http://repub.eur.nl/res/aut/19459/ List of Publications en http://repub.eur.nl/static-eur/img/logo.png http://repub.eur.nl http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/34165/ 2011-10-01T00:00:00Z Objectives: A commonly encountered situation for evaluating clinicians is a history of significant problems in one setting with little or no difficulties in another. This study aims to describe this phenomenon and to examine its relations with other child and family characteristics. Method: A total of 1,730 children (mean age 11.05 years) was studied from the first wave of the Tracking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS), a large population-based study of Dutch youth. Parent and teacher ratings of aggression, rule breaking, inattention, and hyperactivity were obtained. Children were assigned to groups according to the presence of clinically relevant problems at home only, at school only, or in both settings. The rate of setting specific problems was calculated and comparisons between groups were made. Results: Setting specific, especially home-specific, problems were quite common. Among children whom parents rated as having at least borderline-clinical problems, teachers reported clear or very clear behaviors at school at the following rates: aggression (22%), rule breaking (12.5%), inattention (55%), and hyperactivity/impulsivity (33%). Compared with the school-specific group, the home-specific group contained a significantly higher percentage of girls with regard to inattention or hyperactivity and a significantly lower percentage of girls with regards to rule breaking. Logistic regression analyses revealed that home- versus school-specific problems were related to sex, child effortful control, and parental stress. Conclusion: Externalizing problems are frequently encountered only in one setting between home and school and are related to sex, child effortful control, and parental stress. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/25121/ 2011-06-08T00:00:00Z Background: Data regarding the impact of early risk factors on later involvement in bullying are scarce. We investigated the impact of preschool behaviors, family characteristics (socio-economic status, family breakup) and parental mental health on bullying and victimization at age 11 (T1) and age 13.5 (T2). Methods. longitudinal data from a subsample of the TRacking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS) (T1: N = 982; T2: N = 977). TRAILS is a prospective study of adolescent mental health in a mixed urban and rural region of the Netherlands. At T1 parents reported on family characteristics, parental mental health and retrospectively on children's preschool behavior at age 4-5. Schoolmates reported involvement of adolescents in bullying or victimization at T1 and T2. Results: Children with preschool anxiety were less likely to be bully/victim at T1. Children with preschool aggressiveness were more likely to be bully (T1), bully/victim (T1 and T2) and victim (T2) and children with good preschool motor functioning were more likely to be bully (T1) and less likely to be victim (T1 and T2). Children from low socioeconomic status families were more likely be to be bully, victim, or bully/victim and less likely to be uninvolved both at T1 and T2. Finally, children from intact two parent families were more likely to be uninvolved at T2. Conclusion: Preschool behavioral, emotional and motor problems, socioeconomic status, and family breakup are related to involvement in bullying at a later age. Prevention of bullying and its consequences can be enhanced by focusing on risk groups in early life. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/34222/ 2011-05-01T00:00:00Z The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between parental religiosity, parental harmonyonthe subjectofreligiosity, and the mental healthofpre-adolescents. In a community-based sample of 2,230 pre-adolescents (10-12 years), mental health problems were assessed using self-report (Youth Self-Report, YSR), parental report (Child Behavior Checklist, CBCL) aswell as teacher report (Teacher Checklist for Psychopathology, TCP). Information about the religiosity of mother, the religiosity of father and religious harmony between the parents was obtained by parent report. The influence of maternal religiosity on internalizing symptoms depended on the religious harmony between parents. This was particularly apparent on the CBCL. Higher levels of internalizing symptoms were associated with parental religious disharmony when combined with passive maternal religiosity. Boys scored themselves as having more externalizing symptoms in case of religiously disharmonious parents. The levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms in pre-adolescents were not influenced by parental religiosity. Religious disharmony between parents is a risk factor for internalizing problems when the mother is passive religious. Religious disharmony is a risk factor on its own for externalizing problems amongst boys. Parental religious activity and parental harmony play a role in the mental health of preadolescents. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/27560/ 2010-04-01T00:00:00Z This study uses a social-ecological approach to the development of delinquency. The authors emphasize that a balance between eliminating risk and enhancing protection across domains is essential in reducing problems and promoting competence. The cumulative risk and promotive effects of temperament, family and school factors in preadolescence were examined on different groups of delinquents (based on self-report) in early adolescence. Data from the first two waves of the TRAILS study (N=2,230) were used. The results provide evidence for a compensatory model that assumes main effects of risk and promotive factors on problem behavior. Accumulation of risks in preadolescence promoted being a serious delinquent in early adolescence, with the strongest effects for temperament. Accumulation of promotive effects decreased being a delinquent and supported being a nondelinquent. Furthermore, evidence is found for a counterbalancing effect of cumulative promotive and risk factors. Exposure to more promotive domains in the relative absence of risk domains decreased the percentage of serious delinquents. Our results did not support a protective model. Implications for prevention and intervention are discussed. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/28345/ 2010-02-01T00:00:00Z Purpose: Behavioral problems occur more frequently among adolescents in deprived areas, but most evidence concerns urbanized areas. Our aim was to assess the impact of area deprivation and urbanization on the occurrence and development of behavioral problems among adolescents in a mixed urban and rural area and to examine the contributory factors. Methods: We obtained data from the first two waves (n = 2,230; mean ages, 11.5 and 13.5 years respectively; response at follow-up, 96.4%) of the TRacking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS). TRAILS is a prospective study of adolescent mental health in a mixed urban and rural region of the Netherlands. We assessed adolescent behavioral problems using the parent-reported Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), the adolescent-reported Youth Self-Report (YSR) and the Antisocial Behavior Scale (ABS). Living areas were categorized into tertiles of deprivation. We further collected data on child temperament, perceived rearing style, parental socioeconomic position (education, income and occupation), family composition, and parental mental health history. Results: At baseline, adolescents living in the most deprived tertile more frequently had elevated behavioral problem scores than those from the least deprived tertile on the CBCL (11.2% against 7.1%), YSR (11.9% against 6.9%), and ASB (11.5% against 7.4%) (all p < .05). Socioeconomic position explained half of the differences due to area deprivation. Other familial and parental characteristics did not significantly contribute to the explanation of observed area differences. Conclusions: As in highly urbanized areas, behavioral problems occur more frequently among adolescents in deprived mixed rural and urban areas. Urbanization has little effect on these area differences. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/25304/ 2009-10-01T00:00:00Z 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 somewhat in family and individual background. Stable highs had less effortful control, perceived more overprotection, had a higher level of familial vulnerability to externalizing disorder, and lived less often with the same parents throughout their lives than the childhood-limited group. Both groups had similar levels of service use before T1, but after that period, the childhood-limited youth received more help from special education needs services than from problem behavior services, and vice versa for stable highs. The results suggest that the childhood-limited antisocial youth recovered not only from antisocial behavior but also from academic failure, peer rejection, and internalizing problems. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/24844/ 2009-09-01T00:00:00Z The aim of this study was to examine the relations between popularity and different types of aggressive, destructive, and norm-breaking behaviors in a large cross-sectional sample of adolescents (N=3,312, M age=13.60). We were interested in the extent to which the relations of these behaviors with popularity were moderated by positive features (i.e., athletic abilities, physical attractiveness, and prosociality). From a goal-framing perspective, it was argued that positive features evoke positive affect, which in turn enhances the positive impact of aggressive, destructive, and norm-breaking behaviors on popularity. The results supported our notion that these latter behaviors are especially related to popularity in adolescents who also exhibit positive features. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/16253/ 2009-03-01T00:00:00Z This study examined the possible risk-buffering and risk-enhancing role of family characteristics on the association between temperament and early adolescent externalizing and internalizing problems, adjusted for familial vulnerability for psychopathology and early childhood problem behavior. Furthermore, it explored whether these effects were specific or conditional for either internalizing or externalizing problems or more generic for psychopathology. Data on temperament (frustration and fearfulness) and family characteristics (overprotection, rejection, emotional warmth, and socioeconomic status) came from a large longitudinal Dutch population sample of early adolescents (n = 2,149; M age = 13.55 years; 51.2% girls). Hypotheses on the direction and the specificity of the effects were derived from a goal-framing approach. The findings indicate that family characteristics can either buffer or enhance the temperamental risk in the development of psychopathology. Analyses on the direction of these effects resulted in a descriptive classification of domain-specific, conditional, and generic factors that promote or protect the development of psychopathology. Implications of the results are discussed, and directions for future research are given. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/28907/ 2008-08-01T00:00:00Z Background: Scientific studies have provided some support for a link between being a victim of bullying and suicide ideation. We examine whether (1) parental psychopathology and (2) feelings of rejection (at home and at school) exacerbate vulnerability to suicide ideation in victims of bullying (pure victims and bully-victims). Method: Data were from a population-based cohort study of Dutch children (n = 1526, mean age = 12.29 years). Using peer nominations, three groups were established: (1) victim only; (2) bully-victims (children who are victims and who also bully others); (3) uninvolved. Self-report data on suicide ideation were obtained using two items from the Youth Self-Report (Achenbach, 1991). Parental internalising and externalising disorders were assessed, as were self-reported feelings of rejection at home and social well-being among classmates. Results: The association between victimisation and suicide ideation was moderated by parental internalising disorders (but not externalising disorders) and feelings of rejection at home. Victims (but not bully-victims) with parents with internalising disorders reported elevated levels of suicide ideation compared to children uninvolved in bullying. Victims feeling more rejected at home also reported more suicide ideation. There were no overall sex differences in suicide ideation. Surprisingly, bully-victims did not report higher levels of suicide ideation compared to children uninvolved in bullying. Conclusions: Parental internalising disorders and feelings of rejection at home confer a specific vulnerability for suicide ideation among victims of bullying. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/29046/ 2008-05-01T00:00:00Z In this study, we investigated if the association between parental divorce and depressive symptoms changes during early adolescence and if developmental patterns are similar for boys and girls. Data were collected in a prospective population cohort of Dutch adolescents (N = 2,149), aged 10 - 15 years. Outcome variables were self-reported and parent-reported depressive symptoms. The effects of divorce were adjusted for parental depression. In both self-reported and parent-reported data, we found a three-way interaction of gender, age, and parental divorce, indicating that with increasing age, parental divorce became more strongly associated with depressive symptoms among girls, but not boys. These results suggest that girls with divorced parents are at particularly high risk to develop depressive symptoms during adolescence. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/29429/ 2008-05-01T00:00:00Z There has been recent emphasis on the importance of investigating prosocial and antisocial behavior simultaneously owing to doubts about whether examining one automatically gives information about the other. However, there has been little empirical research into this question. The present study (based on a large population sample of preadolescents, N = 2,230) simultaneously examines prosocial and antisocial behavior, explicitly including the possibility that children might show prosocial behavior according to one informant and antisocial behavior according to another. When parents and teachers agreed in their judgments, children were distinctly profiled and differed clearly in effortful control, intelligence, academic performance, and several peer nominations and family characteristics. The correlates were more rater-specific for children that were prosocial according to one informant and antisocial according to the other informant. Teachers and parents used different context-dependent criteria for judging children to be prosocial or antisocial. Academic performance and peer relations were related to the teacher's judgment of prosocial and antisocial behavior. By contrast, children's being problematic at home (and thus causing stress for the parents) was related to the parents' judgment. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/35131/ 2007-11-01T00:00:00Z 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 relationship was higher if the bully was more dominant than the victim, and if the victim was more vulnerable than the bully and more rejected by the class. In a bully-victim dyad, boys were more often the bullies. There was no finding of sex effect for victimization. Liking reduced and disliking increased the probability of a bully-victim relationship. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/35169/ 2007-10-01T00:00:00Z It is important to investigate associations between biological factors and disruptive behaviors in children and adolescents. Antisocial, aggressive, and criminal behaviors in adults often begin early in life. Disruptive behaviors are often thought to be associated with low activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Cortisol, the end-product of this axis, can be measured to investigate HPA-axis activity. Previous studies on this topic concerned clinical or high risk samples. The aim of the present study was to investigate to which extent HPA-axis functioning plays a role in disruptive behaviors in pre-adolescents from the general population. One thousand seven hundred and sixty eight 10- to 12-year-olds from the Dutch general population were investigated. Disruptive behaviors were assessed with the Child Behavior Checklist, the Youth Self-Report, and the Antisocial Behavior Questionnaire. Baseline morning and evening salivary cortisol levels were assessed. Unexpectedly, small associations were found between disruptive behaviors, including attention problems, and higher cortisol levels. However, all effect sizes of significant effects were very small. Our study indicated that HPA-axis functioning may be more relevant in clinical or high risk samples than at the general population level. The association between HPA-axis functioning and attention problems, that has gotten less attention than that with aggressive or delinquent behaviors, requires further research. Furthermore, because effect sizes were relatively small, it can be concluded that, in pre-adolescence, the measures of baseline HPA-axis functioning that were used for the present study can not be used as biological markers for disruptive behaviors. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/35189/ 2007-10-01T00:00:00Z This article describes preschool social understanding and difficult behaviors (hot temper, disobedience, bossiness and bullying) as predictors of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and aggressive conduct disorder (ACD) in a Dutch population sample of (pre)adolescents (N = 1943), measured at age 10-12 and at age 13-15. ODD and ACD were assessed by the Child Behavior Checklist and the Youth Self-Report, preschool behavior was evaluated by the parental questionnaire 'How was your child as a preschooler? (age 4-5)'. Adjusted for each other, all difficult preschool behaviors except bullying were associated with adolescent ODD, while only bullying significantly predicted adolescent ACD. Furthermore, the results suggest a qualitative difference between ODD and ACD in terms of the social component of the disorders: poor preschool social understanding was associated with the development of ACD but not of ODD; and poor social understanding interacted with difficult preschool behaviors to predict later ACD but not ODD. The associations did not differ between boys and girls, and were roughly similar for preadolescent (age 10-12) and early adolescent (age 13-15) outcomes. The finding that poor social understanding was implicated in the development of ACD but not in the development of ODD may help to demarcate the individuality of each disorder and offer leads for (differential) treatment strategies. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/25717/ 2007-06-01T00:00:00Z This study investigates associations between depressive problems and classroom social status in a large population cohort of Dutch early adolescents (N = 1046, age 13.52 ± 0.51, 52.4% girls). Depressive problems were assessed by parent and self-reports and classroom status by peer nominations. We assessed peer status with respect to both achievement-related (being a good learner, being good at sports, being good-looking) and affection-related (being liked, being disliked, being best friend) areas. In boys, depressive problems were most strongly associated with not being good at sports, while in girls the association was strongest for not being liked. The risk of a low status in one area could largely be compensated by a high status in another area.