Time attitudes (TA) are evaluative feelings toward the past, present and future. Given the role of TA in psychological and behavioral outcomes, the aim of this study was to analyze the adequacy of the Adolescent Time Inventory—Time Attitudes (ATI-TA) scale among adolescents and young adults in Italy. The scale was administered to 638 students in order to test its psychometric properties and validity. The analyses confirmed the adequacy of the six-factor model and the reliability of the subscales. Additionally, the measurement invariance of the scale across genders and age groups (between adolescents up to the age of 18, and young adults above 18) was demonstrated. Specifically, gender invariance reached the level of equivalence of error variances/covariances, and the same level was partially reached for invariance across age groups. Evidence of the validity of the scale was also provided by obtaining significant correlations between the subscales, and self-esteem and strategic learning. Taken together, these results support the suitability of the ATI-TA to be used for research and clinical purposes.

Since test performance is increasingly relevant in educational and occupational circles, the assessment of test anxiety—the phenomenological, physiological, and behavioral responses to the negative consequences that often emerge in evaluative situations—has become increasingly important to scholars and practitioners. One of the most widely employed scales to measure test anxiety in adolescents is the German Test Anxiety Inventory (in German: Prufungsangstfragebogen, PAF). The current study investigated the psychometric properties of the PAF when administered to Italian students. Our research found evidence of validity, supported the five-factor structure, and demonstrated the test’s good internal consistency. Moreover, the invariance of the dimensional structure across genders was examined. Overall, this study provides evidence for the reliability and validity of the PAF among Italian students.

In the field of adolescent gambling prevention, there is a lack of intervention studies reporting and assessing training courses for the intervention providers. The present work fills this gap by realizing a dissemination study inside the PRIZE program aimed at modifying a set of cognitive protective factors and affective risk factors. The purpose of this work was twofold: To develop and evaluate a training course with the intervention providers (Study 1), and to assess the short- and long-term effects of the intervention itself (Study 2). The training course was delivered to 44 health professionals (32 females, Mage = 39.34 years). Results showed a significant increase of correct knowledge about gambling and a significant reduction of their susceptibility to probabilistic reasoning biases. Participants also actually learnt the main competencies to conduct the educational activities, they were satisfied for the training course received, and they felt high levels of self-efficacy. The intervention was implemented with 1894 high school students (61% males; Mage = 15.68 years). In the short term, we found a significant increase of adolescents’ correct gambling knowledge, random events knowledge, and probabilistic reasoning ability, and a significant decrease of superstitious thinking, monetary positive outcome expectation, and gambling-related erroneous thoughts and fallacious behavioral choices. In the long-term, a significant decrease of gambling frequency, gambling versatility, and gambling problem severity was obtained. Overall, this work highlights the importance to train prevention program providers in order to optimize the effectiveness of large-scale gambling intervention programs towards adolescents.

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Sebbene sia documentata una maggiore prevalenza del gioco d'azzardo nei ragazzi, tale comportamento sembra interessare sempre più le ragazze. Tuttavia sono relativamente pochi gli studi sulla specificità del gambling nelle adolescenti e mancano lavori di ricerca che abbiano utilizzato strumenti per il comportamento di gioco d'azzardo invarianti per genere. Scopo di questo lavoro era analizzare le caratteristiche del comportamento in adolescenti italiane (Studio 1) e testare un modello in cui sensation seeking e pensiero superstizioso, attraverso la media-zione delle distorsioni cognitive sul gioco d'azzardo, influenzano il comportamento problema-tico di gioco d'azzardo (Studio 2). Per realizzare tale scopo, è stata utilizzata la Gambling Be-havior Scale-For Adolescents, uno strumento che è risultato invariante per genere negli adole-scenti italiani e che permette di rilevare sia le caratteristiche comportamentali che i sintomi di comportamento problematico secondo il DSM-5. Al primo studio hanno partecipato 1527 ado-lescenti femmine (età: M = 15.86; DS = 1.81) ed al secondo 552 adolescenti femmine (età: M = 15.99; DS = 1.34). I risultati hanno confermato che le ragazze prediligono giochi di tipo non strategico, giocano prevalentemente con i familiari, ed intorno agli 11 anni conoscono il gioco d'azzardo. Il 7% delle giocatrici è a rischio di sviluppare problematiche e il 3% ha problemi di gioco. Il modello di mediazione ipotizzato è stato inoltre confermato. Tale modello può quindi essere considerato per la messa a punto di interventi di prevenzione genere-specifici.