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Depression is one of the most disabling mental disorders with respect to years living with symptoms and life lost prematurely. Understanding the development of depression symptoms in childhood and adolescence is important considering the increase in prevalence in adolescence and the substantial continuity of depression symptoms over time. Interpersonal perspectives on depression emphasize the interpersonal environment in the development, and remission of symptoms. In the present dissertation, the interpersonal environment focus was peer experiences. Specifically, the conditions under which peer experiences and depression symptoms were associated concurrently and longitudinally were examined in preschool, childhood, and adolescence. Different types of peer experiences were associated with depression symptoms in specific ways. In Study 1, the type of aggression and informant mattered where relational peer victimization and depression symptoms were associated in the presence of relational aggression when data were reported by teachers. In Study 2, informant and type of peer experience mattered such that when examining competing models of directional association of peer experiences and depression symptoms, depression symptoms predicted peer rejection across reporters and depression predicted peer victimization when data were self-reported. In Study 3, the type of aggression mattered again but peer-reported peer victimization was associated with self-reported depression symptoms in the presence of overt aggression for girls concurrently and over time. The effect was stronger for those who transitioned to high school. The conditions under which peer experiences and depression symptoms were associated depended on type of aggression (i.e., relational peer victimization and relational aggression in preschool and overt aggression for girls in late childhood and adolescence), type of relationship disturbance (i.e., peer victimization and peer rejection), informant, and whether individuals transitioned to high school.

This thesis deals with the topic of protection of victims of crime. The topic is quite broad therefore the main focus is at the assistance for victims of crime and forms of such assistance. The thesis is divided into three main parts which are further divided into chapters and subchapters. The first part is concerned with victimology in general. It contains four chapters. First chapter describes the science of victimology. The knowledge of basic principles of victimology is fundamental for further understanding of the topic of crime victims. Brief overview of the evolution of victimology is also mentioned. The second chapter defines the basic concepts of victimology, such as the term victim, victimity, harm and factors that influence the extent of the harm caused by a crime to the victim. The third chapter is closely focused on the process of victimization and its specific issues. It contains more detailed subchapters on primary, secondary, terciary victimization and on repeated victimization. The fourth chapter concludes this part. It is concerned with sources of information about crime victims that are available. Particularly it deals with official statistics and victimology researches and studies. The second part is contained in chapter number five and its subchapters. Its main focus is on...

Knowledge concerning the social services’ use of the Care of Young Persons (Special Provisions) Act 1990:52 (CYPA) is relatively scarce, especially when it comes to the protection of adolescents victimized by abuse. The overall aim of this thesis is to investigate and discuss different conceptualisations of abuse, adolescents’ agency regarding abuse, victimization and social intervention, and how abuse and adolescent victimization are responded to, primarily by the social services. This is done from a stance influenced by critical realism as well as victim- and child-centred responses. The dissertation consists of four papers and examines these themes in two samples of judgments and related documents concerning applications for care of adolescents aged 13-17 under the CYPA. The findings from the total study of all judgments in the selected year clearly confirm § 2 CYPA as a rare intervention to protect adolescents. In only 85 of Sweden's 290 municipalities was a CYPA application made, but a main finding is that such care to a large extent was used to protect adolescents from various forms of abuse. In the total study, the applications of § 2 CYPA concerned 196 adolescents, for 70 per cent of whom abuse was described, and where more girls (96) than boys (41) were being considered for care based on abuse. Of all the girls, 79 per cent were described as subjected to abuse and of the boys 55 per cent. Also in the smaller sample consisting of judgments for 37 girls in care under § 2 CYPA and §§ 2 and 3 CYPA, abuse was described for many. For several adolescents in both samples abuse was described as having been exerted to maintain standards of honour, shame and virginity, and/ or to enable a forced marriage. The initiative and agency of the adolescents themselves in both the disclosure of abuse as well as the decision on alternative care is one of the most striking findings in the thesis. The majority of the adolescents, 71 per cent, were categorized as having intentionally disclosed the abuse. The aftermath of the disclosure was for many of the adolescents described as intensely challenging. For the majority the abuse was denied during the investigation, not only by the alleged abusers but also by non-abusing parents and other relatives. The findings relating to the social services responses suggest that the initial response to a high degree could be understood as parent-oriented. For 33 per cent, the judgment also revealed that the abuse had been disclosed to authorities one or several times prior to the investigation leading to the application for care under the CYPA. That the abuse in these cases had been known to the social services for on average 5 years can from a child-centred position be seen as a major failure regarding the system’s ability to reach children and stop abuse. A central conclusion is that the various forms of abuse described seem more connected to domination, fear, power and control than to conflict; to some extent mirroring the kind of systematic oppression described for victimized adults seeking the protection of NGOs and public authorities. The findings imply that interventions under the CYPA may enable more child-centred, safe and stable protection of children subjected to this kind of abuse. Given the findings in the present thesis it is argued that it may be important to differentiate the concept of abuse as well as to acknowledge the agency of children in both research and in practice. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: Manuscript.</p>

The aim of this dissertation is to add to the development the knowledge base of bullying research with particular focus on processes of victimization within a Swedish context. The goal is to a contribute to understanding the consequences of being bullied by examining patterns of change in bullying victimization over time and how potential positive social interactions and relationships might promote the well-being of bullied children. A mix-methods research design was used, including quantitative data from a one-year longitudinal study, using individual data, from 3,347 pupils (grades 4 to 9, in 44 schools) and five in-depth qualitative interviews with former victims of bullying. From an overview of the research field it was concluded that there is a general shortage of theoretical perspectives within the field of bullying research. Correlation studies have linked negative health consequences with bullying. However, this kind of research design provides few insights into how and why bullied children experience the kinds of problems that they do. By adopting a theoretical understanding of how ‘self’ is realized through interactions with others, this dissertation moves beyond correlation- based explanations of the mechanisms behind the link between bullying and its consequences in order to be able to offer more targeted support for those schoolchildren who are, or have been subjected to bullying. An argument is made for the importance of understanding the social processes behind bullying It is argued that being subjected to bullying victimization is a transient life experience for about three quarters of the small cohort (about 7%) of Swedish schoolchildren who are victims of bullying at any one time. The trajectories of bullying experiences these children are unstable. However, the negative consequences are likely to remain even after the bullying has ceased. For others, the persistent victims (1.6%). the state of being bullied may become stable and continue over periods of years. Nevertheless, peers and teachers may serve as important resources in supporting transitory and continuing victims of bullying.

I tidigare intervjuer med fackförbundet Byggnads framkom det att byggbranschen präglas av något som kallas machokultur. Det vill säga att arbetsmiljön kännetecknas av manlighet, tufft arbetsklimat samt sexistiskt eller könsdiskriminerande språk. Byggnads startade tillsammans med Byggcheferna en kampanj 2015 som heter "Stoppa machokulturen" där de framför att byggbranschen är en av Sveriges minst jämställda bransch och att fler kvinnor behövs men också att machokulturen måste bort. Därför har vi i denna studie valt att undersöka just machokulturen och kvinnors status inom byggbranschen genom att intervjua både arbetsledare och medarbetare för att komma fram till ett resultat. Resultatet konstaterade att en machokultur existerar då både kränkande ord samt sexistiska och könsdiskriminerande ord förekommer i princip varje dag. Dock irriterar inte detta medarbetarna eller arbetsledarna på något vis då de poängterar att detta är så som byggbranschen fungerar. Intervjupersonerna anser även att kvinnor på arbetsplatsen är positivt, ingen av intervjupersonerna ser något hinder i könet utan snarare att kvinnan måste ha intressen som är mer manliga. De slutsatser vi kommit fram till är att utbildning är det som krävs och fattas, utbildning till både skyddsombud, arbetsledare och medarbetare. Detta för att bygga upp en medvetenhet om att kvinnor behövs inom branschen och att de kan utföra samma arbete som män kan. / In previous interview with the trade union Byggnads, it emerged that the construction industry is characterized by a culture called macho culture. The work environment is characterized by greed, tough working climate, and sexist or gender discriminating language. Byggnads, together with the Byggcheferna, started a campaign 2015 called the "Stop macho culture". In which they argue that the construction industry is one of Sweden's least-equalized industry and that more women are needed but also that the macho culture must be removed completely. Therefore, in this study we have chosen to investigate the exact macho culture and women's status in the construction industry by interviewing both supervisors and employees to arrive at a result. The result found that a macho culture exists when abusive as well as sexist and gender discriminating words occur every day. However, this does not irritate employees or supervisors in any way as they point out that this is the way the construction industry works. Interviewers also consider that women in the workplace are positive, none of the interviewees sees any obstacles in the sex but rather that the woman must have interests that are more male. The conclusions we have come to are that education is what is required and missing, education for both the protection officer, the supervisor and the employees. This to build awareness that women are needed in the industry and that they can do the same work as men can.

Introduction: Crime victimization is a problem affecting both individuals and societies. Previous research has looked at the associations between victimization and other factors, and many countries employ self-reported victimization surveys to establish what the victimization patterns look like at different societal levels. Aims: By examining victimization proportions and patterns, this study aimed to further the understanding of what the crime victimization problem looks like in a medium-sized Swedish city. Method: 149 men and 146 women, for a total of 295 inhabitants of Sundsvall, answered self-reported victimization surveys based on the Swedish Crime Survey. The gathered data was subsequently quantified and analyzed. Results: In total, 11.9 % of the sample reported some type of victimization. Overall, men were more likely to be victimized than women, and crimes against persons were more common than crimes against property. Occupation and socio-economic status were significantly associated with victimization. More than half of the victimizations were not reported to the police, and victimization was significantly associated with a lower trust in the criminal justice system and the police. Conclusion: Medium-sized cities like Sundsvall seem to have considerably lower proportions of victimization than the counties, regions and nation as a whole. The rates of reporting and patterns of victimization found, however, are in accord with findings on other societal levels and could to some extent be explained through the principles of the routine activities/lifestyle theory. / <p>2017-06-01</p>

Brottsoffren hamnar ofta i skuggan av gärningspersonerna. Denna studie är viktimologisk och fokuserar således på individer som blivit utsatta för brott. En särskilt sårbar grupp är de äldre personerna i samhället. Syftet med denna studie var att identifiera äldre personers upplevda beteenden och upplevda personliga konsekvenser som uppkommit till följd av att utsättas för inbrott i sitt eget bostadshus. I denna kvalitativa studie har 12 personer intervjuats och med hjälp av en kvalitativ innehållsanalys fick vi fram fem kategorier: praktiska konsekvenser, kontroll, låsa dörren, personliga konsekvenser och inga personliga konsekvenser. Merparten av de som utsatts för inbrott i sitt bostadshus upplevde en rädsla för brott samt ett förändrat beteende i sitt vardagliga liv. Två teman utgör resultatet från intervjuerna: upplevda personliga konsekvenser och skyddsåtgärder mot inbrott. Ofta var det en rädsla för att bli utsatt för brott som gjorde att deltagarna utvecklade beteenden för att skydda sig själva från att bli viktimiserade. / Perpetrators often get a lot of attention while the victims of crime usually remain silent. This study is victimological and focuses on individuals that have been victims of crime. A particularly vulnerable group of people is the elderly. The purpose of this study is to identify older people's experienced behaviors and experienced personal consequences that have appeared after being the victim of burglary in their own home. In this qualitative study 12 individuals have been interviewed and with a qualitative content analysis five categories were produced: practical consequences, control, locking the door, personal consequences and no personal consequences. The majority of those who had been victims of burglary in their own home experienced a fear of crime and a changed behavior in their daily life. Two themes have been identified from the interviews; personal consequences as experienced by the participants and protective measures against burglary. Due to the fear of becoming a victim of crime, the individuals adopted the protective measures. / <p>2017-06-01</p>

Most peer victimization research has focused on school-aged children with little attention paid to victimization in preschoolers. The purpose of this study was to examine the contribution of emotional competencies to peer victimization in children 3 to 5 years old. A social information processing (SIP) model focusing on the role of emotion processes in socially competent interactions is presented. Fifty preschool children completed tasks of emotion regulation, emotion understanding, peer victimization, and verbal ability. Measures of emotionality, emotion regulation, and peer victimization were completed by parents and teachers. No relation was found between preschoolers’ level of emotional competency and degree of peer victimization. Children’s verbal ability was associated with peer victimization. Limitations to the study, practical implications, and avenues for future research are presented.

My dissertation sought to expand the study of victimization by examining non-linear relationships across victim, offender, and offense characteristics within a routine activities theory framework. Moreover, my goals were to assess victimization risk using a more realistic approach through the implementation of a situational perspective approach and conjunctive analysis. Conjunctive analysis is an analytical with both quantitative and qualitative properties, which allowed for interpretations that were detail oriented and summative. Utilizing data from the National Crime Victimization Survey, several victim (e.g., demographic factors), offender (e.g., victim-offender relationship), and offense (contextual factors) characteristics were analyzed. Conjunctive analysis was estimated for incidents by victimization type and by race/ethnicity. The results indicated the presence of main (linear) effects and interaction (non-linear) effects. Main effects by victimization type provided support for prior research on victimization risk, such as the majority of victims emerging as young, white, and male. Interaction effects revealed young and female victims were vulnerable to attacks from non-stranger offenders; whereas, older and male victims were prone to stranger attacks. When estimated by race and ethnicity, whites and blacks were also more likely to be attacked by someone with whom they were familiar; whereas, victims categorized as other were more likely to be attacked by strangers. Theoretical and policy implications were discussed.