Bullying and victimization at school

Koot, J.M. [Promotor]Schuengel, C. [Promotor]Goossens, F.A. [Copromotor

Links between social information processing in middle childhood and involvement in bullying. [IF 0.95]

The aim of this study was to investigate the way in which bullies, victims, bully/victims, and those not involved process social information. A peer nomination measure of bullying and victimization was administered twice over an interval of one year. The sample consisted of 236 (126 girls and 110 boys) children at the beginning of the study (TI) and 242 children one year later (T2) (mean age: 8 years). To test how children responded when provoked, both spontaneously and after prompting, we used provocation scenarios, and to test their attributional interpretations we used ambiguous scenarios. The results showed that children not involved in bullying responded in an assertive way to provocation more often than bullies and victims, but not more than bully/victims. In general, aggressive answers diminished after prompting and irrelevant answers increased. Appealing for the help of an adult or a peer was the strategy most often chosen. When the intent of the perpetrator was ambiguous, bully/ victims attributed more blame, were angrier, and would retaliate more than those not involved. Partly similar results were obtained when stably involved children were compared with those unstably involved. Suggestions for intervention are presented. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc

Focus on Human Monoamine Transporter Selectivity. New Human DAT and NET Models, Experimental Validation, and SERT Affinity Exploration

The most commonly used antidepressant drugs are the serotonin transporter inhibitors. Their effects depend strongly on the selectivity for a single monoamine transporter compared to other amine transporters or receptors, and the selectivity is roughly influenced by the spatial protein structure. Here, we provide a computational study on three human monoamine transporters, i.e., DAT, NET, and SERT. Starting from the construction of hDAT and hNET models, whose three-dimensional structure is unknown, and the prediction of the binding pose for 19 known inhibitors, 3D-QSAR models of three human transporters were built. The training set variability, which was high in structure and activity profile, was validated using a set of in-house compounds. Results concern more than one aspect. First of all, hDAT and hNET three-dimensional structures were built, validated, and compared to the hSERT one; second, the computational study highlighted the differences in binding site arrangement statistically correlated to inhibitor selectivity; third, the profiling of new inhibitors pointed out a conservation of the inhibitory activity trend between rabbit and human SERT with a difference of about 1 order of magnitude; fourth, binding and functional studies confirmed 4-(benzyloxy)-4-phenylpiperidine 20a-d and 21a-d as potent SERT inhibitors. In particular, one of the compounds (compound 20b) revealed a higher affinity for SERT than paroxetine in human platelets

Peer-Victimization and Mental Health Problems in Adolescents: Are Parental and School Support Protective?

The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency and effects of peer-victimization on mental health problems among adolescents. Parental and school support were assumed as protective factors that might interact with one another in acting as buffers for adolescents against the risk of peer-victimization. Besides these protective factors, age and gender were additionally considered as moderating factors. The Social and Health Assessment survey was conducted among 986 students aged 11–18 years in order to assess peer-victimization, risk and protective factors and mental health problems. For mental health problems, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was used. Effects of peer-victimization on mental health problems were additionally compared with normative SDQ data in order to obtain information about clinically relevant psychopathology in our study sample. Results of this study show that peer-victimization carries a serious risk for mental health problems in adolescents. School support is effective in both male and female adolescents by acting as a buffer against the effect of victimization, and school support gains increasing importance in more senior students. Parental support seems to be protective against maladjustment, especially in peer-victimized girls entering secondary school. Since the effect of peer-victimization can be reduced by parental and school support, educational interventions are of great importance in cases of peer-victimization

Stability in Bullying and Victimization and its Association with Social Adjustment in Childhood and Adolescence

This study examined the concurrent and longitudinal associations between stability in bullying and victimization, and social adjustment in childhood and adolescence. Participants were 189 girls and 328 boys who were studied in primary school and in secondary school. The mean age of the participants was 11.1 years in primary school and 14.1 years in secondary school. The measures consisted of peer reported social and personal characteristics. Children who bullied in childhood and adolescence were less liked and more disliked in childhood, and more aggressive and disruptive both in childhood and adolescence, than children who bullied only in childhood or adolescence. Children who bullied or who were victimized only in childhood did not differ largely in adolescence from the children that were never bullies or victims. Children who were victimized in adolescence closely resembled those who were victimized in childhood and adolescence in terms of being liked or disliked, being nominated as a friend, and shyness. The study stresses the need to distinguish between stable and transient bullies and victims

Eduarda Mansilla: la Biografía, Redes familiares y amicales. Los Epistolarios. Los escritos dispersos. Hacia un estudio crítico integral

El estudio de la vida y obra de Eduarda Mansilla se enmarca en la crítica sobre literatura argentina decimonónica escrita por mujeres, así como en la historia de la vida privada y su interconexión con el mapa político-social de la época, especialmente visible en las grandes familias de la clase dirigente. El corpus específicamente literario de Mansilla aún no había sido efectivamente cerrado y determinado. Se sabía, sobre todo por las memorias de su hijo Daniel García-Mansilla (1950), de la existencia de obras varias, y de escritos de crítica de arte que no han podido ubicarse. Nos constaba además, por compulsas ya realizadas, que diversos textos de la autora subsisten dispersos en publicaciones periódicas de la época, nacionales y en el extranjero. Tanto ese material, como cuanto se pudiera conseguir en lo que hace a epistolarios, crónicas, memorias, diarios y escritos testimoniales de todo tipo guardados en archivos públicos y privados, era precario y se hallaba expuesto a la desaparición y al deterioro. Hasta el presente los asedios a la vida/obra de nuestra autora se han mantenido dentro de marcos más o menos acotados, subordinados a un objetivo mayor: una edición textual, la presentación de un panorama femenino (“argentinas”, “mujer romántica”), la historia de la composición musical en la Argentina, en el que esta figura singular se engarza, pero no constituyeron investigaciones de envergadura autónoma. Lo antedicho confirmó la necesidad de localizar y rescatar la producción total de la autora a través de la compulsa de archivos públicos y privados, lo que nos permitió establecer una biografía confiable de Eduarda Mansilla que, aspiramos, se constituya en obra de consulta. Los resultados de esta investigación se publicaron en la Colección EALA de la editorial Corregidor.Our study of Eduarda Mansilla´s life and works is carried on within the field of criticism about Argentine Nineteenth-Century literature written by women, as well as in the history of private lifeand its interconnection with the political and social map of that period, which was especially visiblein certain traditional families. The specifically literary corpus of Mansilla has not yet been closednor clearly determined. Thanks to the memories written by one of her sons, Daniel García-Mansilla(1950), it is known that Mansilla has produced several literary pieces that disappeared and are notavailable to us nowadays. In addition, there are many other diverse literary works that have beenoriginally published nationally and abroad in a series of periodicals, newspapers and literary journalsthat are still inaccessible to the researchers. These materials, along with memoires, travel journals,personal notes, and any other disperse writing production by Eduarda are scattered, hidden inlibraries, unpublished and in danger of material destruction. Until today, research about Mansillahas been framed within certain fields such as the study of romanticism, Women writings, musicalcomposition, always with the goal of pursuing a critical edition. But none of them constitutes initself an independent research project. The above-mentioned confirmed the necessity of localizingand rescuing the total production of this writer nowadays scattered in public as well as in privatearchives, with the goal of achieving a serious and reliable biography of Eduarda Mansilla which,we expect, will become a referent in our discipline. The results of this research were published inthe EALA Collection Corregidor publisher

Last Men Standing: Chlamydatus Portraits and Public Life in Late Antique Corinth

Notable among the marble sculptures excavated at Corinth are seven portraits of men wearing the long chlamys of Late Antique imperial office. This unusual costume, contemporary portrait heads, and inscribed statue bases all help confirm that new public statuary was created and erected at Corinth during the 4th and 5th centuries. These chlamydatus portraits, published together here for the first time, are likely to represent the Governor of Achaia in his capital city, in the company of local benefactors. Among the last works of the ancient sculptural tradition, they form a valuable source of information on public life in Late Antique Corinth

Is It Bad to Be Good? An Exploration of Aggressive and Prosocial Behavior Subtypes in Adolescence

Research in aggressive behavior development has distinguished between proactive (i.e., intended to achieve an instrumental goal) and reactive (i.e., emitted as an emotional response to provocation) subtypes of aggression. A similar distinction has not been made with regard to prosocial behavior. In this study, subtypes of both aggressive and prosocial behavior and their relation to aggression-supporting social cognitions were examined in a sample of 250 early and middle adolescents. Adolescents completed behavior rating scales and a measure of their beliefs about the acceptability of responding aggressively. Principal components analysis identified 3 subtypes of aggressive and prosocial behavior: aggressive, prosocial, and proactive prosocial. Proactive prosocial behavior was positively correlated with aggression and aggression-supporting beliefs, while other prosocial behavior was negatively correlated with these constructs. Findings are discussed in the context of aggressive behavior development and with regard to traditional views of prosocial behavior as altruistic.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45296/1/10964_2004_Article_478822.pd