CAPE

Ghosts from the past: Consequences of Adolescent Peer Experiences across Contexts and Generations

Purpose of the study

To explore how peer experiences, such as friendships and peer acceptance but also bullying and victimization in adolescence may have an impact on our social lives in different contexts as young adults. Fascinatingly, CAPE also explores continuity in peer experiences across generations. That is, we study whether parents’ peer experiences affect the peer experiences of their offspring. For example, parents who have been bullied a lot when they were younger might be especially alert to problems in their children’s interactions with peers and friends. Alternatively, it might be that peer experiences in parents and children are similar because family members share the same genetic make-up.

Researchers

  • dr. Tina Kretschmer
  • dr. Charlotte Vrijen
  • Maria Wiertsema

Date

2018-01-01
  - 2023-01-31

Participants

CAPE utilizes data from the TRacking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS). In TRAILS a large group of young people in the north of the Netherlands has completed a lot of questionnaires and tests every 2-3 years since they were 11 years old. They are now in their late twenties and some have their own children. The intergenerational spin-off study TRAILS NEXT follows those families. In CAPE, we study the first steps of young children into the social world and explore the role of their parents therein.