Margit Averdijk

... Margit Averdijka,∗ , Tina Maltib, Denis Ribeauda and Manuel Eisnerc aDepartment of Sociology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland bDepartment of Psychology, University of ... Gasser, L., & Keller, M. (2009). ... Jones, BL, & Nagin, DS (2007). ...

Purpose The aim of this study is to investigate the mediating role of children's internalizing symptoms and aggressive behavior in cycles of peer victimization. We hypothesized that victimization increases internalizing problems, reactive, and indirect aggression, which in turn were expected to increase the likelihood of later peer victimization. Methods Data from four waves of a longitudinal study among a culturally diverse sample of 7-to 11-year-olds were used. Peer victimization was assessed via children's self-reports. Parents and children rated internalizing symptoms. Teachers provided information about proactive, reactive, and indirect aggression. We tested our hypotheses using path models with maximum likelihood estimation. Multiple imputation was used to treat the missing values. Results Path analyses revealed that peer victimization increased later internalizing symptoms and reactive and indirect aggression when controlled for previous problem behavior. In contrast, proactive aggression was not affected by peer victimization. Reactive aggression and internalizing symptoms mediated the effect of prior on later peer victimization. Conclusions Our findings indicate that children's problem behavior may contribute to an escalating cycle of peer victimization.

This study investigated the role of trust beliefs (i.e., trustworthiness, trustfulness) on aggression trajectories in a four-wave longitudinal study using an ethnically diverse sample of 8- to 11-year-old children (N = 1,028), as well as the risk profiles of low trust beliefs and low socioeconomic status on aggression trajectories. At Time 1 to Time 4, teachers provided ratings of overt aggressive behavior. At Time 1, children's trust beliefs were assessed by a sociometric peer nomination instrument and derived using social relations analysis. Latent growth curve analysis revealed five trajectories of aggressive behavior: high-stable, medium-stable, low-stable, increasing, and decreasing. As hypothesized, children in the high-stable trajectory were perceived as less trustworthy than children in the low-stable, medium-stable, and increasing trajectories. Children in the high-stable trajectory were less trustful than children in the low-stable trajectory and had a significantly higher risk profile (i.e., low trust beliefs and low SES) compared to children in the low-stable trajectory. Our findings indicate that the developmental course of aggression during middle childhood is predicted by children's trustworthiness and trustfulness. A risk profile of low trust and low socioeconomic status contributes to high-stable aggression trajectories.

ABSTRACT: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between external childcare and child problem behaviour at age 7 in a culturally diverse urban sample from Switzerland. We used data from the Zurich Project on the Social Development of Children and Youths (z-proso). Findings suggested that the quantity of group-based childcare (but not individual childcare) was related to aggression, ADHD, non-aggressive externalizing behaviour, and anxiety and depression at age 7. Analyses on timing of childcare suggested that the accumulation of childcare over the life course, and not so much childcare in the first years of life, was associated with child problem behaviour. In addition, childcare at age 5 to 7 had a unique relationship with problem behaviour over and above quantity of group-based childcare received in other age periods.

We investigated whether social relationships protect children against the effects of victimization on internalizing problems. We used data from the Zurich Project on the Social Development of Children and Youths. Victimization at age 8 years was associated with internalizing problems at age 9 years. Victims who had siblings, warm parents, and a good relationship with the teacher had less severe internalizing problems than those who did not, providing evidence for a protective effect of social relationships. Friendships with classmates were not found to be protective. Furthermore, social relationships did not protect victims more than nonvictims.

The current study investigated developmental trajectories of teacher-reported aggressive behavior and whether these trajectories are associated with social-cognitive development (i.e., aggressive problem-solving) across the first three elementary grades in a large sample from Switzerland (N = 1,146). Semiparametric group-based analyses were employed to identify distinct pathways of aggressive behavior across grades. Five distinct trajectory classes were identified: low-stable, medium-stable, decreasing, increasing, and high-stable. Childrens’ aggressive problem-solving strategies differentiated the high-stable from the other aggressive behavior trajectories. The findings are discussed within a social-cognitive developmental framework.

Dieser Bericht bietet einen Überblick über die wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisse zur Gewaltprävention auf internationaler Ebene. Dabei wurde eine breite Definition von Gewalt angewendet, die sowohl rechtlich strafbare
wie nicht strafbare und (frühe) Risikofaktoren für Gewalt beinhaltet. Der Bericht stützt einerseits auf einer Darstellung von internationalen Übersichtsstudien zur Wirksamkeit von Gewaltprävention und anderseits auf einer Recherche zur aktuellen Angebotsstruktur und Evaluationen in der
Schweiz. Insgesamt wurden 26 Präventionsansätze in den Bereichen Individuum, Familie, Schule und Opferhilfe identifiziert, deren Wirksamkeit durch internationale Forschungsergebnisse untermauert wird. Jedes Kapitel
vermittelt Praktikerinnen und Praktikern sowie Entscheidungsträgerinnen und -trägern einen Eindruck von den Zielen, den Programmmerkmalen und der Wirksamkeit der Ansätze. Zudem wird eine Übersicht über die schweizerische Praxis gegeben und es werden Schlussfolgerungen und Empfehlungen für mögliche weiterführende Strategien und Forschung formuliert.
Obwohl in den letzten Jahren in der Schweiz erhebliche Fortschritte im Bereich Gewaltprävention erzielt wurden, ist die Wissensbasis immer noch zu dünn um eindeutige Empfehlungen zu wirksamen Programmen in der
Schweiz abzugeben. Die meisten in der Schweiz angebotenen Programme wurden nicht hinsichtlich ihrer Wirksamkeit wissenschaftlich evaluiert. Der vorliegende
Bericht soll die begonnene Dynamik hin zu mehr erkenntnisbasierter Gewaltprävention weiter stärken und stellt ein vorläufiger Kompass für die Präventionsarbeit dar.

Il presente rapporto fornisce una panoramica a livello internazionale delle conoscenze scientifiche sulla prevenzione della violenza. Viene utilizzata una definizione ampia del temine «violenza», che comprende sia le forme
di violenza penalmente perseguibili sia quelle non perseguibili e i fattori di rischio precoci. Il rapporto si basa su disamine di studi internazionali sull’ef - ficacia della prevenzione della violenza nonché su una ricerca relativa alla struttura dell’offerta esistente e alle valutazioni svolte in Svizzera. Nel com - plesso, sono stati individuati 26 approcci preventivi incentrati sull’individuo,  sulla famiglia, sulla scuola e sull’aiuto alle vittime, la cui efficacia è suf - fragata dai risultati di ricerche internazionali. In ogni capitolo del rapporto gli operatori del settore e i responsabili politici possono farsi un’idea degli obiettivi, delle caratteristiche dei programmi e dell’efficacia degli approcci in  questione. È inoltre fornita una panoramica sulla prassi svizzera e vengono formulate conclusioni e raccomandazioni per possibili strategie e ricerche ulteriori. Sebbene negli ultimi anni in Svizzera siano stati compiuti notevoli progressi nell’ambito della prevenzione della violenza, le conoscenze di base in materia restano comunque troppo esigue per poter fornire raccomanda - zioni precise per programmi efficaci a livello nazionale. La maggior parte dei programmi proposti in Svizzera non è stata valutata scientificamente in termini di efficacia. Il presente rapporto intende rafforzare lteriormente il riorientamento in corso verso una prevenzione della violenza maggiormente basata su prove scientifiche e funge da punto di riferimento provvisorio per il lavoro preventivo.

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between external childcare and child problem behaviour at age 7 in a culturally diverse urban sample from Switzerland. We used data from the Zurich Project on the Social Development of Children and Youths (z-proso). Findings suggested that the quantity of group-based childcare (but not individual childcare) was related to aggression, ADHD, non-aggressive externalizing behaviour, and anxiety and depression at age 7. Analyses on timing of childcare suggested that the accumulation of childcare over the life course, and not so much childcare in the first years of life, was associated with child problem behaviour. In addition, childcare at age 5 to 7 had a unique relationship with problem behaviour over and above quantity of group-based childcare received in other age periods.

Ce rapport présente les résultats de l’Etude Optimus suisse. Il s’intègre dans une plus vaste Etude Optimus internationale, qui collecte des informations sur la prévalence de la victimisation sexuelle et sur les facteurs de risque et de protection des enfants et des adolescents. L’Etude Optimus a mis au point un modèle de recherche qui conjugue des méthodes d’en- quête démographique standardisées avec des statistiques sur le traitement des cas par les agences officielles. Ces études sont à leur tour conçues pour améliorer la compréhension des violences sexuelles à l’encontre des enfants et des adoles- cents ainsi que pour sensibiliser et mobiliser en vue d’initiatives politiques et de prévention. Conformément à ce modèle, l’Etude Optimus en Suisse intégrait deux grandes enquêtes :
• l’enquête démographique est un sondage standardisé représentatif au niveau national réalisé auprès de près de 7000 élèves de 9e année issus de 445 classes en 2009;
• l’enquête auprès des agences est le résultat d’un effort majeur pour répertorier les cas de victimisation sexuelle parmi les enfants et les adolescents portés à la connaissance des agences publiques et privées chargées de la protection de l’enfance entre le 1er mars et le 31 août 2010. 324 agences de protection de l’enfance ont signalé un total de 911 cas de violences sexuelles à l’encontre de mineurs.