Browsing by Author "Caldaroni, Silvia"

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    Adolescent Depressive Symptoms and Peer Dynamics: Distorted Perceptions in Liking and Disliking Networks
    (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI), 2024) Palacios, Diego; Caldaroni, Silvia; Berger Silva, Christian; Di Tata, Daniele; Barrera, Davide
    Depression in adolescents has been linked to poor life outcomes, including suicidal ideation, peer victimization, and fewer friendships. Less is known about how depressed adolescents perceive their peer interactions. Based on the depression-distortion model, we expected that adolescents with depressive symptoms misperceive their social ties by being less likely to like some peers, and more likely to dislike other peers. An Italian dataset about adolescent relationships was used, including 275 first-year secondary school students (M age = 11.80, 46% female) in 12 classrooms across nine schools. Adolescents were asked to nominate classmates they liked and disliked. Longitudinal social network analyses (stochastic actor-oriented models) were conducted, including structural network effects (reciprocity, transitivity, indegree-popularity) and covariates such as gender, immigrant origin, and highest parents' education level. The results indicated that adolescents with depressive symptoms were less likely to send liking nominations, and conversely, they were more likely to send disliking nominations than non-depressed classmates. Interestingly, adolescents with depressive symptoms were not more disliked or less liked by their peers. These findings seem to support the depression-distortion model by suggesting that, compared to non-depressed peers, adolescents with depressive symptoms misperceive their relationships by overstating negative relationships and underestimating positive ones.
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    Smartphone and social network addiction in early adolescents: The role of self-regulatory self-efficacy in a pilot school-based intervention
    (2024) Favini, Ainzara; Culcasi, Flavia; Cirimele, Flavia; Remondi, Chiara; Plata, Maryluz Gomez; Caldaroni, Silvia; Virzi, Alessia Teresa; Kanacri, Bernadette Paula Luengo
    Background: Youths' online problematic behaviors, such as smartphone or social network sites (SNS) addiction, gained increasing attention nowadays, due to their impact on concurrent and later adjustment, such as emotional and/or behavioral problems, academic impairments, or relational issues.Aims: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a pilot school-based intervention to contrast online addictive behaviors while fostering adolescents' self-regulative abilities.Materials & Methods: The intervention started in January 2022 in an Italian junior high school located in Rome, and consisted of four meetings with students. A total sample of 462 15-year-old adolescents (M-age = 15.2; SD = 0.50; 41% females; N-control = 214; N-intervention = 248) was considered. Within the latent difference score framework, we examined short-term changes from the pre-to-the-postintervention levels of SNS and smartphone addiction, and self-regulatory self-efficacy (SRSE) beliefs as a possible booster of the intervention's effectiveness.Results: Results showed a significant decrease in both online addictions (SNS and smartphone addiction), controlling for age, gender, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status, because of the short-term efficacy of the project. The buffering effect of SRSE beliefs was further supported.Conclusion: These findings emphasized the usefulness of promoting youths' self-regulative beliefs to contrast problematic tendencies, according to a Positive Youth Development perspective which focused on resources rather than only on the prevention of negative outcomes for youths' adjustment.