Tina Pivec

Today’s youth live in a rapidly changing, global, and digital world characterized by climate change, social inequality, and social polarization. Such issues can both trigger their civic engagement and undermine their mental health. In the present paper, we discuss the need for a contemporary Positive Youth Development (PYD) framework that would live up to its theoretical roots in the relational developmental systems (RDS) theory and adequately consider the challenges and opportunities of today’s youth. Based on expert discussions by the Cross-National Positive Youth Development Network, the following social change indicators were identified as most pressing: (i) digitalization, (ii) inequality and marginalization, (iii) polarization and radicalization, and (iv) climate change. Applying a critical narrative review, we assess the current research trends in youth development and suggest a way forward regarding how the PYD framework can accommodate the challenges and opportunities of today’s youth. Specifically, we suggest adding a social justice lens more explicitly to the current framework, while considering digital context and natural environment as two additional interactive layers of contextual influences. Lastly, we support the inclusion of critical consciousness as a new C in the PYD framework to expand our understanding of the different forms of (non)contribution among today’s youth.

Within a developmental framework, caring, a combination of empathy and sympathy, is recognized as a protective factor for numerous social and emotional outcomes, including anxiety. However, researc...

Adolescence is crucial for shaping social behavior, with peers influencing popularity and likability. While some adolescents use bullying to gain popularity, prosocial behavior often underlies likability. Yet, little is known about bistrategic control, where youth combine aggression and prosocial actions. This study used a multilevel person‐centered approach to identify latent profiles based on peer‐reported bullying, prosocial behavior, popularity, and likability, examined differences in bystander behavior, social status goals, and insecurity, and further explored how these individual‐level profiles differ across classrooms and align with classroom‐level bullying and prosocial social status norms. Data from 6379 Slovenian adolescents in 328 classes revealed five profiles: Unpopular bullies, Popular bullies, Bistrategic, Prosocial, and Uninvolved. At the classroom level, two distinct profiles emerged, differing in the prevalence of Uninvolved, Prosocial, Bistrategic, and Popular bully students.

Peer victimization and anxiety are consistently positively correlated, though the longitudinal relationship remains inconsistent. Previous research often failed to account for the reciprocal relationship between traditional and cyber victimization, with limited evidence of the influence of broader societal factors. Thus, the present study aimed to longitudinally examine the relationship between victimization, cyber victimization, and anxiety within the specific context of the COVID-19 pandemic during one school year (2021/22), employing both the cross-lagged panel model and the random-intercept cross-lagged panel model. The study included 1766 students (58.5% females; M _age = 15.33; SD = 1.20) from lower- and upper-secondary schools in Slovenia who participated in three time-points with approximately 8 weeks apart, with T1 occurring before school closures, T2 during school closures (which lasted 17–21 weeks), and T3 after school closures. Findings revealed that the relationship between anxiety and victimization changed across the school year. The results of the cross-lagged panel model indicated that traditional victimization in T1 positively predicted anxiety in T2, and anxiety in T2 positively predicted traditional victimization in T3. Cyber victimization at T2 predicted lower anxiety at T3. The results of the random-intercept cross-lagged panel model showed that t the within-person level, students experiencing more cyber victimization than expected reported greater subsequent victimization, especially after school closures. The study provides insights into the dynamics of the relationship between peer victimization and anxiety during a specific period of school closure. The findings do not fully align with any single theoretical model, highlighting the complexity of these interactions in the pandemic context. This study underscores the need to consider broader socio-environmental factors in understanding the relationship between peer relationships and psychosocial outcomes.

Izvajanje in doživljanje nasilja nista neodvisna konstrukta, zato so lahko mladostniki uvrščeni v različne skupine glede na stopnjo izvajanja in/ali doživljanja medvrstniškega nasilja, to so nasilneži, žrtve, nasilneži-žrtve in neudeleženi. Namen tega prispevka je na podlagi metod samoporočanja in/ali vrstniškega poročanja o izvajanju in doživljanju nasilja določiti skupine ter jih primerjati v posameznih značilnostih. Rezultati so pokazali, da samo z metodo samoporočanja ali vrstniškega poročanja ni ustrezno klasificirati udeležencev, kar kaže na ključno vlogo triangulacije pridobivanja podatkov pri raziskovanju medvrstniškega nasilja. Presenetljivo je bilo zaznati podobne razlike med skupinami, ki so bile identificirane z različnimi metodami. Predvsem nasilneži so tisti, ki so zaznani kot visoko priljubljeni, z visoko moralno nezavzetostjo in hkrati s pozitivnimi izbirami za druženje. Nasprotno velja za žrtve nasilja, ki poročajo o nizki opori vrstnikov in dobrih odnosih z učitelji. Nasilneži-žrtve so bili nekoliko bolj podobni nasilnežem kot žrtvam, vendar je bilo veliko odvisno od metode poročanja. Neudeleženi imajo višjo oporo vrstnikov in so zaznani kot prosocialni. Izsledki kažejo na to, da je nasilje učinkovit način za krepitev socialnega položaja in pridobivanje vrstniške opore, kar bi bilo treba reševati s spreminjanjem razrednih norm.