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This study investigates the extent to which defending victims of bullying depends on liking and disliking and its relation with the classroom bullying norm (descriptive and popularity) in a sample of 1,272 students (50.8% boys) in 48 fifth-grade classrooms. Social network analysis with bivariate exponential random graph modelings showed that children are more likely to defend victims whom they like, who like them, and who are liked by the same classmates than victims who they dislike, who dislike them, and with whom they share antipathies by and to the same classmates. In addition, the analysis showed that bullying norms had an inconclusive effect on the relation between defending and (dis)liking.

This study examines the effects of different types of private Islamic schools on student achievement and achievement gaps. We formulate hypotheses, drawing on an education production function approach that outlines differences in investment and resource allocation decisions across these tracks and streams. We tested our hypotheses using Indonesian data collected in 2013 on 156,952 students nested in 3,150 schools in 366 municipalities. Using multilevel regression analyses, we found that student achievement and achievement gaps vary over private Islamic school tracks and streams. Even though student achievement and achievement gaps are strongly determined by student and family characteristics, our findings suggest that differences between school tracks and streams also play an important role. Moreover, our study revealed a large variability in student achievement and achievement gaps between municipalities.

In order to understand the interdependency between intergenerational and adult sibling relationships, a family systems perspective is applied to identify a smaller—empirically analyzable—relational unit of analysis, that is, the sibling–parent–sibling triad. Using balance theory, triadic configurations are derived that represent enhancement, compensation, and loyalty conflicts. The hypotheses are tested for three relational dimensions: support exchange, contact, and conflict. Multilevel analyses of 549 sibling–parent–sibling triads from the Netherlands Kinship Panel data show strong evidence for enhancement, whereas some indication was obtained for sibling relationships being affected by loyalty conflicts. The results underscore and substantiate interdependency between intergenerational and adult sibling relationships.

Although peer victimization mainly takes place within classrooms, little is known about the impact of the classroom context. To this end, we examined whether single‐grade and multigrade classrooms (referring to classrooms with one and two grades in the same room) differ in victim–bully relationships in a sample of elementary school children (646 students; age 8–12 years; 50% boys). The occurrence of victim–bully relationships was similar in single‐grade and multigrade classrooms formed for administrative reasons, but lower in multigrade classrooms formed for pedagogical reasons. Social network analyses did not provide evidence that peer victimization depended on age differences between children in any of the three classroom contexts. Moreover, in administrative multigrade classrooms, cross‐grade victim–bully relationships were less likely than same‐grade victim–bully relationships. The findings did not indicate that children in administrative multigrade classrooms are better or worse off in terms of victim–bully relationships than are children in single‐grade classrooms.

Standard anticorruption interventions consist of intensified monitoring and sanctioning. Rooted in principal‐agent theory, these interventions are based on the assumption that corrupt acts follow a rational cost‐benefit calculation by gain‐seeking individuals. Given their mixed results, however, these interventions require closer scrutiny. Building on goal‐framing theory, the authors argue that rule compliance requires a salient normative goal frame, since monitoring can never be perfect. Being inherently brittle, it needs constant reinforcement through external cues operating alongside formal monitoring and sanctioning. Leaders and peers setting a good example can provide such cues. In line with this hypothesis, analysis of multilevel repeated measures data from a vignette study of 580 Indonesian senior civil servants shows that the perceived likelihood of a hypothetical civil servant accepting a bribe is lowest when monitoring and sanctioning are strong and when leaders and peers are known to have refused bribes in the past.

The dynamics of individual behavior are related to the dynamics of the social structures in which individuals are embedded. This implies that in order to study social mechanisms such as social selection or peer influence, we need to model the evolution of social networks and the attributes of network actors as interdependent processes. The stochastic actor-oriented model is a statistical approach to study network-attribute coevolution based on longitudinal data. In its standard specification, the coevolving actor attributes are assumed to be measured on an ordinal categorical scale. Continuous variables first need to be discretized to fit into such a modeling framework. This article presents an extension of the stochastic actor-oriented model that does away with this restriction by using a stochastic differential equation to model the evolution of a continuous attribute. We propose a measure for explained variance and give an interpretation of parameter sizes. The proposed method is illustrated by a study of the relationship between friendship, alcohol consumption, and self-esteem among adolescents.

This study investigated if and how children and teachers differ in their assessment of victim-aggressor relationships in kindergartens. Self-, peer, and teacher reports of victimization-aggression networks (who is victimized by whom) were investigated in 25 Swiss kindergartens with 402 5- to 7-years-old. It was examined whether child characteristics (sex and parent-reported internalizing and externalizing behavior) influence informant reports of victimization and/or aggression. Findings from statistical network models indicated higher concordance between self and peer reports than between one of these and teacher reports. Results further showed more agreement among informants on aggressors than on victims. Aggressors reported by self and peer reports were low on internalizing behavior, and aggressors reported by self and teacher reports were high on externalizing behavior; teacher-reported victims were also high on externalizing behavior. Internalizing behavior was unrelated to victimization. According to self and peer reports, boys as well as girls were victimized by boys and girls equally; teachers reported less cross-sex victimization than same-sex victimization. The different views of teachers and children on victim-aggressor relationships have implications for the identification of aggression in early childhood. Mutual sharing of information between children, their parents, peers, and teachers may contribute to signaling victims and aggressors in the early school years., Aggressive Behavior, vol. 45, no. 3, p. 275

Although peer victimization in school mainly takes place between children in the same classroom or grade and bullying is generally seen as a group process, little is known about how stability and change in classroom composition affect peer victimization. Hence, this study addressed the following questions: (a) Are newcomers in the classroom more likely to become victims? (b) Does a stable classroom, where children generally have the same classmates over time, lead to less change in bully nominations? To address these questions, this article examined 3 waves of bully nominations in a sample of 3,254 children (50% boys; age 8-12) in 31 elementary schools, displaying three types of schools: stable or unstable administrative or pedagogical multigrade. Both research questions were answered by longitudinal social network analyses of the school-wide networks. The meta-analyzed results of these analyses with small effect sizes showed that (a) although stable classrooms do not necessarily show less change in bully nominations than in unstable classrooms, victim-bully ties are more likely to develop among students in the same grade or same classroom and (b) newcomers were more likely to become victims, more so in unstable schools than in stable schools.Educational Impact and Implications StatementThis study contributes to the existing bullying literature by providing first insights into the formation and development of bullying relationships within the school context by examining changes in victim-bully networks in schools that do and do not combine classrooms or grades over the school years. The findings of this study suggest that school and classroom stability and change have a minor impact on the formation of victim-bully relationships between children. Bullying relationships were found to develop most easily between children in the same grade, more so in stable classrooms than in classrooms with changing classroom composition, with no clear evidence that newcomers are more at risk of becoming victimized. The formation and development of bullying relationships among students within the same grade was weakest in unstable pedagogical multigrade schools, after controlling for school size. These findings may be beneficial to schools that consistently deal with changing compositions in their student population and highlight that a context-specific approach may be necessary to tackle bullying in stable and unstable schools.

Using a large-scale sample of online daters in eight European countries ( N = 196,777), we examine willingness to stepparent among divorcees in relation to both gender and number of children, as well as a set of contextual determinants. We find evidence that having one’s own resident children increases the readiness to partner someone with children. Contrary to previous findings, women are generally less willing to stepparent than men, but when resident children are present, gender dissimilarities fade. Notable national differences are also found. Divorced mothers living in Sweden, the Netherlands, Austria, or France are more open to having a partner with children, whereas Polish and Spanish divorced mothers would be less willing to stepparent. These results are interpreted in light of each country’s institutional background.

The present paper analyses the relationship among social support and personalnetworks by focusing on social anchorage, which is a specific dimension of social support conveying to what extent people feel integrated into their personal networks. Specifying when, why, and how personal relationships play a significant role in individual lives is a common concern at the core of studies on social support. For this reason, the study adopts a strategy of analysis for ego-centred social support networks based on a mixed-methods approach. Hence, the strength of social networks analytical tools and multilevel logisticregression models is combined with the opportunities stemming from qualitative data provided by in-depth interviews. Firstly, statistical tools are used to describe the patterns of social support relationships in ego networks and to estimate the main determinants of social anchorage; secondly narratives are considered to understand the content, the meaning, and the significance that social relationships have for egos. The case of single mothers, which represent a clear instance of the relevance of social support derived from personal networks, is investigated.

Previous studies investigating to what extent students in elementary schools defend their victimized classmates typically treated defending as an individual characteristic. Defending should, however, be seen as a directed dyadic relationship between a victim and a defender, who are embedded multiple positive and negative relationships with each other and their classmates. Accordingly, in the present study defending was investigated using social network analysis. More specifically, it was investigated to what extent defending relationships co-occurred with friendship and dislike relationships involving not only the victim and the defender but also other classmates. Bivariate Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGMs) were used to analyze the defending-friendship and defending-dislike relationships in seven grade-three classrooms. As hypothesized, the results indicated that victimized students were likely to be defended by students who they perceive as friends or who perceive them as friends. Moreover, defending was likely to occur when the victim and (potential) defender had the same friends. Victimized students were unlikely to be defended by classmates whom they disliked or who had indicated to dislike them. Finally, defending was likely to occur between students who disliked the same classmates.

BACKGROUND: Body image has implications for psychosocial functioning and quality of life and its disturbance is reported in a broad range of psychiatric disorders. In view of the lack of instruments in Dutch measuring body image as a broad concept, we set out to make an instrument available that reflects the multidimensional character of this construct by including more dimensions than physical appearance. The Dresden Körperbildfragebogen (DBIQ, Dresden Body Image Questionnaire) particularly served this purpose. The DBIQ consists of 35 items and five subscales: body acceptance, sexual fulfillment, physical contact, vitality, and self-aggrandizement. The main objective of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Dutch translation of the Dresden Body Image Questionnaire (DBIQ-NL) in a non-clinical sample.METHODS: The psychometric properties of the DBIQ-NL were examined in a non-clinical sample of 988 respondents aged between 18 and 65. We investigated the subscales' internal consistency and test-retest reliability. In order to establish construct validity we evaluated the association with a related construct, body cathexis, and with indices of self-esteem and psychological wellbeing. The factor structure of the DBIQ-NL was examined via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The equivalence of the measurement model across sex and age was evaluated by multiplegroup confirmatory factor analyses.RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analyses showed a structure in accordance with the original scale, where model fit was improved significantly by moving one item to another subscale. Multiple group confirmatory factor analysis across sex and age demonstrated partial strong invariance. Internal consistency was good with little overlap between the subscales. Temporal reliability and construct validity were satisfactory.CONCLUSION: Results indicate that the DBIQ-NL is a reliable and valid instrument for non-clinical subjects. This provides a sound basis for further investigation of the DBIQ-NL in a clinical sample.

Background:A crucial but often overlooked impact of early life exposure to trauma is its farreaching effect on a person's relationship with their body. Several domains of body experience may be negatively influenced or damaged as a result of early childhood trauma.Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate disturbances in three domains of body experience: body attitude, body satisfaction, and body awareness. Furthermore, associations between domains of body experience and severity of trauma symptoms as well as frequency of dissociation were evaluated.Method: Body attitude was measured with the Dresden Body Image Questionnaire, body satisfaction with the Body Cathexis Scale, and body awareness with the Somatic Awareness Questionnaire in 50 female patients with complex trauma and compared with scores in a non-clinical female sample (n = 216). Patients in the clinical sample also filled out the Davidson Trauma Scale and the Dissociation Experience Scale.Results: In all measured domains, body experience was severely affected in patients with early childhood trauma. Compared with scores in the non-clinical group, effect sizes in Cohen's d were 2.7 for body attitude, 1.7 for body satisfaction, and 0.8 for body awareness. Associations between domains of body experience and severity of trauma symptoms were low, as were the associations with frequency of dissociative symptoms.Conclusions: Early childhood trauma in women is associated with impairments in selfreported body experience that warrant careful assessment in the treatment of women with psychiatric disorders.

Longitudinal social network studies can easily suffer from insufficient statistical power. Studies that simultaneously investigate change of network ties and change of nodal attributes (selection and influence studies) are particularly at risk because the number of nodal observations is typically much lower than the number of observed tie variables. This article presents a simulation-based procedure to evaluate statistical power of longitudinal social network studies in which stochastic actor-oriented models are to be applied. Two detailed case studies illustrate how statistical power is strongly affected by network size, number of data collection waves, effect sizes, missing data, and participant turnover. These issues should thus be explored in the design phase of longitudinal social network studies., Sociological Methods & Research, 49 (4), ISSN:0049-1241, ISSN:1552-8294

The complex interplay between bullying/victimization and defending was examined using a longitudinal social network approach (stochastic actor-based models). The (co)evolution of these relations within three elementary schools (Grades 2–5 at Time 1, ages 8–11, N ¼ 354 children) was investigated across three time points within a year. Most bullies and defenders were in the same grade as the victims, although a substantial number of bullies and defenders were in other grades (most often one grade higher). Defenders were usually of the same gender as the victims, whereas most bullies were boys, with boys bullying both boys and girls. In line with goal-framing theory, multiplex network analyses provided evidence for the social support hypothesis (victims with the same bullies defended each other over time) as well as the retaliation hypothesis (defenders run the risk of becoming victimized by the bullies of the victims they defend). In addition, the analysis revealed that bullies with the same victims defended each other over time and that defenders of bullies initiated harassment of those bullies’ victims. This study can be seen as a starting point in unraveling the relationship dynamics among bullying, victimization, and defending networks in schools. Bullying,thesystematicandusuallyintentionalabusivebehaviorcharacterizedbyanimbalanceofpowerbetweenbulliesand

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there is an association between teacher characteristics and peer victimization in elementary schools. We used data of 3,385 elementary school students (M age = 9.8) and 139 of their teachers (M age = 43.9) and employed Poisson regression analyses to explain the classroom victimization rate. Results showed a higher victimization rate in the classrooms of teachers who attributed bullying to external factors-factors outside of their control. In addition, the results suggest that both teachers' perceived ability to handle bullying among students and teachers' own bullying history were positively associated with the classroom victimization rate. We also took into account classroom composition characteristics and found lower victimization rates in multi-grade classrooms and in classrooms with older students. The results support the notion of an association between teacher characteristics and peer victimization. Findings are discussed with regards to current literature and suggestions for future research are made.

The mental and physical health of 146 Dutch males exposed to severe war stress during their young adulthood were examined in 1986–1987 when they were at ages 61 to 66 years. The veterans' data were compared with a randomly selected population-based sample of same-aged males. In 2005, 70% of the war stress veterans had died, and only 35% of the comparison group. The baseline quality of life was significantly poorer in the war stress veterans than in the comparison group. Baseline variables explained 42% of the increased risk of mortality among war stress veterans. Smoking was the largest single contributor to mortality.

Social discrimination, defined as the relative preference for intra-ethnic over inter-ethnic relationships, was studied in pupils' networks in Dutch secondary school classes. While native Dutch pupils (ethnic majority members) mainly named fellow majority members, ethnic minority members reported ties with as many majority as minority members. Considering the ethnic composition of the classroom, however. majority members discriminated less than minorities. No strong effect of classroom ethnic composition on social discrimination was found, whereas neighborhood composition was shown to clearly influence social discrimination: ethnic minority members were more, and majority members less inclined to discriminate in neighborhoods with more ethnic presence. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The p(2) model is a statistical model for the analysis of binary relational data with covariates, as occur in social network studies. It can be characterized as a multinomial regression model with crossed random effects that reflect actor heterogeneity and dependence between the ties from and to the same actor in the network. Three Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) estimation methods for the p2 model are presented to improve iterative generalized least squares (IGLS) estimation developed earlier, two of which use random walk proposals. The third method, an independence chain sampler, and one of the random walk algorithms use normal approximations of the binary network data to generate proposals in the MCMC algorithms. A large-scale simulation study compares MCMC estimates with IGLS estimates for networks with 20 and 40 actors. It was found that the IGLS estimates have a smaller variance but are severely biased, while the MCMC estimates have a larger variance with a small bias. For networks with 20 actors, mean squared errors are generally comparable or smaller for the IGLS estimates. For networks with 40 actors, mean squared errors are the smallest for the MCMC estimates. Coverage rates of confidence intervals are good for the MCMC estimates but not for the IGLS estimates.

Recently, it has become apparent that a metacognitive perspective may contribute to the understanding and treatment of psychopathology. In this study, the effect of a cognitive-behavioural psychoeducational group treatment for hypochondriasis on metacognitive aspects was examined. Furthermore, it was studied whether earlier found beneficial effects of the course on hypochondriacal complaints, depressive complaints and trait anxiety could be replicated. A total of 35 participants were randomized into either an immediate treatment group (n = 20), or a waiting list control group (n = 15). The participants in the waiting list control group were enrolled in the treatment after a period of 6 weeks. Results showed that the course had an effect on all subscales of the Metacognition-Cognitions about Health Anxiety questionnaire. Furthermore, in line with previous findings, the course proved to be effective in decreasing hypochondriacal complaints, depressive complaints and trait anxiety. It may be concluded that cognitive-behavioural psychoeducational treatment, in which a metacognitive level is implicitly addressed, shows beneficial effect on metacognitive aspects and hypochondriacal complaints.

Ethnic boundaries were tested in students' networks in 34 Flemish and 19 Dutch high schools. Each network consisted of a school cohort in an intermediate level of education (track). While students from the native majority predominantly had friendships within their own ethnic category, minority students often had more inter-ethnic than intra-ethnic friendships. However, a multilevel p2 model for analysing the networks showed that this was due mainly to the quantitative dominance of native students in the networks. Native students were more inclined than minority students to engage in inter-ethnic friendships. The study found ethnic boundaries to be stronger in the Dutch networks than in the Flemish networks. It is unclear whether this is due to methodological reasons or to more substantial differences between the Netherlands and Flanders.

OBJECTIVES To examine whether peer assessment can enhance scores on professional behaviour, with the expectation that students who assess peers score more highly on professional behaviour than students who do not assess peers.METHODS Undergraduate medical students in their first and second trimesters were randomly assigned to conditions with or without peer assessment. Of the total group of 336 students, 278 students participated in the first trimester, distributed over 31 tutorial groups, 17 of which assessed peers. The second trimester involved 272 students distributed over 32 groups, 15 of which assessed peers. Professional behaviour was rated by tutors on 3 dimensions: Task Performance; Aspects of Communication, and Personal Performance. The rating scale ranged from 1 (poor) to 10 (excellent). Data were analysed using multivariate repeated measures multilevel analysis.RESULTS Assessment scores were found to have generally increased in the second trimester, especially the personal performance scores of students who assessed peers. In addition, female students were found to have significantly higher scores than male students.CONCLUSIONS In undergraduate medical education, peer assessment has a positive influence on professional behaviour. However, the results imply that peer assessment is only effective after students have become adjusted to the complex learning environment.

The p 2 model is a random effects model with covariates for the analysis of binary directed social network data coming from a single observation of a social network. Here, a multilevel variant of the p 2 model is proposed for the case of multiple observations of social networks, for example, in a sample of schools. The multilevel p 2 model defines an identical p 2 model for each independent observation of the social network, where parameters are allowed to vary across the multiple networks. The multilevel p 2 model is estimated with a Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm that was implemented in free software for the statistical analysis of complete social network data, called StOCNET. The new model is illustrated with a study on the received practical support by Dutch high school pupils of different ethnic backgrounds.

Background and objectives: The Experiences in Close Relationships scale (ECR) is much used in adult attachment research. In this study we examined: the psychometric properties of the Dutch ECR in comparison with the original American ECR; the claim of orthogonality of its scales Avoidance and Anxiety; and a broader applicability of the ECR, because much research is restricted to psychology student samples.Methods: In Study 1 we investigated the ECR's internal structure by means of confirmative factor analysis in the American psychology student sample in which the ECR was originally validated. We compared these findings with the results of factor analyses in: a Dutch psychology student sample to test whether the Dutch translation yields comparable results; and a Dutch general population sample to evaluate the Supposed orthogonality and to determine a broader applicability of the ECR. In Study 2 we evaluated aspects of the external validity of the ECR.Results: Confirmative factor analysis supports the original two factor structure in both Dutch samples, although less clear in the population sample. As opposed to both student samples the scales correlate moderately in the population sample. Results support external validity of the ECR in both Dutch samples.Conclusions: Since the supposed orthogonality of the scales varies by sample, the internal validity of the (Dutch) ECR varies by sample as well, namely from satisfactorily (population) to adequate (students). The external validity of the Dutch ECR is compared to the American version adequate, suggesting a broader applicability.

Background/Objective: There is evidence for an antidepressant effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), but little is known about posttreatment course. Therefore, we conducted a placebo-controlled, double-blind study in depressed patients in order to investigate the effect of rTMS on depression over 12 weeks after completion of the 2-week stimulation period. Method. 55 patients with a moderate or severe DSM-IV major depressive episode were randomly assigned to rTMS or sham treatment. rTMS was given daily for 10 days over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex with the following treatment parameters: 20 Hz, 20 trains of 2 seconds, 30 seconds between trains, and 80% motor threshold. The effect of rTMS on depression was rated repeatedly with the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) during the 2-week period of stimulation and the 12-week follow-up period conducted from 1997 to 2001. Results: We found a modest, clinically nonrelevant decrease in HAM-D scores in both rTMS and sham patients over 2 weeks of treatment. However, over the subsequent 12-week follow-up, the rTMS group continued to improve significantly compared with the placebo group. Conclusion: Decrease of depressive symptoms may continue after the cessation of rTMS stimulation.

In this paper we both describe and analyze the meeting process and the evolution of a friendship network among sociology freshmen in the Netherlands. We develop a theory that explains how changes in the network structure depend on one or more of four main effects: proximity, visible similarity, invisible similarity, and network opportunity. We formulate expectations with regard to what factors are important at what stages of the friendship development, making a distinction between 'meeting' and 'mating.' To some extent, the results confirm our expectations. The proximity and visible similarity variables determine change in network structure in the early stages, whereas network opportunity is important during all stages. Unfortunately, no significant effects of invisible similarity are found.

Aims: The relationship between alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was studied in 147 male former members of the civilian resistance against the Nazi occupation of Holland during World War II. Methods: The subjects were interviewed at home. Measures included rating of current PTSD and a self-report measure of smoking and alcohol use. Results: The weekly alcohol consumption reported by veterans was substantially below that of the general population. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in self-reported alcohol consumption between veterans with and without current PTSD. Cigarette smoking, however, was more prevalent in those with current PTSD. Conclusions: The absence in these veterans of a correlation between PTSD and alcohol consumption is contrary to the results of most studies on this subject. It may be related to the exclusion from organized resistance activities of people prone to the over-consumption of alcohol. It is hypothesized that, in trauma survivors, current substance use is associated with peri-traumatic patterns of psychological tension-reduction modes.

The present longitudinal study aims to explain emotional and social loneliness experienced by older adults ( N=99) during two-and-a-half years of widowhood. Utilization of multilevel analysis and a “visual” cluster analysis with prescribed classification criteria enabled us to search for average adaptational developments as well as individual variability in the adjustment process. Results were interpreted within the theory of mental incongruity. Adjustment to loneliness appears to develop along different individual-specific curves. About 30 percent of the bereaved had not adapted in two-and-a-half years to their loss in terms of emotional loneliness. Presence of favorable opportunities such as good health and high self-esteem as well as coping efforts like social behavior resulted in lower levels of emotional and social loneliness. It is concluded that the adjustment process among older bereaved does not exist. Moreover, including measures of cognitions and attitudes that are related to the relational needs and desires of widow(er)s may enlarge our knowledge of how older adults adapt to partner death.

In this paper, it is shown that multilevel methods are particularly well-suited for the analysis of relations in personal networks and the changes in these relations. Justice is done to the hierarchical nested structure of the data and the resulting dependence between observations “within egos”. Multilevel techniques can also give more specific insight on why personal networks change: they allow to distinguish between the influence of individual and of tie characteristics on the stability of personal networks as a whole and of specific ties within a personal network. This is illustrated by an application to changes in networks of four Dutch samples experiencing different life events.

We propose a class of actor-oriented statistical models for closed social networks in general, and friendship networks in particular. The models are random utility models developed within a rational choice framework. Based on social psychological and sociological theories about friendship, mathematical functions capturing expected utility of individual actors with respect to friendship are constructed. Expected utility also contains a random (unexplained) component. We assume that, given their restrictions and contact opportunities, individuals evaluate their utility functions and behave such that they maximize the expected amount of utility. The behavior under consideration is the expression of like and dislike (choice of friends). Theoretical mechanisms that are modelled are, e.g., the principle of diminishing returns, the tendency towards reciprocated choices, and the preference for friendship relations with similar others. Constraints imposed on individuals are, e.g., the structure of the existing network, and the distribution of personal characteristics over the respondents. The models are illustrated by means of a data-set collected among university freshmen at 7 points in time during 1994 and 1995.

This paper presents a statistical model for the analysis of binary sociometric choice data, the p2 model, which provides a flexible way for using explanatory variables to model network structure. It is applied to examine the influence of the formal structure of an organization on interactions among its members. It is shown to provide a general and precise method for addressing this substantive issue. We identify the respective effects of position in the formal structure (status, seniority, division of work and office membership) and selected personal characteristics of members of a corporate law firm on their choices of advisors. Flows of advice are shown to be consistently shaped by status games and the pecking order in the firm. Other dimensions help members in mitigating the effect of this strong rule. This approach ultimately provides more understanding of how members of such firms try to balance cooperation and competition in terms of access to and management of key resources.

We consider data that can be summarized as an N × K table of counts—for example, test data obtained by administering K tests to N subjects. The cell entries yij are assumed to be conditionally independent Poisson-distributed random variables, given the NK Poisson intensity parameters μij. The Rasch Poisson Counts Model (RPCM) postulates that the intensity parameters are products of test difficulty and subject ability parameters. We expand the RPCM by assuming that the subject parameters are random variables having a common gamma distribution with fixed unknown parameters and that the vectors of test difficulty parameters per subject follow a common Dirichlet distribution with fixed unknown parameters. Further, we show how additional structures can be imposed on the test parameters, modeling a within-subjects design. Methods for testing the fit and estimating the parameters of these models are presented and illustrated with the analysis of two empirical data sets.

Extending Hirschman’s ‘Exit—Voice—Loyalty’ framework, the authors distinguish between attitudinal and relational aspects of loyalty. They hypothesize that co-workers’ support for voice will moderate the effect of relational, but not attitudinal loyalty on voice. In line with the study’s hypotheses, multilevel analyses of survey data on 204 voice actions (concerning three issues) of 121 employees in a Dutch public sector organization showed that the effect of relational loyalty (operationalized as social relations) on voice depended on context and issue. When department members perceived serious problems, relational loyalty decreased the likelihood of voice for one of the issues. For another issue, relational loyalty increased the likelihood of voice when department norms encouraged voice. By contrast, attitudinal loyalty (operationalized as organizational commitment) had no effect on voice.

Follow-up studies of preterm children without serious neonatal medical complications have consistently found poor visuomotor and visuospatial skills. In the first round of current follow-up study, we found a deficit in elementary visuomotor processes in preterm children without Cerebral Palsy (CP). To determine whether the development of these processes was delayed or different, we carried out a quasi-longitudinal study in which kinematic characteristics of pointing movements in 7- to 11-year-old preterm born children without CP and in an age-matched full-term group were analyzed. Multi-level analysis suggested a difference rather than a delay in the preterm born group: we found a regression around 8 years of age in the control but not in the preterm group. To our knowledge, this study is the first to provide longitudinal data confirming this regression in the development of movement control in typically developing children. Our results are also consistent in suggesting that elementary visuomotor processes are less efficient in preterm born children without CP: their movements were either slower or less accurate. While these differences were subtle, they persisted until 11 years of age.

Consideration will be given to a model developed by Rasch that assumes scores observed on some types of attainment tests can be regarded as realizations of a Poisson process. The parameter of the Poisson distribution is assumed to be a product of two other parameters, one pertaining to the ability of the subject and a second pertaining to the difficulty of the test. Rasch's model is expanded by assuming a prior distribution, with fixed but unknown parameters, for the subject parameters. The test parameters are considered fixed. Secondly, it will be shown how additional between- and within-subjects factors can be incorporated. Methods for testing the fit and estimating the parameters of the model will be discussed, and illustrated by empirical examples.

This research examines the moderating effect of conflict avoidance on the relationship between interpersonal conflict and psychological adjustment among 56 expatriate couples at two points in time. We propose a model based on the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model - which assumes both individual and “cross-party” effects - to address simultaneously the effects of own and other’s avoidance behavior. We found substantial support for our model, in that both parties’ conflict perceptions were detrimental to their own psychological adjustment. Additionally, regarding avoidance, three factors were essential: I) role (expatriate versus expatriate partner), II) level of conflict, and III) time. First, direct and moderating effects of avoidance were only significant for expatriate partners, suggesting that expatriate partners are more sensitive to reaction to conflict than expatriates. Second, high conflict resulted in higher adjustment when avoidance was high, whereas low conflict resulted in higher adjustment when avoidance was low. Presumably, severe threats to the intimate relationship, that is, high conflict is better avoided, whereas smaller threats should be faced. Third, the findings were significant at Time 2, but not at Time 1. Implications of the findings for our understanding of expatriation are discussed.

The unidimensional nature of the De Jong-Gierveld Loneliness Scale is investigated. The internal properties of the scale scores were studied using item response theory, supplemented by an external validity study. In line with the theory of relational loneliness, the results stress the significance of distinguishing between emotional loneliness and social loneliness.

It is investigated how a motivated choice can be made for the analysis of an item set using either a cumulative item response model with monotone tracelines, modeling dominance relations, or a unimodal item response model with single-peaked tracelines, modeling proximity relations. The focus is on item sets consisting of positively and negatively formulated items (with respect to the latent trait to be measured), where the common practice is to reverse one type of item. The differences between the cumulative and unimodal model are studied theoretically, in terms of item location and item order, and empirically, in a reanalysis of a sample of De Jong Gierveld loneliness scale data. Item locations, and, in the case of the unimodal model, also subject locations are shown to be important determinants of the differences. For the loneliness scale data the analysis with the unimodal model is preferred over the cumulative model. An outline of a recommended strategy for an IRT analysis of scaling data is given.

Actor-oriented models are proposed for the statistical analysis of longitudinal social network data. These models are implemented as simulation models, and the statistical evaluation is based on the method of moments and the Robbins-Monro process applied to computer simulation outcomes. In this approach, the calculations that are required for statistical inference are too complex to be carried out analytically, and therefore they are replaced by computer simulation.

Editor – We would like to thank our colleague for his letter concerning our paper.1 The concern about the transferability of our findings outside the Netherlands represents a very important issue. Your correspondents main reason for concern is that the Dutch definition of professional behaviour, and consequently the corresponding assessment criteria, differs from that in the UK. However, the focus of our study was not the content of the assessment criteria, but rather the principle of actively applying criteria in formative peer assessment. [...]