Neele Bäker

Bullying victimization and school experience are closely linked constructs that significantly influence students’ well-being and school engagement. While research has established associations between peer victimization and negative school experience, little is known about how bullying victimization changes students’ perceptions over time. This study investigates whether bullying victimization predicts intraindividual changes in students’ perceptions of school experience across two time points during early adolescence. Using data from 273 students ( M _age = 12.93, SD = 1.36), we examined different dimensions of school experience (e.g., positive affect, social integration, exclusion) and bullying victimization using validated self-report measures. We applied autoregressive models to assess the stability of school experiences and True Intraindividual Change (TIC) models to identify predictors of within-person change, an approach which allows to estimate baseline levels and latent change analysis over time. Autoregressive models indicated moderate to high temporal stability across all school experience dimensions. TIC models showed that bullying victimization significantly predicted lower baseline levels of school experience indicators, particularly negative affect at school and social exclusion. Moreover, bullying victimization predicted intraindividual change in negative affect and, contrary to our hypotheses also an increase in social integration, over time. The findings suggest that bullying victimization can act as a disruptive social experience that alters students’ perceptions of their school environment. By applying TIC models, the study highlights the importance of modeling intraindividual change to better understand how social harm translates into shifts in school experiences.

This study adopted a person-centered approach to identify patterns of co-occurrence between socioeconomic characteristics (child subjective wealth, parental subjective wealth, and monthly family income) and moral self within individual children, rather than testing the direction of a linear association between constructs. We then compared aggression, prosocial behavior, and self-esteem across groups characterized by distinct socioeconomic–moral self profiles. Participants were 135 children aged 6 to 12 years ( M = 8.30, SD = 1.27) and a caregiver. Cluster analysis revealed a four-profile solution: (1) Low Wealth / Low Moral Self , (2) High Wealth / Average Moral Self , (3) Very Low Wealth / Average Moral Self , and (4) Moderate Wealth / High Moral Self . Comparing profiles across outcomes indicated that children in the Low Wealth / Low Moral Self group showed higher aggression than the H igh Wealth / Average Moral Self cluster (Δ M = 0.42, p < .001, d = 1.09) and the Moderate Wealth / High Moral Self group (Δ M = 0.32, p = .012, d = 0.66). Prosocial behavior was higher in the High Wealth / Average Moral Self cluster than in the Low Wealth / Low Moral Self cluster (Δ M = 0.28, p = .002, d = 0.85) and higher in the Moderate Wealth / High Moral Self than the Low Wealth / Low Moral Self cluster (Δ M = 0.21, p = .042, d = 0.55). Moderate Wealth / High Moral Self also exhibited higher self-esteem than Low Wealth / Low Moral Self (Δ M = 0.38, p = .011, d = 0.99) and Very Low Wealth / Average Moral Self clusters (Δ M = 0.45, p = .028, d = 1.05). These findings demonstrate that a person-centered approach can identify distinct patterns of co-occurrences between socioeconomic characteristics and moral self and that children with different wealth–moral self profiles differ in aggression, prosocial behavior, and self-esteem.

Bullying in der Schule gehört zu den seit Jahrzehnten intensiv beforschten Phänomenenschulischer Sozialbeziehungen. Nach wie vor ist ein erheblicher Anteil von Schülerinnen undSchülern an Bullyingprozessen beteiligt. Die Folgen reichen von akuten emotionalenBelastungsreaktionen über Angststörungen und depressive Symptome bis hin zu erhöhtemSuizidrisiko (Arseneault, 2018; Gini & Pozzoli, 2009). Vor diesem Hintergrund wird dieNotwendigkeit systematischer schulischer Unterstützungsangebote besonders deutlich. DieSonderpädagogik kann mit ihren differenzierten theoretischen Zugängen und empirischenPerspektiven einen wichtigen Beitrag zum vertieften Verständnis von Bullying sowie zurEntwicklung wirksamer Schutz- und Unterstützungskonzepte leisten. Wir freuen uns daher,dieses Themenheft für die Empirische Sonderpädagogik gestalten zu dürfen.

Die Zielsetzung einer hochwertigen, inklusiven Bildung für alle Lernenden (UNSDG 4) rückt die Relevanz pädagogischer Beziehungen für Schüler:innen und Lehrkräfte in den Fokus. Die professionelle Gestaltung pädagogischer Beziehungen in Kernaufgaben wie Unterrichten, Diagnostizieren und Beraten stellt zentrale Anforderungen an die Professionalisierung angehender Lehrkräfte. Der Beitrag fragt daher nach der Verankerung pädagogischer Beziehungen in der inklusionsorientierten Lehrkräftebildung. Es werden Ergebnisse einer Analyse von online verfügbaren curricularen Dokumenten (z. B. Studienordnungen, Modulhandbücher) sonderpädagogischer Lehramtsstudiengänge aller deutschen Standorte präsentiert. Der Fokus liegt auf der Thematisierung von Beziehungen bzw. Interaktionen von Lehrkräften und Schüler:innen. Übergreifend zeigt sich eine Heterogenität der curricularen Verankerung pädagogischer Beziehungen. Die Ergebnisse werden mit Blick auf anschließende Fragen für die zukünftige Forschung zur Verankerung pädagogischer Beziehungen in Curricula in der inklusionsorientierten Lehrkräftebildung diskutiert.

This study had two objectives: first, to evaluate the factor structure of the German Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU) in adolescence, and second, to investigate the interplay between callous-unemotional (CU) traits, aggressive behavior, and bullying perpetration in German adolescents. The sample consisted of 1,321 adolescents (55.18 % female). Confirmatory factor analyses reveal a two-factor model with callousness and uncaring. A structural equation model using a subsample ( N = 502) revealed that uncaring and aggressive behavior each showed significant direct effects on bullying, while callousness was significantly related to aggression. Moreover, two interaction effects, between callousness and aggression and between uncaring and aggression, also significantly predicted bullying. The findings suggest differential pathways, with uncaring traits directly linked to bullying and callousness associated with aggression. This study contributes to the validation of the ICU in adolescence and emphasizes the importance of nuanced approaches in understanding and preventing bullying behavior.

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are characteristics associated with an elevated risk for antisocial behavior and reduced empathy. While parenting has been identified as a key environmental influence on CU traits, less is known about how these associations vary across developmental stages. This study investigated the association of parental warmth and harshness on CU traits in preschoolers, middle school children, and adolescents. Using path models, we assessed CU traits via the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU), with parental behaviors as predictors and age and gender as covariates. The results indicated that parental warmth was consistently negatively associated with CU traits across all age groups, though the strength of associations varied developmentally. Harsh parenting was significantly linked to callousness only in preschoolers, suggesting age-specific sensitivity. Gender differences were observed, with boys scoring higher on CU traits throughout development. These findings highlight the enduring protective role of parental warmth and suggest early childhood as a critical period for interventions targeting harsh parenting practices.

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) quality is typically determined by key components such as the child-to-teacher ratio, teacher qualifications, the learning environment, and the quality of teacher–child interactions. The aim of the current systematic review and meta-analysis was to investigate the effect of different ECEC quality components on children's language and mathematical competences in early primary school. Suitable search terms were entered in Web of Science, Scopus, PsycINFO, and ERIC in February 2024. To be included the articles needed to report on quantitative studies that examined the association between ECEC quality components and children's mathematical and/or language competences in Grade 1–2. Articles needed to be published in English or German in a peer-reviewed journal from the year 2000 onwards. Additionally, articles were excluded based on certain designs, and if the focus was on special populations, psychometric evaluations, bilingual or second language learning, and ECEC comparisons. The narrative synthesis includes 17 articles (N = 31656), of which 11 are included in the meta-analysis. The quality of the included articles was assessed with a NHLBI checklist. The meta-analysis revealed a small but significant pooled effect of process quality, specifically for student–teacher relationships and interaction quality ( Δ = .11, p < .001, CI [.05, .18]), albeit with high heterogeneity. Similarly, pre-academic activities demonstrated a small, significant effect ( Δ = .07, p < .001, CI [.02, .11]) with low heterogeneity. However, structural quality was not significant. The narrative synthesis provided additional insights, highlighting that emotional support and classroom organization often showed inconsistent associations with academic competences, whereas targeted pre-academic activities are more consistently linked to positive outcomes. Limitations include the small number of studies, substantial heterogeneity, reliance on older data, and a lack of global representation beyond Europe and North America. Nonetheless, the importance of high quality ECEC in fostering children's academic competences in primary school is demonstrated, emphasizing the need for further research to strengthen the evidence base.

Zusammenfassung: Hintergrund: Sowohl das DSM-5 als auch die ICD-11 führten den Spezifikator „mit eingeschränkten prosozialen Emotionen (EPE)“ ein, um die Störung des Sozialverhaltens (Conduct Disorder, CD) bei Jugendlichen mit Verhaltensauffälligkeiten und erhöhten kaltherzigen, emotionslosen (eng. callous-unemotional, CU) Eigenschaften genauer zu diagnostizieren. Dadurch wird auch die Bedeutung dieser Merkmale für die Vorhersage zukünftiger maladaptiver Entwicklungen hervorgehoben. In der erwachsenen Gesamtbevölkerung beträgt die Prävalenz von CU-Traits 4,5 %, während sie bei Jugendlichen zwischen 2–6 % variiert. Ziel dieser Studie ist es, die Anwendbarkeit der vom LSU Developmental Psychology Lab (2023 ) entwickelten t-Werte zur Einschätzung klinisch relevanter bzw. kritischer callous-unemotional (CU)-Traits bei Jugendlichen aus der deutschen Gesamtbevölkerung zu überprüfen. Dabei wird untersucht, ob diese international berechneten T-Werte valide für den deutschsprachigen Raum nutzbar sind, ohne dass eigene T-Werte oder Cut-off-Werte basierend auf der Stichprobe berechnet werden. Methode: Die vorliegende Stichprobe besteht aus N = 1622 Jugendliche (50 % weiblich), mit einem Durchschnittsalter von M = 13.63 Jahren, welche an Schulen rekrutiert wurden. Die Studie verwendete alters- und geschlechtsbasierte Normen ( t-Werte) aus der Gemeinschaftsstichprobe des Developmental Psychopathology Lab (2023 ). t-Tests und ANOVAs wurden eingesetzt, um Unterschiede in Alters- (11–14 Jahre, 15–17 Jahre), Geschlechts- und Gruppen des Interaktionseffekts von Geschlecht und Alter zu bestimmen. Ergebnisse: 91.5 % der Stichprobe fielen in die normative Gruppe, 4.3 % galten als gefährdet, und 4.2 % zeigten klinische Merkmale. Altersunterschiede waren signifikant, während die Geschlechtsunterschiede nicht signifikant wurden. Die Interaktionseffekte von Alter und Geschlecht wurden signifikant. Post-hoc-Analysen ergaben signifikante Unterschiede zwischen männlichen Jugendlichen sowie zwischen männlichen und weiblichen Jugendlichen über beide Altersgruppen hinweg. Schlussfolgerung: Die Studie liefert wertvolle Einblicke in die Prävalenz von CU-Eigenschaften in einer deutschen Schulstichprobe. Das Verständnis der Verteilung von CU-Traits ist entscheidend für die Früherkennung und die Entwicklung maßgeschneiderter Interventionen. Neben pädagogischem Personal profitieren auch Fachkräfte im klinischen Kontext von einer frühzeitigen Identifizierung, um gezielte diagnostische und therapeutische Maßnahmen einzuleiten

Research on morality, particularly on moral self and identity, is gaining increasing attention. However, the current literature reveals a lack of clarity in terminology, resulting in inconsistent operationalizations and instruments for studying moral self and identity. Specifically, there is a shortage of validated German-language instruments for measuring these constructs. This study provides new insights into the assessment of moral self and identity across different age groups – middle childhood, adolescence, and adulthood – through the testing of a German instrument. The results indicate partial measurement invariance between the three groups.