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The transition from primary to secondary school comes with major changes in the lives of children. There is a shortage of in-depth analyses of young people's perspectives concerning their fears and strategies to address these. This qualitative study aims to gain first-hand understanding of children's fears and the intended coping strategies used during school transition. Data from 52 workshops were analysed, with a total of 896 students (M age = 10.40, SD = 0.839) in lower Austria. First, in the classroom setting, a vignette story about a child facing fears about school transition from primary to secondary school was developed with pupils in a brainstorming session. This was followed by self-selected small group discussions, where pupils proposed strategies to help cope with these fears. A thematic analysis was carried out. Major thematic clusters distinguished between four types of fears: peer victimisation, being alone, victimisation by authority figures, and academic failure. Three additional thematic clusters described strategies for countering the fears: enacting supportive networks, personal emotion regulation, and controlling behaviour. In addition to these connected clusters, two further themes were identified: strategy outcomes and consequences, i.e., personal experiences with using specific strategies, and the discussion of participants about contradictions and questionable usefulness of identified strategy outcomes. In conclusion, the children in our study reported more social fears as compared to academic fears. Children seem reasonably competent at naming and identifying strategies; however, maladaptive strategies, as well as controversies within the described strategies may indicate a lack of certainty and competence at engaging with these strategies on a practical level.

Stakeholder involvement in intervention development has become increasingly popular and is understood as crucial for successful implementation. However, methodological difficulties persist regarding the implementation of appropriate participatory methods to engage children and collect relevant information for intervention development. This paper discusses four creative, qualitative methods - a brainstorming task, an individual letter, a story-based task, and a focus group task - and compares their suitability to generate relevant information for early intervention development. These four methods were used in the early stages of a project aiming to develop a peer relationship intervention and were analysed using thematic analysis. Based on theoretical considerations, information categories (a) definition aspects, (b) context factors, and (c) change mechanisms were of interest, while (d) examples and experience and (e) additional information were identified as prevalent categories through inductive thematic analysis. Definition was a prevalent theme generated by the brainstorming task, although the sticky note format limited the depth of individual answers. The secret letter, which allowed children to share ideas privately, was found to be useful for generating more in-depth reflections on definitions and personal experiences. Stories and focus group discussions were found to be useful for generating varied context factors and change mechanisms, although stories also generated fictional elements and external solutions. Providing different qualitative methods and allowing children to choose how they prefer to communicate their thoughts proved important for collecting authentic, in-depth information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supportive peer relationships (SPR) are crucial for mental and physical health. Early adolescence is an especially important period in which peer influence and school environment strongly shape psychological development and maturation of core social-emotional regulatory functions. Yet, there is no integrated evidence based model of SPR in this age group to inform future research and practice. The current meta-analysis synthetizes evidence from 364 studies into an integrated model of potential determinants of SPR in early adolescence. The model encompasses links with 93 variables referring to individual (identity, skills/strengths, affect/well-being, and behavior/health) and environmental (peer group, school, family, community, and internet/technology) potential influences on SPR based on cross-sectional correlational data. Findings suggest the central importance of identity and social–emotional skills in SPR. School environment stands out as a compelling setting for future prevention programs. Finally, we underscore an alarming gap of research on the influence of the virtual and online environment on youth's social realm given its unquestionable importance as a globally expanding social interaction setting. Hence, we propose an integrated model that can serve as organizational framework, which may ultimately lead to the adoption of a more structured and integrated approach to understanding peer relationship processes in youth and contribute to overcoming marked fragmentation in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Article 8 of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities requires governments around the globe to raise awareness on issues of disability in their societies, combatting stereotypes, prejudices and harmful practices. Little comparative data is available on lay people's social representations of intellectual disability and associated stigma, which could inform actions in line with the convention. The present study compared intellectual disability literacy and stigma among adults in the general population in the UK, Austria and Germany (N = 1046), and examined the effects of providing an intellectual disability label on these outcomes. Although participants came from highly developed European countries and prior contact with people with intellectual disabilities was common, the findings pointed to some striking differences between countries. Participants in Austria and Germany were much less likely than those in the UK to identify symptoms of a possible intellectual disability in an unlabelled vignette. They were also much more hostile towards social contact, a difference that was maintained when participants were informed of the intellectual disability label. Labelling showed controversial effects on stigma, both in its effects on social distance and on beliefs about suitable causes and interventions. Overall, the social acceptance of people with intellectual disabilities appears to be much less advanced in Austria and Germany than in the UK, and awareness of intellectual disability much lower, indicating a need for action at societal level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supportive peer relationships are fundamental for mental health and well-being. Hence, peers and friends are a valuable resource, especially at the time of transition from primary to secondary school. Yet, current literature lacks both novel approaches to studying friendship development and how to involve early adolescents in research that is being conducted about them. Within the present study we used novel participatory research methods involving early adolescents who were active in the analysis of their own generated data. We aimed to better understand their perspectives on factors that facilitate and hinder friendship development with peers during the time of school transition between primary and secondary schools. A total of 916 pupils (M age  = 10.44 years, range = 9-16) participated in 54 participatory workshops that were conducted in Austria. We used reflexive thematic analysis to analyze qualitative data from portions of a large series of participatory workshop activities. Moreover, we actively involved participants in the analysis of their own generated data. Themes were structured into personal, interpersonal, and external factors. We found that early adolescents valued kind peers that (a) give them a feeling of safety, (b) show supportive and empathic actions, (c) manage conflicts, (d) avoid negative behavior, (e) spend time with them, and (f) communicate in the offline and online environments. Although shared norms of behavior can support friendship development, friendship jealousy and tolerating bigger friendship groups were identified as important potential barriers. Additionally, external factors (i.e., given circumstances), such as similarities, physical proximity, and duration of acquaintance were included in our data but were perceived as less important by early adolescents. Our results supplement the existing peer relationship literature by showing which factors early adolescents themselves chose as most relevant for friendship development. We conclude with a discussion regarding the implications for school psychology practice and future research., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Aim: This work describes an extensive systematic literature review on assessment instruments for dementia in persons with intellectual disability (ID). Existing instruments for the detection of dementia in persons with ID were collected and described systematically. This allows a direct and quick overview of available tools. Additionally, it contributes to the availability and usability of information about these instruments, thus enhancing further developments in this field., Methods: A systematic literature search in five databases (CINAHL, PsycInfo, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science) was conducted. In order to include gray literature an invisible college approach was used. Relevant studies were identified and selected using defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. After the selection process all instruments were coded and classified. It was determined which concepts they assess, whether they were especially developed or adapted for persons with ID, and whether they were designed to assess dementia. The selection of relevant papers, as well as the coding of instruments was done independently by two researchers., Results: In total, 97 records met the search criteria. Out of these, 114 different instruments were extracted. There were 79 instruments to be completed by the person with ID, and 35 informant-based instruments. Additionally, four test batteries were found. Some of these instruments were neither designed for the assessment of dementia, nor for persons with ID., Conclusions: There are a variety of different tools used for the assessment of dementia in ID. Nevertheless, an agreed-upon approach or instrument is missing. Establishing this would improve the quality of assessment in clinical practice, and benefit research. Data collected would become comparable and combinable, and allow research to have more informative value., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)