M Morelli
Biographic Data
| ID | 48384 |
|---|---|
| NAME | M Morelli |
| GIVEN NAMES | M |
| FAMILY NAME | Morelli |
| SIGNATURE | MORELLI M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Sapienza University of Rome |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3463-3685 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 40 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 27 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 40 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Sociosexual orientation, life history strategy, and reproductive success
Italian Validation of the Expectations About Counseling – Brief Form (EAC-B) Among Students Attending a University Counseling Intervention
Patient expectations are recognized as a significant common factor influencing engagement and outcomes in psychological interventions, but their contribution in the context of brief university counseling remains understudied. The present study aimed to validate the Italian version of the Expectations About Counseling – Brief Form (EAC-B) and assessed its predictive role with respect to the working alliance and intervention outcome.Study 1 involve…
Do adolescent and young adult sexters and non-sexters have distinct value orientations
While there is much research on the individual correlates of sexting, the relationship with personal values is understudied. This study aimed to investigate whether adolescents and young adults (14–21 years old) involved in different sexting behaviors (i.e., experimental sexting, non-consensual sexting, sexting under pressure, risky sexting) have distinct value orientations according to Schwartz’s model. A self-report questionnaire was completed …
Factors associated with connectedness to social media influencers among Italian and Dutch young adults
Parasocial bonds with Social Media Influencers (SMIs) can significantly influence followers’ behaviors, attitudes, and well-being, especially during adolescence and young adulthood. This study examined how diverse dimensions of connectedness with SMIs (i.e., escape, imitation, modeling, and aspiration) relate to perceived social connectedness in offline, combined offline-online social connectedness and online contexts, as well as to social self-e…
The Association Between Pathological Personality Domains and Aggravated and Risky Sexting in a Sample of Emerging Adults
Sexting is the exchange of sexually explicit content via smartphone or the Internet. These growing forms of technology‐mediated sexual behaviors are common in youth. Recent studies investigated the association between personality traits and different kinds of sexting, from normal to risky and aggressive behavior. Few studies to date have explored the role of pathological personality domains in aggravated and risky sexting in emerging adulthood, p…
The effect of a psychodynamic counseling intervention on university students’ time attitudes
FoMO as a Predictor of Cyber Dating Violence Among Young Adults
Cyber Dating Violence (CDV) is a prevalent and concerning phenomenon among young people, characterized by abusive behaviors toward a romantic partner through digital platforms. Fear of Missing Out (FoMO), defined as the anxiety of being excluded from rewarding experiences, is closely linked to excessive digital engagement and the need for constant connectivity. While previous studies have associated FoMO with bullying and cyberstalking, its relat…
More Support for the Dependency-Resentment Hypothesis
Previously in Sexuality & Culture ( S&C ), we published an article titled “On men’s problematic pornography use and hostile attitudes toward women” (Wright and Tokunaga in Sex Cult, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-025-10424-2 ). This article presented our first articulation of the Dependency-Resentment Hypothesis (DRH) of men’s problematic pornography use and hostile attitudes toward women. It also presented analyses of data collected in Gre…
Parents’ reflective functioning and stress
Social understanding competence develops in sensitive and co‐regulating caregiver interactions. Parental reflective functioning (PRF) and parenting stress can affect children's social understanding. This study investigated if children's social understanding was associated with PRF and parenting stress. Parents of 305 Italian children aged from 24 to 72 months ( M = 48.2, SD = 13.9; 47.9% girls) completed an online survey. Parents completed the fo…
Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) and sexting motivations among Italian young adults
Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) is characterized by an intense desire to continually stay connected with others and is strictly linked to motivational factors implicated in social interactions, particularly through online communication. FoMO represents a risk factor for problematic use of communication through social media platforms. Only a few studies have explored the relationship between FoMO and sexting. This study is the first to investigate the …
Is Adolescents’ Cyber Dating Violence Perpetration Related to Problematic Pornography Use? The Moderating Role of Hostile Sexism
Intimate partner violence is an important public health problem. Cyber dating violence (CDV) is a form of intimate partner violence perpetrated within a dating relationship via new communication technologies. This study investigated the moderating roles of hostile and benevolent sexism in the relationship between problematic pornography use and CDV perpetration. The Cyber Pornography Use Inventory, the Cyber Dating Violence Inventory, and the Amb…
Exploring the relations of executive functions with emotional, linguistic, and cognitive skills in preschool children
This study investigated the executive functions (EF) of preschool children and their associations with emotional, linguistic, and cognitive skills, using parent and teacher reports. A total of 130 children aged 34 to 71 months participated. The preschool version of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF-P) was completed by both parents and teachers to assess behavioral difficulties in the use of EFs, while children were admini…
The Intercultural Sensitivity of Italian Correctional Officers Between Life Satisfaction and Burnout
Correctional officers (COs) play a crucial role within prisons. The purpose of this study is to analyze the intercultural sensitivity and individual and organizational well-being perceptions of COs. The participants were 400 COs employed in different prisons in northwestern Italy. Analysis of the results shows that there is a significant relationship between intercultural sensitivity and perceived emotional exhaustion and that this affects life s…
Exploring Attitudes Toward “Sugar Relationships” Across 87 Countries
The current study investigates attitudes toward one form of sex for resources: the so-called sugar relationships, which often involve exchanges of resources for sex and/or companionship. The present study examined associations among attitudes toward sugar relationships and relevant variables (e.g., sex, sociosexuality, gender inequality, parasitic exposure) in 69,924 participants across 87 countries. Two self-report measures of Acceptance of Suga…
Unlocking Success in Counseling
Psychological distress is widespread among university students, with depression being notably more prevalent compared to the general population. University counseling services are crucial for addressing these mental health challenges, and numerous studies have demonstrated their effectiveness in reducing psychological distress and improving overall well-being. However, there is limited research on what factors predict the success of university co…
Love as a Commitment Device
Given the ubiquitous nature of love, numerous theories have been proposed to explain its existence. One such theory refers to love as a commitment device, suggesting that romantic love evolved to foster commitment between partners and enhance their reproductive success. In the present study, we investigated this hypothesis using a large-scale sample of 86,310 individual responses collected across 90 countries. If romantic love is universally perc…
No One Believed Me, and I Have No proof
Spiking has become increasingly more prevalent since the 1990s, with drugs \nsuch as Rohypnol, Ketamine and GHB commonly being put unknowingly into \npeople’s drinks in nightclubs. More recently, spiking through the use of \na needle has become more prevalent in the nighttime economy, with this \nand the other more commonly known methods of spiking (drink, food) all \nbeing limited in research. The current mixed-design study aims to explore \nvic…
Development and validation of a measure for academic locus of control
Previous research highlighted the significant role of locus of control in predicting academic achievement and dropout, emphasizing the need for reliable measures to identify factors that foster academic success. This study aimed to develop an academic locus of control (ALoC) measure. Participants were 432 Italian university students (69 males, 363 females) pursuing bachelor’s ( N = 339) and master’s ( N = 123) degrees in Italy. The ALoC scale res…
Self-regulated learning self-efficacy, motivation, and intention to drop-out
University dropout represents a serious problem across the world. Past research has suggested the merits of studying both additive and multiplicative effects among the variables that affect the intention to drop out. In the present study, we tested the potential moderating effect of friendships at university, on both the association between self-regulated learning self-efficacy and intention to drop out and the associations between different moti…
Mothers and fathers of pre-school children
The present study aimed to analyze the differences between maternal and paternal parenting stress and children’s behavioral functioning, as determined by teacher and parent reports. In addition, it sought to evaluate the presence of clusters based on parenting stress and to determine whether perceptions of children’s behavioral functioning varied across these clusters. The sample was composed of the parents and teachers of N = 201 children. Paren…
Mothers’ and fathers’ bimodal communication in dyadic and triadic interaction with their infants
Parents play an important role in children’s language development. To our knowledge, no studies have compared fathers’ and mothers’ use of gestural and verbal communication in dyadic versus triadic contexts. This study aimed at analyzing similarities and differences in the bimodal communication of parents when they play alone with their infant and when all three play together. Twelve Italian-speaking families with infants aged 16 months took part…
Computerized linguistic analysis of counselors’ clinical notes in a university counseling center
University counseling represents an effective tool for promoting students’ mental health, for reducing a variety of psychological disorders, and to offer developmental support and guidance in the resolution of educational and academic challenges. Despite this, there is still a paucity of literature on which variables are involved in explaining the effectiveness of university counseling. For this reason, we applied the multiple code theory to the …
The Relationship Between Trait Emotional Intelligence and Sexting in Adolescence
Sexting Behaviors Before and During Covid-19 in Italian and Colombian Young Adults
Results provide implications for educational and prevention programs to improve young people's awareness of sexting behaviors
Predictors of enhancing human physical attractiveness
People across the world and throughout history have gone to great lengths to enhance their physical appearance. Evolutionary psychologists and ethologists have largely attempted to explain this phenomenon via mating preferences and strategies. Here, we test one of the most popular evolutionary hypotheses for beauty-enhancing behaviors, drawn from mating market and parasite stress perspectives, in a large cross-cultural sample. We also test hypoth…
Sexting Behaviors and Cyber Pornography Addiction Among Adolescents
The relation of attachment security status to effortful self-regulation
Secure attachment relationships have been described as having a regulatory function in regard to children's emotions, social cognition, and behavior. Although some theorists and researchers have argued that attachment affects children's self-regulation, most attachment theorists have not strongly emphasized this association. The goal of the current meta-analysis was to determine the magnitude of the relation between attachment security status and…
Love in Quarantine
Findings suggest new directions for implementing programs of sexual education and safer Internet use targeted to young people
Sexting Behaviors Before and During Covid-19 in Italian and Colombian Young Adults
Results provide implications for educational and prevention programs to improve young people's awareness of sexting behaviors
Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) and sexting motivations among Italian young adults
Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) is characterized by an intense desire to continually stay connected with others and is strictly linked to motivational factors implicated in social interactions, particularly through online communication. FoMO represents a risk factor for problematic use of communication through social media platforms. Only a few studies have explored the relationship between FoMO and sexting. This study is the first to investigate the …
Love as a Commitment Device
Given the ubiquitous nature of love, numerous theories have been proposed to explain its existence. One such theory refers to love as a commitment device, suggesting that romantic love evolved to foster commitment between partners and enhance their reproductive success. In the present study, we investigated this hypothesis using a large-scale sample of 86,310 individual responses collected across 90 countries. If romantic love is universally perc…
No One Believed Me, and I Have No proof
Spiking has become increasingly more prevalent since the 1990s, with drugs \nsuch as Rohypnol, Ketamine and GHB commonly being put unknowingly into \npeople’s drinks in nightclubs. More recently, spiking through the use of \na needle has become more prevalent in the nighttime economy, with this \nand the other more commonly known methods of spiking (drink, food) all \nbeing limited in research. The current mixed-design study aims to explore \nvic…
Sexting, psychological distress and dating violence among adolescents and young adults
BACKGROUND: Sexting is the exchange of sexually explicit or provocative content (text messages, photos, and videos) via smartphone, Internet, or social networks. Recent evidence enlightened its relationships with several risk and aggressive behaviors. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the amount of sexting, psychological distress, and dating violence in adolescents and young adults. METHOD: The study involved 1,334 particip…
Dream contents of early adolescents, adolescents, and young adults
A text analysis of dreams and waking-life narratives let us detect typical dream contents. The sample is composed of 1,000 subjects, from early adolescents to young adults, including males and females. For each subject, we collected a dream and a waking-life episode according to “the most recent dream” (Hartmann, Elkin, & Garg, 1991) and “a recent episode” methodology (Maggiolini, Cagnin, Crippa, Persico and Rizzi, 2010)). Through a word analysis…
Sexting Behaviors and Cyber Pornography Addiction Among Adolescents
Sexting as the mirror on the wall
Sexting motivations during adolescence are related to developmental dimensions—such as sexual identity and body‐image development—or harmful intentions—such as aggression among peers and partners. Sociocultural and media models can affect explorations of sexuality and redefinitions of body image, which in turn are related to sexting behaviors and motivations. In this study, we investigated the roles of body‐esteem attribution, the internalization…
The relation of attachment security status to effortful self-regulation
Secure attachment relationships have been described as having a regulatory function in regard to children's emotions, social cognition, and behavior. Although some theorists and researchers have argued that attachment affects children's self-regulation, most attachment theorists have not strongly emphasized this association. The goal of the current meta-analysis was to determine the magnitude of the relation between attachment security status and…
Parents and Children During the Covid-19 Lockdown
On March 10, 2020 Italy went into lockdown due to the Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic. The World Health Organization highlighted how the lockdown had negative consequences on psychological well-being, especially for children. The present study aimed to investigate parental correlates of children's emotion regulation during the COVID-19 lockdown. Within the Social Cognitive Theory framework, a path model in which parenting self-efficacy…
The role of Hexaco personality traits in different kinds of sexting
Structural and geomorphological framework of the upper Maira Valley (Western Alps, Italy)
An interdisciplinary study has been adopted to investigate the upper Maira Valley (Western Alps, Italy). A geological map of an unmapped area, of about 12 km2, at scale 1:10.000, has been realized. The combination of field surveys, GIS database creation, aerial photo observation, local archival data consultation, geo-structural analysis and drillholes re-interpretation outlined a relationship between structures and landforms. A ductile and brittl…
School Achievement and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescence
The buffering role of paternal parenting stress in the relationship between maternal parenting stress and children's problematic behaviour
The present study aimed at exploring the relationship between parenting stress and children's problematic behaviour in the families of 99 children aged 8–11 years. Parenting stress was assessed by parents, using the Parenting Stress Index, and children's problematic behaviour was assessed by teachers, using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. A moderation regression analysis showed a conditioning effect of paternal parenting stress in t…
Margins, Subjectivity, and Violence in Elena Ferrante’s Cronache del mal d’amore
This article examines the manifold representations of violence against women in Elena Ferrante’s earlier novels: L’amore molesto (1992), I giorni dell’abbandono (2002) and La figlia oscura (2012). Episodes of domestic violence, stalking, and sexual abuse permeate the tissue of Naples – the chronotope of all of Ferrante’s texts and, simultaneously, a synecdoche of the male violence perpetrated therein. Reading the author’s ideas about the female b…
The Relationship between Dark Triad Personality Traits and Sexting Behaviors among Adolescents and Young Adults across 11 Countries
The present study provided empirical evidence that different sexting behaviors were predicted by Dark Triad Personality Traits, showing a relevant role of Machiavellianism in all kinds of investigated sexting behaviors. Research, clinical, and education implications for prevention programs are discussed
Patterns of love and sexting in teen dating relationships
According to the triangular love theory, this study investigated the roles of three components of love (i.e., passion, intimacy, commitment) and the moderating role of conflicts in predicting different forms of sexting (i.e., experimental, nonconsensual, under pressure) in teen dating relationships. Participants were 409 adolescents (M age = 17.20, SD age = 1.61; 62.6% girls) who completed an online questionnaire. Three moderated regressions were…
Mothers’ and Children’s Mental Health During the Covid-19 Pandemic Lockdown
The present study, carried out during the first peak of the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy, aimed at investigating the mental health of mothers and children during the nationwide lockdown. More specifically, the study investigated children's depression and mothers' individual distress and parenting stress, in comparison with normative samples. The mediating effect of mothers' parenting stress on the relationship between mothers' individual distress a…
Love in Quarantine
Findings suggest new directions for implementing programs of sexual education and safer Internet use targeted to young people
Predictors of enhancing human physical attractiveness
People across the world and throughout history have gone to great lengths to enhance their physical appearance. Evolutionary psychologists and ethologists have largely attempted to explain this phenomenon via mating preferences and strategies. Here, we test one of the most popular evolutionary hypotheses for beauty-enhancing behaviors, drawn from mating market and parasite stress perspectives, in a large cross-cultural sample. We also test hypoth…
Development and validation of a measure for academic locus of control
Previous research highlighted the significant role of locus of control in predicting academic achievement and dropout, emphasizing the need for reliable measures to identify factors that foster academic success. This study aimed to develop an academic locus of control (ALoC) measure. Participants were 432 Italian university students (69 males, 363 females) pursuing bachelor’s ( N = 339) and master’s ( N = 123) degrees in Italy. The ALoC scale res…
Self-regulated learning self-efficacy, motivation, and intention to drop-out
University dropout represents a serious problem across the world. Past research has suggested the merits of studying both additive and multiplicative effects among the variables that affect the intention to drop out. In the present study, we tested the potential moderating effect of friendships at university, on both the association between self-regulated learning self-efficacy and intention to drop out and the associations between different moti…
Mothers and fathers of pre-school children
The present study aimed to analyze the differences between maternal and paternal parenting stress and children’s behavioral functioning, as determined by teacher and parent reports. In addition, it sought to evaluate the presence of clusters based on parenting stress and to determine whether perceptions of children’s behavioral functioning varied across these clusters. The sample was composed of the parents and teachers of N = 201 children. Paren…
Mothers’ and fathers’ bimodal communication in dyadic and triadic interaction with their infants
Parents play an important role in children’s language development. To our knowledge, no studies have compared fathers’ and mothers’ use of gestural and verbal communication in dyadic versus triadic contexts. This study aimed at analyzing similarities and differences in the bimodal communication of parents when they play alone with their infant and when all three play together. Twelve Italian-speaking families with infants aged 16 months took part…
Computerized linguistic analysis of counselors’ clinical notes in a university counseling center
University counseling represents an effective tool for promoting students’ mental health, for reducing a variety of psychological disorders, and to offer developmental support and guidance in the resolution of educational and academic challenges. Despite this, there is still a paucity of literature on which variables are involved in explaining the effectiveness of university counseling. For this reason, we applied the multiple code theory to the …
The Relationship Between Trait Emotional Intelligence and Sexting in Adolescence
Sexting Behaviors Before and During Covid-19 in Italian and Colombian Young Adults
Results provide implications for educational and prevention programs to improve young people's awareness of sexting behaviors
Is Adolescents’ Cyber Dating Violence Perpetration Related to Problematic Pornography Use? The Moderating Role of Hostile Sexism
Intimate partner violence is an important public health problem. Cyber dating violence (CDV) is a form of intimate partner violence perpetrated within a dating relationship via new communication technologies. This study investigated the moderating roles of hostile and benevolent sexism in the relationship between problematic pornography use and CDV perpetration. The Cyber Pornography Use Inventory, the Cyber Dating Violence Inventory, and the Amb…
Exploring the relations of executive functions with emotional, linguistic, and cognitive skills in preschool children
This study investigated the executive functions (EF) of preschool children and their associations with emotional, linguistic, and cognitive skills, using parent and teacher reports. A total of 130 children aged 34 to 71 months participated. The preschool version of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF-P) was completed by both parents and teachers to assess behavioral difficulties in the use of EFs, while children were admini…
Psychology (34 works) · Developmental psychology (24 works) · Social Psychology (24 works) · Clinical Psychology (16 works) · Gender, Feminism, and Media (15 works) · Psychiatry (9 works) · Social Psychology (9 works) · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development (8 works) · Impact of Technology on Adolescents (7 works) · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics (6 works)