93503 - Developmental Psychology and Wellbeing

Learning outcomes

By the end of the learning activity students will know the main theoretical approaches to promote well-being across the life-span, tools for assessing the quality of life and psychological well-being in children and adults with typical and atypical development, interventions aimed at improving well-being in developmental and learning contexts

Course contents

The course presents theories, methods, and assessment and intervention tools to promote wellbeing, quality of life and learning in a development perspective.

The course will take place during the first cycle of lectures (from Wednesday 30 of September to Friday 21 of November 2025) at the Aula 2 via Filippo Re, 10 Bologna: module 1 (prof. Addabbo) each Wednesday and module 2 (prof. Tomasetto) each Friday.

The course involves the following integrated and complementary modules:

Margaret Addabbo (3 credits; 24 hours)
This module focuses on the promotion of wellbeing during the early years of life. Particular attention will be devoted to:

• Environmental influences on cognitive, emotional, and brain development across the lifespan
• Promotion of wellbeing in early childhood
• Supportive environments and healthy development

• The role of technologies in human development

Carlo Tomasetto (3 credits; 24 hours)
The module will provide an advanced theoretical and empirical approach to understand the developmental consequences of children’s and adolescents’ exposure to social stressors in the family environment, in the socio-cultural context, and in extreme life conditions (such as in war contexts).In detail, the module will focus on:

• Forms of child maltreatment
• Exposure to gender-based violence and Intimate Partner Violence in the family environment
• Exposure to social stigma and its effects on children’s health, quality of life and psycho-social functioning.
• Children in war contexts.

Evidence-based interventions to prevent and reduce the impact of children’s exposure to different social stressors will be illustrated.

Each module is composed by theoretical parts, tools presentation, and greoup activities on the covered topics.

Readings/Bibliography

Scientific papers and other course materials for this course will be made available in the course website. These readings are mandatory to pass the final exam.

Teaching methods

Frontal lectures to interactively discuss course topics, group class presentations, and small-group hands-on activities.

Assessment methods

The final assessment consists of two components:

• Final written examination: a comprehensive test covering the contents of both modules. The exam will include multiple-choice and two open-ended questions designed to assess students' knowledge of the theoretical models and their ability to apply developmental psychology concepts.
• Class presentations: During the course, students will complete one or two small-group presentation on a topic related to the promotion of wellbeing in developmental psychology. The presentation will contribute to the final grade.

The final grade is based on the combined evaluation of the written examination and the class presentation). The maximum grade is 30/30 with honors (30 e lode), and 18/30 is the minimum passing grade.

Teaching tools

Students with learning disorders and\or temporary or permanent disabilities: please, contact the office responsible (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students ) as soon as possible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.

With regard to assessment, a limited, transparent, and non-substantive use of AI is permitted for support activities, such as summarising and rephrasing. Substantive use of AI for completing parts of the assessment is not permitted.

Office hours

See the website of Carlo Tomasetto

See the website of Margaret Addabbo