Marginalization in children. Evaluating a multilevel and transactional developmental model

Project homepage: www.tidligtrygg.no Waves 3 and 4 of the data collection in the Trondheim Early Secure Study (TESS) have been conducted according to schedule. Of the 995 4-year old participants when the study started in 2007, 699 and 702, respectively, attended the 3rd and 4th waves. Publications with relevance to the marginalization of children: Wichstrøm, L. et al. (2012). Prevalence of psychiatric disorders in preschoolers. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. Ellis, L.C. et al. (2012). Smoking during pregnancy and psychiatric disorders in preschoolers. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Solheim, E. et al. (2013). Do Time in Childcare and Peer Group Exposure Predict Poor Socioemotional Adjustment in Norway? Child Development. Wichstrøm, L. et al. (2013). Preschool predictors of childhood anxiety disorders: a prospective community study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. Stenseng, F. et al. (2014a). Social Exclusion Predicts an Attenuated Development of Self-Regulation... Journal of Personality. Stenseng, F. et al. (2014b). Preschool Social Exclusion, Aggression and Cooperation: A Longitudinal Evaluation of the Need-to-Belong and the Social-Reconnection Hypotheses. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Skalicka, V. et al. (2015a). Reciprocal relations between student-teacher relationship and children?s behavioral problems: their moderation by childcare group size. Child Development. Skalicka, V. et al. (2015b). Preschool-age problem behavior and teacher-child conflict in school: direct and moderation effects by preschool organization. Child Development. Skalicka, V. et al. (2015c). Reciprocal relations between student?teacher conflict, children?s social skills and externalizing behavior: A three-wave longitudinal study from preschool to third grade. International Journal of Behavioral Development. Hygen, B.P. et al. (2014). COMT Val158Met Moderates the Effect of Disorganized Attachment on Social Development in Young Children. Development and Psychopathology. Gresseth, Å.B. et al. (2015). Screening for behavioral disorders with the Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System: Sensitivity, specificity, and core discriminative components. Child & Family Behavior Therapy. Hygen, B.W. et al.. (2015). Child exposure to serious life events, COMT and aggression: Testing differential susceptibility theory. Developmental Psychology. Stenseng, F. et al. (2015). Peer Rejection and ADHD-symptoms - Reciprocal Relations Through Ages 4, 6, and 8. Child Development.

We propose a general model of the emergence of childhood marginalization stipulating that contextual factors (e.g. neighborhood) affect the development of marginalization in children by means of altered interpersonal interactions with parents, teachers an d peers and involving the child's own contributions to the process. Moreover, such marginalization processes may differ according to social categories (e.g. gender and social class). The development of two types (of marginalization will be examined in thr ee different sub-projects: 1) Social exclusion and (2) conduct problems. In addition we will address (3) the importance of the family and its context in the development and reproduction of marginalization. Data collection began in 2007 - on a biennial ba sis on a probability sample of 1000 children (initially 4 years of age) and their families. Children are interviewed concerning relationships with parents, peers and teachers. Formal testing is conducted on vocabulary, intelligence, cognitive functioning, and attachment to parents. Parent-child interaction is directly observed. Parents provide information on children's conduct problems, temperament, social competence, and participation in leisure activities. Parents are also queried about their own mental health. Day-care personnel and school teachers provide information on their relationship to the child, and children's social competence and conduct problems. These data will be coupled with routinely collected data on language, reading, math as well as w ith official registers.