F.A. Goossens

Bullying and victimization among school-age children: Stability and links to proactive and reactive aggression

The main aim of the study relates to the links between bullying and victimization on the one hand and reactive and proactive aggression on the other. In addition, we also investigated stability and incidence of bullying and victimization. At age 7, 236 children were rated on bullying and victimization using peer reports. At age 8, 242 children were rated again. Two hundred and fifteen children (114 girls and 101 boys) were present at both time points. Reactive and proactive aggression was assessed by teachers. The results showed that bullies and bully/victims were both reactively and proactively aggressive, while victims were only reactively aggressive. A moderate degree of stability of bullying and victimization was found, with bullying being more stable than victimization. Boys were more often bullies than girls and more stable than girls in victimization. Stable victims and stable bully/victims were more reactively aggressive than their unstable counterparts. The relevance of the outcomes to preventing future maladjustment and suggestions for further research are discussed.

Severe maternal psychopathology and infant-mother attachment.

Eighty-two mother-infant dyads, comprising women with psychiatric disorder and individually matched controls, were followed up over the childrens 1st year of life. The mothers with mental illness consisted of two subgroups: first, 25 severely mentally ill mothers who had been admitted to a psychiatric unit with their infants; and second, 16 mothers from a community sample meeting research diagnostic criteria for unipolar, nonpsychotic depression. With the exception of six dyads in the in-patient group, observations were made of the mother-infant interaction and the quality of the infant-mother attachment relationship at 12 months. The nature and course of the mothers illness was also documented. Although few residual symptoms of maternal mental illness were detected at 1 year postpartum, interactional disturbances were evident among the case group dyads. A strong association was revealed between infant-mother attachment quality and maternal diagnosis; a manic episode of illness in the postpartum period was related to security in the attachment relationship, and psychotic or nonpsychotic depression was related to insecurity. Concurrent patterns of mother-infant interaction provided support for this finding.

Children's opinions on effective strategies to cope with bullying: the importance of bullying role and perspective

In order to find out what children would suggest as useful interventions to stop bullying, we designed a questionnaire administered to 311 children (155 boys and 156 girls; mean ageu200a=u200a11 years). Thirty-six items were employed to ask children how effective, in their opinion, retaliation, nonchalance and assertiveness could be in stopping bullying. Items were presented to children from three different perspectives (imagine you are the victim, the bully or a witness). We used peer reports to assess childrens role in bullying. Children were grouped into bullies, followers of the bully, defenders of the victims, outsiders, victims and those not involved. The strategy most frequently chosen by all children was to cope with bullying through assertiveness. Bullies considered retaliation effective more often than their classmates, especially when they adopted the perspective of the victim or witness. Bullies did not consider assertive strategies as efficient in stopping the bully. Defenders, outsiders, victims and children not involved, on the other hand, were very much in favour of strategies aimed at solving the conflict through nonchalance or assertiveness, especially when they imagined being the bully. Girls chose assertive strategies more often than boys and younger children preferred nonchalance more often than older children, who tended to choose retaliation more often. Suggestions for intervention are made.

Judgments of aggressive, withdrawn and prosocial behavior: Perceived control, anger, pity and sympathy in young Dutch children

In two studies, we examined first- and second-grade childrens judgments of aggressive, withdrawn, and prosocial behavior by means of fictional scenarios. In study I, we compared judgments of fictional aggressive children with those of fictional withdrawn children. Aggressive children were perceived as more responsible for their behavior and elicited more feelings of anger, while withdrawn children were more likely to be chosen as a friend and elicited more feelings of pity. In study II, we compared judgments of fictional aggressive, withdrawn, and prosocial children with each other. Again aggressive children elicited the strongest feelings of anger, while withdrawn children elicited the strongest feelings of pity. These withdrawn children were perceived as more similar to the prosocial children. In an attempt to test the ecological validity of our sympathy measure, we asked children to rate their peers on a three-point liking scale and checked the scores of those judged to be aggressive by their teachers. These aggressive children were found to receive the lowest liking scores. The results are discussed.

On the ecological validity of measuring the sensitivity of professional caregivers: The laboratory versus the nursery

Much research indicates the importance of interactional experience for young children in developing their competence. In particular sensitive responsiveness in interaction has been associated with beneficial developmental outcomes and is often regarded as a central component of good quality child care. This study considers some alternative ways of measuring the sensitivity of caregivers. Thirty professional caregiver-infant dyads were observed in three different situations: In the laboratory during free-play (1), during a task (2) and at the nursery itself while caring for 10 infants with a colleague (3). Results indicated that their sensitivity was highest in situation 1; this score was moderately related to the sensitivity score in situation 2 and to that in the nursery. The sensitivity scores in situations 2 and 3 were not significantly related. The data support the view that sensitivity is subject to contextual influences and that researchers need to think carefully about the when and where of such measurements.RésuméBeaucoup de travaux montrent l’importance des expériences interactives dans le développement de la compétence des jeunes enfants. En favorables pour le développement et est souvent considérée comme une dimension centrale de la bonne qualité de la prise en charge. Dans cette étude on propose différents moyens de mesurer la réactivité affective des adultes. Trente dyades enfant-adulte ont été observées dans trois situations différentes: au laboratoire pendant des activités libres (1), pendant la réalisation d’une tâche (2), et à la crèche quand l’adulte et un collègue s’occupent d’un groupe de dix bébés (3). Les résultats montrent que les réactions affectives sont plus nombreuses dans la situation 1 et qu’elles n’ont qu’une faible corrélation avec ce que l’on observe dans les deux autres situations. Les scores de réaction affective des situations 2 et 3 n’entretiennent par ailleurs pas de corrélation significative. Les données confirment que la réactivité affective dépend du contexte et que sa mesure doit tenir compte des conditions de lieu et de temps des observations.

High self-perceived social competence in rejected children is related to frequent fighting

High levels of aggression have long been assumed to be related to low self-esteem. Empirical studies have, however, never demonstrated any relation between low self-esteem and aggressive behaviour. Recently Baumeister and colleagues (1996) proposed that aggressive behaviour does not result from low, but from unrealistically high self-esteem. They expect aggressive behaviour to occur when an unrealistically positive evaluation of oneself is disputed or threatened by others. In the present study Baumeisters proposition was tested for the domain of social acceptance in 179 third- and fourth-grade children. Self-esteem in the social domain was operationalized as self-perceived social competence, while threats to high self-perceived social competence were operationalized as rejection by peers. Participants completed the Dutch version of the Self-Perception Profile for Children and sociometric ratings of (dis)likeability and aggressiveness. Three rival hypotheses were tested: (1) the traditional hypothesis that aggressive behaviour is associated with low self-perceived competence; (2) the simplified hypothesis that aggressive behaviour is associated with high self-perceived competence; and (3) Baumeisters original hypothesis that aggressive behaviour is related to high self-perceived competence only when the latter is combined with less-favourable judgments from others. No support was found for the traditional hypothesis. Baumeisters original hypothesis was supported and explained more variance in aggressive behaviour than the simplified hypothesis.

Measuring Infant-Mother Attachment: Is the Strange Situation Enough?.

The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of a new procedure for assessing infant-mother attachment. Sixty children (34 in child care) and their mothers were seen in the Strange Situation (SS) at 17 months and in a new attachment assessment, the California Attachment Procedure (CAP), which does not involve mother-child separations, at 18 months. Overall, children were more likely to be classified as secure in the CAP (83% vs. 67%), but this was particularly true for children with experience in routine nonmaternal care. Of the children in nonmaternal care who were insecure in the SS, 91% were secure in the CAP, whereas of the maternal-care children who were insecure in the SS, only 44% were secure in the CAP. Attachment security in the CAP was more highly correlated with observed maternal sensitivity than was attachment security in the SS, particularly for children in nonmaternal care.