Rejection by peers has devastating effects on children's social-cognitive development. As language difficulties have been found to be one of the underlying causes of peer rejection, the present study focused on the relation between these two variables. Specifically, this study was the first to test a hypothesized model connecting children's level…

Advocates of inclusive education argue that the social inclusion of students with secial educational needs (SEN) increases when they are educated with tyically develoing eers. However, research indicates that this is not aarent for all students with SEN. Students with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD) are often socially…

In the current study, associations between individual and friends' direct and indirect aggression and depressive problems were examined. It was expected that social status would moderate these associations such that low-status preadolescents would be more similar to their unilateral friends with regard to indirect, but not direct, aggression.…

The authors focused on analyzing (a) peer acceptance and peer rejection of typically developing students, students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in general secondary education; (b) attitudes of general secondary-aged students toward peers with ADHD and ASD; and (c) the…

This study examined to what extent motives for behavior differentiated between popular, accepted, and rejected adolescents. Based on goal-framing theory, three types of motives were distinguished: hedonic (aimed at short-term gratification), instrumental (aimed at improvement of one's situation), and normative (aimed at acting in accordance with…

A plethora of studies have appeared which argue that, prior to their attack, the perpetrators of school shootings had experienced intense conflicts and problematic relations (e.g. bullying) with peers and teachers, and were on the periphery of the schools' social life. This in turn resulted in the perpetrators' view of themselves as marginalized…

When children experience habitual peer difficulties, adults often remind them that many people care about them. How do such reminders of support impact children's emotional responses to acute experiences of peer disapproval? Intuitively, support reminders would exert compensatory effects attenuating the emotional impact of acute disapproval.…

The present study investigated the role of control as a moderator in reaction to ostracism among male violent offenders diagnosed with ASPD (N = 33) compared to a control sample consisting of males from the normal population without a known history of violence, or diagnosis of ASPD, matched for age and educational level (N = 35). Participants…

Gene-environment studies on adolescents' peer contexts are important for understanding the interplay between biological and social antecedents of adolescent psychopathology. To this end, this study examined the roles of serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR) and preadolescent and early adolescent peer rejection and acceptance, as well as the interaction…

We need methods to measure friendship among very young children to study the beginnings of friendship and the impact of experiences with friendship for later development. This article presents an overview of methods for measuring very young children's friendships. A behavioural sociometric method was constructed to study degrees of friendship…

The present study examined the role of parental rearing behavior in adolescents' risky decision-making and the brain's feedback processing mechanisms. Healthy adolescent participants ("n" = 110) completed the EMBU-C, a self-report questionnaire on perceived parental rearing behaviors between 2006 and 2008 (T1). Subsequently, after an…

Using data from the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study (NKPS) and combining a quantitative approach and a qualitative approach (N = 8,148 and n = 43, respectively), this study investigates the mechanisms associated with a lack of acceptance by one's family. From the total NKPS sample, 12.1% did not feel (entirely) accepted by their family. The…

This study examined the role of peer acceptance and perceived popularity in bullying and victimization in early adolescent peer groups. Peer acceptance is the degree to which adolescents are well liked by their peers; perceived popularity indicates visibility, dominance, and prestige. It was hypothesized that acceptance negatively predicts…

Possible differences between childhood-limited antisocial youth and their stable high-antisocial counterparts were examined. Children were 11 years old at wave 1 (T1) and 13.5 at wave 2 (T2). At both waves, the same parent, teacher, and self-reports of antisocial behavior were used. Stable highs and childhood-limited antisocial youth differed…

For this study, information on "Who Bullies Who" was collected from 54 school classes with 918 children (M age = 11) and 13,606 dyadic relations. Bullying and victimization were viewed separately from the point of view of the bully and the victim. The two perspectives were highly complementary. The probability of a bully-victim…