Gordana Keresteš

Children's aggressive and prosocial behavior in relation to war exposure: Testing the role of perceived parenting and child's gender

The aim of the study was to investigate long-term effects of exposure to war on childrens aggressive and prosocial behavior, and to examine the potential moderating roles of perceived parenting and childs gender, by employing a multi-informant research design. Data were collected on a sample of school-age children from Croatia and their homeroom teachers several years after the war in Croatia had ended. The results have shown that being exposed to stressful war events could have negative long-term effects on aggressive and prosocial behavior, for both boys and girls. However, such a negative effect was not found for all of the employed measures of childs behavior, especially for peer ratings. Generally, positive parenting was not able to protect children from negative effects observed, especially when aggression was concerned. However, for teacher-rated prosocial behavior protective role of parenting was found. Among the children who perceived parenting behaviors of their parents more positively, the amount of war exposure was not related to teacher-rated prosocial behavior, while for those who perceived their parents less favourably, a greater amount of war experiences was connected with lower teacher-rated prosocial behavior. Theoretical as well as practical implications of the results were discussed, emphasizing the need of the communities to protect children from both exposure to war violence and negative effects of such exposure.

Reciprocal Associations between Parenting Challenges and Parents' Personality Development in Young and Middle Adulthood

Having children affects many aspects of peoples lives. However, it remains unclear to what degree the challenges that come along with having children are associated with parents’ personality development. We addressed this question in two studies by investigating the relationship between parenting challenges and personality development in mothers of newborns (Study 1, N = 556) and the reciprocal associations between (mastering) parenting challenges and personality development in parents of adolescents (Study 2, N = 548 mothers and 460 fathers). In Study 1, we found the stress of having a newborn baby to be associated with declines in maternal Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability. Parenting challenges were also related to personality development in parents of adolescent children in Study 2, with parent–child conflict being reciprocally associated with decreases in Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability. Mastering parenting challenges in the form of high parenting self–efficacy, on the other hand, was found to be associated with increases in Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability, and vice versa. In sum, our results suggest that mastering the challenges associated with the social role of parenthood is one of the mechanisms underlying personality development in young and middle adulthood. Copyright

War and children's aggressive and prosocial behaviour

The aim of this study was to investigate whether, and how, extreme environmental influence, such as a war situation, can affect the development of childrens aggressive and prosocial behaviour. A combined longitudinal–cross‐sectional design was used in the study. Subjects were preschool children whose behaviour was rated on the Childrens Aggressive and Prosocial Behaviour Rating Scale (Žužul, Keresteš and Vlahović‐štetić, 1990) by their teachers. At the beginning of 1991 (before the war in Croatia started) the behaviour of two groups of children (one five years old and one six years old) was assessed. One year later, the younger group was assessed again. Another group of five‐year‐old children was also included and rated at the same time. Data were analysed according to age, sex and the time of measurements. The analyses of longitudinal data and cross‐sectional comparisons support the conclusion that the war had a strong impact on the development of prosocial behaviour. In this period, childrens prosocial behaviour had increased, while aggressive behaviour had not changed. Results are discussed in terms of developmental changes and the effects of war on childrens behaviour.

Pet Ownership and Children's Self-Esteem in the Context of War

ABSTRACTThe aim of this study was to examine possible beneficial effects of pet ownership on the self-esteem of war-traumatized school children. The Croatian version of Rosenbergs Self-Esteem Scale was administered to three groups of elementary school children of both sexes, grades 5 to 8, all severely affected by war: dog or cat owners (n=295), owners of other kinds of animals (n=144), and non-pet owners (n=173). There were no differences between groups on basic socio-demographic variables. It was hypothesized that war-traumatized pet owners, especially owners of dogs and cats, would have higher self-esteem than war-traumatized non-pet owners. Sex and age differences in self-esteem were also examined. The results of the three-way ANOVA (Pet x Ownership x Sex x Age) showed that only age had a significant effect on self-esteem, with fifth and sixth graders having higher self-esteem than seventh and eight graders. Thus, the hypothesis that pet ownership could have beneficial effects on self-esteem of war-t...

Trajectories of Change and Relationship Between Parent-Adolescent School-Related Conflict and Academic Achievement in Early Adolescence

The study explored changes in parent-adolescent school-related conflict rate and academic performance over a 5-year period among Croatian early adolescents and gender differences in these changes. Furthermore, it examined the relationship between conflict and achievement. The study was performed by applying an accelerated approach to overlapping cohort design in which 851 adolescents (51.4% girls) and 1,288 parents (53.9% mothers) participated. The data were collected three times, approximately 1 year apart. Parallel forms of the Parent-Adolescent Conflict Scale were administered to measure parent-adolescent conflict rate in different dyads and from different informants. The results of the multilevel modeling showed an overall increase in parent-adolescent school-related conflict rate and a decrease in academic achievement. According to parental reports, conflict with boys increased more steeply than conflict with girls. Boys also showed a steeper decrease in academic achievement than girls. A bidirectional link between school-related conflicts and academic achievement was confirmed.

Self-perceived popularity in early adolescence: Accuracy, associations with loneliness, and gender differences

This study examined the accuracy of sixth- and seventh-grade boys’ and girls’ self-perceived popularity within a group of same- and opposite-gender peers. The links between popularity, self-perceived popularity, and the interaction of these variables in relation to girls’ and boys’ loneliness was also explored. The results showed that boys and girls overestimated their popularity but overestimations were greater when self-perceptions were compared with perceptions of opposite- rather than same-gender peers. Perceiving oneself as popular, as well as actually being perceived as popular by others, was related to less loneliness in both boys and girls. The interaction between self-perceived popularity and actual popularity did not explain significant variance in loneliness above and beyond the contributions of actual and self-perceived popularity.

Who is Popular in Early Adolescence? The Relationship between Perceived Popularity and Gender and Loneliness

Adolescence is a developmental period of heightened importance of the individual’s position within a group of peers, traditionally measured by affective sociometry. Recently, researchers have emphasized the necessity of distinguishing popularity defined by affective sociometry from perceived popularity measured by judgmental sociometry in which group members give the direct estimation of popularity of other group members. While numerous studies about the predictors and correlates of classical sociometric popularity exist, factors associated with perceived popularity are poorly explored. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between perceived popularity and gender of both the assessor and the assessed person as well as loneliness in early adolescence. The participants were 290 elementary school pupils from the sixth and seventh grades. Data were collected by the Sociometric Questionnaire of Perceived Popularity and UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3). The study showed that boys perceived other boys as more popular than girls, whereas girls perceived other girls as more popular than boys. This gender bias was more pronounced among boys. Low popular students of both genders were more lonely than average and high popular students, while differences in loneliness between average and high popular students were not found. Gender did not moderate the relationship of perceived popularity and loneliness. The obtained results can help in the prevention of emotional and behavioral problems related to difficulties in interpersonal relationships.