This study used a cross-national framework to examine country, region, and gender differences in emotional availability (EA), a prominent index of mutual socioemotional adaptation in the parent-child dyad. Altogether 220 Argentine, Italian, and U.S. mothers and their daughters and sons from both rural and metropolitan areas took part in home observations when the children were 20 months old. In terms of country, Italian mothers were more sensitive and optimally structuring, and Italian children were more responsive and involving, than Argentine and U.S. dyads. In terms of region, rural mothers were more intrusive than metropolitan mothers, and boys from metropolitan areas were more responsive than boys from rural areas. In terms of gender, mothers of girls were more sensitive and optimally structuring than mothers of boys, and daughters were more responsive and involving than sons. Understanding how country, region, and gender influence EA exposes forces that shape child development, parent-infant interaction, and family systems.

This study investigates mother-child interaction and its associations with play in children with Down syndrome (DS). There is consensus that mother-child interaction during play represents an important determinant of typical children's play development. Concerning children with DS, few studies have investigated mother-child interaction in terms of the overall emotional quality of dyadic interaction and its effect on child play. A sample of 28 children with DS (M age = 3 years) took part in this study. In particular, we studied whether the presence of the mother in an interactional context affects the exploratory and symbolic play of children with DS and the interrelation between children's level of play and dyadic emotional availability. Children showed significantly more exploratory play during collaborative play with mothers than during solitary play. However, the maternal effect on child symbolic play was higher in children of highly sensitive mothers relative to children whose mothers showed lower sensitivity, the former displaying more symbolic play than the latter in collaborative play. Results offer some evidence that dyadic emotional availability and child play level are associated in children with DS, consistent with the hypothesis that dyadic interactions based on a healthy level of emotional involvement may lead to enhanced cognitive functioning.RESUMEN: El objetivo de este estudio fue investigar la interacción madre-infante y sus asociaciones con el juego en el caso de lo niños con el síndrome de Down (SD). Hay consenso con respecto a que la interacción madre-infante durante el juego representa un importante determinante en cómo los niños típicos desarrollan su juego. Con respecto a niños con síndrome de Down, pocos estudios han investigado la interacción madre-infante -en términos de la calidad emocional en general de la interacción de la díada -y sus efectos en el juego del niño. En este estudio, participó un grupo muestra de 28 niños con síndrome de Down (M edad = 3 años). En particular, queríamos verificar si la presencia de la madre en un contexto interaccional afecta el juego exploratorio y simbólico del niño con síndrome de Down, así como la interrelación entre el nivel de juego del niño y la disponibilidad emocional de la díada. Los niños mostraron significativamente más juego exploratorio durante la colaboración en el juego con madres que durante los momentos de juego solitario. Sin embargo, el efecto maternal sobre el juego simbólico del niño fue mayor en aquellos niños cuyas madres eran altamente sensibles, con relación a los niños cuyas madres mostraron más baja sensibilidad; aquéllos mostraron más juego simbólico queéstos durante las sesiones de juego colaborativo. Los resultados ofrecen alguna evidencia de que la disponibilidad emocional de la díada y el nivel de juego del niño están asociados en los casos de niños con síndrome de Down, consistente con la hipótesis de que las interacciones díadicas basadas en un saludable nivel de involucramiento emocional pudieran llevar a un...

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, spreading in Italy during the first months of 2020, abruptly changed the way of practicing medicine in this country. As a consequence of the lockdown, the diagnostic and therapeutic management of paediatric chronic conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has been affected. During the peak of COVID-19 pandemic, elective visits, endoscopies and infusions have been postponed, with potential clinical and psychological impact on disease course and a high likelihood of increasing waiting lists. While slowly moving back towards normality, clinicians need to recognize the best ways to care for patients with IBD, carefully avoiding risk factors for new potential epidemic outbreaks. In this uncertain scenario until the development and spread of COVID-19 vaccine, it is necessary to continue to operate with caution. Hereby we provide useful indications for a safer and gradual restarting of routine clinical activities after COVID-19 peak in Italy.

We compared how 182 Italian and US American urban and rural firstborn 20-month-old girls and boys cope with the demands of their environment through their adaptive behaviours in everyday activities. Using the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales, we collected maternal reports of children's communication, daily living, socialization, and motor skills. Three sets of main effects (and no interactions) emerged. With respect to country, Italian children scored higher than US American children in adaptive communication and motor skills. With respect to region, urban children showed higher adaptive motor skills than rural children, and rural children showed higher adaptive daily living skills than urban children. Finally, with respect to gender, girls scored higher on an adaptive behaviour composite as well as adaptive communication skills, but boys higher in adaptive motor skills. We set these country, region, and gender main effects in the context of a discussion of developing adaptive behaviours in young children.

Quest'articolo intende proporre una riflessione sugli intrecci tra malattia organica e malattia psichica in un preadolescente, affetto da una patologia cronica intestinale seguito in psicoterapia, all'interno di un contesto ospedaliero. La condizione del paziente era aggravata dalla presenza di gravi disturbi psichici in entrambi i genitori. Gli autori partendo da una cornice di riferimento teorico della psicoanalisi an-glosassone si soffermano, in particolare, sui primi anni del percorso terapeutico parallelo del ragazzo e dei suoi genitori, caratterizzati dal passaggio da una situazione di ritiro e isolamento del ragazzo, e dalla presenza di difese onnipotenti e tratti quasi deliranti a una graduale possibilità di accedere a un pensiero simbolico di ri-flettere sui propri sentimenti e a una maggiore capacità di discriminare tra mondo interno ed esterno. La malattia fisica sembra aver rappresentato per il paziente e, indirettamente, per i suoi genitori, l'unico tramite per accedere a un aiuto psicologico.