L’adolescenza è riconosciuta come periodo critico rispetto all’assunzione di comportamenti rischiosi. Nel lavoro presentato si indagano i fattori sociali di rischio che intervengono nella valutazione e messa in atto di comportamenti potenzialmente dannosi per la salute. Entro un campione di 391 studenti di scuole superiori di Lecce è stato esplorato il ruolo di alcune variabili psicosociali, ampiamente iconosciute nella letteratura come fattori di protezione e/o rischio, come supporto sociale, supervisione familiare, trasparenza del rapporto genitori-figli, norme familiari, approvazione del rischio da parte dei pari e influenza dei pari e dei genitori, e il ruolo dei modelli culturali, intesi come sistemi di significato con i quali si interpreta e si agisce nell’ambiente micro e macro-sociale cui si prende parte. La percezione di eventuali vincoli nella richiesta di aiuto e di canali preferenziali rispetto alla diffusione di piani di prevenzione e/o di intervento da parte di enti e istituzioni di competenza sono anche stati oggetto dell’indagine. I risultati evidenziano come studenti che esprimono diversi modelli culturali e che caratterizzano diversamente il proprio intorno sociale valutano diversamente il rischio e hanno probabilità diverse di assumerlo: studenti che valutano minore il rischio e che dichiarano di assumere più comportamenti rischiosi si caratterizzano per un’immagine anomica del contesto macro-sociale, per la percezione di un basso supporto sociale, di un ambiente famigliare poco vigile e di un gruppo dei pari approvante il rischio. I risultati offrono spunti di riflessione per la formulazione e progettazione di strategie preventive e di contrasto dei comportamenti a rischio rivolti agli adolescenti.

A prominent explanation for people's involvement in harmful behaviour is that they have poor risk-judging skills. However, a number of studies have shown that there is a great variability in morality about the nature of acceptable norms of conduct and lifestyle and that different cultural groups correspond to very heterogeneous risk assessments. The current study evaluates the proposition by proponents of cultural theory that a person's worldview plays a major role in affecting risk evaluation (Boholm, 1998). Particularly, the study tests the hypothesis that subjective cultures in terms of which people interpret their micro and macro social environment affect the magnitude of the risk related to different kinds of hazardous behaviours. Subjective cultures of the social environment were detected through the questionnaire on the Interpretation of the Social Environment (Mossi & Salvatore, 2011) among high school students and bachelor degree students from South-East Italy. Respondents were asked to indicate their personal opinion regarding risks related to different kind of behaviours: drug and alcohol use, smoking, smartphone use, driver risk-behaviour, unsafe sexual behaviour, in three domains: health, relationships and social approval. Three Principal Components Analyses (PCA) – one for each of the domains of risk investigated – were applied to the risk ratings expressed by the respondents. Correlation Analysis was applied to analyze the linkage between the components of risk rating extracted and subjective cultures. The findings show that different cultural views of the social environment relate to different evaluations of the magnitude of risks related to different kinds of hazardous behaviour (i.e. socialized/not socialized; licit/illicit). The subjective cultures might constitute a factor to be taken into account to get a better understanding of the attitude towards hazardous behaviours among adolescents and young adults and to improve healthcare strategies.

The paper tests longitudinally the hypothesis that educational subcultures in terms of which students interpret their role and their educational setting affect the probability of dropping out of higher education. A logistic regression model was performed to predict drop out at the beginning of the second academic year for the 823 freshmen of a three-year bachelor degree in psychology at an Italian university. The model uses both measures of students' educational subculture and incoming levels of knowledge and skills. The probability of dropping out was used as dependent variable. Results show that the probability of dropping out is significantly associated with students' educational subculture – but not with their incoming level of knowledge and skills. Our results suggest the need to recognize the meaning as a legitimate variable of research and of intervention in the field of educational success

A number of studies show how different social groups express heterogeneous evaluations about the meaning of “risk” and the nature of the acceptable conducts. From a cultural perspective, the current study tests the hypothesis that subjective cultures in terms of which people interpret their role and their social environment affect the magnitude of the risk perceived related to different kinds of behaviours: substance (alcohol, hard drugs, marijuana or nicotine) consumption, internet use and gambling. The study involved 198 bachelor degree students from South-East Italy. Respondents were asked to assess the risk related to each of the target behaviours, in three domains: health, relationships and social approval/stigma. Principal Components Analyses allowed to identify two factorial dimensions for each domain: as regards the health, respondents express different evaluations of the risk related to substance use or specific behaviours; as regard the relationships, the differentiation concerns socialized and not socialized behaviours; as regards social approval, the differentiation concerns licit and illicit behaviours. The questionnaire on the Interpretation of the Social Environment (Mossi and Salvatore, 2011) was used to detect the subjective cultures. The Analysis of Multiple Correspondence allowed to identify the two principal dimensions of sense which organize them. Finally, Kendall correlations were applied to analyse the linkage between the components of risk rating and the components of subjective cultures. The results provide support for the idea that cultural differences in the way of evaluating the social environment are related to a different evaluation of the risk related to different kind of hazardous behaviours. The Implications for strategies of intervention will be discussed.

Pochi lavori scientifici hanno esaminato il ruolo del significato sul successo educativo. Gli autori presentano uno studio volto a testare longitudinalmente l’ipotesi che i modelli socio-simbolici espressi dagli studenti impattino la probabilità di abbandonare gli studi universitari. Un modello socio-simbolico può essere descritto come un set coerente di significati generalizzati nei termini dei quali gli studenti interpretano il proprio ruolo e più in generale l’ambiente nel quale sono iscritti. Lo studio è stato volto a identificare i modelli socio simbolici di interpretazione dell’ambiente sociale espressi dagli studenti di un corso di laurea triennale in Psicologia, all’inizio del percorso accademico, e il loro rapporto con la permanenza all’università o il drop out. I risultati incoraggiano l’ipotesi di un ruolo significativo dei modelli socio simbolici nella comprensione del successo o del fallimento formativo e suggeriscono la necessità di politiche di sviluppo della qualità universitaria attente al loro riconoscimento e alla loro elaborazione. Few scientific works have investigated the role of the meaning in the educational success. The authors present a study aimed to test longitudinally the hypothesis that the socio-symbolic models affects the probability of dropping out of higher education. A socio-symbolic model is a consistent set of generalized meanings in terms of which students interpret their role and more in general the social environment they participate in. The study aimed at identifying the socio-symbolic models by which the students of a three-years degree course in Psychology interpret their social environment, raised at the beginning of the academic path, and their relationship with their study retention. The results give support to the hypothesis of a central role of the sociosymbolic models in the understanding of the educational success or failure, and suggest the need for improving the academic quality policies caring for their recognition and elaboration.

Characteristics of the higher educational programs (e.g. non systematic variability of course’s difficulty among and within programs and over times) make observed data (e.g. number of credits acquired) poorly informative indexes of the students’ performance. As alternative, it is proposed an extended version of Rasch model (the Three Facets Model, TFM). TFM conceptualizes student’s performance the expression of a three-component latent variable to be esteemed. In so doing, TFM is able to take into account the non-systematic sources of variation characterizing higher educatonal settings, thus avoiding limits entailed in the use of indexes based on observed data. An exemplificative longitudinal case study has been performed, aimed at detecting predictors of performance within an undergraduate program of psychology of an Italian university. Two regression models have been compared: one using a traditional index of performance based on observed data versus one using the TFM estimation.

It is recognised that cultural factors play a role in the onset and continuation of several mental health problems. However, there is a significant lack of empirical studies investigating the relationships between cultural factors and gambling behavior. This study assessed whether the subjective cultures through which subjects interpret and enact their experience of the social environment play a major role in increasing (or decreasing) the probability of pathological gambling. Participants, recruited in three different contexts (public health services for the treatment of addiction, casino, undergraduate course) were subjected to the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) (Lesieur and Blume in Am J Psychiatry 144(9):1184–1188, 1987), in order to identify a group of pathological gamblers—and with the Questionnaire on the Interpretation of the Social Environment (QUISE) (Mossi and Salvatore in Eur J Educ Psychol 4(2):153–169, 2011)—in order to detect their subjective cultures. The study compares pathological group (scoring >5 on SOGS, n = 34) and a healthy control group (scoring <1 on SOGS, n = 35). One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare groups on QUISE scores of subjective culture. Moreover, a logistic regression was applied in order to esteem the capability of the QUISE scores to differentiate between pathological gamblers and control. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that pathological group expresses different subjective cultures compared with no gambler subjects. The theoretical and clinical implications of the results are discussed.

The teaching-learning process is grounded on cultural assumptions concerning the sense of the teaching relationship: who are the people engaged in the shared scholastic activity, what and why they are doing what they are doing. Generally, these assumptions are taken for granted and acted out, rather than being negotiated between student and teacher. Starting from the analysis of a transcript of communicative interaction in class, we discuss conditions and constraints concerning the educational model that we call “taken for granted setting”. Moreover, we highlight the fact that due to the profound cultural change in the student population, the teaching-learning relationship can no longer take these relational assumptions for granted. Consequently, we propose to consider teaching as being aimed at constructing, developing and governing the relational conditions required for the teaching to take place. We call such a methodological approach: reframing setting.