The relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and prosocial behaviour is a controversial topic in scientific literature. It remains unclear whether SES positively or negatively influences...Show moreThe relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and prosocial behaviour is a controversial topic in scientific literature. It remains unclear whether SES positively or negatively influences prosocial behaviour, as many other factors may be involved. This study introduced stress as a mediation variable between SES and prosocial behaviour, in order to better understand this complicated relationship. Aiming to fill this gap in knowledge, this research objective was to answer the question “Does stress mediate the relationship between SES and prosocial behaviour?”. Specifically, it was hypothesized that low SES would lead to increased stress, which in turn would lead to lower prosocial behaviour. In addition, as a second objective, we investigated whether stress would mediate the relationship between perceived socioeconomic status (PSES) and prosocial behaviour, and hypothesized similar findings as in the first model. 287 participants took part in an online study, where they performed a prosocial behavioural task, and completed several self-report measures. Both mediation analysis revealed non-significant results, except for the relationship between SES and stress. We suggest that this non-significance could have been driven by factors that were unaccounted for in this research. This study adds onto the current literature, suggesting that the relationship between SES, prosocial behaviour and stress may be too complex to be captured by a simple mediation model. It is suggested that future research should focus on expanding the literature on the relationship between SES and stress by looking into other factors that could influence it.Show less
The relationship between socioeconomic status (SES), subjective social status (SSS), stress and prosocial behavior remains a topic of debate in science with conflicting theories and contradictory...Show moreThe relationship between socioeconomic status (SES), subjective social status (SSS), stress and prosocial behavior remains a topic of debate in science with conflicting theories and contradictory results. Correctly understanding the meaning of the relationship can contribute to promoting socioeconomic equality in society through targeted interventions. The three main objectives of this study were to investigate whether 1) SES and SSS predict prosocial behavior; 2) SES predicts prosocial behavior while controlling for SSS; 3) Stress affects the outcomes in question 1 and 2, when comparing a stressful context to a non- stressful context. The research was conducted through a two-session repeated measure design, one during a stressful period of exams and once during a non-stressful period without exams, measuring university students’ well-being and academic performance in association to prosocial behavior. 502 students from universities throughout the United Kingdom were recruited through the online platform Prolific. The experiment took place online and consisted of a behavioral task measuring prosocial behavior, assessing how much work participants would be willing to do to obtain a reward for themselves versus for a fictive participant, followed by self-report questionnaires. Results indicated that: 1) SES and SSS did not significantly predict prosocial behavior; 2) SES did not significantly predict prosocial behavior while controlling for SSS; 3) Stress did not significantly affect the outcomes in question 1 and 2, when comparing a stressful context to a non-stressful context. Limitations to the study include unmet assumptions of normality and linearity, a generalizability bias and a potential motivation bias. Future studies should consider random sampling and making use of an in-person experimental setting. This study highlights the possible complexity of the relationships between SES, SSS, stress and prosocial behavior and thus calls for further investigations.Show less
At least one in seven children have experienced child abuse and/or neglect in the past year and more than two thirds of children reported at least one traumatic event by the age of sixteen....Show moreAt least one in seven children have experienced child abuse and/or neglect in the past year and more than two thirds of children reported at least one traumatic event by the age of sixteen. Psychological problems, gender, mood, and socioeconomic status (SES) are all related to the severity of childhood trauma. Childhood trauma has not only been associated with a lower SES, but also with lower scores on IQ-tests. For example, sexual abuse, emotional neglect, and physical neglect are all negatively correlated with IQ. The relationship between SES, IQ and childhood trauma is not well understood. Especially in a population with individuals that report overall higher levels of traumatic experiences and have a lower IQ, such as offspring of people with a mood disorder. In this study, we investigated the relationship between SES, IQ, and trauma in offspring of parents with a mood disorder. Children (N = 198 and N = 40) participating in the MARIO cohort study were assessed for gender, age, SES, and exposure to childhood trauma (emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect, and physical neglect) using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Child IQ-scores were assessed with either the WISC or the WAIS. A linear regression analysis showed that IQ was only weakly related to childhood trauma. In contrast SES was strongly related to childhood trauma. These findings suggest that IQ is not a determinant of childhood trauma in current research but underscores the importance of SES. The significant association between SES and childhood trauma could be further investigated and implemented in clinical practice. Future interventions could for example focus on preventing and/or reducing childhood trauma in children who grow up with a low SES.Show less
Social competence is a key part in the development of children. Social skills help children to follow directions, manage emotions, and improve interpersonal relationships. Therefore, these skills...Show moreSocial competence is a key part in the development of children. Social skills help children to follow directions, manage emotions, and improve interpersonal relationships. Therefore, these skills are important for happiness and welfare in adulthood. Several factors influence social development. Previous studies suggest that parental involvement has positive influence on children’s social competence. Science also stated how parents from lower SES-background are less available to their children. The aim of the current study was to test whether there is a relationship between SES, parental involvement and social competence. Furthermore, the current study tested if the relationship between SES and children’s social competence was mediated by parental involvement. Data was used from the L-CID project, a larger twin study from Leiden University. The current study used data from 120 families. By random sampling, from each twin one child was selected for participation. The mean age of the children was 10.94 years old. Results showed a significant positive association between SES and parental involvement. No mediation effect was found. Also, there was no relationship found between SES and social competence, or parental involvement and social competence. The contradicting findings are possibly due to the fact that attachment style, age of children, parental emotional distress, and the amount of time children spend in other environments was not taken into account. However, results did indicate the higher the SES, the more time parents have to support their children. Therefore, for society is remains important to be aware of a child’s background, because this has influence on parent’s involvement at home.Show less
Social Power is the relative control over the outcome of oneself and others (Fiske & Berdahl, 2007). Power can be interpreted differently, which in turn can have a big impact on the power...Show moreSocial Power is the relative control over the outcome of oneself and others (Fiske & Berdahl, 2007). Power can be interpreted differently, which in turn can have a big impact on the power holders and on the ones who experience the expressed power (Keltner et. al., 2003). The literature distinguishes between power as opportunity and power as responsibility (De Wit et al., 2017). Moreover, stereo- typical gender differences especially affect women as they keep them from reaching leadership pos- itions (Tabassum & Nayak, 2021). However, not only gender affects behavior, also our socio-eco- nomic status can influences a life significantly. The change in socio-economic status is called social mobility (Reforms, 2010). A restricted social mobility seem to keep individuals from reaching lead- ership positions (Brown, 2013). Self-reports on power construal were collected with overall n= 227 respondents to find out about the possible differences in how men and women interpret power. The results show that self-identified females do interpret power more as responsibility than self-identi- fied males do. Both self-identified genders did not differ on construing power as opportunity. Fur- thermore, the study showed that social mobility has no effect on how power is interpreted. Never- theless, the current SES of an individual seems to have a small effect on how power is perceived. The current study highlights the importance of understanding the relationship between gender, so- cial mobility, and power construal and the necessity for further research.Show less
As children start school, more and more emphasis is placed on their academic performance, their cognitive capabilities, and their intelligence. Current forms of intelligence testing – static...Show moreAs children start school, more and more emphasis is placed on their academic performance, their cognitive capabilities, and their intelligence. Current forms of intelligence testing – static testing and assessment – have been heavily scrutinised for being biased due to for example the influence of socioeconomic status (SES), leading to unequal educational outcomes. Therefore, different forms of testing – dynamic testing and assessment – are being investigated, with this study focusing on a new form of the Dynamic Screener (DS). This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the DS to increase children’s test performance. A second aim of this study was to determine the predictive value of SES for learning potential and DS outcomes. Participants included 52 children (mean age = 13.14) in the first year of secondary school. The study employed a single-session experimental test-training-test design. Half of the children (n= 27) received a graduated prompts training between the pre-test and post-test, while the other half (n= 25) were the control group and did not receive the training. Five different tests were administered, including a test for working memory, mathematics, language, planning, and inductive reasoning. No significant results were found for trained participants’ performance in comparison with the control group on any of the subtests. Furthermore, no significant difference was found for the predictive value of SES for learning potential, nor for results on pre- versus post-test for the training group. Overall, no definitive conclusions on the effectiveness of the DS, nor on the predictive value of SES for learning potential and DS outcomes, can be drawn from the current study. Future research is needed to determine whether these results are due to the small sample size or are inherent to the DS.Show less
Het doel van dit onderzoek was de samenhang tussen de SES van gezinnen in India en de BMI van hun kinderen te onderzoeken en te onderzoeken in hoeverre deze samenhang werd gemedieerd door de...Show moreHet doel van dit onderzoek was de samenhang tussen de SES van gezinnen in India en de BMI van hun kinderen te onderzoeken en te onderzoeken in hoeverre deze samenhang werd gemedieerd door de hoeveelheid maaltijden en reistijd van de kinderen. Daarnaast werd SES ook getoetst als moderator tussen reistijd en BMI. Er deden 284 leerlingen mee van zes verschillende scholen uit de stad Pune in India. In de hoge SES groep zaten 186 kinderen, waarvan 121 jongens en 65 meisjes. In de lage SES groep zaten 98 kinderen, waarvan 40 jongens en 58 meisjes. De gemiddelde leeftijd van de hoge SES groep was 12.27 jaar (SD =1.10) en de gemiddelde leeftijd van de lage SES groep was 12.56 jaar (SD = 1.28). Reistijd en hoeveelheid maaltijden werden gemeten door middel van interviews over de dagbesteding van de kinderen. De BMI werd berekend aan de hand van de opgemeten lengte en het gewicht. Uit de analyses is gebleken dat SES en BMI significant met elkaar samenhangen. Verder hangt SES ook significant samen met de hoeveelheid maaltijden, maar de hoeveelheid maaltijden is geen mediator. Daarnaast is gebleken dat SES en reistijd niet significant samenhangen. Wel is er sprake van een samenhang van SES en reistijd op BMI. SES is geen moderator bij de samenhang van reistijd en BMI. SES is binnen dit onderzoek de beste voorspeller voor het hebben van ondergewicht. Vervolgonderzoek zou zich kunnen richten op de hoeveelheid calorieën die de kinderen binnen krijgen en op welke manier de kinderen reizen.Show less
In dit onderzoek wordt gekeken naar het verschil in probleemgedrag tussen kinderen uit een hoog en laag SES in India. Daarnaast wordt onderzocht of kinderarbeid een mediërende factor is tussen SES...Show moreIn dit onderzoek wordt gekeken naar het verschil in probleemgedrag tussen kinderen uit een hoog en laag SES in India. Daarnaast wordt onderzocht of kinderarbeid een mediërende factor is tussen SES en probleemgedrag. Ten eerste wordt verwacht dat kinderen uit een laag SES meer internaliserende en externaliserende problemen hebben dan kinderen uit een hoog SES. Ten tweede wordt verwacht dat kinderen uit een laag SES meer werken en ten derde wordt verwacht dat kinderen die werken meer probleemgedrag zullen rapporteren vergeleken met kinderen die niet werken. Ten slotte wordt verwacht dat arbeid een mediator is tussen SES en probleemgedrag. In totaal waren er 293 participanten tussen de 10 en 15 jaar oud (M = 12.37 jaar; SD = 1.17), waarvan 137 jongens en 101 meisjes. Van 55 participanten is het geslacht niet bekend. Alle deelnemers zijn scholieren uit de stad Pune in India. Bij hen is de sociaal economische status (SES) bepaald door de school waar ze op zitten. De participanten hebben daarnaast allemaal een zelfbeoordelingslijst van de SDQ ingevuld en ook zijn ze minstens twee keer geïnterviewd om te meten hoeveel minuten ze per dag werken. Uit de resultaten is gebleken dat hoe hoger het SES van de kinderen, hoe minder internaliserende en externaliserende problemen zij hebben. Daarnaast is gebleken dat kinderen uit een laag SES meer moeten werken dan kinderen uit een hoog SES. Er is geen verband gevonden tussen arbeid een internaliserend probleemgedrag. Tussen arbeid en externaliserend probleemgedrag is een negatief verband gevonden. Arbeid blijkt geen mediator te zijn tussen SES en probleemgedrag.Show less
In dit onderzoek is een verklaring gezocht voor de positieve relatie tussen de sociaal economische status (SES) en schoolbetrokkenheid bij kinderen in India. De variabelen slaap en arbeid zijn als...Show moreIn dit onderzoek is een verklaring gezocht voor de positieve relatie tussen de sociaal economische status (SES) en schoolbetrokkenheid bij kinderen in India. De variabelen slaap en arbeid zijn als mogelijk mediërende factoren onderzocht. Aan dit onderzoek hebben 293 participanten van 10 tot en met 14 jaar deelgenomen. Hiervan was 46.8% mannelijk en 34.5% vrouwelijk. De participanten zijn geworven van acht verschillende scholen in Pune, India. Het onderscheid tussen een hoge of lage SES is gemaakt door het soort school waar de kinderen stonden ingeschreven. De schoolbetrokkenheid is gemeten met de School Engagement Scale en het aantal uren slaap en arbeid is gemeten met een semigestructureerd interview. Uit de resultaten bleek in overeenkomst met ander onderzoek een positieve relatie tussen SES en schoolbetrokkenheid. Ondanks een samenhang tussen SES en arbeid, en tussen SES en slaap, bleken arbeid en slaap uit dit onderzoek geen mediërende factoren in de positieve relatie tussen SES en schoolbetrokkenheid. Een opmerkelijk resultaat was dat kinderen met een hoge SES minder sliepen dan kinderen met een lage SES. Dit kan mogelijk worden verklaard door een hogere schooldruk bij kinderen in India met een hoge SES.Show less
Ouders met een lage SES hebben een grotere kans op het gebruiken van negatieve discipline in vergelijking met hoge SES ouders. Zij ervaren een grotere economische druk en zijn daardoor meer...Show moreOuders met een lage SES hebben een grotere kans op het gebruiken van negatieve discipline in vergelijking met hoge SES ouders. Zij ervaren een grotere economische druk en zijn daardoor meer kwetsbaar voor stressfactoren dan hoge SES ouders. Stress heeft invloed op het functioneren van ouders bij het opvoeden van kinderen en vergroot de kans op het gebruik van negatieve discipline. Een risico dat kan ontstaan vanuit negatieve discipline is kindermishandeling. Het is echter onwaarschijnlijk dat alle lage SES ouders negatieve discipline gebruiken. Daarom is het van belang te onderzoeken of bepaalde ouder- en kindfactoren effect uitoefenen op de samenhang tussen SES en discipline. In deze thesis zijn relatiekwaliteit en kindtemperament onderzocht als moderatorvariabelen. Ook is gekeken of unieke SES-aspecten (inkomen en opleidingsniveau) verschillend gerelateerd zijn aan discipline. De uiteindelijke steekproef bestond uit 45 moeders van Nederlandse afkomst in de leeftijd van 23-48 jaar (M = 35.2, SD = 6.2). De variabelen werden aan de hand van verschillende vragenlijsten gemeten. Uit de analyses bleek dat SES van de moeder samenhing met laksheid. Hogere SES moeders rapporteerden minder laksheid. Inkomen en opleidingsniveau hingen niet samen met discipline. Er zijn geen significante moderatie effecten gevonden van relatiekwaliteit en kindtemperament in de relatie tussen SES en discipline. Deze thesis biedt inzicht in factoren die gerelateerd zijn aan negatief opvoedgedrag van ouders. De uitkomsten kunnen gebruikt worden om interventies te ontwikkelen gericht op het aanleren van positieve disciplinestrategieën. Uit deze thesis blijkt dat dit vooral belangrijk is voor ouders met een lagere SES. In toekomstige studies zal onderzocht moeten worden of er mogelijk andere achterliggende factoren een (modererende) rol spelen rondom SES en discipline.Show less
Starting in 2015, the Dutch youth healthcare system will be decentralized and transformed. To smoothen this transition into a ‘new’ healthcare system it is important to prevent families from going...Show moreStarting in 2015, the Dutch youth healthcare system will be decentralized and transformed. To smoothen this transition into a ‘new’ healthcare system it is important to prevent families from going into intensive healthcare by investing in prevention- or early intervention programmes. In the current study the influences of socio-economic status (SES), parental stress and being an only child on the social competence of a child are investigated. The social competence of a child is divided into two compartments; social behaviour and social cognition. A well-developed social competence is linked to better school results and stronger friendships throughout childhood, while a poorly developed social competence is linked to loneliness and underachievement. The research took place in Den Haag, Noordwijk and Zeeuws-vlaanderen and included 160 participants in the age of 4 to 9. Information was gathered through questionnaires and a test. The results showed no effect for SES. Nor was there an effect for being an only child, which means that children who grow up without siblings do not show a difference in social competence then children who do have siblings. The effect of parental stress on social behaviour in a child showed a significant result. This means that, if parents experience relatively more stress from raising their child, this child shows more problems in social behaviour. When this relationship was more closely examined, it showed that this effect is mainly caused by stress derived from parental experiences of social isolation, problems in attachment, and demanding behaviour in the child. Because of these specific sources of stress it seems as if parental stress ‘merely’ plays a mediating role between some form of (social) anxiety or social isolation within the parent. It seems important to investigate this theory in future research so that prevention- and early intervention programme’s can be adapted accordingly.Show less
