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Clown doctors play a crucial role in enhancing the well-being of patients through the use of humor. However, little is known about how the use of humor by clown doctors changes in relation to the developmental age of patients. This research explores the interplay between the type of humor used by clown doctors, their experience (in terms of years of clowning and type of clowning), and the developmental age of the patients (children, adolescents, adults, elderly). Data for this cross-sectional study were collected through an online survey distributed to 210 Italian clown doctors (143 females, 67 males), aged between 18 and 75 years (M = 47.34, SD = 12.31), affiliated with different Clown Care Units. The survey included the Comic Styles Markers, questions on the patients' developmental age, type of clowning (Auguste vs. Whiteface), and years of experience. The findings enhance our understanding on how clown doctors interact with patients of different developmental ages. The discussion draws connections to previous studies conducted on groups of clown doctors, providing a broader context for understanding the implications of humorous interactions in this unique healthcare domain.

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Healthcare clowning represents a well-established method for relieving patients and their relatives of discomfort during hospitalization. Although studies concerning the effectiveness of this approach are increasing in number, state-of-the-art studies conducted to evaluate the psychological characteristics of clown doctors are scarce. In this cross-sectional study, a convenient sample of 210 clown doctors (143 females, 67 males) aged between 18 and 75 years (M = 47.34, SD = 12.31) completed a demographic questionnaire, the Comic Styles Markers, and the Short Measure for Adult Playfulness. The results demonstrated that clown doctors bring higher levels of fun, benevolent humor, and nonsense and a lower level of cynicism compared to the populace. Moreover, the participants with more experience tend to use less irony, sarcasm, and cynicism than those with less experience. Playfulness was primarily related to the lighter styles of humor, and specific differences between the Whiteface and the Auguste clown doctors were observed. The results are discussed with reference to previous studies conducted on groups of clown doctors.

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The Brief COPE (Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced) inventory is 14 faced scales used to assess coping strategies. It has been administered on different population samples and translated into several languages. Nonetheless, the Italian validation of its situational format is missing, and the present study aimed to fill this gap. To this end, the original English version of the scale was translated into Italian and administered to a sample of 682 Italian healthcare workers (HCWs), during the first wave of COVID-19. The Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (EFA and CFA) were performed and led to the validation of the Italian Brief COPE (I-Brief COPE) scale, consisting of 21 items, loading properly on 6 factors, which range from activation (F1) to deactivation (F2), via social support (F3), humorous reframing (F4), religious/spiritual reliance (F5), substances use (F6). The six factors identified represent, according to our analyses, the relevant dimensions of coping in a stressful situation such as COVID-19. The results of this study reveal that the I-Brief Cope can be considered as a valid tool for measuring coping strategies in facing stressful, unpredictable, and damaging events.

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BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study was to investigate how gelotophobia is related to secure parental attachment, the degree of satisfaction with social life and coping strategies in a non-clinical sample of young Spanish adults. METHOD: the sample consisted of 306 young Spanish adults (M= 21.4 years; SD= 2.27; 67.6% women). The relationships between the study variables were analysed and a mediation model was tested in which gelotophobia (M) mediated the relationship between secure parental attachment (IV) and the level of satisfaction with social life (DV). RESULTS: a satisfactory social life was related with low levels of gelotophobia and high levels of secure attachment to the father, as well as with the use of positive coping strategies of control and social support. Secure attachment to the father was positively associated with coping strategies focused on seeking social support and negatively associated with gelotophobia. CONCLUSIONS: High levels of secure attachment to the father are related to higher life satisfaction mediated by low levels of gelotophobia.

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The Coping Humor Scale (CHS) is a seven-item tool widely used to assess the use of humor in coping with stressful situations. The beneficial effect of humor in buffering the impact of negative experiences has been investigated in several contexts and populations; for this reason, the CHS has been used in many languages, but its solid validation in Italian is still missing. Our study aimed at building a robust instrument to measure coping humor strategies among Italian health care workers, a category which has been particularly exposed to stressful situations in the last two years. The CHS translated into Italian was administered to a sample of 735 health care workers during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. Confirmatory factor analysis and Rasch analysis were performed. As a result, a six-item Robust Italian Coping Humor Scale (RI-CHS) was validated and ready to use for future studies on Italian health care workers' samples. This study gives evidence that our six-item solution works as a ruler (i.e., an instrument that meets the conditions of fundamental measurement in the context of the human sciences) to measure the degree to which Italian health care workers rely on humor to cope with stress.

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Background: The aim of the present study was to investigate how gelotophobia is related to secure parental attachment, the degree of satisfaction with social life and coping strategies in a non-clinical sample of young Spanish adults. Method: the sample consisted of 306 young Spanish adults (M= 21.4 years; SD= 2.27; 67.6% women). The relationships between the study variables were analysed and a mediation model was tested in which gelotophobia (M) mediated the relationship between secure parental attachment (IV) and the level of satisfaction with social life (DV). Results: a satisfactory social life was related with low levels of gelotophobia and high levels of secure attachment to the father, as well as with the use of positive coping strategies of control and social support. Secure attachment to the father was positively associated with coping strategies focused on seeking social support and negatively associated with gelotophobia. Conclusions: High levels of secure attachment to the father are related to higher life satisfaction mediated by low levels of gelotophobia.(AU)

Antecedentes: el objetivo del presente estudio fue investigar la forma en que la gelotofobia se relaciona con el apego seguro parental, el grado de satisfacción con la vida social y las estrategias de afrontamiento en una muestra no clínica de adultos jóvenes españoles. Método: la muestra estuvo conformada por 306 jóvenes adultos españoles (M= 21.4 años; DT= 2.27; 67.6% mujeres). Se analizaron las relaciones entre las variables del estudio y se puso a prueba un modelo de mediación según el cual la gelotofobia (M) media en la relación entre el apego seguro paterno (VI) y el nivel de satisfacción con la vida social (VD). Resultados: una vida social satisfactoria se relacionó con niveles bajos de gelotofobia y altos de apego seguro al padre, así como con el uso de estrategias de afrontamiento positivas de control y apoyo social. El apego seguro al padre se asoció positivamente con las estrategias de afrontamiento centradas en la búsqueda de apoyo social y negativamente con la gelotofobia. Conclusiones: altos niveles de apego seguro al padre se relacionan con una mayor satisfacción con la vida con la mediación de bajos niveles de gelotofobia.(AU)

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The COVID-19 pandemic represented a very difficult physical and psychological challenge for the general population and even more for healthcare workers (HCWs). The main aim of the present study is to test whether there were significant differences between frontline and non-frontline Italian HCWs concerning (a) personality traits, intolerance of uncertainty, coping strategies and perceived stress, and (b) the models of their associations. A total of 682 Italian HCWs completed a self-report questionnaire: 280 employed in COVID-19 wards and 402 in other wards. The analysis of variance omnibus test revealed significant differences between the two groups only for perceived stress, which was higher among the frontline. The multi-group path analysis revealed significant differences in the structure of the associations between the two groups of HCWs, specifically concerning the relations between: personality traits and intolerance of uncertainty; intolerance of uncertainty and coping strategies. Regarding the relation between coping strategies and stress no difference was identified between the two groups. In both of them, emotionally focused coping was negatively related with perceived stress, whereas dysfunctional coping was positively related with stress. These results could be useful in planning actions aiming to reduce stress and improve the effectiveness of HCWs' interventions. Training programs aimed to provide HCWs with a skillset to tackle uncertain and stressful circumstances could represent an appropriate support to develop a preventive approach during outbreaks.

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(1) Background: General beliefs and attitudes toward Male-to-Female Intimate Partner Violence (MFIPV) play a fundamental, critical role in the expression of violent behaviors in relationships during both adolescence and adulthood. The objective of the present study was to contrast the degree of myth acceptance regarding MFIPV, based on the sex and age of Spanish teenagers and emerging adults. (2) Methods: A sample of 1580 participants aged between 15 and 24 took part in the study. The subjects were enrolled in 34 secondary schools and two university centers spread across Seville (Spain). A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was carried out for the data analysis. (3) Results: Overall, males had a higher level of myth acceptance than females in all the dimensions considered in the study. In the case of significantly high levels of myth acceptance, males quintupled females. The research dimension that revealed the greatest differences was romantic love. Regarding age, a degree of stability was observed in the age period of 15-17 years and 18-20 years, but this subsequently decreased for the age range of 21-24 years. (4) Conclusions: Efforts should be focused on promoting actions to challenge male mandates and narratives concerning romantic or true love.

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Intimate partner violence is an important social issue all over the world, and human sciences, in particular, are working to reduce it. Despite this, the topic is a little recognized phenomenon. Understanding the origins and the variables that have an impact on manic-style romantic relationships, as defined by John Alan Lee, is of primary importance, in particular in Italy where the data reveal alarming statistics. Most studies have not controlled for earlier depressive symptoms as a cause of successive depression or as an antecedent of romantic styles. In our study, we investigate the association between depression and romantic style, trying to test the moderating role of the gender variable in 283 Italian emerging adults (139 women and 144 men). In order to achieve this aim, we performed a multigroup structural equation model analysis. The hypothesis that gender moderates the relationship between depression and romantic styles is still yet to be confirmed. Men with high levels of depression do not seem to be able to establish relationships based on commitment, as required by the eros style. Women with high levels of depression are more frequently involved in possessive and demanding relationships or in pragmatic ones, confirming their need for dependence.

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The study aimed to understand how coping strategies in general and humor-based coping strategies in particular modulate the perception of pandemic-related stress in a sample of Italian healthcare workers during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Italy. A total of 625 healthcare workers anonymously and voluntarily completed a 10-min questionnaire, which included psychometrically valid measurements preceded by a set of questions aimed at determining workers' exposure to COVID-19. The Perceived Stress Scale was used to measure healthcare workers' stress levels, and the Brief COPE Scale and Coping Humor Scale were used to assess participants' avoidant or approach coping style and verify the degree to which they relied on humor to cope with stress. The results show that (1) levels of perceived stress were higher in healthcare workers who were more exposed to COVID-19 (i.e., who came into contact with COVID-19 patients or worked in wards dedicated to COVID-19) in comparison to less-exposed workers; (2) participants who reported a higher use of avoidant coping strategies perceived the situation as more stressful than those who used them less; and (3) healthcare workers who reported higher use of humor-based coping strategies perceived the situation as less stressful in comparison with those who reported less use of coping humor. Such findings expanded other research studies by including coping humor as a potential factor to mitigate the perceived stress related to COVID-19. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for future research and limitations of the study.

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In this paper, a parallel analysis of the enjoyment derived from humor and insight problem solving is presented with reference to a "general" Theory of the Pleasures of the Mind (TPM) (Kubovy, 1999) rather than to "local" theories regarding what makes humor and insight problem solving enjoyable. The similarity of these two cognitive activities has already been discussed in previous literature in terms of the cognitive mechanisms which underpin getting a joke or having an insight experience in a problem solving task. The paper explores whether we can learn something new about the similarities and differences between humor and problem solving by means of an investigation of what makes them pleasurable. In the first part of the paper, the framework for this joint analysis is set. Two descriptive studies are then presented in which the participants were asked to report on their experiences relating to solving visuo-spatial insight problems (Study 1) or understanding cartoons (Study 2) in terms of whether they were enjoyable or otherwise. In both studies, the responses were analyzed with reference to a set of categories inspired by the TPM. The results of Study 1 demonstrate that finding the solution to a problem is associated with a positive evaluation, and the most frequent explanations for this were reported as being Curiosity, Virtuosity and Violation of expectations. The results of Study 2 suggest that understanding a joke (Joy of verification) and being surprised by it (Feeling of surprise) were two essential conditions: when they were not present, the cartoons were perceived as not enjoyable. However, this was not enough to explain the motivations for the choice of the most enjoyable cartoons. Recognizing a Violation of expectations and experiencing a Diminishment in the cleverness or awareness initially attributed to the characters in the cartoon were the aspects which were most frequently indicated by the participants to explain why they enjoyed the joke. These findings are evaluated in the final discussion, together with their limitations and potential future developments.

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Within the past decade, there has been a surge of interest in investigating the effects of clown intervention in a large variety of clinical settings. Many studies have focused on the effects of clown intervention on children. However, few studies have investigated clowning effects on adults. This paper presents an overview of the concept of medical clowning followed by a literature review conducted on the empirical studies drawn from three data bases (PubMed, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar), with the aim of mapping and discussing the evidence of clowning effects on non-children, namely adults. The following areas were investigated: Adult and elderly patients (mainly those with dementia), observers of clowning, namely non-hospitalized adults who are at the hospital as relatives of patients or health-care staff, and finally clowns themselves. The main results are that 1) clown intervention induces positive emotions, thereby enhancing the patient's well-being, reduces psychological symptoms and emotional reactivity, and prompts a decrease in negative emotions, such as anxiety and stress; 2) clown doctors are also well-perceived by relatives and healthcare staff and their presence appears to be useful in creating a lighter atmosphere in the health setting; 3) few pilot studies have been conducted on clown doctors and this lacuna represents a subject for future research.