Italian validation of the Jarel Spiritual Well-Being Scale

ABSTRACT

Spiritual well-being is a multidimensional construct that includes both existential and religious dimensions. It is associated with several indicators of well-being, as self-esteem and assertiveness. The study presents the adaptation of the Jarel Spiritual Well-Being Scale to the Italian context. The participants are 531 Italian adults. The survey includes: Hope State Scale, Adult Hope Scale, General Self-Efficacy Scale, Vision about Future Scale, and Satisfaction with Life Scale. The measures selected aim to verify the external validity of the Jarel Spiritual Well-Being Scale. Data analysis shows good psychometric properties of the Jarel Spiritual Well-Being Scale: the good external validity is confirmed by the significant correlations with the other measures, while the confirmatory factor analysis highlights some differences in the structure of the scale respect to the original version, probably due to cultural differences among US and Italian samples, that required a new factorial solution for the Italian version of the scale.     

Understanding indirect requests for information in high-functioning autism

Cognitive Processing - Few works have addressed the processing of indirect requests in High-Functioning Autism (HFA), and results are conflicting. Some studies report HFA individuals’...     

Precursors of a theory of mind: A longitudinal study

The study examined whether the pointing gesture and intentional understanding abilities at 12 and 15 months of age predict the later understanding of perception and intention, as well as the ability to explain others' actions in a psychological way at 39 months of age. Thirty‐five infants (18 girls) were administered pointing and intention‐understanding tasks at the age of 12 and 15 months. Children were again evaluated at the age of 39 months with perception and intention tasks, and a psychological explanation task. Results showed that only 12‐month‐olds' comprehension of the pointing gesture with an imperative motive contributed to the prediction of later understanding of perception and mentalistic explanations of actions. Moreover, the ability of 12‐ and 15‐month‐olds to understand intentions contributed to the prediction of later preschool understanding of perceptions and intentions. These results indicate that a developmental trajectory in children's understanding of mental states from infancy to childhood is present, but depends on the level of engagement and communication that are required to perform these tasks.