Truancy in Europe: Does the type of educational system matter?

Truancy is known to: Hamper academic achievement, predict a range of school-related problems and cause early school leaving. Hence, the development and implementation of measures to tackle truancy are considered as important strategies to prevent early school leaving in Europe. Despite this, there is almost no comparative research which studies variation in truancy rates. This article relies on PISA 2012 data from 24 European countries to empirically answer two questions: (1) To what degree do truancy rates vary cross-nationally? and (2) Do these differences in truancy rates relate to characteristics of the educational system? We found that between-country truancy rates varied more than differences in early school leaving. Moreover, even after taking into account control variables such as economic development and youth unemployment rates, the ways in which educational systems select and group pupils are closely related to truancy rates.     

When Parents’ Praise Inflates,Children's Self‐Esteem Deflates

Western parents often give children overly positive, inflated praise. One perspective holds that inflated praise sets unattainable standards for children, eventually lowering children's self‐esteem (self‐deflation hypothesis). Another perspective holds that children internalize inflated praise to form narcissistic self‐views (self‐inflation hypothesis). These perspectives were tested in an observational‐longitudinal study (120 parent–child dyads from the Netherlands) in late childhood (ages 7–11), when narcissism and self‐esteem first emerge. Supporting the self‐deflation hypothesis, parents’ inflated praise predicted lower self‐esteem in children. Partly supporting the self‐inflation hypothesis, parents’ inflated praise predicted higher narcissism—but only in children with high self‐esteem. Noninflated praise predicted neither self‐esteem nor narcissism. Thus, inflated praise may foster the self‐views it seeks to prevent.     

Hostile Intent Attribution and Aggressive Behavior in Children Revisited: A Meta-Analysis

To test specific hypotheses about the relation between hostile intent attribution (HIA) and children’s aggressive behavior, a multilevel meta-analysis was conducted on 111 studies with 219 effect sizes and 29.272 participants. A positive association between HIA and aggression was found, but effect sizes varied widely between studies. Results suggested that HIA is a general disposition guiding behavior across a broad variety of contexts, whereas the strength of the relation between HIA and aggression depends on the level of emotional engagement. The relation is stronger for more reliable HIA measures, but is not stronger for reactive aggression or co-morbid attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder than for aggression in general. The importance of understanding specific moderators of effect size for theory development is discussed.     

Structuring asynchronous discussion groups: Comparing scripting by assigning roles with regulation by cross-age peer tutors

The present study focuses on comparing the impact of role assignment and cross-age peer tutors on students' level of knowledge construction in 15 asynchronous discussion groups of nine students each in a first-year university course (N = 135). Content analysis was applied to analyse the level of knowledge construction in students' online postings. The results indicated that students in the tutor-supported discussions reached significantly higher levels of knowledge construction as compared to students in the role-supported group. These findings underline the value of regulation by cross-age peer tutors to foster freshmen's knowledge construction processes.     

Treating children's aggressive behavior problems using cognitive behavior therapy with virtual reality: A multicenter randomized controlled trial

This multicenter randomized controlled trial investigated whether interactive virtual reality enhanced effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to reduce children's aggressive behavior problems. Boys with aggressive behavior problems (N = 115; M_age = 10.58, SD = 1.48; 95.7% born in Netherlands) were randomized into three groups: CBT with virtual reality, CBT with roleplays, or care-as-usual. Bayesian analyses showed that CBT with virtual reality more likely reduced aggressive behavior compared to care-as-usual for six of seven outcomes (ds 0.19–0.95), and compared to CBT with roleplays for four outcomes (ds 0.14–0.68). Moreover, compared to roleplays, virtual reality more likely enhanced children's emotional engagement, practice immersion, and treatment appreciation. Thus, virtual reality may be a promising tool to enhance CBT effectiveness for children with aggressive behavior problems.