The purpose of this research study was to investigate the need parents who are home schooling may have for knowledge and assistance to enhance the social development of their children. Findings from an initial investigation into the literature indicated that peer relations and extra-curricular activities may provide opportunities for socialization in children. Informal rating scales measuring social developmental trends and relationships with others were used to obtain data from parents and children regarding the social development of the children. Furthermore, data were obtained during focus group and individual interviews, from questionnaires and children's drawings. Results from the literature study and empirical investigation resulted in a body of knowledge that would assist home schooling parents to provide opportunities for the adequate social development of their children. It can be concluded that home schooled children would find interaction with peers and participation in extra-curricular activities beneficial for their social development. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Guidance and Counselling)

The dissertation analyses access to welfare resources within the areas of schooling, leisure and peer relations for youth in out of home care. The study was conducted in three counties in mid Sweden and is a replication of the recurrent Swedish surveys of living condition of children in general populations. By using the same design, children aged 13–18 (n=272) in foster care and residential care were approached. Throughout the analysis results are compared with conditions for peers living at home, based on data from the 2004/2005 survey on living conditions for children (Child-ULF). Furthermore the results are linked to the young people’s experience of psychosomatic complaints and emotional wellbeing and discussed within the theoretical framework of childhood sociology. Questions regarding society’s ability to convey resources to youth while in care as well as young persons’ potential to exercise determination while in care are also discussed. The study shows that youth in care in general have access to fewer resources than those in general populations in the studied areas. For youth in residential care the differences compared to peers living at home are substantial, while conditions for youth in foster care are more alike those of young people in general. Youth in residential care have fewer school related resources and fewer contacts with friends than peers living at home. Youth in foster and residential care are more subjected to bullying than the general population. The overall conclusions are that society, in the form of foster parents and residential staff fails in certain areas to convey resources to youth in care. The young people’s lack of resources poses limitations to their potential to exercise self-determination while in care. The study points out areas where targeted efforts might be needed to improve the living conditions for youth in out of home care and perhaps broaden their potential to exercise self-determination while in care as well as after. / Välfärd i samhällsvården? En levnadsnivåundersökning av barn och ungdomar i socialtjänstens dygnsvård

Il bullismo è un fenomeno di gruppo in cui bambini e ragazzi possono essere coinvolti con ruoli differenti Il presente progetto di ricerca comprende tre studi originali, focalizzati su tre comportamenti ed esperienze connesse al bullismo: la condotta prevaricante, il comportamento di difesa della vittima e la vittimizzazione. Il primo studio ha esaminato gli effetti principali e di interazione dell'empatia affettiva e cognitiva, della preferenza sociale e della popolarità percepita su questi tre ruoli di coinvolgimento nel bullismo, nella media fanciullezza e nella prima adolescenza. Il secondo studio ha analizzato le relazioni esistenti tra abilità di teoria della mente (ToM), comportamento prepotente, difesa della vittima e vittimizzazione in un campione di media-fanciullezza. Sono anche stati controllati gli effetti di moderazione delle relazioni tra ToM e coinvolgimento nel bullismo esercitati da variabili individuali e relazionali. Il terzo studio, un progetto di ricerca longitudinale a breve termine, ha riesaminato le associazioni tra variabili rinvenute nel primo studio, valutandone il valore predittivo, oltre a rilevare eventuali effetti di moderazione della stabilità nel tempo di questi comportamenti e situazioni connessi al bullismo. / Bullying is a group phenomenon in which children may be involved with different roles. This project includes three original studies, focussed on three bullying-related behaviours or experiences: bullying, victimization, and defending the victim. The first study examined main and interaction effects of affective and cognitive empathy, social preference and perceived popularity on these three ways of participation in bullying, in middle-childhood and early adolescence. The second study analyzed the relationships between theory of mind skills (ToM), bullying, defending and victimization in a middle-childhood sample. Several individual and relational variables were controlled for, and their moderation effects on the relationships between ToM and involvement in bullying were examined. The third study was a short-term longitudinal research project, examining the predictive values of the associations between variables found in the first study and some possible moderation effects of the stability over time of these social behaviours and situations related to bullying.

The purpose of this research study was to investigate the need parents who are home schooling may have for knowledge and assistance to enhance the social development of their children. Findings from an initial investigation into the literature indicated that peer relations and extra-curricular activities may provide opportunities for socialization in children. Informal rating scales measuring social developmental trends and relationships with others were used to obtain data from parents and children regarding the social development of the children. Furthermore, data were obtained during focus group and individual interviews, from questionnaires and children's drawings. Results from the literature study and empirical investigation resulted in a body of knowledge that would assist home schooling parents to provide opportunities for the adequate social development of their children. It can be concluded that home schooled children would find interaction with peers and participation in extra-curricular activities beneficial for their social development. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Guidance and Counselling)

Adolescence is a time of change where maturational milestones lead to the prioritization of peerinput, and the social context becomes crucial in its influence of those milestones. Adolescents socialcontext requires adapting to complex social norms through self-regulation, a process which adolescents having neurodevelopmental disorders struggle with, bounding them to a certain incompetencein dealing with the peer group and friendships. In a time where interconnection becomes crucial inconforming the self-concept, it makes sense struggles in this area would influence the experience ofmental health. In this crossectional quantitative study adolescents with NDDs friendship experiencein class and its relation to well-being is analyzed using the data from the prospective longitudinalsurvey LoRDIA project. Variables such as reciprocity and rejection were created from peer nominations and used alongside items on perceived support and the MHC-Mental health continuumscale rating of flourishing. Descriptives, Chi-squares and logistic regression were conducted usingSPSS. Results show an association between well-being and the friendship experience but not between well-being and the presence of an NDD. Adolescents with an NDD experience less reciprocity, more rejection and lower perceived support in higher frequency than their peers. Discussion isguided by the family of Participation Related Constructs (fPRC) and the Two continuum modelperspective of well-being. Methodological limitations and future interventions based on the discussion are exposed.

No description available.

Seulement une minorité d’adolescents qui consomment des substances psychoactives développe des problèmes significatifs reliés à cette consommation. Il importe donc de connaître et de comprendre les processus par lesquels se développe la consommation problématique afin de pouvoir la prévenir. Cette étude examine le rôle des symptômes dépressifs et des relations sociales dans le développement de la consommation problématique à l’adolescence. Plus précisément, elle vise à déterminer, à l’aide d’un devis longitudinal corrélationnel prospectif, si le soutien des pairs, le soutien des parents et la qualité de la relation maître-élève ont des effets modérateurs protecteurs sur la relation entre les symptômes dépressifs et la consommation problématique. L’échantillon utilisé pour cette étude est tiré de la Stratégie d’Intervention Agir Autrement et comprend 4473 adolescents. Des régressions linéaires multiples ont été effectuées et ont démontré que les symptômes dépressifs et le soutien des parents augmentent le risque d’une consommation problématique, alors que le soutien des pairs le diminue. De plus, les résultats confirment le rôle protecteur du soutien des pairs, mais indiquent que le soutien des parents exacerbe le lien entre les symptômes dépressifs et la consommation problématique. Par ailleurs, la qualité de la relation maître-élève est associée à une consommation moins problématique uniquement chez les jeunes qui n’ont pas beaucoup de symptômes dépressifs. Les implications de ces résultats sont discutées. / Of adolescents who use drugs, only a minority develops significant problems related to this drug use. It is then relevant to know and understand the processes by which this problematic consumption develops itself in order to be able to prevent it. This study examines the roles of depression symptoms and social relationships in the development of problematic drug use at the adolescence. More precisely, it aims at determining, with the help of a prospective correlational longitudinal design, if peers support, parental support and the quality of the teacher-student relationship have moderator effects on the relationship between depressive symptoms and problematic drug use. The sample used for this study is taken from the Stratégie d’Intervention Agir Autrement and is comprised of 4473 teenagers. Multiple linear regressions were completed and showed that depressive symptoms enhance the risk of a problematic drug use to be developed, whereas peers support impairs it. Contrary to what was expected, results show that parental support enhances the risk of developing a problematic drug use and that the teacher-student relationship has no significant impact. Moreover, peers support has a protective role, parental support intensifies the relationship between depressive symptoms and problematic drug use, whereas the quality of the teacher-student relationship attenuates it.

Seulement une minorité d’adolescents qui consomment des substances psychoactives développe des problèmes significatifs reliés à cette consommation. Il importe donc de connaître et de comprendre les processus par lesquels se développe la consommation problématique afin de pouvoir la prévenir. Cette étude examine le rôle des symptômes dépressifs et des relations sociales dans le développement de la consommation problématique à l’adolescence. Plus précisément, elle vise à déterminer, à l’aide d’un devis longitudinal corrélationnel prospectif, si le soutien des pairs, le soutien des parents et la qualité de la relation maître-élève ont des effets modérateurs protecteurs sur la relation entre les symptômes dépressifs et la consommation problématique. L’échantillon utilisé pour cette étude est tiré de la Stratégie d’Intervention Agir Autrement et comprend 4473 adolescents. Des régressions linéaires multiples ont été effectuées et ont démontré que les symptômes dépressifs et le soutien des parents augmentent le risque d’une consommation problématique, alors que le soutien des pairs le diminue. De plus, les résultats confirment le rôle protecteur du soutien des pairs, mais indiquent que le soutien des parents exacerbe le lien entre les symptômes dépressifs et la consommation problématique. Par ailleurs, la qualité de la relation maître-élève est associée à une consommation moins problématique uniquement chez les jeunes qui n’ont pas beaucoup de symptômes dépressifs. Les implications de ces résultats sont discutées. / Of adolescents who use drugs, only a minority develops significant problems related to this drug use. It is then relevant to know and understand the processes by which this problematic consumption develops itself in order to be able to prevent it. This study examines the roles of depression symptoms and social relationships in the development of problematic drug use at the adolescence. More precisely, it aims at determining, with the help of a prospective correlational longitudinal design, if peers support, parental support and the quality of the teacher-student relationship have moderator effects on the relationship between depressive symptoms and problematic drug use. The sample used for this study is taken from the Stratégie d’Intervention Agir Autrement and is comprised of 4473 teenagers. Multiple linear regressions were completed and showed that depressive symptoms enhance the risk of a problematic drug use to be developed, whereas peers support impairs it. Contrary to what was expected, results show that parental support enhances the risk of developing a problematic drug use and that the teacher-student relationship has no significant impact. Moreover, peers support has a protective role, parental support intensifies the relationship between depressive symptoms and problematic drug use, whereas the quality of the teacher-student relationship attenuates it.

No description available.

The purpose of the empirical study is to determine the nature of the peer pressure that boys experience at a single-gender school. A literature study was conducted on single-gender education as opposed to co-education as well as the phenomenon of peer pressure during adolescence and the factors that might influence peer pressure. An empirical investigation was conducted involving 221 adolescent boys. The results showed that boys in single-gender schools experience more positive than negative peer pressure. No significant differences were found between the peer pressure of boys at a single-gender school and those at a co-educational school. Motivation and relationship with peers were identified as the two most important variables relating to peer pressure. Guidelines for parents, teachers, and adolescents were discussed to promote positive peer pressure and to minimise negative peer pressure. These guidelines included strategies to motivate adolescents and to promote positive peer relationships. / Psychology of Education / M. Ed. (Psychology of Education)