Raffaella Iafrate
Biographic Data
| ID | 650492 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Raffaella Iafrate |
| GIVEN NAMES | Raffaella |
| FAMILY NAME | Iafrate |
| SIGNATURE | IAFRATE R |
| AFFILIATIONS | Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1311-8983 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 26 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 60 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 26 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1998 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
From Thought to Action
Although foster care represents an essential practice for helping children and families in difficult situations, nowadays, in Italy, the number of people open to engaging in this kind of care is limited compared to the real need, and agencies have difficulties recruiting new foster parents. The present qualitative study is aimed at identifying the process that leads families to become foster parents and investigating how this decision has been pu…
Sense of coherence and Covid-19 related stress
Sense of coherence (SOC) is the fundamental concept of the salutogenic approach to health promotion. The main aim of the current longitudinal study is to consider whether SOC has had a positive effect in reducing people's levels of stress during the prolonged time of the pandemic or rather stress has posed a threat to SOC. A large sample of Italian adults completed an online questionnaire at three different moments of the Covid-19 pandemic (from …
Parents' dyadic coping, parent–child relationship quality, and children's emotional difficulties during the Covid‐19 pandemic
Although studies have highlighted the role played by couple and parental relationships for children's psychosocial adjustment, especially in challenging situations, research on these two relationship domains has largely developed separately and mostly focussed on negative couple processes. However, Family Systems Theory highlights how these subsystems are interconnected, and studies inspired by this theoretical framework provide evidence of how t…
Conservatism Negatively Predicts Creativity
Previous studies have found a negative relationship between creativity and conservatism. However, as these studies were mostly conducted on samples of homogeneous nationality, the generalizability of the effect across different cultures is unknown. We addressed this gap by conducting a study in 28 countries. Based on the notion that attitudes can be shaped by both environmental and ecological factors, we hypothesized that parasite stress can also…
The enduring role of sense of coherence in facing the pandemic
Research has been focussing on protective and resistance-related factors that may help people face the long-lasting psychological challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sense of coherence allows to remain healthy and to recover after stressful or traumatic life experiences. We aimed at investigating whether, and the extent to which, social support, in terms of both family and friends support, mediated the well-established link between sense of cohe…
Covid-Related Stress in the Financial, Relational and Health Domains. Which Longitudinal Effects on Present and Future Perception
While pre-covid literature about stress has indicated the importance of studying domain-specific stress, studies conducted during the pandemic have investigated covid-related stress as a monodimensional construct. The current study aimed to assess the impact that covid-related stress in three domains (financial, relational, health) had on individuals' psychological well-being and future anxiety. Furthermore, we aimed to assess whether the relatio…
Perceptions of domestic and extra‐domestic environment during the Covid ‐19 pandemic in an Italian representative sample
Perception of domestic and extra‐domestic environment plays a key role in structuring reality, representing the boundary between private and public life. COVID‐19 pandemic led to changes both inside and outside domestic borders, modifying those reciprocal perceptions. The aim of this study was to assess perceptions of domestic and extra‐domestic environments after the first wave of COVID‐19 pandemic on a representative Italian sample, and how suc…
Perceived Changes in Family Life During Covid ‐19
OBJECTIVE: The current study was aimed at exploring Italian parents' perceived negative and positive changes in family life during the COVID-19 pandemic, taking into account the role of the stage of the family life and family size. BACKGROUND: During the emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of families drastically changed their daily life and routines. Little evidence exists on how family characteristics, such as family size or presence o…
Sense of Coherence and Covid-19
The strong restrictive measures adopted in 2020 against the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy have deeply affected the general population's mental health. In the current longitudinal study, we specifically focus on sense of coherence (SOC), both in terms of comprehensibility/manageability and meaningfulness, among a large sample of Italian adults; SOC is a potential resource likely to foster the ability to cope with stressors. A total of 2…
Assortative mating and the evolution of desirability covariation
The associations for separated parents in Italy
After separation or divorce, people generally experience a deterioration of health, not only in terms of physical well-being but also in terms of emotional and social well-being. In addition, when separated, individuals are parents as well and they are concerned with the well-being of their children. The main task for separated parents is to maintain a parental alliance (coparenting) for the sake of their children's well-being. Social support is …
The Paradoxical Influence of Stress on the Intensity of Romantic Feelings Towards the Partner
According to Brehmâ€TMs emotional intensity theory (EIT), the strength of feelings of romantic affect towards a romantic partner should vary as a cubic function of increasing levels of relationship stress (i.e., deterrence to feelings of romantic affect). The study tested this hypothesis in a true experiment with 80 young adults actually engaged in a romantic relationship, by systematically manipulating stress, through a recall procedure, across …
Religiosity, Marital Quality and Couple Generativity in Italian Couples Belonging to a Catholic Spiritual Association
Preferred Interpersonal Distances
Human spatial behavior has been the focus of hundreds of previous research studies. However, the conclusions and generalizability of previous studies on interpersonal distance preferences were limited by some important methodological and sampling issues. The objective of the present study was to compare preferred interpersonal distances across the world and to overcome the problems observed in previous studies. We present an extensive analysis of…
Young Adults’ Individuation with Mother and Father as a Function of Dysfunctional Family Patterns, Gender and Parental Divorce
This study analyzes young adults’ individuation with mother (IM) and father (IF) as a function of dysfunctional family patterns (DFPs)—caught between, parental pressure, unfair caregiving, and feeling deprived—as well as gender and parental divorce. It examines if parental divorce is associated with the presence of DFP in the young adults’ family of origin and if the presence of DFP explains the association between parental divorce and lower leve…
Insofar as You Can Be Part of Me
What is the role of family of origin in the formation of couple identity (i.e., considering couplehood as central to one's sense of self) among young adults? Two studies tested and supported the hypothesis that intrusive parenting hinders the couple identity of young adults. In Study 1, intrusive parenting was associated with weaker couple identity in a sample of 702 dating partners (351 couples). In Study 2, intrusive parenting was linked to a c…
Dyadic coping responses and partners’ perceptions for couple satisfaction
Applying the actor–partner interdependence model to 114 couples’ data, we examined the link between partners’ change in reported dyadic coping responses from 6 months before marriage to 12 months after marriage and change in the perceptions of the other’s dyadic coping responses, the role of these associations for partners’ change in relationship satisfaction, and the role of gender in these relations. Results highlighted both accuracy and projec…
Loyalty Conflict, Feelings of Unfairness, and Young Adults' Individuation Difficulties in Separated and Nonseparated Families
This study investigated the effect of family structure (separated or nonseparated parents) and gender on young adults' loyalty conflict, feelings of unfairness toward parents, and individuation difficulties, using a sample of 264 Italian participants. The predictive power of parent–child variables on children's individuation was also tested. Results show the effect of family structure on feelings of unfairness and on individuation difficulties, a…
Acquiring dyadic coping
Using self‐reported data on dyadic coping from 153 premarital couples and their parents, this study investigates (a) how similar individuals are to their parents and partner and (b) whether parent–child similarities in dyadic coping vary as a function of child's gender and the type of dyadic coping model parents represent. Similarities were computed using an idiographic approach, and 2 components of dyadic similarity—unique and stereotypical—were…
Perceived similarity and understanding in dyadic coping among young and mature couples
The study examined perceived similarity and understanding in dyadic coping among 197 young and 192 mature couples. Perceived similarity and understanding were computed through a dyad‐centered approach. To separate 2 equally important components of dyadic congruence (i.e., unique and stereotypical similarity) stereotype adjusted and unadjusted scores were computed. Results indicated that stereotype effects were higher among young couples than amon…
Assessment of the Familial Relationships of Young Adult Children of Separated Parents
The aim of this work was the psychometric study of six scales designed to assess the familial relationships of young adult children of separated parents. The analyzed constructs are interparental conflict, loyalty conflict, coalition, parentification, children's perceptions of the parent–child relationships, and young adult perception of the separation–individuation process. Internal consistency and factorial validity was studied through a sample…
Is the Partner Who Decides to Divorce More Attractive? A Comparison Between Initiators and Noninitiators
Five hundred eighty divorced individuals from Germany, Italy, and Switzerland provided retrospective reports on the perceived similarities and differences between themselves and their former partner and on their own and their partner's attractiveness. Initiators and noninitiators were compared with regard to these different variables. Results demonstrated that most divorcees perceived themselves to be quite similar to their former partner. Initia…
The role of stress in divorce
Drawing upon earlier models of stress and divorce, this retrospective study investigates how divorced individuals appraise the role of stress in their divorce. Data from divorced individuals (N = 662) from Germany, Italy, and Switzerland suggest that low commitment and deficits in interpersonal competencies (communication, problem solving, coping) are more likely than stress to be perceived as reasons for divorce. However, when considering everyd…
Attractors and Barriers to Divorce
A total of 711 divorced individuals from Germany, Italy and Switzerland provided retrospective reports on their perception of at-tractors and barriers to divorcing. This study combines the evaluation of macro-level variables (represented by three different countries) and micro-level variables (psychological variables) to better understand attractors and barriers to divorce. Among attractors of divorce, alienation was found to be most relevant, wh…
Significant others
In a study of social context in which adolescents live from an intergenerational perspective, the purpose was comparison of significant others of the generation of Italian adolescents (n = 595) and their parents' recalled others significant during adolescence (397 fathers and 416 mothers). Analysis showed the predominance of parents and above all the mother as the most significant others for both generations during adolescence. Further, today's a…
Dyadic coping responses and partners’ perceptions for couple satisfaction
Applying the actor–partner interdependence model to 114 couples’ data, we examined the link between partners’ change in reported dyadic coping responses from 6 months before marriage to 12 months after marriage and change in the perceptions of the other’s dyadic coping responses, the role of these associations for partners’ change in relationship satisfaction, and the role of gender in these relations. Results highlighted both accuracy and projec…
Preferred Interpersonal Distances
Human spatial behavior has been the focus of hundreds of previous research studies. However, the conclusions and generalizability of previous studies on interpersonal distance preferences were limited by some important methodological and sampling issues. The objective of the present study was to compare preferred interpersonal distances across the world and to overcome the problems observed in previous studies. We present an extensive analysis of…
The role of stress in divorce
Drawing upon earlier models of stress and divorce, this retrospective study investigates how divorced individuals appraise the role of stress in their divorce. Data from divorced individuals (N = 662) from Germany, Italy, and Switzerland suggest that low commitment and deficits in interpersonal competencies (communication, problem solving, coping) are more likely than stress to be perceived as reasons for divorce. However, when considering everyd…
The Paradoxical Influence of Stress on the Intensity of Romantic Feelings Towards the Partner
According to Brehmâ€TMs emotional intensity theory (EIT), the strength of feelings of romantic affect towards a romantic partner should vary as a cubic function of increasing levels of relationship stress (i.e., deterrence to feelings of romantic affect). The study tested this hypothesis in a true experiment with 80 young adults actually engaged in a romantic relationship, by systematically manipulating stress, through a recall procedure, across …
Peer-Group and Romantic Relationships in Adolescents from Intact and Separated Families
From Thought to Action
Although foster care represents an essential practice for helping children and families in difficult situations, nowadays, in Italy, the number of people open to engaging in this kind of care is limited compared to the real need, and agencies have difficulties recruiting new foster parents. The present qualitative study is aimed at identifying the process that leads families to become foster parents and investigating how this decision has been pu…
Conservatism Negatively Predicts Creativity
Previous studies have found a negative relationship between creativity and conservatism. However, as these studies were mostly conducted on samples of homogeneous nationality, the generalizability of the effect across different cultures is unknown. We addressed this gap by conducting a study in 28 countries. Based on the notion that attitudes can be shaped by both environmental and ecological factors, we hypothesized that parasite stress can also…
Peer-Group and Romantic Relationships in Adolescents from Intact and Separated Families
Significant others
In a study of social context in which adolescents live from an intergenerational perspective, the purpose was comparison of significant others of the generation of Italian adolescents (n = 595) and their parents' recalled others significant during adolescence (397 fathers and 416 mothers). Analysis showed the predominance of parents and above all the mother as the most significant others for both generations during adolescence. Further, today's a…
Attractors and Barriers to Divorce
A total of 711 divorced individuals from Germany, Italy and Switzerland provided retrospective reports on their perception of at-tractors and barriers to divorcing. This study combines the evaluation of macro-level variables (represented by three different countries) and micro-level variables (psychological variables) to better understand attractors and barriers to divorce. Among attractors of divorce, alienation was found to be most relevant, wh…
The role of stress in divorce
Drawing upon earlier models of stress and divorce, this retrospective study investigates how divorced individuals appraise the role of stress in their divorce. Data from divorced individuals (N = 662) from Germany, Italy, and Switzerland suggest that low commitment and deficits in interpersonal competencies (communication, problem solving, coping) are more likely than stress to be perceived as reasons for divorce. However, when considering everyd…
Is the Partner Who Decides to Divorce More Attractive? A Comparison Between Initiators and Noninitiators
Five hundred eighty divorced individuals from Germany, Italy, and Switzerland provided retrospective reports on the perceived similarities and differences between themselves and their former partner and on their own and their partner's attractiveness. Initiators and noninitiators were compared with regard to these different variables. Results demonstrated that most divorcees perceived themselves to be quite similar to their former partner. Initia…
Assessment of the Familial Relationships of Young Adult Children of Separated Parents
The aim of this work was the psychometric study of six scales designed to assess the familial relationships of young adult children of separated parents. The analyzed constructs are interparental conflict, loyalty conflict, coalition, parentification, children's perceptions of the parent–child relationships, and young adult perception of the separation–individuation process. Internal consistency and factorial validity was studied through a sample…
Loyalty Conflict, Feelings of Unfairness, and Young Adults' Individuation Difficulties in Separated and Nonseparated Families
This study investigated the effect of family structure (separated or nonseparated parents) and gender on young adults' loyalty conflict, feelings of unfairness toward parents, and individuation difficulties, using a sample of 264 Italian participants. The predictive power of parent–child variables on children's individuation was also tested. Results show the effect of family structure on feelings of unfairness and on individuation difficulties, a…
Acquiring dyadic coping
Using self‐reported data on dyadic coping from 153 premarital couples and their parents, this study investigates (a) how similar individuals are to their parents and partner and (b) whether parent–child similarities in dyadic coping vary as a function of child's gender and the type of dyadic coping model parents represent. Similarities were computed using an idiographic approach, and 2 components of dyadic similarity—unique and stereotypical—were…
Perceived similarity and understanding in dyadic coping among young and mature couples
The study examined perceived similarity and understanding in dyadic coping among 197 young and 192 mature couples. Perceived similarity and understanding were computed through a dyad‐centered approach. To separate 2 equally important components of dyadic congruence (i.e., unique and stereotypical similarity) stereotype adjusted and unadjusted scores were computed. Results indicated that stereotype effects were higher among young couples than amon…
Dyadic coping responses and partners’ perceptions for couple satisfaction
Applying the actor–partner interdependence model to 114 couples’ data, we examined the link between partners’ change in reported dyadic coping responses from 6 months before marriage to 12 months after marriage and change in the perceptions of the other’s dyadic coping responses, the role of these associations for partners’ change in relationship satisfaction, and the role of gender in these relations. Results highlighted both accuracy and projec…
Insofar as You Can Be Part of Me
What is the role of family of origin in the formation of couple identity (i.e., considering couplehood as central to one's sense of self) among young adults? Two studies tested and supported the hypothesis that intrusive parenting hinders the couple identity of young adults. In Study 1, intrusive parenting was associated with weaker couple identity in a sample of 702 dating partners (351 couples). In Study 2, intrusive parenting was linked to a c…
Young Adults’ Individuation with Mother and Father as a Function of Dysfunctional Family Patterns, Gender and Parental Divorce
This study analyzes young adults’ individuation with mother (IM) and father (IF) as a function of dysfunctional family patterns (DFPs)—caught between, parental pressure, unfair caregiving, and feeling deprived—as well as gender and parental divorce. It examines if parental divorce is associated with the presence of DFP in the young adults’ family of origin and if the presence of DFP explains the association between parental divorce and lower leve…
Religiosity, Marital Quality and Couple Generativity in Italian Couples Belonging to a Catholic Spiritual Association
Preferred Interpersonal Distances
Human spatial behavior has been the focus of hundreds of previous research studies. However, the conclusions and generalizability of previous studies on interpersonal distance preferences were limited by some important methodological and sampling issues. The objective of the present study was to compare preferred interpersonal distances across the world and to overcome the problems observed in previous studies. We present an extensive analysis of…
The associations for separated parents in Italy
After separation or divorce, people generally experience a deterioration of health, not only in terms of physical well-being but also in terms of emotional and social well-being. In addition, when separated, individuals are parents as well and they are concerned with the well-being of their children. The main task for separated parents is to maintain a parental alliance (coparenting) for the sake of their children's well-being. Social support is …
The Paradoxical Influence of Stress on the Intensity of Romantic Feelings Towards the Partner
According to Brehmâ€TMs emotional intensity theory (EIT), the strength of feelings of romantic affect towards a romantic partner should vary as a cubic function of increasing levels of relationship stress (i.e., deterrence to feelings of romantic affect). The study tested this hypothesis in a true experiment with 80 young adults actually engaged in a romantic relationship, by systematically manipulating stress, through a recall procedure, across …
Assortative mating and the evolution of desirability covariation
Perceived Changes in Family Life During Covid ‐19
OBJECTIVE: The current study was aimed at exploring Italian parents' perceived negative and positive changes in family life during the COVID-19 pandemic, taking into account the role of the stage of the family life and family size. BACKGROUND: During the emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of families drastically changed their daily life and routines. Little evidence exists on how family characteristics, such as family size or presence o…
Sense of Coherence and Covid-19
The strong restrictive measures adopted in 2020 against the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy have deeply affected the general population's mental health. In the current longitudinal study, we specifically focus on sense of coherence (SOC), both in terms of comprehensibility/manageability and meaningfulness, among a large sample of Italian adults; SOC is a potential resource likely to foster the ability to cope with stressors. A total of 2…
The enduring role of sense of coherence in facing the pandemic
Research has been focussing on protective and resistance-related factors that may help people face the long-lasting psychological challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sense of coherence allows to remain healthy and to recover after stressful or traumatic life experiences. We aimed at investigating whether, and the extent to which, social support, in terms of both family and friends support, mediated the well-established link between sense of cohe…
Covid-Related Stress in the Financial, Relational and Health Domains. Which Longitudinal Effects on Present and Future Perception
While pre-covid literature about stress has indicated the importance of studying domain-specific stress, studies conducted during the pandemic have investigated covid-related stress as a monodimensional construct. The current study aimed to assess the impact that covid-related stress in three domains (financial, relational, health) had on individuals' psychological well-being and future anxiety. Furthermore, we aimed to assess whether the relatio…
Perceptions of domestic and extra‐domestic environment during the Covid ‐19 pandemic in an Italian representative sample
Perception of domestic and extra‐domestic environment plays a key role in structuring reality, representing the boundary between private and public life. COVID‐19 pandemic led to changes both inside and outside domestic borders, modifying those reciprocal perceptions. The aim of this study was to assess perceptions of domestic and extra‐domestic environments after the first wave of COVID‐19 pandemic on a representative Italian sample, and how suc…
Parents' dyadic coping, parent–child relationship quality, and children's emotional difficulties during the Covid‐19 pandemic
Although studies have highlighted the role played by couple and parental relationships for children's psychosocial adjustment, especially in challenging situations, research on these two relationship domains has largely developed separately and mostly focussed on negative couple processes. However, Family Systems Theory highlights how these subsystems are interconnected, and studies inspired by this theoretical framework provide evidence of how t…
Conservatism Negatively Predicts Creativity
Previous studies have found a negative relationship between creativity and conservatism. However, as these studies were mostly conducted on samples of homogeneous nationality, the generalizability of the effect across different cultures is unknown. We addressed this gap by conducting a study in 28 countries. Based on the notion that attitudes can be shaped by both environmental and ecological factors, we hypothesized that parasite stress can also…
From Thought to Action
Although foster care represents an essential practice for helping children and families in difficult situations, nowadays, in Italy, the number of people open to engaging in this kind of care is limited compared to the real need, and agencies have difficulties recruiting new foster parents. The present qualitative study is aimed at identifying the process that leads families to become foster parents and investigating how this decision has been pu…
Psychology (25 works) · Developmental psychology (19 works) · Social Psychology (18 works) · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics (12 works) · Family Dynamics and Relationships (12 works) · Clinical Psychology (11 works) · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving (9 works) · Social Psychology (9 works) · Medicine (7 works) · Perception (6 works)