Purpose To examine differences in symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress between victims and perpetrators of intimate partner violence and to examine the relationship between psychological difficulties and the role of victim and perpetrator of IPV, taking into account the form of violent behaviour. Design A total of 347 participants formed three groups of subjects: victims, perpetrators and two control groups of participants. The Revised Conflict Tactics Scale was used intimate partner violence. Negative emotional states were assessed with The Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale. Findings The results of the analyses showed that victims of IPV had higher scores on depression and anxiety compared to the perpetrators of IPV. Victims and perpetrators of IPV had significantly higher level of depression, anxiety and stress in comparison to the control group. Statistically significant correlations were found between depression, anxiety and stress and perpetration as well as victimization for all examined type of IPV. Research implication The results of this study point out the importance of focusing the attention on examining the mental health of the perpetrators, not only on victims.

Early studies supposed that personality traits and students’ life, which include brings many social and academic changes, may be relevant factors in initiation and maintenance of smoking. The aims of this study were to investigate differences in personality dimensions, as well as exposure to stressful life events among students’ smokers and nonsmokers and finally to examine the predictive contribution of these variables to smoking status. The study was conducted on the sample of 200 students from the University of Mostar, with a median age of 21 (interquartile range, 3) who completed Goldberg’s Personality Questionnaire and Scale of stressful life events. The group of students who never smoke (N = 101) and the group of smokers (N = 99) took part in the study. The results have shown that personality dimension of neuroticism and stressful life events related to social alienation, academic failure and everyday social conflict differed the smokers and non-smokers group. The smokers had higher scores in comparison to non-smokers group of students. Neuroticism and stressful life events academic failure and academic maladjustment were also significant predictors to smoking status.

Objective – The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD) and to identify comorbid disorders according to subtype of ADHD. Method – The study sample included 404 children aged from 6-12 years old. Parents completed The Child Behaviour Checklist/4-18 to detect internalizing and externalizing psychological difficulties in children. Assessment of ADHD was performed using the Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Test. Results – ADHD symptoms were found in 15% of girls and 12.1% of boys. The differences in the frequency of different subtype of ADHD in terms of the gender were obtained for the subtype of hyperactivity (Z=-2.075, p=0.038). Boys had more pronounced symptoms of hyperactivity compared to girls. There was no statistically significant gender difference for the subtype of impulsivity (Z=-1.422, p=0.155) and inattention subtype (Z=-0.234, p=0.815). The results obtained showed a higher prevalence of internalized and externalized difficulties with the combined subtypes of ADHD compared to other subtypes. Conclusion – ADHD is a complex condition, affecting a significant number of children and therefore it needs to be better identified. Children who seek medical or psychological help have at least one or more comorbid disorder and these problems also need to be appropriately identified and treated.

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common neuro-psychiatric disorders in childhood and adolescence. The Diagnostics and Statistical Handbook for Mental Disorders (DSM-V) defines three ADHD clinical phenotypes: attention difficulties, hyperactivity/impulsivity and the combined subtype (1). The frequency of ADHD at school age varies between 5% and 12% (2-7). Boys are 1Centre of Mental Health, Široki Brijeg Health Care Centre and 3Široki Brijeg Health Care Centre, Široki Brijeg, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2Department of Psychology, University of Mostar Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

n past research results of faking behavior on personality questionnaires are quite inconsistent. The reason of the discrepancies regarding the prevalence and consequences of faking may be the result of lack of clear operationalization of faking behavior. So the present research tested do two faking measures i.e. operalization (difference scores and social desirability scales) tend to yield similar conclusion regarding the Paulhus model of socially desirable responding. Study was conducted on dependent sample of participants in three different motivational conditions: respondents first filled out questionnaires in honest conditions, then had to present themselves like an ideal manager job-applicants (induced egoistic bias) and teacher job applicants (induced moralistic bias). The results showed that two measures of faking yield similar results.

The aim of the study was to examine gender differences in the attitudes towards partner emotional or sexual infidelity, as well as to determine predictive contribution of jealousy and history of abusive behavior to dating violence in adolescent relationship. The study included 122 university students, both gender. The Revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2) was used to examine committing and exposure to dating violence. The sensitivity to partner sexual and emotional infidelity was examined by modified Buss method, which measure he intensity of jealousy. Obtained results showed that young men were more prone to sexually and threatening abuse of their partner compared to girls. As regards to exposure, men were more often inclined in emotional/verbal, sexual, physical abuse and threatening behavior by their female partner. There were not found gender differences in the sensitivity of partner infidelity. Aggression perpetration and exposure to aggressive behavior was in strong relationship with intensity of jealousy. Strong relationship was also found between perpetration and victimization for all aggressive behavior across genders. The sensitivity of sexual infidelity for boys was a significant predictor of emotional, verbal abuse and relational perpetration (β = 0.51) of their partners and exposure to relational abuse (β = 0.56). The sensitivity of girls to hypothetical emotional infidelity was significant predictor of relational abuse (β = 0.26) and exposure to relational abuse (β = 0.47). History of exposure to different form of dating violence was statistically significant predictor for perpetration and exposure to aggressive behavior for girls and boys. These results demonstrate that the use of abusive behaviors in adolescent dating relationships is prevalent. Sex differences were evident in the perpetration and exposure to dating violence. Jealousy is statistically significant predictor for exposure and preparation of dating violence.

To determine the association between involvement in school bullying and trauma symptoms and to find whether children with presence of trauma symptoms participate in school bullying more as victims, as bullies or as bully/victims. The study included 1055, 6th to 8th grade (12-14 years of age) elementary school pupils from the western part of Mostar, The pupils were self-interviewed using a Questionnaire on School Violence developed in 2003 and validated in Croatia, and Trauma Symptoms Check List for Children (TSCC). The pupils involved in the school violence, either as victims, bullies, bully/victims had significantly more trauma symptoms than the not involved. Involvement in school bullying as a bully/ victim was a strong indicator of trauma symptoms, particularly anxiety, anger, posttraumatic stress, dissociation, obvious dissociation, and dissociation fantasy symptoms, while the victims of school violence had the highest odds ratio for the development of depressive symptoms. There is strong association between bullying and trauma symptoms in young adolescents. From our results, emphasis should be placed at the regularly screening on bullying in praxis of family physicians and regularly conduction of preventive measures and early intervention in every primary school.

A number of studies have shown that involvement in bullying behavior is associated with substantial adverse effects on psychological health, but it is not unclear which come first, involvement in bullying behavior or psychological symptoms. The aim of this study was to investigate whether involvement in bullying behavior (as bullies, victims and bully/victims) precedes psychological symptoms or whether these symptoms precede involvement in bullying behavior. The study uses longitudinal data from 536 children aged 11 to 15 years, who completed School Relationship Questionnaire and Youth Self-Report on both occasions of data collection. The baseline measurements were taken in the fall of 2008 and follow-up measurements in the spring of 2009 in elementary schools in the Siroki Brijeg municipalities. The results show that children involved in bullying behavior had a significantly higher risk for development of psychological difficulties like anxiety and depression (OR=5.93 ; P=0.002), withdrawn (OR=3.67 ; P=0.010), somatic problems (OR=3.59 ; P=0.025), social problems (OR=4.34 ; P=0.008), thoughts problems (OR=3.11 ; P=0.028), attention problems (OR=5.29 ; P=0.009), and delinquent behaviors (OR=5.43 ; P=0.001) compared with children who were not involved in bullying behavior. Difficulties in psychological adjustment at the beginning of the year do not represent a risk factor for involvement in bullying during the year. Obtained results indicate that involvement in bullying behavior causes an increase in difficulties in psychological adjustment. For the psychologist and health practitioners, these findings stress the importance of establishing whether bullying plays a contributing role when a child exhibits such symptoms.

The aim of this review was to provide an overview of researchinto the relationship between empathy and bullying. Thereforethe review indicated a number of researches that show differenteffects of empathy on bullying, regarding the type of bullying,roles in bullying behavior, as well as gender. From a review ofresearch it may be concluded that empathy significantly contributesto a reduction in various forms of violence. Most researchindicates the importance of the affective component of empathycompared to the cognitive component. The results of researchinto the relationship of empathy and its role in bullying behaviorwere less consistent. For this reason, the review highlightedmethodological difficulties in the study of bullying and empathy.  Conclusion  – In conclusion it could be said that most studiesshow a negative correlation between empathy and various typesof violence. Furthermore, it is evident that different componentsof empathy have differing degrees of influence in direct and indirectforms of violent behavior.

Objective – To examine the relationship between bullying and difficulties in psychological adjustment among elementary school students due to their role in bullying behavior, arousal leveland strategies of coping with bullying behavior. Methods – The study was conducted on a convenience sample of 478 primary school children (232 girls and 246 boys), 11 to 15 years of age. A School Relationship Questionnaire (SRQ) was used to assess direct, verbal and relational forms of bullying. To determine the coping strategies we used the Self – Report Coping Measure(SRCM). The arousal level was assessed by The Arousal Predisposition Scale (APS), while Youth Self-Report (YSR) was used for assessing current psychological adjustment. Results – The present study identified 29% of children involved in bullying; 14% of children were categorized as victims, 7% as bullies and 8% as bully/victims. There was statistically significant combined effect of the role of victims and bully/victims, levels of arousaland coping strategies with bullying (internalizing, externalizing, and distancing) on difficulties in psychological adjustment. Conclusion – Based on the results of this study, we can conclude that bullying as psychosocial stress is an important risk factor for psychological problems in childhood. At the same time, coping strategies are important determinants of successful adaptation.

Cilj istraživanja bio je ispitati povezanost između nasilja u mladenackim vezama i psiholoske prilagodbe uzimajuci u obzir uloge u mladenackom nasilju, razinu pobuđenosti i strategije suocavanja sa stresom. Podatci su prikupljeni koristenjem upitnika za samoprocijenu na uzorku od 220 adolescenata u dobi od 16 do 18 godina. Upitnik za procjenu konflikata u mladenackim vezama koristen je za procjenu nasilja u mladenackim vezama. Razina pobuđenosti (APS) ispitanika procijenjena je pomocu Skale pobuđenosti, dok je Cek lista traumatskih simptoma (TSC-40) koristena za procjenu trenutne psiholoske prilagodbe. S obzirom na oblik nasilnog ponasanja, ucestalost varira od 19% do 36% za izloženost nasilnom ponasanju od strane partnera te od 10% do 37% za nasilno ponasanje prema partneru. Ženski spol, mlađa dob, uloga u maldenackom nasilju, kao i visoka razina pobuđenosti i koristenje manje efikasnih strategija suocavanja predstavljaju prediktore poteskoca u psiholoskoj prilagodbi. Na temelju rezultata ovog istraživanja može se zakljuciti da nasilje u mladenackim vezama je znacajan prediktor psiholoskih poteskoca u adolescenciji. Rezultati su također pokazali da razina pobuđenosti i strategije suocavanja sa stresom su važne determinante uspjesne adaptaciju u situaciji mladenackog nasilja.

Cilj istraživanja bio je ispitati neke reakcije na ispitni stres kod studenata visokog i niskog samopostovanja. Na uzorku od ukupno 40 studentica prve i druge godine studija psihologije ispitana je razina aktivacije, stanje anksioznosti, te cestina i intenzitet doživljavanja psihosomatskih simptoma dva puta, tj. u neispitnom i ispitnom periodu. U tu svrhu, primijenjena je Thayerova cek lista za procjenu opce i visoke aktivacije, Spielbergerov upitnik stanja anksioznosti, kao i cek lista psihosomatskih simptoma. Za ispitivanje samopostovanja koristena je Rosenbergova skala samopostovanja. Dobiveni rezultati su pokazali znacajno visu razinu visoke aktivacije i anksioznosti kod sudionica vise razine samopostovanja u ispitnom u odnosu na neispitno razdoblje. Kod sudionica niskog samopostovanja prisutna je tendencija ka visoj anksioznosti i aktivaciji u ispitnom, kao i neispitnom periodu. Također, neovisno o periodu ispitivanja, sudionice niskog samopostovanja su cesce doživljavale razlicite psihosomatske simptome, koje su procjenjivale i intenzivnijima. Kao sto se moglo i ocekivati, kod obiju skupina razina opce aktivacije bila je visa u ispitnom u odnosu na neispitni period. Dobiveni rezultati su također pokazali da sudionice visokog samopostovanja koriste stil suocavanja usmjeren na izbjegavanje, dok one niskog samopostovanja znacajno vise koriste suocavanje usmjereno na emocije, sto je u skladu s dosadasnjim istraživanjima. Međutim, dobiveni rezultati nisu u skladu s prethodnim istraživanjima koja upucuju na koristenje adaptabilnijih strategija suocavanja, poput onih usmjerenih na problem, kod osoba visokog samopostovanja. Nadalje, dobiveni rezultati u ovom istraživanju bi se mogli, barem djelom, dovesti u vezi s uzorkom na kojim je istraživanje provedeno. Naime, rezultati ranijih istraživanja ukazuju da su žene u razlicitim stresnim situacijama sklonije koristenju maladaptivnih strategija suocavanja. Također, visi rezultati kod osoba visokog samopostovanja na subskali socijalne diverzije u odnosu na one nižeg samopostovanja pruža mogucnost objasnjenja nekonzistentnih rezultata. Naime, osobe visokog samopostovanja su sklone izbjegavanju, ali onom koje se ocituje u pojacanom druženju s ljudima iz vlastitog socijalnog okruženja, a ne izbjegavanju samoga problema. U zakljucku se može kazati da rezultati provedenog istraživanja ukazuju na stresnost ispitnog perioda u vecoj mjeri kod studentica visokog samopostovanja, dok bi daljnja istraživanja trebala provjeriti da li je ovakav obrazac reagiranja na ispitni stres prisutan i kod studenata.

Cilj istraživanja bio je ispitati povezanost između nasilja u mladenackim vezama i psiholoske prilagodbe uzimajuci u obzir uloge u mladenackom nasilju, razinu pobuđenosti i strategije suocavanja sa stresom. Podatci su prikupljeni koristenjem upitnika za samoprocijenu na uzorku od 220 adolescenata u dobi od 16 do 18 godina. Upitnik za procjenu konflikata u mladenackim vezama koristen je za procjenu nasilja u mladenackim vezama. Razina pobuđenosti (APS) ispitanika procijenjena je pomocu Skale pobuđenosti, dok je Cek lista traumatskih simptoma (TSC-40) koristena za procjenu trenutne psiholoske prilagodbe. S obzirom na oblik nasilnog ponasanja, ucestalost varira od 19% do 36% za izloženost nasilnom ponasanju od strane partnera te od 10% do 37% za nasilno ponasanje prema partneru. Ženski spol, mlađa dob, uloga u maldenackom nasilju, kao i visoka razina pobuđenosti i koristenje manje efikasnih strategija suocavanja predstavljaju prediktore poteskoca u psiholoskoj prilagodbi. Na temelju rezultata ovog istraživanja može se zakljuciti da nasilje u mladenackim vezama je znacajan prediktor psiholoskih poteskoca u adolescenciji. Rezultati su također pokazali da razina pobuđenosti i strategije suocavanja sa stresom su važne determinante uspjesne adaptaciju u situaciji mladenackog nasilja.

Dating violence is a prevalent problem in today’s society and significant research has been directed toward the question of their psychological well- being. Studies have yet to provide a definitive answer, but potential strong mediator of the relation between intimate partner violence and psychological outcomes could be coping stress strategies variables. So the aim of this study was to reveal ways in which coping strategies (adaptive and non-adaptive) mediate the association between dating violence and psychological well-being. The study sample included 220 high school students ranging in age from 16 to 19 years. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires. The Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory was used to gather information about dating violence. The Coping strategies were assessed by The Ways of Coping Scales, while Trauma Symptom Checklist-40 was used for assessing current psychological adjustment. Results indicated that emotional/verbal violence by partners and psychological adjustment link was mediated by non- adaptive coping strategies. However the relation of emotional violence and psychological well-being was not mediated by adaptive strategies. Furthermore, coping strategies were not found to be mediator variables of relationship between physical violence and psychological outcomes. Obtained results have significant implication for clinical practice with abused persons. Preventive strategies need to focus on developing of effective coping styles.

OBJECTIVE This study investigates the relationship between involvement in bullying in childhood and adolescence and psychological difficulties in young adulthood. MATERIALS AND METHOD A total of 249 college students completed the Retrospective Bullying Questionnaire and Trauma Symptom Checklist. RESULTS The results showed significant differences in psychological adjustment among respondents who were exposed to bullying compared to respondents who were not exposed to bullying. Those exposed to bullying had significantly higher levels of anxiety, depression, sleeping problems, and dissociative and traumatic symptoms compared to those who were not exposed to bullying. Respondents who were exposed to bullying in all three examined periods (the period from the first to fourth grade, the period from the fifth to eighth grade and the high school period) had higher scores on the subscale of dissociative symptoms and sexual trauma symptoms compared to respondents who were exposed through one or two periods. Victims abused in all three periods have more symptoms of anxiety and sleeping problems compared to the subjects exposed to bullying during one examination period. There were no differences in the level of depressive symptoms and sexual problems regarding the duration of bullying. Also, there were no differences in psychological adjustment between respondents who were bullied during one specific period. CONCLUSION Bullying experiences in childhood and adolescence are connected with difficulties in psychological adjustment in young adulthood.