Interazione Personalità-Situazione: verso una maggior comprensione delle reazioni emotivo-comportamentali in risposta a diverse situazioni in un campione di adolescenti

Objectives. Psychological characteristics of situations can be articulated around eight major dimensions: The “Situational Eight” DIAMONDS (Duty, Intellect, Adversity, Mating, pOsitivity, Negativity, Deception and Sociality). However, the DIAMONDS model has been developed to assess everyday normal situations experienced by non-clinical adults. The aim of this contribution is to investigate the DIAMONDS applicability to everyday situations experienced by adolescents. Furthermore, we aim at examining rejecting situations through the DIAMONDS and exploring their associations with pathological personality traits, rejection sensitivity, and emotional and behavioral outcomes. Methods. In a first study, a sample of 201 adolescents (age range from 14 to 18 years) described the situation experienced the previous evening at 5 p.m. using the DIAMONDS dimensions and reported their behavioral and emotional reactions. They also completed a series of measures including scales related to their personality traits. In a second study still on adolescents, a sample of additional items related to rejecting situations was added to the DIAMONDS to use for describing a typical daily-life situation and the most recent rejecting situation experienced. Participants reported also their behavioral and emotional reactions to each situation and then completed measures of rejection sensitivity and pathological personality traits. Results. A series of correlation and mediation analyses tested the validity of DIAMONDS in describing adolescents’ psychological experience of situations, and thus allowing exploring the specific characteristics of various situations (rejection or not). Behavioral and emotional reactions to situations were also connected to personality pathology and levels of rejection sensitivity. Conclusions. The exploration of the psychological characteristics of situations in adolescents allows shedding light on the behavioral and emotional outcomes related to the person-situation interaction.