prof. dr. D.R. Veenstra
I give lectures and supervise Master Theses and PhD's
LecturesIn my lectures I discuss the following topics:
Sociology of crime and safetyWhy are people violent or criminal? Why do people prepare terrorist attacks? The module will deal with the influence of individual features (genes, self-control, intelligence) and environmental features (social bonds) and the interaction between them on antisocial behaviour. Attention will also be paid to which people are more often victims of other people’s antisocial behaviour. Finally, there will be a focus on how people react to violence and crime, how afraid people are and which punishments people find suitable for a crime.
After this course the student can:
- Give an informed opinion on the causes of crime on the basis of major theories
- Interpret how group processes play a role in crime
- Debate about the interaction between genes and the environment in the development of behaviour
- Comment on policy which underpins the grounds of crime and safety with evidence (police records versus victim surveys), investigation of proven effectiveness and cost benefit analysis
- Reason about current issues such as white-collar crime and terrorism
- Police records versus victimization surveys
- Trajectories of crime
- The importance of self-regulation: Goal framingtheorie
- Terrorism
- Group processes in delinquency
- Evidence-based interventions
- Gene and environment
- Selectivity in penal law
- Neighborhoods and crime
- Bullying as a group process
- Victimization and costs of crime
- White-collar crime
See the list of my supervised Master Theses
Supervision of PhD's
Jan Kornelis Dijkstra, PhD: Status and Affection among (Pre)adolescent Peers and their Relation with Antisocial and Prosocial Behavior
[RUG Opinie: 'Antisociaal gedrag kan helpen om status te krijgen of te behouden'] [Adam's Appel] [Kennislink: 'Puberstrijd om populariteit']
[NRC Handelsblad: 'Wie we stom vinden en wie juist leuk is']
Funding: ICS. Thesis defended: Groningen, October 22, 2007.
Supervisors: Siegwart Lindenberg and René Veenstra (RUG).
Manuscript committee: Ernest Hodges (St Johns University, USA), Terrie E. Moffitt (King’s College London, UK), Sijmen A. Reijneveld (RUG), and Rafael Wittek (RUG).
Currently employed as Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Groningen.
Winner of a VENI grant for his project titled Belonging and Status in Peer Networks as Crucial Factors for Understanding Peer Influence Processes in the Realm of Adolescent Risk Behavior.
Miranda Sentse, PhD: Bridging Contexts: The Interplay between Family, Child, and Peers in Explaining Problem Behavior in Early Adolescence
[Press Release: 'Important role parents on problem behavior adolescent'] [Kennislink: 'Probleemgedrag bij jongeren: een beetje karakter, vleugje vrienden en een scheut ouders']
[Pictures of the defense]
Funding: NWO. Thesis defended: Groningen, March 4, 2010 (cum laude).
Supervisors: Siegwart Lindenberg and René Veenstra (RUG).
Manuscript committee: John E. Bates (Indiana University, USA), Marcel van Aken (UU), and Melinda Mills (RUG).
Cum laude committee: Karen Bierman (Pennsylvania State University, USA) and Brett Laursen (Florida Atlantic University, USA).
Currently employed as Assistant Professor at the Department of Pedagogy and Educational Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Jelle Sijtsema, PhD: Adolescent Aggressive Behavior: Status and Stimulation Goals in Relation to the Peer Context
[Press Release: 'Aggressive boys in search of affection find problem friends instead'] [OOG Radio: 'Agressieve jongens zoeken affectie maar krijgen probleemvrienden']
[Trouw: 'Ook asociale jongens willen sociale vrienden']
[Pictures of the defense]
Funding: ICS. Thesis defended: Groningen, October 7, 2010 (cum laude).
Supervisors: Siegwart Lindenberg and René Veenstra (RUG).
Manuscript committee: Noel Card (University of Arizona, USA), Pol van Lier (Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam), and Tom Snijders (Oxford University / RUG).
Cum laude committee: Michel Boivin (Universite Laval Quebec, Canada) and Bruce Ellis (University of Arizona, USA).
Currently employed as Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Tilburg University.
Winner of ISSBD Young Scientist award 2014.
Tobias Stark, PhD: Integration in School Classes: Students' Interpersonal Attitudes and Interpersonal Relationships
[Persbericht RUG: 'Gemengde scholen bevorderen integratie. Kabinetsbeleid eenzijdig'] [OOG TV: 'Toch een positief effect gemengde schoolklassen' [Mens en Maatschappij: Boekbespreking]
[Pictures of the defense]
Funding: ISW. Thesis defended: Groningen, September 8, 2011 (cum laude).
Supervisors: Andreas Flache, Roel Bosker, and René Veenstra (RUG).
Manuscript committee: Daniel McFarland (Stanford University, USA), Maykel Verkuyten (UU), and Sabine Otten (RUG).
Cum laude committee: Ken Frank (Michigan State University, USA) and Frank Kalter (Universität Mannheim, Germany).
Currently employed as Assistant Professor at the European Research Centre on Migration and Ethnic Relations, Utrecht University.
Winner of a Marie Curie grant for his project titled Networks and Prejudice.
Winner of a Research Prize of Praemium Erasmianum. Winner of the NSV Dissertation Prize for the best dissertation of 2011 and 2012.
Winner of a VENI grant for his project titled Interethnic Attitudes and Social Influence within Social Networks: Towards an Intervention Program for Ethnically Segregated Schools.
Katya Ivanova, PhD: From Parents to Partners: The Impact of Family on Romantic Relationships in Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood
[Elsevier: 'Tieners die slechter met houders omgaan daten eerder'] [Press Release: 'Children with divorced parents date earlier'] [Sociologie Magazine: Romantische relaties van adolescenten] [Mens en Maatschappij: Boekbespreking]
[Pictures of the defense]
Funding: ICS. Thesis defended: Groningen, March 5, 2012.
Supervisors: Melinda Mills and René Veenstra (RUG).
Manuscript committee: Wendy Manning (Bowling Green State University, USA), Maja Dekovic (UU), and Siegwart Lindenberg (RUG).
Currently employed as Postdoc, Department of Sociology, University of Amsterdam.
Anke Munniksma, PhD: Crossing Ethnic Boundaries: Resistance to and Consequences of Adolescents’ Cross-Ethnic Peer Relations
[Persbericht RUG: 'Interetnische vriendschappen leiden tot beter beeld van andere etnische groepen en verhoogd welzijn'] [Trouw: 'Veilig gevoel dankzij multiculturele vrienden']
[Dagblad van het Noorden: 'Vriendjes oké, verkering even slikken']
[Pictures of the defense]
Funding: ICS. Thesis defended: Groningen, January 17, 2013.
Supervisors: Andreas Flache (RUG), René Veenstra (RUG), and Maykel Verkuyten (UU).
Manuscript committee: Adam Rutland (Kent University, UK), Frank van Tubergen (UU), and Sabine Otten (RUG).
Currently employed as Postdoc, Department of Educational Sciences, University of Amsterdam.
Miia Sainio, PhD: Same- and Other-Sex Victimization: Risk Factors, Consequences, and Protection by Peers
[Pictures of the defense]
Funding: Academy of Finland. Thesis defended: Turku, Finland, September 20, 2013.
Supervisors: Christina Salmivalli (University of Turku) and René Veenstra (RUG).
Manuscript committee: Philip Rodkin (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA) and Noel Card (University of Arizona, USA).
Currently employed as researcher at the University of Turku, Finland.
Marina Verlinden, PhD: Population-based studies of bullying in young children
[Folder onderzoek naar vriendschappen en pesten op de basisschool]
[TV Rijnmond: 'Pesten op school grondig onderzocht'] [Radio Rijnmond: 'Groot onderzoek naar pestgedrag Rotterdamse schoolkinderen']
[Pictures of the defense]
Supervisors: Henning Tiemeier (EUR), René Veenstra (RUG), Pauline Jansen (EUR), and Frank Verhulst (EUR).
Funding: NWO ZonMw (Brainpower). Thesis defended: Rotterdam, December, 2, 2014.
Manuscript committee: Louise Arseneault (King's College, University of London, UK), Johan Mackenbach (EUR), and Pearl Dykstra (EUR).
Currently employed as researcher at the World Health Organization, Ukraine.
Gijs Huitsing, PhD: A social network perspective on bullying
[Film en Onderwijs: KLASS] [Sociologie Magazine: 'Wie pest wie?'] [BNR Nieuwsradio: Discussie over effectieve anti-pestprogramma's][Metro: Gepest jongetje zes weken thuis] [de Volkskrant: Pesten houdt nooit op] [KRO/BNN: Dag tegen pesten]
[School TV Weekjournaal - vanaf 19:46: KiVa op OJBS de Ommewending in Veendam] [Editie NL: Finnen kunnen het wel: Pestkoppen aanpakken - op OBS de Sprenge in Vaassen] [Press release RUG: A child can be bully, victim and defender within the same classroom]
[RTV Noord: Interview: Pester vervult soms meerdere rollen] {Dagblad van het Noorden: Kind soms pester en slachtoffer tegelijk] [NRC Handelsblad: Wie wie pest in de klas verandert voordurend] [de Volkskrant: Pesten is groepsproces waarbij rollen wisselen] [SOAP: Interview]
[Pictures of the defense]
Funding: NWO Toptalent 021.002.022. Thesis defended, December 4, 2014.
Supervisors: Marijtje van Duijn, Tom Snijders, and René Veenstra (RUG).
Manuscript committee: Clemens Kroneberg (University of Cologne / MZES Mannheim, Germany), Toon Cillessen (Radboud University Nijmegen), and Siegwart Lindenberg (RUG).
Currently employed as Postdoc, Department of Sociology, University of Groningen.
Tinka Veldhuis, PhD: Captivated by fear: An evaluation of terrorism detention policy
[RUG Press Release: Terrorist wing may lead to new security risks] NOS: [Terroristenafdeling Vught opgeheven] [OOG Forum: Terroristenafdeling Vught] [Contrast: 'Terroristenafdeling kan averechts werken']
[PAUW: Over de Jihad-processen] [Radio 1 - Dit is de dag: Zet terroristen bij 'witte boord' criminelen] [Radio 1 - Dit is de dag: Jihadi's in de gevangenis]
[Studium Generale: Lezing Mark Hamm en Tinka Veldhuis] [Press Release RUG: Little empirical evidence for recruitment in prisons: Terrorism detention policies should focus on re-integration]
[NRC Handelsblad: Moet het regime echt zó streng voor jihadisten?] [Dagblad van het Noorden: Angst voedt haast in terroristenbeleid] [Sociologie Magazine: Gevangen door angst]
[Pictures of the defense]
Funding: ICS/Faculty. Thesis defended March 26, 2015.
Supervisors: Siegwart Lindenberg, Ernestine Gordijn, and René Veenstra (RUG).
Manuscript committee: Arie Kruglanski (University of Maryland, USA), Mark Hamm (Indiana State University, USA), and Rafael Wittek (RUG).
Was assistant professor, Department of Criminology, Leiden University. Currently living in Wales and employed as researcher, doing research for Clingendael and ICCT.
Britta Rüschoff, PhD: Peers in Careers: Peer Relationships at the Transition from School to Work
[Pictures of the defense]
Funding: ICS. Thesis defended June 4, 2015.
Supervisors: Jan Kornelis Dijkstra, Siegwart Lindenberg, and René Veenstra (RUG).
Manuscript committee: Jari-Erik Nurmi (University of Jyväskylä, Finland), Marcel Van Aken (Utrecht University), Andreas Flache (RUG).
Kim Pattiselanno, MSc: At your own risk: The importance of group dynamics and peer processes in adolescent peer groups for adolescents’ involvement in risk behaviors
Funding: NWO (Youth & Family). Thesis to be defended on March 10, 2016.
Supervisors: Jan Kornelis Dijkstra, Christian Steglich, René Veenstra (RUG), and Wilma Vollebergh (UU).
Manuscript committee: Wayne Osgood (Pennsylvania State University), Rutger Engels (Radboud University Nijmegen), Tom Snijders (RUG).
Currently employed as Lecturer, Department of Sociology, University of Groningen.
Rozemarijn van der Ploeg, MSc: Be a buddy, not a bully? Four studies on emotional and social processes related to bullying, defending, and victimization
[Kinderwijz: 'We zijn allemaal verantwoordelijk voor het stoppen van pesten']
Funding: Onderwijs Bewijs. Thesis to be defended on April 14, 2016.
Supervisors: René Veenstra, Christian Steglich (RUG), and Christina Salmivalli (University of Turku).
Manuscript committee: Anthony Volk (Brock University, Canada), Toon Cillessen (Radboud University Nijmegen), and Siegwart Lindenberg (RUG).
Currently employed as Postdoc, Department of Sociology, University of Groningen.
Beau Oldenburg, MSc: A Multilevel Evaluation of the KiVa Anti-Bullying Program in the Netherlands
[LBBO: 'Aantal gepeste leerlingen: leerkracht maakt het verschil'] [LBBO: 'Het signaleren van pesten']
Funding: Onderwijs Bewijs. Thesis to be defended in 2016.
Supervisors: René Veenstra, Marijtje van Duijn (RUG), and Christina Salmivalli (University of Turku).
Currently employed as Postdoc, Department of Sociology, University of Groningen.
Loes van Rijsewijk, MSc: Antecedents and consequences of adolescents' prosocial relationships: Peer group dynamics at the individual, dyadic, network, and contextual level
Prosocial behavior entails voluntary behavior that benefits others or promotes harmonious relations with others. To date, research has concentrated mainly on prosocial behavior as an individual outcome. However, prosocial behavior is inextricably linked to embeddedness in social contexts encompassing social exchange, mutual dependencies, and cooperation among individuals. Thus, in order to understand antecedents and consequences of adolescents’ engagement in prosocial behavior, research should pay attention to prosocial relationships (“who is prosocial towards whom”). Second, although peers are key to adolescent development, their role in prosocial behavior has been largely overlooked. Given the scarcity of research on this subject, knowledge resulting from this project addresses a significant scientific gap. Integrating insights from sociology, psychology, education, and statistics, the results will concern a wider scientific audience. In this project, the influence of individual characteristics on involvement in prosocial behavior (who gives/receives help?) and (dis)similarity between prosocial partners (who helps whom?) is first investigated. Second, we examine the interrelatedness between prosocial relations, friendships, and antipathies to assess whether prosocial relations result in friendships; whether friendships lead to prosocial relations; and whether establishing prosocial relations reduces antipathies. Third, we examine classroom differences in whether prosocial exchanges are restricted to friends or extend also to other classmates. Finally, we examine influence processes in networks of prosocial relations and their consequences for behavioral adjustment. Together, these studies provide insights into initiation, development, and significance of adolescent prosocial relationships with peers.
Funding: NWO (Research Talent Grant); Period: September 1, 2013 - February 28, 2018
Ruta Savickaite, MSc: Peers and partners: A social network approach to adolescents’ peer and romantic relationships
Adolescent’ romantic relationships are embedded in the broader network of relationship with friends (peer context). Nevertheless, research on romantic relationships integrated with the study of peer relations is scarce. The goal of this project is to bridge this gap by investigating how peer relations shape romantic relationships, using a unique, innovative social network approach. This project investigates 1) the structure and development of adolescent’ romantic relationships; 2) the role of peer status in shaping romantic relations; 3) the influence of peers on the initiation of romantic relations and sexual behaviors; 4) the way peer relations affect (dis)continuation of romantic relations.
Supervisors: Jan Kornelis Dijkstra, René Veenstra, Greetje Timmerman (RUG), and Derek Kreager (Pennsylvania State University).
Funding: NWO (Research Talent Grant); Period: September 1, 2013 - January 15, 2018
Ashwin Rambaran, MSc: Teachers and classroom composition as context in social network processes and social development
This project aims to identify teacher and classroom characteristics that facilitate the development of academic achievement and prosocial behavior, and buffer against antisocial behavior. We will study: (a) the impact of stability in classroom composition (e.g., the impact of multi-grade classes in primary education) on social development and academic achievement (e.g., are students less often stable victims in such classes?); (b) the impact of teachers: to what extent do they strengthen normative goals of students who are then less likely to show antisocial behaviors and more likely to show prosocial behaviors (e.g., supporting potential victims).
Funding: NWO (PROO); Period: September 1, 2013 - August 31, 2018
Lydia Wijnen, MSc: Peer norms as context in social network processes and social development
What is considered normative in the classroom/school context might shape selection and influence processes among students with regards to academic achievement, antisocial and prosocial behavior. But who sets the norm? We will study: (a) the impact of descriptive norms (the scores of all peers in a setting) versus status norms (the scores of only popular peers in a setting) on selection and influence processes regarding academic achievement, antisocial and prosocial behavior; (b) to what extent these norms interact and explain the development of these three behaviors.
Funding: NWO (PROO); Period: September 15, 2013 - June 30, 2018
Mariola Gremmen, MSc: Social network processes in academic achievement
There is huge variability in the extent to which adolescents maximize their academic performance. However, academic achievement is a key determinant of future occupational and educational success. This project aims to contribute to our understanding of the role of peers in students’ academic achievement, examining the conditions and directions of selection and influence processes in academic achievement. We will study: (a) the extent of selection and influence processes in academic achievement; (b) the direction of influence, that is, under what conditions do high performing students enhance academic achievement of low achieving peers or do low achieving students pull down high achieving students, and why?; (c) to what extent antisocial and prosocial behaviors hinder or facilitate students’ academic achievement. We will make use of longitudinal datasets in both primary schools (KiVa) and secondary schools (SNARE).
Funding: NWO (PROO); Period: September 1, 2014 - August 31, 2018
Chaim la Roi, MSc: Towards an improved understanding of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) well-being and health: A lifecourse perspective.
Lesbians, gays and bisexuals (LGB) are exposed to minority stress, yet it is unclear how this stigmatization leads adverse health outcomes. This project compares the health and well-being of LGBs with that of heterosexuals, to understand which factors act as buffers or aggravators across different the life course stages. The mian focus will lie on the life course stage of adolescence, as this is a crucial period for sexual orientation development. Furthermore, the bulk of the current empirical evidence comes from the US. In this project, special attention will be given to the Dutch context , as the Netherlands is generally found to be one of the most progressive contexts with regard to the acceptance of non-heterosexual orientations.
Funding: NWO Graduate Program; Period: September 1, 2014 - August 31, 2018
Renske Verweij, MSc: Understanding childlessness: Unravelling the relationship between genes and socio-environment
There has been rapid increase in childlessness, now reaching around 20 percent in the Netherlands. Also between countries and between social groups there are large differences in the prevalence of childlessness. Much childlessness is involuntary, which is related to postponement and infertility. The aim of this study is to bring together disparate social science and genetic lines of research on infertility among men and women to gain a broader understanding on (in)voluntary childlessness. Recent advances in molecular genetics means that we are able to examine whether there is a genetic component to childlessness and how this is moderated by the socio-environment.
Funding: NWO Graduate Program; Period: September 1, 2014 - August 31, 2018
Marianne Hooijsma, MSc: Clashrooms: Interethnic Peer Relationships in Classrooms in the Philippines and the Netherlands
Peer relations in classrooms are partially formed along ethnic fault lines. Most research has been conducted in countries with relatively mild ethnic tensions. The question is to what extent ethnicity affects peer relationships in countries with prominent ethnic tensions. This project therefore examines the role of ethnicity in peer processes in classrooms in the Southern Philippines and the Netherlands, two culturally different contexts. In addition, interventions will be studied which might have the ability to cut across ethnic fault lines in classrooms. Findings from this project will enhance our fundamental and practical understanding of the role of ethnicity in classrooms.
Funding: PhD Fund GMW; Period: September 1, 2015 - August 31, 2019
Tessa Kaufman, MSc: The Position of Chronic Victims and the Effectiveness of the Support Group in Reducing Bullying
Although anti-bullying interventions on primary schools (such as KiVa) are effective, some children are still bullied after implementation of the intervention. This project has three aims to reduce bullying for these chronic victims. The first aim is to find explanations why chronic victims remain victimized and how they can be helped. We will investigate whether victim’s individual and social adjustment can explain why some children are persistently bullied. The second aim is to examine whether a support group intervention is effective for chronic victims. A support group consists usually of 6-8 children, who are asked to provide practical support and improve the victim’s situation. The third aim is to develop an instrument that accurately measures the three key aspects victimization of bullying (goal-directedness, power imbalance, and harm). After developing and testing the instrument we will investigate the effectiveness of the support group using biweekly registrations over a period of six months.
Funding: NWO VICI Program; Period: September 1, 2015 - August 31, 2019
VACANCY, MSc: Meaningful Roles: Teaching Popular Bullies Acceptable Ways to Maintain Status
The school-wide anti-bullying program KiVa encourages peers to support victims and devalue bullying as a means of obtaining status. Its intervention efforts are focused on bystanders, for whom a change in behavior is not necessarily accompanied by a loss of important goals (most prominently status), as it would be for bullies. Thus, KiVa implicitly aims to increase the costs of bullying (peer interventions) while reducing its benefits (by discouraging peers from granting reputational benefits to bullies). However, a recent analysis suggests that KiVa is only effective against unpopular or average-popular bullies; high-popular bullies are resistant to peer efforts to alter social goals (benefits) or impose social sanctions (costs). This represents an important limitation of peer-initiated efforts, as peers appear to be unable to alter the behavior of the more powerful classmates. To improve intervention outcomes it is necessary to explicitly recognize the goal-directed nature of bullying and incorporate goal striving in the intervention, for example, by teaching or offering bullies prosocial alternative strategies for reaching status and affection goals. The ‘Meaningful Roles’ intervention aims to teach bullies socially acceptable ways to gain or maintain their status. It is an intervention that sets up meaningful roles for all children in a school and also provides positive reinforcements for performing the role through a system of using praise notes. The intervention is inspired by work on pupil responsibilities and school connectedness. The selection of children for various roles is guided by the children’s interests and needs. Bullies are specifically given roles that offer little opportunity to bully, are paired with socially competent children, and are part of a mutual system of peer praise for jobs well done. For that reason, it can be hypothesized that ‘Meaningful Roles’ allows bullies to acquire a prosocial basis for status achievement; build social competencies and adopt prosocial strategies; decrease bullying. If this proves to be correct, ‘Meaningful Roles’ will be the first intervention that is effective against high-popular bullies.
Funding: NWO VICI Program; Period: September 1, 2016 - August 31, 2020
VACANCY, MSc: Effectiveness of Coaching Teachers to Take an Active Stance Against Bullying
Teachers who actively stand for anti-bullying norms are the most effective in tackling bullying. If teachers do not feel that they are responsible for preventing bullying, anti-bullying initiatives are unlikely to be optimally successful. Teachers’ beliefs about the causes of bullying are likely to affect how they feel about the occurrence of bullying in their classrooms and whether or not they will intervene in bullying episodes among their students. In order to understand why children behave in problematic ways, teachers tend to make inferences about the causes of this behavior. In general, teachers may take two broad viewpoints with respect to children’s problematic behavior: they either attribute it to factors within the teachers’ control (internal causes) or to factors outside the teachers’ control (external causes). If teachers attribute bullying mostly to external causes — and thus believe that bullying is caused by factors that cannot easily be influenced by them — it is unlikely that they will intervene in bullying incidents. They are likely to believe that their intervention will not make a large difference, that they do not have much influence on bullying, and that handling bullying is not their responsibility. By contrast, teachers who ascribe bullying to internal factors are more likely to perceive the problem as remediable, feel greater responsibility, and are more committed to stop the bullying. It can be hypothesized that a coaching intervention will help teachers to recognize various forms of bullying; become more aware of their potential role as significant other (referring to an increase in teachers’ attribution of bullying to internal causes); become more capable in taking an active stance against bullying. If this proves to be correct, coaching teachers will probably reduce the level of bullying.
Funding: NWO VICI Program; Period: September 1, 2016 - August 31, 2020
| Last modified: | 15 January 2016 10.17 a.m. |