Tania Di Giuseppe’s research while affiliated with Neuroscience Institute, Italian National Research Council and other places

This chapter discusses the protective role of specific resilience-related psychological variables for healthy adolescent development in terms of increasing well-being and positive resources. The topics of self-development, emotional inter-regulation, self-compassion (sense of common humanity, self-compassion, and hyper-individuation), and resilience will be addressed by discussing the results of a pre-post study conducted in a school setting with N = 400 students (mean age = 15.47; SD = 1.79) who participated in the neuropsychopedagogical training “Envisioning the Future” based on the Sphere Model of Consciousness. Among other things, a mediation model is presented, showing that self-efficacy in managing negative emotions predicts resilience through the effect of a sense of common humanity. Thus, resilience is no longer just about not being overwhelmed by negative emotions but also about connecting with self and others. This perspective emphasizes the goal of strengthening positive relational and behavioral resources to improve well-being in the school environment.

This scoping review emphasizes the importance of understanding children's cognitive and socio-emotional capacities in navigating discussions about war and peace. Tailoring communication strategies to these developmental nuances enables meaningful dialogues between adults and children, fostering empathy and conflict resolution skills. Additionally, pedagogical interventions highlighted in the review aim to nurture peacebuilding skills among children, empowering them to contribute positively to their communities. In conclusion, by considering children's developmental needs and implementing effective communication and educational strategies, adults can play a crucial role in cultivating peaceful mindsets and behaviors in future generations.

Resilience is the ability to emerge strengthened from adversity. Recently, as the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted adolescents' growth processes, investigating which psychosocial variables make adolescents resilient has become essential. The aim of the study is to investigate which are the significant predictors of resilience in a sample of Italian adolescent students (N = 1266, 47% male, mean age = 14.96 years) one year after the end of the pandemic. Participants responded to a battery of tests, administered online, that included measures of: resilience, ad hoc items on meditation frequency, self-compassion, self-efficacy in managing positive and negative emotions, and coping. The results of a linear regression model revealed that the predictors of resilience in adolescents in the post-pandemic period were: frequency of meditation (ß =.61, p <.01), self-efficacy in regulating positive and negative emotions (ß =. 41, p <.001; ß = .19, p < .001), self-reliance (ß = .11, p < .001), mindfulness (ß = .11, p < 01), low over-identification (ß = -.06, p < 05), future perspective (ß = .11, p <.001) and problem orientation (ß = .17, p < 001). These findings emphasize the importance of cultivating these psychosocial variables to promote adolescents resilience in the face of adversity. The implications of the present study are discussed.

The COVID-19 pandemic influenced adolescents' psychological wellbeing and the frequency of bullying and cyberbullying. Literature highlights that self-compassion could protect adolescents' mental health. In the present study, the impact of the neuropsychopedagogical training Envisioning the Future (EF) on adolescents is investigated. Three-hundred and fourteen (N=314) Italian adolescents (59% female; Mean age=15.41 years, SD=1.94) answered an online questionnaire in two stages, at the beginning (t1) and end (t2) of EF. The questionnaire included the Self-Compassion Scale (Neff, 2003; Veneziani et al., 2017) and two ad-hoc items on the perceived frequency of bullying and cyberbullying episodes among peers (0=never to 4=once a day). Data were analyzed using paired sample t-tests with frequentist and Bayesian approaches. From pre-to post-EF, frequentist t-tests reveal an increase in self-kindness t(314)=-2.68, p=.008, common humanity t(313)=-3.76, p<.001, frequency with which adolescents perceive bullying t(313)=-8.9, p<.001 and cyberbullying t(313)=-5.22, p<.001. Bayesian t-tests corroborate the results, revealing extreme evidence (BF 10 <100) of an increase in the perceived frequency of bullying and cyberbullying, strong evidence (30<BF 10 <100) of an increase in common humanity, anecdotal evidence (1<BF 10 <3) of an increase in self-kindness. The paper highlights the beneficial effects of EF on adolescents' socio-emotional wellbeing, and lays ground for further research on the training.

When reflecting sociologically on the prison community, one usually refers to the community of prisoners. Thinking of this community in a broader way – i.e., involving all those who act in the prison field with different roles and statuses – has the potential to question the widespread representation of prison as a place inhabited by opposed social groups and instead shed light on contextual aspects that affect all social actors, structuring their forms of adaptation and common response models. The opportunity of a neuro-psycho-pedagogical training project called “Envisioning the Future” – conceived by the Patrizio Paoletti Foundation and realised with the University of Padua – addressed to the prison community in the broad sense gave the opportunity to explore this perspective. Starting from this formative experience and from a qualitative research carried out through semi-structured interviews to the prisoners that took part in the course, in this contribution we would like to reflect on the concept of prison community, in particular with regard to: (i) the exploration of relationships within the prison and the possibility for the prisoner to experience the other members of the prison community as a source of support, useful for coping with the challenges inherent to the prison experience; (ii) the possibility for the prison community to benefit in the future and in other prison contexts from formative experiences that follow this perspective.

Covid-19 pandemic had a massive impact on adolescents. The present study illustrates an online survey administered to N = 861 Italian adolescents (mean age = 15.81 years; females 58%), asking them about: (i) the most frequent negative emotions during the pandemic; (ii) the main sources of social support; (iii) whether they had also experienced positive emotions; (iv) in which life-domains they had experienced positive emotions. The results reveal that adolescents experienced boredom, sadness, fear, and agitation as negative emotions. The respondents reported family, friends and themselves as sources of social support. The main life-domains in which adolescents experienced positive emotions were: new discoveries in self-awareness, inner growth, relational skills. This study highlights that the pandemic has elicited positive resources (e.g., resilience, creativity and generativity) in adolescents, laying the foundations for interventions, in developmental and educational psychology, that are not top-down but bottom-up.

Recent studies have emphasized that silence is a fundamental element in meditative practices for stress relief, well-being, and stimulating faith in the future. This study describes the educational experience of implementing the Practice of Silence Device in a prison setting during the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic (May-July, 2021). Interviews with 23 adult male imprisoned individuals (aver-age age ¼ 48.79; 65% Italians) were analyzed through a qualitative-phenomenological method. The results revealed this technique's positive impact on rehabilitating imprisoned individuals across 3 dimensions: coping, emotion management, and ability to plan the future. Future studies should investigate specific silence-based techniques to support imprisoned individuals' rehabilitation.

The literature shows that teachers’ psychological characteristics can influence adolescents’ mental health. Additionally, neuropsychopedagogical interventions, like the Envisioning the Future (EF) training, can positively impact wellbeing. The study aims at: (i) exploring the relationships between teachers’ and students’ characteristics and (ii) investigating the impact of EF on students’ wellbeing. The sample consists of N = 113 Italian adolescents, whose data were matched with their teachers’ (N = 12). Participants completed validated self-report questionnaires on self-compassion, emotion regulation, resilience, and an ad-hoc scale of frequency of bullying episodes. Correlational analyses highlight that: teachers’ avoidance, social isolation, and self-judgment negatively correlate with the frequency with which students perceive bullying episodes; teachers’ self-kindness, optimism, and self-efficacy in regulating emotions positively correlate with the frequency with which the students’ perceive bullying; teachers’ cognitive focus positively correlates with students’ self-determination toward future decisions; students’ self-judgment negatively correlates with teachers’ resilience and self-efficacy in managing positive emotions, while it positively correlates with teachers’ avoidance. In addition, after EF training, students had improved in negative emotion regulation, frequency of perceiving bullying, common humanity, and self-determination. The study underscores the importance of the relationship between teachers’ and students’ resources and the impact of EF training on adolescents’ wellbeing.

The pandemic has implied a massive digitalization of psycho-pedagogical and educational interventions in different contexts, including the prison setting. Patrizio Paoletti Foundation (Assisi, Italy) has created Envisioning the Future (EF), a neuropsycho-pedagogical program aimed at increasing personal wellbeing, that was also remotely conducted among the inmates of the Padua (Italy) prison. The program was remotely implemented from May 2021 to June 2021, at the climax of the pandemic emergency, with the collaboration of the University of Padua (Italy) and of Padua prison (Italy). Through key neuroscientific findings and daily practices for wellbeing, EF aims at increasing inmates’ emotion regulation abilities. The responses of nine inmates to the Scales of Personal Self-efficacy in the Management of Negative and Positive Emotions, before and after EF, were paired and subjected to analysis of covariance, revealing an increase in the ability to manage positive emotions after EF. To date, EF is one of the first remote neuropsycho-pedagogical experiences in Italian prisons, able to positively impact on individual well-being.