Autonomy and relatedness are fundamental needs both in adolescence and in emerging adulthood which are affected by parental support and are linked to children's psychological distress. The study investigated autonomy and relatedness in late adolescents and emerging adults living in Italy, analyzing the relationships with perceived parental support and psychological distress. Selfreport data were collected from a sample of 325 Caucasian adolescents and emerging adults (males = 41 %) ranging in age from 17 to 26 years and living in Sicily (southern Italy). Results showed that: (a) both autonomy and relatedness were positively predicted by parental support to these needs, (b) perceived support for autonomy was positively associated with perceived support for relatedness, (c) autonomy and relatedness were positively related to each other for emerging adults, but they were not related for teens, (d) autonomy predicted negatively depression and loneliness, while relatedness predicted negatively externalizing problems (only for adolescents), stress, depression, and loneliness. Taken together, the findings confirmed that autonomy and relatedness are fundamental needs for both teens and emerging adults related to parental support and psychological health. Notwithstanding, age moderated some of the investigated relationships suggesting that autonomy and relatedness have different meanings, as well as playing different roles during adolescence and emerging adulthood.

Research suggest that psychologically controlling and autonomy supportive parenting can be described within the SDT's framework. Two studies were conducted to examine: (a) the role of

Abstract:Two studies were conducted to adapt the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (BPNSFS) to the Italian context. Results suggest that the BPNSFS can be considered a promising instrument in the context of SDT-based research for investigating satisfaction and frustration of the three basic needs in Italy.http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/mecd Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development Psychometric Evaluation of the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (BPNSFS) in Italy SummaryThe purpose of the present multistudy report was to adapt the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (BPNSFS) to the Italian context. Two studies were conducted.In Study 1, we investigated the dimensionality, reliability, convergent and discriminant validity of the instrument in a sample of 544 participants (Males = 41%) aged from 16 to 35 years. In Study 2, we replicated the results concerning dimensionality in an independent sample of 502 participants (Males = 42%) aged from 16 to 35 years. Furthermore, we analyzed measurement invariance across gender. Results of both studies showed that comparing a series of competitive factorial models, the six-factor (6-factor) model had the best fit to the data, assessing six different but related dimensions: Autonomy Satisfaction, Autonomy Frustration, Relatedness Satisfaction, Relatedness Frustration, Competence Satisfaction, and Competence Frustration.Moreover, the reliability, convergent and discriminant validity may be considered adequate.Finally, the BPNSFS showed to be invariant across gender. In sum, the BPNSFS can be considered a promising instrument in the context of SDT-based research for investigating satisfaction and frustration of the three basic needs in Italy. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 F o r P e e r R e v i e w Italian Psychometric Evaluation of BPNSFS 2 Self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2002) has become a popular framework for examining motivational issues in several contexts (e.g., Costa, Gugliandolo, Barberis, & Larcan, 2014; Ng et al., 2012;Ryan & Deci, 2013;Soenens & Vansteenkiste, 2010). This is not surprising given that the approach to human development proposed within SDT accounts for the nature and function of motivation in conjunction with the psychological foundations from which motives develop. According to Ryan and Deci (2002), motivation varies along a regulatory continuum ranging from more controlled to fully selfdetermined processes, with the latter nurturing positive consequences such as task persistence and eudemonic well-being.Within SDT, a critical issue in the effects of motivation concerns the degree to which people are able to satisfy three universal, innate, and nonhierarchical psychological needs, namely, autonomy, relatedness, and competence. The...

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The present study examined the associations between emerging adults’ perceived parental psychological control and autonomy support, and their autonomy, relatedness and internalizing difficulties in Italy and the U.S. The participants included 494 Italian and 414 U.S. college students, between 18 and 28 years of age (Mean = 21.58, SD = 2.18). Our findings showed that dependency-oriented psychological control had no significant direct associations with autonomy, relatedness or internalizing difficulties. Moreover, the association between parental autonomy support and internalizing problems was fully intervened by autonomy and relatedness, whereas the association between achievement-oriented psychological control and anxiety and depressive symptoms was partially intervened by autonomy and relatedness. Finally, although parental psychological control and autonomy support had similar effects on maladjustment across the two countries, relatedness appeared to play a more central role as an intervening variable for anxiety in the Italian group than in the U.S. group. Overall, our findings highlighted the importance of examining parents’ contributions to emerging adults’ internalizing problems via autonomy support and psychological control across cultures