Psychological well-being in Italian families: An exploratory approach to the study of mental health across the adult life span in the blue zone
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Hitchcott, Paul Kenneth
Fastame, Maria Chiara
Ferrai, Jessica
Penna, Maria Pietronilla
Abstract / Description
Self-reported measures of psychological well-being and depressive symptoms were examined across differently aged family members, while controlling for the impact of marital status and personal satisfaction about family and non-family relations. Twenty-one grandchildren (i.e., ages 21-36 years) were recruited with their parents (i.e., 48-66 years old) and grandparents (i.e., 75-101 years of age) in the ‘blue zone’ of Ogliastra, an Italian area known for the longevity of its inhabitants. Each participant was individually presented a battery of questionnaires assessing their lifestyle and several perceived mental health indices, including the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS, Tennant et al., 2007), and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (i.e., CES-D, Radloff, 1977). After assessing the level of concordance among adults sharing the same context, the Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) approach was used to assess the nested dataset. It was found that family membership (i.e., grandchildren versus parents and grandparents) predicted the WEMWBS score but not the CES-D when the impact of marital status and personal satisfaction about social (i.e., family and non-family) ties was controlled for. Moreover, two separate repeated-measure Analyses of Variance (ANOVAs) documented similar level of personal satisfaction about social relationships across the three family groups. In conclusions, satisfying social ties with friends and family members together with an active socially oriented life style seems to contribute to the promotion of mental health in adult span.
Keyword(s)
adult development aging families psychological well-being depression blue zonePersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2017-08-31
Journal title
Europe's Journal of Psychology
Volume
13
Issue
3
Page numbers
441–454
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Hitchcott, P. K., Fastame, M. C., Ferrai, J., & Penna, M. P. (2017). Psychological well-being in Italian families: An exploratory approach to the study of mental health across the adult life span in the blue zone. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 13(3), 441–454. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v13i3.1416
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Hitchcott, Paul Kenneth
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Fastame, Maria Chiara
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Ferrai, Jessica
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Penna, Maria Pietronilla
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2018-11-21T10:00:06Z
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Made available on2018-11-21T10:00:06Z
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Date of first publication2017-08-31
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Abstract / DescriptionSelf-reported measures of psychological well-being and depressive symptoms were examined across differently aged family members, while controlling for the impact of marital status and personal satisfaction about family and non-family relations. Twenty-one grandchildren (i.e., ages 21-36 years) were recruited with their parents (i.e., 48-66 years old) and grandparents (i.e., 75-101 years of age) in the ‘blue zone’ of Ogliastra, an Italian area known for the longevity of its inhabitants. Each participant was individually presented a battery of questionnaires assessing their lifestyle and several perceived mental health indices, including the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS, Tennant et al., 2007), and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (i.e., CES-D, Radloff, 1977). After assessing the level of concordance among adults sharing the same context, the Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) approach was used to assess the nested dataset. It was found that family membership (i.e., grandchildren versus parents and grandparents) predicted the WEMWBS score but not the CES-D when the impact of marital status and personal satisfaction about social (i.e., family and non-family) ties was controlled for. Moreover, two separate repeated-measure Analyses of Variance (ANOVAs) documented similar level of personal satisfaction about social relationships across the three family groups. In conclusions, satisfying social ties with friends and family members together with an active socially oriented life style seems to contribute to the promotion of mental health in adult span.en_US
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Publication statuspublishedVersion
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Review statuspeerReviewed
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CitationHitchcott, P. K., Fastame, M. C., Ferrai, J., & Penna, M. P. (2017). Psychological well-being in Italian families: An exploratory approach to the study of mental health across the adult life span in the blue zone. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 13(3), 441–454. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v13i3.1416
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ISSN1841-0413
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1068
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.1260
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Language of contenteng
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PublisherPsychOpen GOLD
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Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v13i3.1416
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Keyword(s)adult developmenten_US
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Keyword(s)aging familiesen_US
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Keyword(s)psychological well-beingen_US
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Keyword(s)depressionen_US
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Keyword(s)blue zoneen_US
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitlePsychological well-being in Italian families: An exploratory approach to the study of mental health across the adult life span in the blue zoneen_US
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DRO typearticle
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Issue3
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Journal titleEurope's Journal of Psychology
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Page numbers441–454
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Volume13
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Visible tag(s)Version of Record