Maladaptive behavior in relation to the basic psychological needs of students in secondary education

Much research has been done into the relationship between students’ motivation to learn and their basic psychological needs as defined by the self-determination theory (autonomy, competence, relatedness). However, few studies have explored how these psychological needs relate to different types of maladaptive behavior in the classroom. To prevent or remedy such behavior, more insight into its relationships is required. The present study attempted to determine the relationship between maladaptive behavior of secondary school students (grades 8 and 9) and the degree to which both teachers and peers address their needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Results show significant, negative correlations between maladaptive student behavior in the classroom and the extent to which students’ basic psychological needs are met by teachers and fellow students. Both teachers and fellow students play a role in students’ maladaptive behavior toward school and withdrawn behavior. When it comes to unfriendly behavior, the perceived support of teachers appears to be particularly relevant, while the role of peers is an important factor in delinquent behavior

Maladaptive social behaviour of students in secondary vocational education

The aim of this thesis was twofold: Firstly to create a reliable and valid new instrument to measure maladaptive social behaviour (MSB) of students in secondary vocational education, and secondly to assess which school context variables could predict MSB at school. Three data-waves were conducted between December 2001 and July 2003. At the first data-wave 1800, at the second 931, and at the third 642 students participated from several schools, several departments, and several courses, spread over the Netherlands. Using several pilot-studies a new instrument was developed: The Questionnaire for Maladaptive Social Behaviour (QMSB). It consists of 49 items referring to five categories of behaviour: MSB toward Schoolwork and Rules, Delinquent Behaviour, Unfriendly Behaviour, Withdrawn Behaviour and Impolite Behaviour. Three studies were conducted to explore external validity of the instrument. Boys reported more MSB for all categories than girls. When controlled for gender, no differences in MSB were found between students with different ethnic origin, course level, or educational level of parents. School context variables predicted a small amount of variance of MSB. For Boys, feeling alienated from school appeared the most important predictor for their MSB at school; it predicted each type of MSB. For girls, the perception of a competitive school environment predicted their MSB best.LEI Universiteit LeidenGedragsveranderingen bij leerlingen en hun lerare

Topology of Bi2_2Se3_3 nanosheets

Recently, the quantum spin-Hall edge channels of two-dimensional colloidal nanocrystals of the topological insulator Bi$_2$Se$_3$ were observed directly. Motivated by this development, we reconsider the four-band effective model which has been traditionally employed in the past to describe thin nanosheets of this material. Derived from a three-dimensional $\boldsymbol{k} \boldsymbol{\cdot} \boldsymbol{p}$ model, it physically describes the top and bottom electronic surface states that become gapped due to the material's small thickness. However, we find that the four-band model for the surface states alone, as derived directly from the three-dimensional theory, is inadequate for the description of thin films of a few quintuple layers and even yields an incorrect topological invariant within a significant range of thicknesses. To address this limitation we propose an eight-band model which, in addition to the surface states, also incorporates the set of bulk bands closest to the Fermi level. We find that the eight-band model not only captures most of the experimental observations, but also agrees with previous first-principles calculations of the $\mathbb{Z}_{2}$ invariant in thin films of varying thickness. Moreover, we demonstrate that the topological properties of thin Bi$_2$Se$_3$ nanosheets emerge as a result of an intricate interplay between the surface and bulk states, which in fact results in nontrivial Chern numbers for the latter