The association of polyvictimization with violent ideations in late adolescence and early adulthood: A longitudinal study.

Violent ideations are increasingly recognized as an important psychological predictor for aggressive and violent behavior. However, little is known about the processes that contribute to violent ideations. This paper examines the extent to which polyvictimization triggers violent ideations in late adolescence and early adulthood, while also adjusting for dispositional and situational factors as well as prior violent ideations. Data came from three waves of the Zurich Project on the Social Development from Childhood into Adulthood (z-proso; n = 1465). Full-information maximum likelihood Tobit models were fitted to regress violent ideations experienced at ages 17 and 20 on multiple victimization experiences in the preceding 12 months while controlling for antecedent developmental risk factors and prior violent ideations. The results showed that violent ideations in late adolescence and early adulthood are influenced by violent thoughts, aggressive behavior, violent media consumption, moral neutralization of violence, and internalizing symptoms measured 2 years earlier. Experiences of polyvictimization significantly contributed to an increase in violent ideations both during late adolescence and in early adulthood. The exposure-response relationship between victimization and violent ideations did not significantly differ by sex. The findings are consistent with the notion that violent ideations are triggered by a retaliation-linked psychological mechanism that entails playing out other directed imaginary aggressive scenarios specifically in response to experiencing intentional harm-doing by others.

Longitudinal Risk Factors of Selling and Buying Sexual Services Among Youths in Switzerland.

The aim of this study was to examine the longitudinal predictors of buying and selling sexual services among youths in a high-income country. We used data from Switzerland (target sample: N = 1675 children, 52% male), where no prior studies have examined the trading of sexual services among representative samples of youths. Selling and buying sexual services were measured using novel, three-item measures at age 17. The predictors were measured at ages 13 and 15. In the regressions, multiple imputation was used to treat the missing values. Two-year point prevalence estimates of selling sexual services were 2.5% for females and 1.5% for males. Prevalence estimates of buying sexual services were 0.0% for females and 5.4% for males. Findings from logistic regressions revealed some support for prior findings from cross-sectional studies in high-income countries. New findings included evidence for prospective relations of having a disability, low generalized trust, and endorsing masculinity norms with trading sexual services. Follow-up models showed that the relations between pornography consumption and victimization with selling sexual services were gendered and stronger for females than for males.

Childhood Predictors of Violent Victimization at Age 17 Years: The Role of Early Social Behavioral Tendencies.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the relation between early social behavioral tendencies and the risk of violent victimization in late adolescence. STUDY DESIGN: We analyzed 5 waves of data from the Zurich Project on the Social Development from Childhood into Adulthood (z-proso), a longitudinal sample of Swiss first graders (N = 1138). Early social behavioral tendencies were measured at age 7 years and included internalizing problems, externalizing behavior, prosocial behavior, negative peer relations, competent problem solving, dominance, and sensation seeking. Path analyses were conducted of the association between these tendencies and violent victimization at age 17 years, and mediation through intermediate victimization at ages 11, 13, and 15 years was examined. RESULTS: Several childhood social behavioral tendencies predicted victimization 10 years later. Though this was the case for both sexes, the number and type of significant risk factors differed. For male children, sensation seeking, externalizing behavior, high prosociality, and negative peer relations at age 7 years increased later victimization, whereas for female children, dominance and externalizing behavior were predictive. In addition, results showed that the relation between early risk factors and age 17 years victimization was mediated by intermediate victimization, showing that differences in victimization risk in early adolescence are carried forward into late adolescence. CONCLUSIONS: Childhood social behavioral tendencies predict victimization 10 years later. Incorporating this finding into early prevention programs could reduce victimization over the life course.

Severe Youth Violence: Developmental Perspectives Introduction to the Special Section.

In this article, the authors introduce the special section on severe youth violence (SYV). As severe violence has significant negative consequences and youth commit more violence than other age groups, a developmental science approach is important to (a) understand pathways to SYV, (b) guide attempts to screen and assess SYV risk, and (c) inform novel, developmentally sensitive practices and policies to prevent and reduce SYV. The authors establish the theoretical and empirical contexts for the articles in this special section and explain how this developmental research on SYV can inform new lines of theoretical and empirical inquiry and innovative approaches to detect and respond to the risk of SYV.

Parental separation and child aggressive and internalizing behavior: an event history calendar analysis.

This study investigated the relationship between parental separation and aggressive and internalizing behavior in a large sample of Swiss children drawn from the ongoing Zurich Project on the Social Development of Children and Youths. Parents retrospectively reported life events and problem behavior for the first 7 years of the child's life on a quarterly basis (N = 995; 28,096 time points) using an Event History Calendar. The time sequences of separation and child problem behavior were analyzed. Parental separation affected both aggressive and internalizing behavior even when maternal depression, financial difficulties, and parental conflict were included. Parental separation exerted a direct effect on child problem behavior as well as an indirect effect via maternal depression.

External childcare and socio-behavioral development in Switzerland: Long-term relations from childhood into young adulthood.

This study examined early external childcare in relation to development from age 7 to 20. A Swiss sample was used (N = 1,225; 52% male). Development included multi-informant-reported externalizing behavior, internalizing problems, prosocial behavior, delinquency, and substance use. Growth curve models revealed that, dependent on the informant, time in a daycare center was related to increased externalizing and internalizing problems until at least age 11. It was not related to delinquency. Roughly three days per week at a daycare mother or playgroup was related to increased externalizing behavior. External family care was associated with increased prosocial behavior. Finally, time in a daycare center was associated with fewer externalizing but more internalizing problems and substance use for children from vulnerable backgrounds. This relation with substance use lasted to age 20.

"Do you trust him?" Children's trust beliefs and developmental trajectories of aggressive behavior in an ethnically diverse sample.

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.