediating role of alexithymia, impulsivity, and general psychological distress in the relationship between insecure attachment dimensions and technology addiction. Data were collected from 539 adolescents...

The current spread of dementia is engendering an emergency that is not limited to the medical issues but also involves its social dimension. Accordingly, it is necessary to promote a perspective change about the disease that supports a more inclusive view of people with dementia. To ensure this, Dementia-Friendly Communities (DFCs) have recently be...

Introduction A balanced diet is a fundamental component of athletes' health, training and performance. WHO dietary guidelines highlight the importance of maintaining a normal BMI, limiting the intake of sugars (especially sweetened foods and beverages), eating at least 5 portions of fruits and vegetables per day, drink lots of clean water (at least...

Objective: Subjective well-being is a crucial variable for mental health practitioners. This study examines the influence of therapists’ attachment dimensions and self-reported reflective functioning on their perceived well-being. Further, it examines if reflective functioning mediates the association between attachment insecurity and well-being. M...

BACKGROUND Engagement with physical activity (PA) apps was evidenced to be a core precondition for effectiveness in digital behavior change interventions. However, little attention has been reserved to understand potential users’ perspective, needs, expectations, and experience so far. OBJECTIVE The aim of the current study is to investigate what...

This article describes the development of the “Time to Change Your Behavior” (TTCYB) study protocol, a theory-based, tailored print message intervention to improve compliance with the self-care regimen in patients with cardiovascular diseases. A design with a baseline measurement and two follow-ups at six and 12 months will be applied. At baseline...

Background: This study explored both the evolution of the information needs and the perceived relevance of different health information sources in patients with essential hypertension. It also investigated the relationships between information needs and the perceived relevance of information sources with socio-demographic and clinical variables....

Background: Self-efficacy plays a major role in the management of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The original Cardiovascular Management Self-efficacy Scale (CMSS) was developed in 2016 in Italian patients with CVD; however, no such scale exists for Iranian patients with CVD. Objective: We translated the CMSS into Persian and assessed its validity...

La preferenza per un colore sembra essere determinata dalla piacevolezza percepita verso gli oggetti che un individuo generalmente associa a quel colore. In bambini dai 10 agli 11 anni questa preferenza colore potrebbe essere legata all'uso di alcune tecnologie da cui sono attratti quotidianamente. È stato chiesto a un campione di 2923 bambini che...

The Experiences in Close Relationships Scale (ECR) is one of the most commonly used self-report instruments of adult attachment and has been widely adopted in psychotherapy research. Composed of two subscales, namely Attachment Avoidance and Anxiety, the ECR was recently shortened to a 12-items version, called the ECR-12. Given the importance of ex...

Nella campagna di indagine svolta tra l'autunno del 2017 e la primavera del 2019, l'Osservatorio sulla comunicazione degli adolescenti tra reale e virtuale OSCARV@bg ha costruito un nuovo questionario sulla scorta delle esperienze delle precedenti somministrazioni, avvenute negli anni 2009, 2012 e 2015. L'esperienza guadagnata in quelle occasioni è...

Come anticipato nel capitolo sulla metodologia della ricerca, una delle principali novità della quarta campagna di indagine dell'Osservatorio sulla comunicazione degli adolescenti tra reale e virtuale OSCARV@bg, che si è sviluppata a partire dall'autunno del 2017 per concludersi nella primavera del 2019, è stata l'estensione anche agli alunni di qu...

Recent research has shown that typically law-abiding people perceive the act of illegal downloading as less unethical than other illegal acts. A major thrust of today's digital piracy research is indeed to understand how emerging social norms influence consumer perceptions and lead to rationalisations that justify antinormative behaviour despite mo...

Background The burden is high in caregivers of heart failure patients, but the literature on patient and caregiver predictors of caregiver burden is inconsistent. Also, it is unknown if caregiver contribution to heart failure self-care maintenance (i.e. helping patients to maintain heart failure stable) and self-care management (i.e. helping patien...

Background: The Heart Failure Somatic Perception Scale (HFSPS) is a four-factor instrument used to assess how bothersome are 18 physical signs and symptoms of heart failure. To date, construct validity and reliability of the HFSPS have been evaluated in only one American study and never in a European population. Aim: To evaluate psychometric proper...

The practice of regular physical exercise is a protective factor against noncommunicable diseases and premature mortality. In spite of that, large part of the population does not meet physical activity guidelines and many individuals live a sedentary life. Recent technological progresses and the widespread adoption of mobile technology, such as sma...

Based on a multi-dimensional model of wellbeing in school that includes psychological, cognitive and social components, the aim of this investigation was to (a) analyse differences based on gender and school level (primary or middle school) in children’s subjective reports of their school wellbeing, (b) analyse correlates of subjective school wellb...

Purpose It is well recognized that effective health communication is associated with better adherence to medical prescriptions, behavioral changes, and enhanced perception of control over the disease. However, there is limited knowledge about the variables on which to tailor health messages. This study examined whether coping strategies were relate...

Background Healthy lifestyles are modifiable risk factors for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) onset and recurrence. While unhealthy lifestyles tend to cluster together within the general healthy population, little is known about the prevalence and clustering of these behaviours in people with ACS before and after the first acute event. The aim of thi...

Purpose: Heart failure (HF) affects up to 14% of the elderly population and its prevalence is increasing. Self-care is fundamental to living successfully with this syndrome, but little is known about how self-care evolves over time. The present study aimed to (a) identify longitudinal trajectories of self-care confidence and maintenance among HF p...

Several studies report that the efficacy beliefs affect the choice of practicing and continue a particular sport, supporting the achievement of goals and the effort to reach them, even in front of failures, both for the athletes that for the team. The aim of this study is to present and evaluate psychometrically two new instruments developed to mea...

The present study investigates whether the Big Five personality traits are different among diverse sports populations. A sample of 881 male athletes and non-athletes completed a self-report questionnaire measuring their personality traits. The Exploratory Structure Equation Modeling (ESEM) approach is adopted to test measurement invariance and mean...