This study, guided by a social–ecological perspective, examines the direct link between social climate and the overall adjustment difficulties of adolescents in residential care settings (RCSs), as ...well as the mediating role of physical victimization by peers in this link. Structured, self-report, anonymous questionnaires were completed by 1324 Israeli Arab and Jewish adolescents, aged 11 to 19, residing in 32 RCSs for children at risk. The mediation model was performed using bootstrap in SPSS. The findings reveal a negative significant association between the adolescents' perceived social climate (which included the following aspects: staff support, staff strictness, children's behavior, children's friendliness, and satisfaction with the RCS) and overall adjustment difficulties, as well as a negative significant association between social climate and peer physical victimization experiences in the RCS. In addition, it was found that peer physical victimization experiences have a mediating role in the link between social climate and adjustment difficulties. In other words, the path between the RCS social climate and adolescents' adjustment difficulties is weaker after including the mediating influence of victimization by peers. The results of the current study emphasize the need to examine the contribution of various characteristics of the stay experience, rather than focusing solely on personal characteristics and family history to enhance our understanding of the variance in adjustment difficulties of adolescents in RCS.
•The study addresses social climate and youth adjustment in residential care settings•Based on the reports of 1324 adolescents in 32 Israeli settings•Social climate is negatively associated with adjustment difficulties•Peer physical victimization has a mediating role in this association•The study emphasizes the contribution of stay experiences factors to youth wellbeing
U novije vrijeme smatra se da učitelji imaju ključnu ulogu u suočavanju s problemom vršnjačkog nasilja, a za kvalitetne intervencije važna je kompetentnost učitelja. Cilj ovog istraživanja je ...ispitati odnos kompetentnosti i percipirane ozbiljnosti nasilne situacije u predviđanju intervencija učitelja u slučajevima vršnjačkog nasilja. Istraživanje je provedeno na nacionalno reprezentativnom uzorku (N=639) učitelja osnovnih škola u Republici Hrvatskoj, prosječne dobi 43 godine (sd=10,59). Za prikupljanje podataka, uz upitnik sociodemografskih karakteristika, korištene su Vinjete te Skala samoprocjene kompetentnosti za rad učitelja na problemima vršnjačkog nasilja. Uz analizu temeljnih odrednica kompetentnosti utvrđeno je da će učitelji koji su kompetentniji procjenjivati nasilje ozbiljnije od svojih manje kompetentnih kolega, a oni koji nasilje percipiraju ozbiljnije češće će i intervenirati. Rezultati pokazuju da kompetentnost ima značajnu prediktivnu ulogu u predviđanju intervencija, a u tom odnosu ozbiljnost nasilja ima moderatorski efekt. Najnižu vjerojatnost intervencije imaju učitelji s niskom kompetentnosti i niskom percepcijom ozbiljnosti nasilja, a najvišu vjerojatnost intervencije imaju učitelji koji imaju visoke razine kompetentnosti i procjenjuju nasilje ozbiljnim. Uz temeljno određenje kompetentnosti, ovaj rad nudi i relevantne smjernice za edukaciju učitelja.
In recent times, teachers are considered to play a key role in dealing with the problem of peer violence and their competence is very important for quality interventions. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between competence and perceived severity of a violent situation in predicting teacher intervention in cases of peer violence. The research was conducted on a nationally representative sample (N = 639) of primary school teachers in the Republic of Croatia, average age 43 years (SD = 10,599). In addition to the socio-demographic characteristics questionnaire, data was collected via Vignettes and the Self- Assessment Competence Scale for Teachers’ Work on Peer Violence Problems. In addition to the analysis of the basic determinants of competence, it was found that teachers who are more competent will assess violence somewhat more seriously than their less competent colleagues, and those who perceive violence more seriously will also intervene more often. The results show that competence has a significant predictive role in predicting interventions, and in this respect the severity of violence has a moderating effect. Teachers with low competence and low perception of the severity of violence have the lowest probability of intervention, and teachers with high levels of competence who assess violence as serious have the highest probability of intervention.
Rizična ponašanja djece i mladih Šentija Knežević, Mirela; Kuculo, Iva; Ajduković, Marina
Hrvatska revija za rehabilitacijska istraživanja,
01/2020, Volume:
55, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Adolescencija je period u kojem djeca postaju samostalnija te počinju eksperimentirati s novim oblicima ponašanja, što često uključuje i nepoželjna, rizična ponašanja. Takva ponašanja mogu imati ...posljedice poput lošijeg mentalnog zdravlja, lošijeg akademskog uspjeha, problema sa zakonom, razvojem ovisnosti i slično, što ima negativan utjecaj na zdravlje i uspješnost u kasnijem životu. U ovom radu pokušali smo dati pregled čestih rizičnih ponašanja kod adolescenata (vršnjačkog nasilja i konzumacije cigareta, alkohola i marihuane) iz javnozdravstvene perspektive, s posebnim fokusom na situaciju u Hrvatskoj, te rizičnih i zaštitnih faktora za razvoj ovih oblika ponašanja).
Adolescence is a time when children become more independent and start experimenting with new forms of behaviour, which are often undesirable or risky. Such behaviours can have consequences, such as poor mental health, poor academic performance, legal problems, addiction, and other issues that have a major negative impact on health and success in later life. In this paper we try to give an overview of frequent risk behaviours in adolescents (peer violence and cigarette, alcohol and cannabis consumption) from a public health perspective with a special focus on the situation in Croatia, as well as to mention risk factors and protective factors for the development of these behaviours.
Previous studies have assessed the association between food consumption and bullying perpetration, but most of them have not broadly assessed food consumption, neither the distinction between forms ...of bullying. The aim of the study was to evaluate the association between dietary patterns with bullying roles and its different types of bullying perpetration among adolescents. Data on a representative sample of ninth-grade students (N = 2,163; mean age = 14.8 years) taken from Sao Paulo Project for the social development of children and adolescents (SP-PROSO) were used. The independent variables were healthy and unhealthy dietary patterns obtained by exploratory factor analysis. The dependent variables were bullying role (victim-only, bully-only, bully-victim) and bullying perpetration (any type, social exclusion, psychological/verbal aggression, physical aggression, property destruction, sexual harassment). Multinomial and logistic regression models were performed for the total sample and stratified by sex (only for association with sexual harassment), adjusting for covariates. Adolescents who engaged in a healthy dietary pattern were less likely to be bullies (RR 0.67 0.49, 0.92), while adolescents with an unhealthy dietary pattern were more likely to be bully-victims (RR 1.29 1.12, 1.48). Unhealthy dietary pattern was associated with any type of bullying perpetration (OR 1.24 1.12, 1.38), mainly with sexual harassment and physical aggression. Boys who had an unhealthy dietary pattern were more likely to sexually harass another adolescent (OR 2.10 1.20, 3.66). In conclusion, adolescents who had a healthy dietary pattern were less likely to perpetrate bullying. Unhealthy dietary pattern was associated with bullying perpetration, especially with sexual harassment by boys.
There is a paucity of studies on dating violence profiles that incorporate the forms of cyber and sexual dating violence. Moreover, the results on the predictive role of peer violence on dating ...violence are inconsistent. Our aim was to identify dating violence profiles and to study the predictive value of peer violence profiles on dating violence profiles using a short‐term longitudinal design. The sample consisted of 498 adolescents with current or past romantic relationship (42.8% boys), aged 12–18 years (M = 14.22; SD = 1.39). Four dating violence profiles were identified with an overlap between traditional and cyberdating violence. Peer violence profiles were associated with dating violence profiles 4 months later. The results suggest the need to prevent all forms of dating violence at an early age, starting with the improvement of interpersonal relationships between peers.
Objective: Most studies of peer sexual violence (SV) prevention programs for adolescents focus on program outcomes or feasibility and acceptability; few examine how exposure levels or dosage affects ...impact. The present study examined the effects of attending multiple community-located youth-led prevention events, as compared to attending one or none, on peer violence (PV)-related attitudes and behaviors. Method: Middle and high school students (Mage at first wave = 13.7; 53.2% female; 76.5% White; 21.0% Native American) responded to surveys across 3 years. Logistic regression analyses compared students who attended one community-based event, two or more events, and zero events on sexual violence victimization, any other violence perpetration/victimization, social norms, denial of the problem of sexual violence, and bystander behaviors. Results: After controlling for exposure to longer prevention leadership training as well as baseline outcome levels, youth who participated in two or more community prevention events showed lower perpetration over time, improved prevention attitudes, and more helpful bystander actions in response to peer sexual violence. No significant differences were noted for attendance at one community-based event. Conclusions: Impact of out of school prevention events on youth behavior depends on more vigorous engagement than one-time contacts. Community-based prevention programs can utilize youth-led engagement strategies to help increase youth participation and resulting benefits.
The association between children's exposure to family violence and poor academic outcomes is well-established. Less is known about how exposure to violence in the school context, i.e., by teachers ...and by peers, affects academic functioning. Moreover, the role of children's mental health problems in this link has hardly been examined.
We examined direct and indirect associations between children's experiences of violence by teachers and peers and children's mental health and school functioning while controlling for children's experiences of parental violence.
Using a multistage random sampling approach, we obtained a representative sample of 914 students (50.5 % girls, Mage = 12.58 years) from 12 primary schools in Tanzania.
In structured interviews, students' experiences of violence and mental health problems were assessed. Students' academic performance and absenteeism were documented using school records. Associations were examined using structural equation modeling.
Experiences of more teacher and peer violence were each significantly associated with higher externalizing problems (teachers: β = 0.27 95 %-CI: 0.12, 0.47; peers: β = 0.17, 95 %-CI: 0.07, 0.32). Higher externalizing problems were significantly associated with poorer academic performance (β = −0.13, 95 %-CI: −0.23, −0.02), implying significant indirect associations between students' experiences of teacher violence (β = −0.04, 95 %-CI: −0.08, −0.01) and peer violence (β = −0.02, 95 %-CI: −0.05, −0.01) and their academic performance via externalizing problems.
Exposure to violence at school may impair children's academic performance indirectly by increasing attention and behaviour problems. Further investigations in longitudinal studies and implementation of interventions to reduce violence in schools are indicated.
Childhood exposure to adversity, including abuse and neglect, is consistently found to be a predictor of intimate partner violence (IPV) and peer violence (PV) perpetration in adulthood. The purpose ...of this study is to qualitatively examine factors that may facilitate or impede the use of violence among those who have been exposed to adversity early in life. We are particularly interested in protective experiences or environments for these participants. The qualitative data were analyzed through thematic coding and narrative analysis of participant life histories.
We found three salient themes: (a) parental acceptance and early attachment is protective for coping with stress with intimate partners in adulthood; (b) certain key life turning points can provide a protective context against violent behavior in adulthood; and (c) poverty in adulthood compromises one’s ability to cope with stress and anger in adulthood.
Our findings contextualize the different factors that may affect the behavior of perpetration of interpersonal violence among high-risk men in Dar es Salaam who have been exposed to adversity in childhood. These findings provide important information on the risk and protective factors for interpersonal violence spanning from childhood to adulthood. This study highlights the importance of child development interventions in this situation, both for the primary prevention of child adversity and for promoting resilience and mitigating the effects of childhood adversity that put men at risk for perpetration of interpersonal violence in adulthood.
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