Supervision by René Veenstra

Jan Kornelis Dijkstra, PhD: Status and Affection among (Pre)adolescent Peers and their Relation with Antisocial and Prosocial Behavior
[RUG Opinie: 'Antisociaal gedrag kan helpen om status te krijgen of te behouden'] [Adam's Appel] [Kennislink: 'Puberstrijd om populariteit']
[NRC Handelsblad: 'Wie we stom vinden en wie juist leuk is']
Funding: ICS. Thesis defended: Groningen, October 22, 2007. 
Supervisors: Siegwart Lindenberg and René Veenstra (RUG).
Manuscript committee: Ernest Hodges (St Johns University, USA), Terrie E. Moffitt (King’s College London, UK), Sijmen A. Reijneveld (RUG), and Rafael Wittek (RUG).
Presently employed as Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Groningen.
Winner of a VENI grant for his project titled Belonging and Status in Peer Networks as Crucial Factors for Understanding Peer Influence Processes in the Realm of Adolescent Risk Behavior.

Miranda Sentse, PhD: Bridging Contexts: The Interplay between Family, Child, and Peers in Explaining Problem Behavior in Early Adolescence
[Press Release: 'Important role parents on problem behavior adolescent'] [Kennislink: 'Probleemgedrag bij jongeren: een beetje karakter, vleugje vrienden en een scheut ouders']
[Pictures of the defense]
Funding: NWO. Thesis defended: Groningen, March 4, 2010 (cum laude).
Supervisors: Siegwart Lindenberg and René Veenstra (RUG).
Manuscript committee: John E. Bates (Indiana University, USA), Marcel van Aken (UU), and Melinda Mills (RUG).
Cum laude committee: Karen Bierman (Pennsylvania State University, USA) and Brett Laursen (Florida Atlantic University, USA).
Presently employed as Postdoc at the Department of Psychology, University of Turku, Finland.

Jelle Sijtsema, PhD: Adolescent Aggressive Behavior: Status and Stimulation Goals in Relation to the Peer Context
[Press Release: 'Aggressive boys in search of affection find problem friends instead'] [OOG Radio: 'Agressieve jongens zoeken affectie maar krijgen probleemvrienden']
[Intermediair: Agressieve jongens tot elkaard veroordeeld] [Trouw: 'Ook asociale jongens willen sociale vrienden']
[Pictures of the defense]
Funding: ICS. Thesis defended: Groningen, October 7, 2010 (cum laude).
Supervisors: Siegwart Lindenberg and René Veenstra (RUG).
Manuscript committee: Noel Card (University of Arizona, USA), Pol van Lier (Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam), and Tom Snijders (Oxford University / RUG).  
Cum laude committee: Michel Boivin (Universite Laval Quebec, Canada) and Bruce Ellis (University of Arizona, USA).
Presently employed as Postdoc, Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center Groningen and Department of Sociology, University of Groningen.

Tobias Stark, PhD: Integration in School Classes: Students' Interpersonal Attitudes and Interpersonal Relationships
[Persbericht RUG: 'Gemengde scholen bevorderen integratie. Kabinetsbeleid eenzijdig'] [OOG TV: 'Toch een positief effect gemengde schoolklassen'] [Pictures of the defense]

Funding: ISW. Thesis defended: Groningen, September 8, 2011 (cum laude).
Supervisors: Andreas Flache, Roel Bosker, and René Veenstra (RUG).
Manuscript committee: Daniel McFarland (Stanford University, USA), Maykel Verkuyten (UU), and Sabine Otten (RUG).
Cum laude committee: Ken Frank (Michigan State University, USA) and Frank Kalter (Universität Mannheim, Germany).
Presently employed as Postdoc, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Stanford University.
Winner of a Marie Curie grant for his project titled Networks and Prejudice.

Katya Ivanova, MSc: From Parents to Partners: The Impact of Family on Romantic Relationships in Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood
[Elsevier: Tieners die slechter met houders omgaan daten eerder] [Press Release: Children with divorced parents date earlier]
Funding: ICS. Thesis defended: Groningen, March 5, 2012. 
Supervisors: Melinda Mills and René Veenstra (RUG).
Manuscript committee: Wendy Manning (Bowling Green State University, USA), Maja Dekovic (UU), and Siegwart Lindenberg (RUG).
Presently employed as Postdoc, Department of Sociology, Tilburg University.

Gijs Huitsing, MSc: Targeting the group? A social network perspective on bullying
[Sociologisch onderzoek naar pesten] [Film en Onderwijs: KLASS] [Sociologie Magazine: 'Wie pest wie?'] [BNR Nieuwsradio: Discussie over effectieve anti-pestprogramma's]
[Metro: Gepest jongetje zes weken thuis] [de Volkskrant: Pesten houdt nooit op]
Bullying in school classes can be seen as a group process. Besides bullies and victims, there are bystanders who can encourage bullies, ignore victims, or intervene (e.g., defending). So far, little is known about underlying group dynamics in classrooms. This project examines the group processes of bullying using models for social network analysis. Research questions deal with (1) the network structure of bullying classrooms and its consequences for children’s adjustment, (2) longitudinal issues of (a) selection and influence and (b) the effects of anti-bullying interventions on the social network structure of classrooms, and (3) the influence of teachers. Social network data for this project stem from Finland (KiVa Koulu) and Switzerland (Pathways to Victimization). The overarching aim of the project is to contribute to group-directed anti-bullying interventions, in cooperation with the Educational Service Center Groningen and bureau Youth Care. If group processes are recognized, anti-bullying interventions will probably be more successful.

Supervisors: Marijtje van Duijn, Tom Snijders, and René Veenstra (RUG).
Funding: NWO Toptalent 021.002.022 Period: September 1, 2008 - August 31, 2012  

Tinka Veldhuis, MSc: The Effect of Collective Humiliation on Terrorist Radicalization
[BNR Nieuwsradio: Islamist Radicalisation] [RUG Press Release: Terrorist wing may lead to new security risks] [NOS: Terroristenafdeling Vught opgeheven] [OOG Forum: Terroristenafdeling Vught] [Contrast: Terroristenafdeling kan averechts werken] [Radio 1 - Argos: Terroristenafdeling Vught, 3 september 2011 ]
Radical Muslims in West-Europe often state that their radical attitudes and behaviors are a reaction to perceived humiliation of their “Muslim brothers” in the Islamic world. Seemingly, they do not have to feel personally humiliated in order to radicalize; perceived humiliation of the in-group (e.g., cartoon crises) or its subgroups (e.g., Western interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan; Palestine – Israel conflict) apparently suffices in triggering a radical shift in attitudes and behaviors in them. Focusing on radicalization among Muslims in the Netherlands, the project examines whether collective humiliation (the perception that ones in-group or its subgroups are humiliated) can contribute to radicalization, and to what degree this depends on the level of identification with the relevant in-group. The project uses a multi-disciplinary approach. First, experiments will be conducted that test the causal relationship between collective humiliation and radicalization. Thereafter, the experimentally investigated mechanisms will be applied to guide field research of Islamist inspired radicalization in the Netherlands.

Supervisors: Siegwart Lindenberg, Ernestine Gordijn, and René Veenstra (RUG).
Funding: ICS/Faculty PhD Fund Period: September 1, 2008 - August 31, 2012  

Anke Munniksma, MSc: The Influence of the School and Parents on Ethnic Integration of Adolescents
Even when adolescents meet cross-ethnicity peers at school they tend to choose same-ethnicity friends. In the literature this has been termed homophily or similarity attraction. In line with Allport’s (1954) contact hypothesis, research showed that school features affect students’ ethnic homophily and thus ethnic integration. However, the moderating role of parents has not been investigated. We expect that parents influence how adolescents react on social circumstances like ethnic heterogeneity at school both by socialization and by making life-choices that affect pupils’ opportunities for cross-ethnic contact outside of school (e.g. residential choices). The proposed project will elaborate theoretically and test empirically how Dutch and immigrant parents' characteristics, attitudes and peer management strategies affect the relation between school and ethnic integration of adolescents. Adolescent, parent and teacher data will come from the Arnhem School Study. Sophisticated social network methods, such as p* and p2, will be used to disentangle different mechanisms that simultaneously drive social network formation of adolescents.

Supervisors: Andreas Flache (RUG), René Veenstra (RUG), and Maykel Verkuyten (UU).
Funding: ICS Period: September 1, 2008 - August 31, 2012  

Marina Verlinden, MSc: Who bullies whom? Early risk factors for maladaptive relations among elementary school children
[Folder onderzoek naar vriendschappen en pesten op de basisschool]
[TV Rijnmond: Pesten op school grondig onderzocht] [Radio Rijnmond: Groot onderzoek naar pestgedrag Rotterdamse schoolkinderen]
The two main aims of this project are a) to identify early risk factors of bullying and victimization, and b) to investigate how various context-level factors feed the self-reinforcing processes of bullying and victimization. This project is a collaboration between the Generation R Study and the Department of Sociology, Groningen. Generation R encompasses substantial data on child behavioural problems, parental psychopathology, family functioning, parenting, and social demographic data. In addition, use will be made of a 30-minute computer task to measure multiple aspects of bullying, victimization, and peer status by self-report in elementary school children. The plan is to conduct visits to about 150 school classes. This information is used together with questionnaire data from teachers and parents. This allows us to examine the interplay of individual and context-level factors.

Supervisors: Henning Tiemeier (EUR), René Veenstra (RUG), and Frank Verhulst (EUR).
Funding: NWO ZonMw (Brainpower) Period: September 1, 2008 - August 31, 2012  

Miia Sainio, MSc: Bullying, Victimization, and Defending from a Dyadic Perspective
Supervisors: Christina Salmivalli (University of Turku) and René Veenstra (RUG).
Funding: Academy of Finland Period: September 1, 2007 - August 31, 2012  

Britta Rüschoff, MSc: School-to-Work Transition: Predicting Occupational Success from Adolescents' Social Status in the School Context
The project is aimed at monitoring adolescents’ early career paths at their transition from school to work, investigating whether and how adolescents of different social status in the school context differ in their subsequent occupational decisions and achievements when entering the workplace. Social status in the school context is linked to certain histories of social experiences, different social motivations, and different behavioural patterns. It is likely that the characteristics that initially contribute to an individual’s status as well as the consequences of occupying a certain status position are also relevant beyond the school context. The goal of the project is to track adolescents’ trajectories when leaving the school context and entering the workplace to examine the association between social status and early career developments.

Kim Pattiselanno, MSc: The group dynamics of adolescent risk behavior: The importance of clique characteristics for peer influencing
According to Moffitt, adolescents attempt to narrow the ‘maturity gap’ by adopting ‘mature behaviors’ that lead to status in their peer groups. Adolescents already involved in risk behaviors in childhood are most likely to become role models to their peers, whereas social mimicry of these models explains the risk behaviors in other adolescents. The project aims at testing, refining, and elaborating these aspects of her theory by focusing on peer influence processes in adolescent risk behavior, hereby taking account of the moderating role of individual characteristics and characteristics of peer cliques by means of longitudinal social network analyses. My focus will be mainly on the importance of clique characteristics. A colleague, PhD student, from Utrecht University will focus on the individual characteristics of adolescents.

Rozemarijn van der Ploeg, MSc: A Social Network Evaluation of the KiVa Anti-Bullying Program in the Netherlands
The aim of this project is to investigate group and dyadic processes of bullying and victimization and to examine how the KiVa and KiVa+ interventions influence these processes. Many researchers have emphasized the need to study bullying not only as a conflict between certain individuals, but also as a more complex phenomenon in which dyadic and group-related social processes are involved. Group characteristics play an important role in influencing children's cognitions, emotions, and behaviors. Most important for bullying and victimization seem to be group influences on agentic goals related to status (including domination) and defensive goals related to not getting hurt (Sijtsema et al., 2009). To examine group-related and dyadic social processes, it is necessary to turn to dynamic social network analyses. To date, use of this approach has been scarce in the study of bullying and victimization. In this project, one important question is what kind of bullying networks appear across classrooms. Classrooms can be hypothesized to differ from each other with respect to at least two network parameters, namely, density (the number of bully-victim ties) and centrality (the degree to which bullying is targeted at specific victims). This project will thus systematically search for patterns that enable us to classify classrooms on the basis of the density and centrality of multiple networks (e.g., bullying, victimization, defending). Another important question is how network characteristics influence the emotional and social adjustment of bullies and victims (Huitsing et al., 2011). An additional question is how victims' adjustment is influenced by whether they are bullied by a liked or a disliked classmate, and by the social status of the perpetrator.

Beau Oldenburg, MSc: A Multilevel Evaluation of the KiVa Anti-Bullying Program in the Netherlands
The aim of this project is to examine the effectiveness of the KiVa and KiVa+ anti-bullying program, with a focus on differential effectiveness based on child and/or classroom network characteristics. Bullying and victimization are common phenomena in almost all elementary and secondary schools around the world. Bullying is a form of aggression in which children repeatedly intend to harm or disturb other children physically, verbally, or psychologically, and where an imbalance of power exists between the perpetrator and the victim. Bullying presents a serious threat to a healthy development. The Finnish KiVa anti-bullying program is based on bullying as a group phenomenon (Salmivalli et al., 1996). In the program, there is a strong emphasis on making bystanders take a stance against bullying and making them support the victim rather than encouraging the bully. The program is implemented school-wide through student lessons and virtual learning environments such as computer games. In addition to these universal actions, the program involves indicated actions targeted at bullies and victims in particular. In Finland, the program has proved to be effective (Kärnä et al., 2011) and is currently widely implemented in comprehensive schools in the country. Supported by a large grant of the Ministry of Education (http://www.onderwijsbewijs.nl/), the effectiveness of KiVa will be investigated in the Netherlands. The Dutch implementation contains not only the original KiVa intervention but also an extension of it by using information available on the group behavior. In this so-called KiVa+ intervention, still under development, detailed feedback on the classroom network processes will be given to teachers. The aim of this intervention is to provide teachers with more accurate knowledge about bullies, their victims, and their supporters in order to help them tackle hidden cases of bullying. In many cases, relational bullying (excluding others, spreading rumors) is difficult for teachers to observe. The network feedback may also improve the use of indicated actions by pinpointing candidates for small group discussions with the bullies, victims, and a few classmates who are encouraged to defend the victim. The evaluation will address the question whether the intervention works and for which children in which classrooms it works best (or does not work at all).