LIBRI DI PAOLO INGHILLERI

We investigated the profiles of children and youth in street situations in Mlango Kubwa slum in Nairobi. Through a quanti-qualitative questionnaire, we collected the responses of 300 children and youth, starting from the social determinants of health as indicators of vulnerability. The foremost objective is to understand their social and health conditions as vulnerable/at-risk street groups. The secondary goal is to identify the populations’ strengths, inspecting protection mechanisms, survival strategies and dreams. The data show a complex situation: experiences of trauma, violence, conflict and abandonment; ambivalent family ties, school drop-out, lack of legal and physical protection, homelessness, living below the limit of extreme poverty. The street has activated survival strategies, mostly on an individual level, but functioning as a “base system” the street seems to act as a protective system and a possible scenario in which to create a different future together with youth workers: reconnecting with the family, liaising with expert figures in order to return to school or look for suitable training. Working with children and youth in street situations highlights the complexity of their vulnerability. This could be addressed through an integrated approach and a comprehensive primary health care model.

The Italian labor market is recognized as disadvantaged for foreign-born citizens, with negative effects on their psychosocial wellbeing. In other countries, significant differences between career aspirations and expectations or perceived opportunities in native and foreign-born citizens has been welldocumented, mainly due to the presence of perceived socio-economic barriers, while studies on this topic are lacking in Italy. Addressing this research gap, we investigated the relationship between career expectations and aspirations in native and foreign-born citizens and the role of the perceived contextual barriers within an Italian sample. 291 inhabitants of Pioltello, a multicultural municipality in the metropolitan area of Milan, were involved in our quantitative study. Results suggest that, in line with the latest research trends, the Italian context differences already emerge in the aspirational phase, as foreign-born citizens are more aligned than natives with the labor market demands. Differently, natives operate a stronger realignment in the transition from career aspirations to expectations. Moreover, foreign-born citizens also perceive a stronger influence of socio-economic barriers on their career opportunities. Policy implications of this findings in psycho-social and educational fields, aimed at promoting individual and social wellbeing, are finally discussed.

Il contributo evidenzia il ruolo di Marcello-Cesa Bianchi e dell’Istituto di Psicologia della Facoltà Medica dell’Università degli Studi di Milano nella nascita della moderna psicologia e psicoterapia transculturale in Italia. Attraverso ricerche sul campo in differenti culture, l’elaborazione teorica e il confronto con altre discipline come la psicologia evoluzionistica e l’antropologia, la scuola di Cesa-Bianchi apre nuove prospettive nei diversi campi della psicologia culturale. Di particolare interesse è la riflessione metodologica che integra l’approccio quantitativo della psicologia scientifica con i metodi di ricerca qualitativi delle scienze umane.

Lo sviluppo psicologico degli adolescenti che appartengono a famiglie migranti mostra un continuo processo di mediazione e negoziazione tra due sistemi di valori, quello di origine e quello italiano. Un risultato possibile di questo processo è lo sviluppo di un Sé più ricco e complesso. Gli adolescenti possono cioè raggiungere uno sviluppo ottimale attraverso l’integrazione creativa di un doppio sistema di informazione, a livello sia cognitivo che affettivo. Questo articolo mostra e discute i risultati di una ricerca qualitativa condotta a Milano con un gruppo di adolescenti della cosiddetta seconda generazione particolarmente dotati a livello scolastico. In particolare sarà evidenziato il ruolo dei processi di creatività, di autodeterminazione e di soggettivazione nello sviluppo del Sé adolescenziale.

Un approccio transculturale adatto alla cura degli adolescenti stranieri di seconda generazione o immigrati nei primi anni dell’infanzia, che si ispira al modello clinico della scuola di Psicoterapia Transculturale della Fondazione Cecchini-Pace di Milano. Il testo propone la costruzione di dispositivi terapeutici flessibili, adatti alle caratteristiche specifiche di ciascun paziente, tenendo in considerazione le sue caratteristiche culturali, i processi di cambiamento legati alla migrazione e alla variabilità individuale.

Attaccamento ai luoghi, identità giovanile e benessere: una ricerca in Europa e implicazioni per la comunicazione interculturale - This paper investigates the connections between place attachment, Well-being and cultural differences in students of three European countries: Italy, Uk and Romania. A sample of 445 participants was investigated on a number of issues, including reported Well-being (using the Satisfaction with Life Scale), place identity, place attachment and place preferences. The results show an existing direct link between place attachment and life satisfaction; this relationship becomes stronger during the adolescence. A second cluster of data shows an emerging need to integrate and to balance global and local sense of belonging to improve the subjective Well-being. The last evidence concerns the perceived place identity, because there’s a significant difference in managing the place meanings between cultural groups. In particular, the difference we found regards subjects who consider themselves citizens of other countries while residing in the three countries examined, and as such they presumably belong to linguistic and ethnic groups of long-time or recent immigration. This findings demonstrated the utility of the integration between Environmental and Positive Psychology, with the aim to investigate the suggested happiness-place links. The implications for new intercultural communication’s strategies are discussed.

La prima parte di questo lavoro sottolinea le simmetrie concettuali tra psicologia e legge. In questo senso vengono analizzati i concetti di codice (normativo, culturale, biologico) e di artefatto. La legge, intesa come prodotto artificiale umano, ha, come tutti gli artefatti, un doppio statuto: legge esterna (depositata nei codici) e legge interiorizzata nel mondo interno individuale. Si hanno così tre casi: il caso dell’interiorizzazione profonda della legge attraverso un’assonanza tra regole esterne culturali e regole interne introiettate, il caso della discrepanza tra norme interiorizzate e norme culturali esterne che può portare a conflitto intrapsichico e, di conseguenza, a comportamenti devianti ed, infine, il caso in cui un sistema culturale ben funzionante (i cui membri interiorizzano attivamente le norme) si trova a interagire con un altro sistema culturale altrettanto organizzato, complesso e ben funzionante: pensiamo alle relazioni attuali tra differenti culture mondiali (come quella occidentale e quella islamica). Di fronte ai rischi di quest’ultima possibilità vengono analizzati i meccanismi regolatori positivi della cultura.

Recent data highlight that specific traditional healing systems among immigrants exist in Italy. Traditional familiar medicine and even more structured healing systems managed by professional figures are imported from the original country, and widely used also in Italy. The object of this research, developed within Milan’s territory, is to investigate communication between extra EU citizens belonging to the main communities (Chinese, Egyptian, Philipino, Peruvian) and their own traditional sanitary institutions. Our aim consisted of: a) verifying the presence and consistence of these practices; b) highlighting its action on cceptance/rejection mechanisms in foreign citizens towards Italian sanitary system; c) evaluating the possibility of collaborating between the two systems (traditional, western), and particularly about creating new bicultural services. We proceeded through the following phases: 1) definition of traditional practices and their healing mechanisms, through literature review; 2) focus group and in depth interviews with chosen witnesses; 3) in depth interviews with traditional healers; 4) data analysis and conclusions. The descriptive data analysis started with the answers given regarding the focus points at the interviews. Common elements, shared by the four communities, emerged together with distinguishing marks. Adoption of traditional healing systems is common to all the communities. The use of popular, familiar medicine managed by the elders is widespread. We can say the same for traditional healers with some differences among the communities. Especially in the case of Peruvian community, the figure of shaman seems to be lost, probably because of deep cultural change in the country of origin. All the immigrants use traditional and western medicine alternatively. The choice is pragmatic, based on benefit evaluation and perception. The use of western medicine is instrumental, without deeply effecting the theoretical corpus of the belonging culture. In some cases the traditional treatment has the role of "memory’s object"; in others both traditional and western healers intervene, highlighting one’s passive position relying upon the powerful external intervention. In general, there is integration between the two healing systems. But, while, according to some groups (Chinese), integration means complementary, in other communities (Egyptian) traditional and western medicine are different systems working on different levels and contexts. In any case, their proposal is an easier access to all the treatments in one place, in order to adequate the sanitary service as to the new user’s needs. Immigrants seem to suggest a process where the alternation of different cultural and healing systems, together with respect of individual choice and experience, can open the way to a real form of biculturalism.

Il volume raccoglie i contributi di studiosi che oggi in Italia si occupano di psicologia positiva, attraverso programmi di ricerca e di intervento centrati su temi – quali il benessere, l’ottimismo, le esperienze ottimali, l’empowerment, la resilienza, l’auto-determinazione – che da qualche anno suscitano un crescente interesse sia nell’ambito accademico sia in quello professionale. Il benessere viene qui inteso non come soddisfazione di bisogni soggettivi e conseguimento di obiettivi personali, ma come condizione ottimale che scaturisce da un’integrazione armonica tra crescita individuale e sviluppo culturale. Il testo intende offrire una panoramica aggiornata sugli studi e sulle applicazioni in psicologia positiva. Antonella Delle Fave, medico, specialista in psicologia clinica, è professore di psicologia generale presso la Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia dell’Università di Milano.