How do victims of bullying develop depression? Testing interpersonal style to explain the victimization-depression link.

This study tested to what extent the relation between bullying victimization and future symptoms of depression could be explained by victims being more hostile and less assertive than non-involved individuals. Data came from waves 2-4 of the Dutch TRacking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS). Participants' bullying experiences were assessed at age 13, interpersonal style at age 16, and depression symptoms at age 19. Mediation analyses were performed primarily on 274 self-reported victims and 1498 non-involved peers. Self-reported victims had an increased risk for depression symptoms. About a third of that risk could be explained by victims' hostile style, which was also higher than those of non-involved peers. Although victims also reported lower levels of assertiveness than non-involved peers, this interpersonal style did not mediate the link between bullying victimization and depression. Our findings suggest that high hostility, but not low assertiveness, partly explains the increased depression risk of self-reported victims. Therefore, interventions could focus on addressing hostility, to help reduce the likelihood that adolescents who have experienced bullying victimization will have more interpersonal conflicts and mental health problems in the future. Supplementary materials also include analyses for bullies and bully-victims, and for peer-reported measures.

The Sexual Double Standard and Adolescent Stigma: A Sociometric and Comparative Approach.

This study applied a sociometric approach to examine the traditional sexual double standard within a sample of Dutch adolescents (N = 1,175; 53.8% females; Mage = 14.75). Drawing on script theory and the key concept of social stigma, this study examined associations between self-reported sexual partnerships and three measures of peer preference: (1) received friendship nominations, (2) peer dislike nominations, and (3) perceived popularity. Results from ordinary least squares regressions support the traditional double standard, indicating that girls who report a higher number of self-reported sexual partners receive fewer friendships and more peer dislike nominations than boys reporting similar numbers of sexual partners. Sexual partnerships are positively associated with boys' and girls' perceived popularity. Using sociometric measures of peer stigma, we found evidence of a traditional sexual double standard in an adolescent sample from a liberal and gender egalitarian Western democracy, while also pointing to the potential status rewards associated with adolescent sexual behavior.

Growing Up Together in Society (GUTS): A team science effort to predict societal trajectories in adolescence and young adulthood.

Our society faces a great diversity of opportunities for youth. The 10-year Growing Up Together in Society (GUTS) program has the long-term goal to understand which combination of measures best predict societal trajectories, such as school success, mental health, well-being, and developing a sense of belonging in society. Our leading hypothesis is that self-regulation is key to how adolescents successfully navigate the demands of contemporary society. We aim to test these questions using socio-economic, questionnaire (including experience sampling methods), behavioral, brain (fMRI, sMRI, EEG), hormonal, and genetic measures in four large cohorts including adolescents and young adults. Two cohorts are designed as test and replication cohorts to test the developmental trajectory of self-regulation, including adolescents of different socioeconomic status thereby bridging individual, family, and societal perspectives. The third cohort consists of an entire social network to examine how neural and self-regulatory development influences and is influenced by whom adolescents and young adults choose to interact with. The fourth cohort includes youth with early signs of antisocial and delinquent behavior to understand patterns of societal development in individuals at the extreme ends of self-regulation and societal participation, and examines pathways into and out of delinquency. We will complement the newly collected cohorts with data from existing large-scale population-based and case-control cohorts. The study is embedded in a transdisciplinary approach that engages stakeholders throughout the design stage, with a strong focus on citizen science and youth participation in study design, data collection, and interpretation of results, to ensure optimal translation to youth in society.

A New School, a Fresh Start? Change and Stability in Peer Relationships and Academic Performance in the Transition from Primary to Secondary School.

Previous studies on peer relationships in school transitions neglected individual differences, or did not examine the relation with academic performance in secondary school. This study followed 649 students from their last year of primary school to their first year in secondary school (Mage at T1 = 11.6 (SD = 0.6); 53.6% girls). Results revealed that students became more attached to peers, less lonely, and were stable in victimization across the transition. Particularly students with more negative peer experiences in primary school enjoyed a "fresh start" in terms of peer experiences in secondary school. Students who had more co-transitioning peers experienced greater reductions in loneliness. Changes in peer experiences over the transition did not relate to academic performance in secondary school.

The role of academic performance, prosocial behaviour and friendships on adolescents' preferred studying partners: A longitudinal social network analysis.

BACKGROUND: Peers constitute an important developmental context for adolescent academic behaviour providing support and resources to either promote or discourage attitudes and behaviours that contribute to school success. When looking for academic help, students may prefer specific partners based on their social goals regarding academic performance. AIMS: Based on the social goals for wanting to achieve academically (e.g., studying to be with friends, increasing/maintaining their own social status), we examine the extent to which adolescents' selection of preferred academic partners (with whom they would like to study) is driven by peers' academic performance, prosocial behaviour and friendships. Moreover, as high-achieving students play an important role in academic settings, whether they are more likely to prefer to study with similar high-achieving peers and friends was examined. SAMPLE: A total of 537 seventh-grade students from 13 classes over three waves. METHODS: Longitudinal social network analyses (RSiena). RESULTS: Adolescents were more likely to select high achievers, friends and prosocial peers as preferred academic partners. Furthermore, high achievers were more likely to choose other high achievers and friends as preferred academic partners. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents are likely to prefer as study partners someone they can learn from and who is more approachable, cooperative and friendly. Regarding high achievers, they would choose not only academic partners with similar academic interests and motivations to help them boost their academic achievement but also classmates with whom they like to spend time and share personal issues.

Trial protocol for the Building Resilience through Socio-Emotional Training (ReSET) programme: a cluster randomised controlled trial of a new transdiagnostic preventative intervention for adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Adolescence is a period of heightened vulnerability to developing mental health problems, and rates of mental health disorder in this age group have increased in the last decade. Preventing mental health problems developing before they become entrenched, particularly in adolescents who are at high risk, is an important research and clinical target. Here, we report the protocol for the trial of the 'Building Resilience through Socioemotional Training' (ReSET) intervention. ReSET is a new, preventative intervention that incorporates individual-based emotional training techniques and group-based social and communication skills training. We take a transdiagnostic approach, focusing on emotion processing and social mechanisms implicated in the onset and maintenance of various forms of psychopathology. METHODS: A cluster randomised allocation design is adopted with randomisation at the school year level. Five-hundred and forty adolescents (aged 12-14) will be randomised to either receive the intervention or not (passive control). The intervention is comprised of weekly sessions over an 8-week period, supplemented by two individual sessions. The primary outcomes, psychopathology symptoms and mental wellbeing, will be assessed pre- and post-intervention, and at a 1-year follow-up. Secondary outcomes are task-based assessments of emotion processing, social network data based on peer nominations, and subjective ratings of social relationships. These measures will be taken at baseline, post-intervention and 1-year follow-up. A subgroup of participants and stakeholders will be invited to take part in focus groups to assess the acceptability of the intervention. DISCUSSION: This project adopts a theory-based approach to the development of a new intervention designed to target the close connections between young people's emotions and their interpersonal relationships. By embedding the intervention within a school setting and using a cluster-randomised design, we aim to develop and test a feasible, scalable intervention to prevent the onset of psychopathology in adolescence. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN88585916. Trial registration date: 20/04/2023.

Students' School and Psychological Adjustment in Classrooms with Positive and Negative Leaders.

Positive and negative leadership styles may influence classroom norms and be related to the school and psychological adjustment of children in general, and victims in particular. This study tested the relation between leadership styles and children's adjustment, and the moderating effects of leadership on the association between self-reported victimization and school and psychological adjustment (self-esteem, social anxiety, and depressive symptoms); and it tested for potential gender differences. Classrooms were classified into those with only positive leaders, only negative leaders, both positive and negative leaders, and without leaders. The sample contained 8748 children (Mage = 10.05, SD = 1.22; 51.2% girls) from 392 classrooms, in grades three to six, in 98 Dutch schools. Multilevel analysis revealed that, in general, children in negative leader classrooms experienced lower school well-being than children in other classrooms. In positive leader classrooms, male and female victims had lower school well-being. For psychological well-being, female victims had lower self-esteem and more depressive symptoms in positive leader classrooms. Male and female victims in negative leader classrooms did not suffer from additional maladjustment. These results demonstrate that negative leadership styles are related to lower school well-being of all children, whereas victimization in classrooms with positive leaders is negatively related to male and female victims' school well-being and girls' psychological adjustment (depressive symptoms); this is in line with the 'healthy context paradox'.