Speaker
Presentation in English
ELISA DELVECCHIO
UNIVERSITY OF PERUGIA. ITALY
Elisa Delvecchio is Associate Professor of Psychology at the Department of Philosophy, Social Sciences and Education at the University of Perugia (Italy), where she teaches Psychodynamic Assessment of Children and Adolescents, Developmental Psychopathology, Family Assessment and Intervention Planning, and Disaster Psychology. She coordinates the “Psychology and Cultures Lab” at the International Human-being Research Centre (IHRC), University of Perugia.
She has coordinated a Research Program of National Interest (PRIN) funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research, titled Problematic social media use among Italian mid-adolescents: from the identification of risk and protective factors to the co-design and evaluation of a self-help app. She is also involved as coordinator and researcher in several European and national projects aimed at promoting the well-being and inclusion of vulnerable groups.
Her main research interests focus on risk and protective factors at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and cultural levels in relation to anxiety and depressive disorders in childhood and adolescence. She investigates adolescents’ psychological adjustment in the face of contemporary societal challenges, including the pervasive influence of social media, concerns about climate change, and exposure to geopolitical instability and conflict.
She is also interested in the assessment of emotional and cognitive functioning in children with chronic and mental health conditions, using standardized symbolic play tasks. In addition, she is involved in the dissemination and evaluation of the Super Skills for Life intervention program in Italian children.
She has authored or co-authored more than 100 articles in international peer-reviewed journals. She has clinical experience in individual and group therapy with adolescents and adults and currently works as a psychologist at the clinical centre of the University of Perugia.
Adolescence at the crossroads: risk factors and psychological adjustment
Adolescence represents a critical developmental phase characterized by profound biological, psychological, and social transformations. In recent years, this life stage has become increasingly complex, as adolescents are required to navigate not only normative developmental challenges but also a rapidly changing and uncertain global context.
The pervasive influence of social media, growing concerns about climate change, and exposure to geopolitical instability and conflict are among the emerging stressors shaping adolescents’ emotional experiences and developmental trajectories. Within this scenario, understanding the processes underlying psychological adjustment in adolescence is more crucial than ever. While these challenges may act as risk factors for maladjustment, they also interact with individual and contextual resources, contributing to diverse developmental outcomes. Identifying the mechanisms through which adolescents cope with and adapt to such stressors is essential for informing prevention and intervention efforts in clinical and health psychology.
This symposium brings together four contributions examining key risk and protective factors associated with adolescents’ psychological adjustment in the face of current societal challenges. The first contribution explores adolescents’ orientations toward peace and conflict from a psychosocial perspective, highlighting the role of socio-behavioral functioning and individual differences in shaping moral orientations. The second contribution focuses on problematic social media use. A Latent Profile Analysis identifies three profiles (low, moderate, and high risk), with higher-risk profiles showing greater fear of missing out (FoMO) and increased internalizing and externalizing symptoms; notably, externalizing symptoms emerge as a key differentiating factor. The third contribution investigates how value-based environmental concerns translate into behavior, focusing on environmental identity as a potential linking mechanism. While environmental identity has been consistently associated with pro-environmental behavior, the processes through which motivations are translated into action remain unclear; this study also examines its role within broader psychological functioning.
The final contribution examines the psychological mechanisms underlying climate change anxiety, focusing on environmental identity, environmental values, and internalizing symptoms, as well as the mediating role of climate change worry. Findings indicate that internalizing symptoms are directly associated with climate change anxiety, whereas environmental identity and values are linked to it only indirectly through climate change worry, suggesting full mediation. Overall, results underscore the central role of climate change worry and provide new insights into the pathways connecting psychological factors to climate change anxiety.
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