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AbstractExperience sampling studies often aim to capture social interactions. A central methodological question in such studies is whether to use event- or signal-contingent sampling. The little existing research on this issue has not taken into account that social interactions occur with unique interaction partners (e.g., Anna or Tom). We analyze one week of social interaction data of 286 students from the University of Pittsburgh (60.8% male, mean age 19.2 years), taking into account the unique interaction partners of each student. Specifically, we investigate the differences between event- and signal contingent sampling in (1) the total number of unique interaction partners captured, as well as (2) the kinds of relationships, and (3) the quality of social interactions with these captured interaction partners. Apart from a larger quantity of interactions and unique interaction partners in the event-contingent sampling design, our analyses indicate subtle differences between the two designs when aiming to assess social interactions with more distant interaction partners, such as coworkers or strangers. Most importantly, in our analyses, specific interaction partners and social roles explained a considerable amount of variance in the quality of social interactions (up to 20.5%), suggesting that future research would benefit greatly from considering “with whom” individuals interact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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 Statement: This 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A random effects model is proposed for the analysis of binary dyadic data that represent a social network or directed graph, using nodal and/or dyadic attributes as covariates. The network structure is reflected by modeling the dependence between the relations to and from the same actor or node. Parameter estimates are proposed that are based on an iterated generalized least-squares procedure. An application is presented to a data set on friendship relations between American lawyers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social context of a person, meaning their social relationships and daily social interactions, is an important factor for understanding their mental health. However, personalised feedback approaches to psychotherapy do not consider this factor sufficiently yet. Therefore, we developed an interactive feedback prototype focusing specifically on a person's social relationships as captured with personal social networks (PSN) and daily social interactions as captured with experience sampling methodology (ESM). We describe the development of the prototype as well as two evaluation studies: Semi-structured interviews with students (N = 23) and a focus group discussion with five psychotherapy patients. Participants from both studies considered the prototype useful. The students considered participation in our study, which included social context assessment via PSN and ESM as well as a feedback session, insightful. However, it remains unclear how much insight the feedback procedure generated for the students beyond the insights they already gained from the assessments. The focus group patients indicated that in a clinical context, (social context) feedback may be especially useful to generate insight for the clinician and facilitate collaboration between patient and clinician. Furthermore, it became clear that the current feedback prototype requires explanations by a researcher or trained clinician and cannot function as a stand-alone intervention. As such, we discuss our feedback prototype as a starting point for future research and clinical implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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 = 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A response by the authors to a letter to the editor about their article on the assessment of professional behavior in undergraduate medical education is presented.

Framing expatriation as family relocation, this research examines the influence of perceived justice and conflict on the psychological adjustment of 103 expatriate couples. Based on the actor-partner interdependence model, the proposed model simultaneously addresses effects of justice and conflict on own and partner's outcomes. Supporting the current model, and based on the self-interest model, distributive justice influenced work-related task conflict among expatriates and household-related task conflict among expatriate spouses. Among expatriate spouses, and in line with the group-value model, fairness perceptions regarding interpersonal treatment influenced both parties' personal conflict. Unanticipated, both parties' distributive justice also influenced personal conflict. Personal conflict negatively affected both parties' psychological adjustment and acted as a mediator in the relationship between distributive justice and psychological adjustment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

— 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. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A crucial but often overlooked impact of early life exposure to trauma is its far-reaching 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’sdwere 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 self-reported body experience that warrant careful assessment in the treatment of women with psychiatric disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]