ֱ̽ of Cambridge - Manuel Eisner /taxonomy/people/manuel-eisner en Medieval Murder Maps: homicidal Oxford students in the 14th century /stories/medieval-murder-maps <div class="field field-name-field-content-summary field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>A project mapping medieval England’s known murder cases has now added Oxford and York to its street plan of London’s 14th century slayings.</p> </p></div></div></div> Thu, 28 Sep 2023 05:59:43 +0000 fpjl2 242211 at Urban crime fell by over a third around the world during COVID-19 shutdowns /stories/COVIDcrime <div class="field field-name-field-content-summary field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>Study finds crimes such as theft and robbery almost halved on average in major cities.  </p> </p></div></div></div> Wed, 02 Jun 2021 15:41:18 +0000 fpjl2 224581 at Young people who experience bullying are more likely to fantasise about committing acts of violence – study /research/news/young-people-who-experience-bullying-are-more-likely-to-fantasise-about-committing-acts-of-violence <div class="field field-name-field-news-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="cam-scale-with-grid" src="/sites/default/files/styles/content-580x288/public/news/research/news/violentthoughts.jpg?itok=ludOWav4" alt="" title="Credit: None" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>While research has shown that significant numbers of people fantasise about inflicting harm, little is known about the processes behind such 'violent ideations'.   </p> <p>A team led by a ֱ̽ of Cambridge professor tracked the self-reported thoughts and experiences of 1,465 young people from schools across the Swiss city of Zurich at the ages of 15, 17 and 20.</p> <p>Researchers gathered data on whether violent thoughts had occurred in the last 30 days, and the types of bullying or aggression experienced over the last 12 months.</p> <p>They used questionnaires to probe the levels of aggression (humiliation, beatings, murder) and imagined targets (strangers, friends) within young people’s darkest fantasies.</p> <p> ֱ̽team also asked about experiences of 23 forms of 'victimisation', such as taunts, physical attacks and sexual harassment by peers, aggressive parenting – yelling, slapping, hitting with a belt – and dating violence eg being pressured into sex.</p> <p>While the majority of teenagers had been victimised in at least one way, experiencing a range of mistreatment was 'closely associated' with a higher likelihood of thinking about killing, attacking or humiliating others.</p> <p>Boys were more prone to violent thinking in general, but the effect of multiple victimisations on violent fantasies was very similar in both sexes.</p> <p>Among 17-year-old boys who had not been victimised in the preceding year, the probability of violent fantasies in the last month was 56%.</p> <p>With every additional type of mistreatment, the probability of violent fantasies increased by up to 8%. Those who listed five forms of victimisation had an 85% probability of having had violent fantasies; for those who listed ten it was 97%.</p> <p>Among girls the same age, no victimisation experience had a violent fantasy probability of 23%, which increased to 59% in those who listed five types of mistreatment, and 73% in those who said they had suffered ten.</p> <p>“One way to think about fantasies is as our brain rehearsing future scenarios,” said Prof Manuel Eisner, Director of Cambridge’s Violence Research Centre and lead author of the study <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ab.21965">published in the journal <em>Aggressive Behavior</em></a>.</p> <p>“ ֱ̽increased violent fantasies among those who experience bullying or mistreatment may be a psychological mechanism to help prepare them for violence to come,” he said.</p> <p>“These fantasies of hitting back at others may have roots deep in human history, from a time when societies were much more violent, and retribution – or the threat of it – was an important form of protection.”</p> <p>According to Eisner, the research hints at the extent of violent ideation in societies as seemingly peaceful as Switzerland – with murderous thoughts surprisingly commonplace.</p> <p>“About 25% of all 17-year-old boys and 13% of girls reported having at least one fantasy of killing a person they know during the past 30 days. Close to one in five of all the study participants at that age. These thoughts may be deeply troubling to those who experience them,” he said.</p> <p> ֱ̽team – including researchers from the ֱ̽ of Zurich, ֱ̽ of Edinburgh, ֱ̽ of Utrecht, ֱ̽ of Leiden, and Universidad de la Republica – collected and analysed a wealth of data.</p> <p>As such, they were able to filter out and ‘control’ for other possible triggers for violent thinking in the teenagers. For example, they found that socio-economic status played little role in violent fantasy rates.</p> <p> ֱ̽study also shows that 'adverse life events' such as financial troubles or parental separation had no significant impact. “Thoughts of killing others are triggered by experiences of interpersonal harm-doing, attacks on our personal identity, rather than noxious stimuli more generally,” said Eisner.</p> <p>“It’s the difference between conditions that make people angry and upset, and those that make people vengeful.”</p> <p>By following most of the teenagers to the cusp of adulthood, researchers could track patterns over several years. Overall rates of the most extreme thoughts decreased by the age of 20: only 14% of young men and 5.5% of women had thought about killing someone they know in the past month.   </p> <p>However, the effects of victimisation on violent fantasies did not lessen as they grew up, suggesting the intensity of this psychological mechanism may not fade.   </p> <p>“This study did not examine whether violent ideations caused by victimisation actually lead to violent behaviour. However, a consistent finding across criminology is that victims often become offenders, and vice versa,” said Eisner. </p> <p>“Fantasies are unrestrained, and the vengeance taken in our minds is often wildly disproportionate to the real-world event which triggered it.</p> <p>“Studying the mechanisms behind violent fantasies, particularly at a young age, may help with targeted interventions that can stop obsessive rumination turning horribly real.” </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-summary field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>Experiencing bullying and forms of aggression in late adolescence and early adulthood is linked to a marked increase in the likelihood of having daydreams or fantasies about hurting or killing people, according to a new study.</p> </p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">It’s the difference between conditions that make people angry and upset, and those that make people vengeful</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote-name field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Manuel Eisner</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cc-attribute-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png" style="border-width:0" /></a><br /> ֱ̽text in this work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ֱ̽ of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified.  All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our <a href="/">main website</a> under its <a href="/about-this-site/terms-and-conditions">Terms and conditions</a>, and on a <a href="/about-this-site/connect-with-us">range of channels including social media</a> that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-show-cc-text field-type-list-boolean field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Yes</div></div></div> Wed, 28 Apr 2021 08:33:56 +0000 fpjl2 223681 at ‘Murder map’ reveals medieval London’s meanest streets /research/news/murder-map-reveals-medieval-londons-meanest-streets <div class="field field-name-field-news-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="cam-scale-with-grid" src="/sites/default/files/styles/content-580x288/public/news/research/news/murdermapweb.jpg?itok=WbzoAxOz" alt="" title="A screenshot of the &amp;#039;murder map&amp;#039; , Credit: Violence Research Centre" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Stabbed by a lover with a fish-gutting knife. Beaten to death for littering with eel skins. Shot with an arrow during a student street brawl. Shanked by a sore loser after late-night backgammon. </p> <p>These were just some of the ways to die violently in the city of London during the 14th century, as catalogued in the ‘Coroners’ Rolls’: the records of the medieval official tasked with documenting sudden and unnatural death – whether accident, suicide or homicide. </p> <p>Now, ֱ̽ of Cambridge criminologist Professor Manuel Eisner has plotted all cases of murder from the surviving rolls – covering nine of the years between 1300 and 1340 – onto a digital map of the old city to show for the first time the ‘hot spots’ of lethal violence in medieval London.</p> <p>Building on work conducted by the historian Barbara Hannawalt over forty years ago, Eisner has also produced an analysis of the 142 homicides committed within the city’s boundaries to reveal not just locations but the days, times and favoured methods.</p> <p> ֱ̽“murder map” of medieval London will be made publicly available on Wednesday <a href="https://www.vrc.crim.cam.ac.uk/">on the website of the Violence Research Centre</a>, which will also host a launch event today at the Institute of Criminology.</p> <p>“Following notification of a violent death, the Coroner and Sheriffs would summon a jury from the local area to investigate, then record all the findings,” said Eisner.</p> <p>“ ֱ̽events described in the Coroners’ Rolls show weapons were never far away, male honour had to be protected, and conflicts easily got out of hand. They give us a detailed picture of how homicide was embedded in the rhythms of urban medieval life.”</p> <p>“By digitally mapping these murder cases, we hope to create an accessible resource for the public to explore these remarkable records,” he said.</p> <p>Eisner’s map allows people to filter the killings by year, weapon and crime scene, and has updated the language of each case description for modern audiences.      </p> <p>While the map shows murders occurred across the city, two main homicide ‘hot spots’ emerge, both commercial centres of the time. One was the stretch of Cheapside from St Mary-le-Bow church – the ‘bow bells’ of cockney legend – leading up to St Paul’s Cathedral.</p> <p> ֱ̽other was further east: the triangle of Gracechurch, Lombard (then ‘Langbourn’) and Cornhill streets that radiate out from Leadenhall market, the history of which can be traced back to the 14th century.</p> <p> ֱ̽majority of murders, some 68%, took place in London’s busy streets and markets, with 21% occurring in private residences. Religious buildings (six murders) may have been more dangerous than brothels (two murders).</p> <p>As today, medieval homicide was a weekend activity, with almost a third (31%) of murders taking place on a Sunday. “Sunday was the day when people had time to engage in social activities, such as drinking and gaming, which would often trigger frictions that led to assault,” said Eisner.</p> <p>Around 77% of the murders were committed between early evenings, “around the hour of vespers”, and the first hours after curfew. Daggers and swords dominate the list of murder weapons, used in 68% of all cases. Thick ‘quarter staff’ poles designed for close combat were used in 19% of cases.</p> <p>Almost all (92%) perpetrators were men. In just four cases a woman was the only suspect. About a third of the cases had more than one suspect, with a number of killings involving brothers or servants helping masters.</p> <p>Estimates for London populations in the 14th century range from 40,000 to 100,000. Assuming a city of 80,000, Eisner suggests that medieval London murder rates were about 15-20 times higher than we would expect to see in a contemporary UK town of equivalent size.</p> <p>However, he argues that comparisons with modern society are problematic. “We have firearms, but we also have emergency services. It’s easier to kill but easier to save lives.”</p> <p>In fact, death by murder could be a slow process in the 14th century. “Over 18% of victims survived at least a week after the initial trauma, probably dying eventually from infections or blood loss,” said Eisner.</p> <p>One saddle-maker who had his fingers cut off by a rival died of his wounds – and consequently became a homicide victim – a full three weeks later.</p> <p>While his work takes in everything from bullying prevention to youth crime, violence reduction across the centuries is a major research strand for Prof Eisner. He has studied long-term historical trends in homicide from 1000AD onwards.    </p> <p>“London in the decades before the Black Death had more homicides relative to the population than London in the 18th or 19th century,” added Eisner.</p> <p>“ ֱ̽trend in London is in line with the long-term decline of homicide found across cities in Western Europe, a decline that led to the pacified spaces that were essential for the rise of urban life and civility in Europe.”</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-summary field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>First digital map of the murders recorded by the city's Coroner in early 1300s shows Cheapside and Cornhill were homicide ‘hot spots’, and Sundays held the highest risk of violent death for medieval Londoners.</p> </p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> ֱ̽events described in the Coroners’ Rolls show weapons were never far away, male honour had to be protected, and conflicts easily got out of hand</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote-name field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Manuel Eisner</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-credit field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/" target="_blank">Violence Research Centre</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-desctiprion field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">A screenshot of the &#039;murder map&#039; </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cc-attribute-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png" style="border-width:0" /></a><br /> ֱ̽text in this work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ֱ̽ of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified.  All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our <a href="/">main website</a> under its <a href="/about-this-site/terms-and-conditions">Terms and conditions</a>, and on a <a href="/about-this-site/connect-with-us">range of channels including social media</a> that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-show-cc-text field-type-list-boolean field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Yes</div></div></div> Wed, 28 Nov 2018 00:06:35 +0000 fpjl2 201532 at Children of the city: tackling violence in the 21st century /research/features/children-of-the-city-tackling-violence-in-the-21st-century <div class="field field-name-field-news-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="cam-scale-with-grid" src="/sites/default/files/styles/content-580x288/public/news/research/features/citypic.jpg?itok=kxhX2i7T" alt="" title="Credit: @AndyAitchison.uk" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><h2><a href="/stories/children-of-the-city">READ THE STORY HERE. </a></h2>&#13; &#13; <p><em>Read more about our research on the topic of children in the ֱ̽'s research magazine; download a <a href="/system/files/issue_37_research_horizons.pdf">pdf</a>; view on <a href="https://issuu.com/uni_cambridge/docs/issue_37_research_horizons">Issuu</a>.</em></p>&#13; &#13; <p> </p>&#13; </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-summary field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>Up to one billion children worldwide are estimated to be victims of violence. Now, an intended study of 12,000 children in eight cities worldwide wants to discover what it really means to be a child of the city today – the adversities, the vulnerabilities, the resilience.</p>&#13; </p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-credit field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="https://www.andyaitchison.uk/index" target="_blank">@AndyAitchison.uk</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cc-attribute-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png" style="border-width: 0px;" /></a><br />&#13; ֱ̽text in this work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ֱ̽ of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified.  All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our <a href="/">main website</a> under its <a href="/about-this-site/terms-and-conditions">Terms and conditions</a>, and on a <a href="/about-this-site/connect-with-us">range of channels including social media</a> that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.</p>&#13; </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-show-cc-text field-type-list-boolean field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Yes</div></div></div> Tue, 06 Nov 2018 09:48:29 +0000 fpjl2 200982 at Spotlight on children /research/features/spotlight-on-children <div class="field field-name-field-news-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="cam-scale-with-grid" src="/sites/default/files/styles/content-580x288/public/news/research/features/iv7a5906credituniversity-of-cambridge-primary-school.jpg?itok=q8DMlktE" alt="" title="Credit: ֱ̽ of Cambridge Primary School" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p> ֱ̽importance of supporting children to grow into happy, healthy and inquiring adults is abundantly clear. Physical and mental wellbeing in children is a foundation for a healthy and productive life.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>And yet we live in a world where one in four of us will experience the isolating and traumatic effects of mental health disorders, three-quarters of which begin before the age of 18; children are still held back throughout life as a result of low levels of literacy and numeracy; and up to one billion young people worldwide are likely to be victims of violence this year.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Our researchers are studying all aspects of children, helping to understand how a child’s early experiences can shape their lifelong development. Today we launch both a <a href="/topics/children">Spotlight on children</a> and the latest issue of the ֱ̽’s <em><a href="/system/files/issue_37_research_horizons.pdf">Research Horizons</a></em> magazine to showcase examples of this research.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>We address some of the big questions, such as what are the origins of mental health and why are teenagers so vulnerable to mental disorders? We take a life course and multidisciplinary approach to the problem: from a child’s genes and clinical development in the womb, through the neuroscience and psychology of learning disorders, to psychiatric approaches aimed at understanding why some children are more at risk of developing mental health problems in later life and why some are resilient.</p>&#13; &#13; <p><img alt="" src="/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/inner-images/cover_from_issue_37_research_horizons.jpg" style="width: 250px; height: 354px; float: right;" /></p>&#13; &#13; <p>“We marvel at the brain’s complexity,” says Professor David Rowitch, who leads the Department of Paediatrics. “Across the ֱ̽, no stone is left unturned in our attempts to better understand how to ensure healthy brain development and learning, as well as neurological and mental health, throughout life. We recognise how profoundly quality of life is affected. As this Spotlight focus will show, neurological and mental health has high priority both in basic research and clinical medicine, and in government policy.”</p>&#13; &#13; <p>We also ask about life experiences. Tragically some children and their mothers are exposed to violence and drugs before they are even born, or grow up in communities entrenched in crime, and where healthcare systems are failing. Yet we know little about the effects of adverse environments – on people and on the stability of societies in which they become citizens. A pilot study to understand what it means to be a child of the city today is following 1,200 children in eight cities in all major regions of the Global south.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Professor Manuel Eisner, from the Institute of Criminology and who leads the study, explains: “By comparing a new generation from each city, we can build a scientific backbone for interventions to prevent violence against children as well as against their mothers, and support stakeholders to take wellbeing initiatives that work in different global contexts.” </p>&#13; &#13; <p>Education features prominently in our research. In India, for instance, researchers are working with local partners to ask whether low learning outcomes could be a by-product of an Indian school system in which the language that children are taught in school often differs to the language spoken at home. And in Cambridge, where the ֱ̽ of Cambridge Primary School is sponsored by the ֱ̽ to provide education for the local community in North West Cambridge, we examine how the School places research at its heart – in both informing education practice and in furthering research at Cambridge’s Faculty of Education and elsewhere.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>What about the role of parents? It’s clear that our mothers, fathers and families affect our lives and the people we become, but are we focusing too much on the ‘skill’ of parenting and losing sight of things that matter more – like how we talk to and play with children? Researchers are piecing together the complex jigsaw that involves families, language, play, and physical and psychological health to better understand what gives a child the best chance in life.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“ ֱ̽modern digital age challenges us to cope with rapidly changing settings at home, school, work and leisure,” says Professor Zoe Kourtzi from the Department of Psychology. “Our propensity to learn and rapidly adapt is thus central to 21st-century life. These challenges are particularly marked in the early and later periods of life, when young children are preparing or progressing through years of intensive education and older adults are facing major changes to their health and social circumstances.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“Research at Cambridge aims to understand how learning supports flexible behaviour and resilience to the new challenges that individuals face across the life course. Using interdisciplinary methodologies, we aim to enhance basic understanding of the mechanisms of lifelong learning, and transform this knowledge into innovative personalised interventions that will promote public wellbeing through applications in education, social care, public health and policy.”</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Some of our research is having unexpected effects – such as a book of ‘lost words’ that encourages children to love and protect the natural world. Thanks to crowdfunding campaigns, the book is appearing in primary schools across the UK – an outcome that has surprised and moved its creators, who hope the book will help to bridge social gaps in the uneven distribution of access to nature. </p>&#13; &#13; <p>Underpinning much of the Spotlight is the idea so eloquently put by the 19th-century American social reformer Frederick Douglass: “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men”.</p>&#13; &#13; <p><em>Professor Manuel Eisner (Institute of Criminology), Professor Zoe Kourtzi (Department of Psychology) and Professor David Rowitch (Department of Paediatrics) are editorial advisors for the 'Spotlight on children' issue of Research Horizons magazine (see inset image), which is available as a <a href="/system/files/issue_37_research_horizons.pdf">PDF</a> and on <a href="https://issuu.com/uni_cambridge/docs/issue_37_research_horizons?e=0">Issuu</a></em></p>&#13; &#13; <p> </p>&#13; </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-summary field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p>Welcome to our new ‘<a href="/topics/children">Spotlight on children</a>’, a focus on research taking place at the ֱ̽ of Cambridge relating to children and childhood – from health to education, language to literacy, parents to playtime, risk to resilience.</p>&#13; </p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote-name field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Frederick Douglass, 19th-century American social reformer </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-credit field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/" target="_blank"> ֱ̽ of Cambridge Primary School</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cc-attribute-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png" style="border-width:0" /></a><br />&#13; ֱ̽text in this work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ֱ̽ of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified.  All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our <a href="/">main website</a> under its <a href="/about-this-site/terms-and-conditions">Terms and conditions</a>, and on a <a href="/about-this-site/connect-with-us">range of channels including social media</a> that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.</p>&#13; </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-show-cc-text field-type-list-boolean field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Yes</div></div></div> Thu, 01 Nov 2018 09:00:00 +0000 lw355 200812 at Positive teacher-student relationships boost good behaviour in teenagers for up to four years /research/news/positive-teacher-student-relationships-boost-good-behaviour-in-teenagers-for-up-to-four-years <div class="field field-name-field-news-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="cam-scale-with-grid" src="/sites/default/files/styles/content-580x288/public/news/research/news/diversityofyouthinoslonorway.jpg?itok=yEcgZmtl" alt="Teenagers in Oslo, Norway" title="Teenagers in Oslo, Norway, Credit: Sir James" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>A new study has found that having a positive relationship with a teacher around the age of 10-11 years old can markedly influence the development of ‘prosocial’ behaviours such as cooperation and altruism, as well as significantly reduce problem classroom behaviours such as aggression and oppositional behaviour.  </p>&#13; &#13; <p> ֱ̽research also found that beneficial behaviours resulting from a positive teacher-student relationship when a child is on the cusp of adolescence lingered for up to four years – well into the difficult teenage years.   </p>&#13; &#13; <p>Researchers found that students with a more positive relationship with their teacher displayed towards peers, on average, 18% more prosocial behaviour (and 10% more up to two years later), and up to 38% less aggressive behaviour (and 9% less up to four years later), over students who felt ambivalent or negative toward their teacher.  </p>&#13; &#13; <p>Positivity toward their teacher also resulted in students displaying an average of 56% less ‘oppositional defiant’ behaviour: such as argumentativeness and vindictiveness toward authority figures. This was still reduced by 22% up to three years later.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In fact, the researchers found the beneficial effect on behaviour was as strong, if not stronger, than that of established school-based ‘intervention programmes’ such as counselling and other anti-bullying therapies.</p>&#13; &#13; <p> ֱ̽importance of good teacher relationships on infant behaviour was already known, and programmes have been designed to help preschool teachers improve relationships with pupils, which in turn improves pupil behaviour.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Researchers say the latest results suggest that developing similar programmes for those who teach students in early adolescence has the potential to promote better classroom behaviour in schools that may otherwise rely more on exclusionary practises – such as detentions, or being sent out of class – to manage student behaviour.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“Teachers play an important role in the development of children. Students who feel supported tend to be less aggressive and more prosocial, and we now have evidence that this is the case from preschool right through to adolescence,” said the study’s lead author Dr Ingrid Obsuth.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“Educational and school policies should take this into consideration when supporting teachers in fostering their relationships with students,” she said.</p>&#13; &#13; <p> ֱ̽research was conducted by members of the Violence Research Centre at Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology, along with colleagues from ETH Zurich and the ֱ̽ of Toronto. ֱ̽findings are published in the <em><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-016-0534-y">Journal of Youth and Adolescence</a></em>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p> ֱ̽researchers analysed data from eight ‘waves’ of a major longitudinal study of culturally-diverse Swiss youth being schooled across Zurich. ֱ̽latest study involved 1,067 students randomly sampled across 56 of the city’s schools.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Only students who experienced a change of teacher between ages 9 and 10 were used for the study, with data gathered from teachers, students and their parents on an annual and later biannual basis.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Using the multitude of data from interviews and surveys across the years*, the research team used an innovative statistical technique that enabled them to ‘score’ the children on over 100 different characteristics or experiences that could potentially account for good or bad behaviour – from background to past behaviour, parenting to student and teacher genders.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>They then matched students in pairs with highly similar scores in all respects except one: how they felt about their teacher, and how the teacher felt about them. This allowed researchers to emulate a ‘randomised-controlled trial’ – the most rigorous way of establishing causal links. ֱ̽only difference between the students in each pair was that one had the ‘treatment’ of a positive relationship with their teacher, and the other, the ‘control’, did not.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>While the researchers approached data collection from both sides of the teacher-student relationship, they say that it is how the student perceives the relationship that is most important for behaviour. Students who saw themselves as having a more positive relationship with their teacher engaged in fewer aggressive behaviours right up to age 15.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Cambridge’s Prof Manuel Eisner, senior author on the study, said: “Most adults remember some teachers that they admired and that fit their learning needs, and others that they felt hard done-by. This is not necessarily only because they have more or less supportive teachers. Each child will respond differently to a teacher's style and personality. Our study shows that once a child develops an impression of a teacher, one way or the other, it can have significant long-term effects on their behaviour.”</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“While this is the first study to look at the effect of teacher-student relationships on adolescents, our findings are consistent with previous research suggesting that bonds with prosocial others – whether peers, teachers or institutions – are a protective factor against children engaging in problem behaviours,” he said.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Added Obsuth: “Ideally, building healthy and supportive teacher-student relationships would become part of the curriculum in teacher training and intervention programmes as a way of improving adolescent well-being.”</p>&#13; </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-summary field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p> ֱ̽first study to look at the impact of the relationship with teachers on adolescent behaviour finds that a positive teacher-student relationship can be as effective as anti-bullying programmes at improving wellbeing in young people.</p>&#13; </p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Ideally, building healthy and supportive teacher-student relationships would become part of the curriculum in teacher training and intervention programmes as a way of improving adolescent well-being</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote-name field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Ingrid Obsuth</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-credit field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Diversity_of_youth_in_Oslo_Norway.jpg" target="_blank">Sir James</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-desctiprion field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Teenagers in Oslo, Norway</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cc-attribute-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png" style="border-width:0" /></a><br />&#13; ֱ̽text in this work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>. For image use please see separate credits above.</p>&#13; </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-show-cc-text field-type-list-boolean field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Yes</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-license-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Licence type:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/imagecredit/attribution-noncommercial-sharealike">Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike</a></div></div></div> Tue, 09 Aug 2016 09:15:32 +0000 fpjl2 177672 at Two-thirds of studies on 'psychosocial' treatments fail to declare conflicts of interest /research/news/two-thirds-of-studies-on-psychosocial-treatments-fail-to-declare-conflicts-of-interest <div class="field field-name-field-news-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="cam-scale-with-grid" src="/sites/default/files/styles/content-580x288/public/news/research/news/2279494555cfe84e3145o.jpg?itok=UdX-ClZ1" alt="Reading psychology..." title="Reading psychology..., Credit: Cathrine Idsøe" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Health services in many countries increasingly rely on prescribed 'psychosocial interventions': treatments that use counselling techniques to tackle mental health issues, behavioural problems such as substance abuse, and assist parents with new or troubled children.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>These highly-regarded therapeutic and educational programmes, devised by senior academics and practitioners, are sold commercially to public health services across the world on the basis that they are effective interventions for people in need of support – with the evidence to back them up.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>However, the first study to investigate conflicts of interest in the published evidence for intervention treatments has revealed that the majority of academic studies which assert evidence of effectiveness list authors who profit from the distribution of these programmes, yet few declare a conflict of interest.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In fact, the new research shows that as many as two-thirds of the studies that list an author who financially benefits from sales of said treatment programmes declare no conflict of interest whatsoever.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>While major steps have been taken to counter research bias in other fields such as pharmaceuticals, the new study's authors say that hugely influential psychosocial treatments suffer a distinct lack of transparency from academics that both publish research on treatment effectiveness and stand to gain significantly from any positive findings.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>They write that as commercial psychosocial treatments – many of which cost hundreds, even thousands, of dollars per participant – continue to gain traction with national public health services, it is important that "systems for effective transparency are implemented" to ensure clinical commissioning bodies are aware of potential research biases. ֱ̽findings are <a href="https://journals.plos.org:443/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0142803">published today in the journal PLOS ONE</a>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>"Contrary to some, I have no problem with introducing commercial programmes into a national health service if decision makers and trusts come to the conclusion that a commercially disseminated treatment is more effective than their current psychosocial offerings, but this must be based on fair and transparent evidence," said the study's lead author <a href="https://www.crim.cam.ac.uk/people/academic_research/manuel_eisner">Professor Manuel Eisner</a>, from Cambridge's Institute of Criminology.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>"What you don't want to see is an intervention system that remains as effective, or becomes less effective, despite buying in expensive programmes, because you have a public goods service competing with research that has a commercial interest to publish overly optimistic findings," Eisner said.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>"Policy makers in public health have a right to expect transparency about conflicts of interest in academic research."</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Four internationally disseminated psychosocial interventions – described by Eisner as "market leaders" – were examined: the <em><a href="https://www.triplep.net/glo-en/home/">Positive Parenting Programme</a></em> (or Triple P); the <em><a href="https://www.nursefamilypartnership.org/">Nurse-Family Partnership</a></em>; the parenting and social skills programme <a href="https://www.incredibleyears.com/"><em>Incredible Years</em></a>; the <a href="https://www.mstservices.com/"><em>Multi-Systemic Therapy</em></a> intervention for youth offenders.</p>&#13; &#13; <p> ֱ̽researchers inspected all articles published in academic journals between 2008 and 2014 on these interventions that were co-authored by at least one lead developer of the programme – a total of 136 studies.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Two journal editors refused consent to be included in the research, leaving 134 studies. Of all these studies, researchers found 92 of them – equalling 71% – to have absent, incomplete or partly misleading conflict of interest disclosures.</p>&#13; &#13; <p> ֱ̽research team contacted journal editors about the 92 published studies on the effectiveness of one of these four commercial psychosocial interventions co-authored by a primary developer of the self-same therapy, yet listed no conflict of interest, or, in the case of a few, an incomplete one.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>This led to 65 of the studies being amended with an 'erratum', or correction. In 16 cases, the journal editors admitted "mishandling" a disclosure, resulting in the lack of a conflict of interest statement.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the remaining 49 cases, the journal editors contacted the study's authors seeking clarification. In every case the authors submitted a new or revised conflict of interest. Eisner and colleagues write that the "substantial variability in disclosure rates suggests that much responsibility seems to lie with the authors".</p>&#13; &#13; <p> ֱ̽most common reason given by those journals that did not issue a correction was that they did not have a conflict of interest policy in place at the time of the published study's submission.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>While the overall rate of adequate disclosures in clear cases of conflict of interest was less than a third, just 32%, the rates for the four programmes varied significantly. ֱ̽lowest rate of disclosures was found in academic studies on the Triple P programme, at just 11%.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Triple P is a standardised system of parenting support interventions based on cognitive-behavioural therapy. Initially developed by Professor Matthew Sanders at the ֱ̽ of Queensland, Triple P has sold around seven million copies of its standard programme across 25 countries since it began commercial operations in 1996, with over 62,000 licensed providers – mainly trained psychologists.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 2001, Queensland 'spun out' the licensing contract into a private company, the royalties from which are distributed between three groups of beneficiaries: Queensland ֱ̽ itself, Prof Sanders' <a href="https://www.pfsc.uq.edu.au/">Parenting and Family Support Centre</a> (also at Queensland), and the authors of Triple P.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Despite being one of the most widely evaluated parenting programmes worldwide, the evidence for the success of Triple P is controversial, say the researchers.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Several analyses of Triple P – including those by Triple P authors with previously undeclared conflicts of interest – show positive effects. However, at least one independent systematic review cited in the new PLOS ONE study found "no convincing evidence" that the Triple P has any positive effects in the long run.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>"Researchers with a conflict of interest should not be presumed to conduct less valid scholarship, and transparency doesn't necessarily improve the quality of research, but it does make a difference to how those findings are assessed," said Eisner.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In the <a href="http://download.springer.com/static/pdf/135/art%253A10.1007%252Fs10826-015-0127-5.pdf?originUrl=http%3A%2F%2Flink.springer.com%2Farticle%2F10.1007%2Fs10826-015-0127-5&amp;token2=exp=1448548238~acl=%2Fstatic%2Fpdf%2F135%2Fart%25253A10.1007%25252Fs10826-015-0127-5.pdf%3ForiginUrl%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Flink.springer.com%252Farticle%252F10.1007%252Fs10826-015-0127-5*~hmac=ec5c7997b67e9fc9f96b3ea18370472c2ca3508288eb40bfdbf5f238e31b15ef"><em>Journal of Child and Family Studies</em> in January 2015</a>, Triple P creator Prof Sanders wrote that "[p]artly as a result of these types of criticisms" his research group had "undertaken a comprehensive review of our own quality assurance practices".</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Added Eisner: " ֱ̽development of standardised, evidence-based programmes such as Triple P is absolutely the right thing to do. If we have comparable interventions providing an evidence base then it promotes innovation and stops us running around in circles. But we need to be able to trust the findings, and that requires transparency when it comes to conflicts of interest."</p>&#13; </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-summary field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><p> ֱ̽creators of commercially sold counselling programmes increasingly profit from public health services across the world. However, a new study into the evidence basis for some of the market leaders reveals that serious conflicts of interest across the majority of the research go habitually undisclosed.</p>&#13; </p></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Policy makers in public health have a right to expect transparency about conflicts of interest in academic research</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-content-quote-name field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Manuel Eisner</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-credit field-type-link-field field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/cidsoe/2279494555/in/photolist-4tr1jg-jojvp2-9oXsL-7y3wT8-dCSbpa-yV5gGi-aJKUvM-pY76XY-aGNukr-5d4Zw2-dY555m-q2jkSQ-tp1daw-eqGJKK-dXYhcH-dY4ZWA-dY4XPf-4UFpUL-5rBiN5-ajJKh6-kz7YVL-9dSAPp-94dJPN-9Nugu9-saMWMi-9dkEyT-mCzDJD-5RYTtk-q9SZn7-q7DReW-dXYnwH-dXYiNr-dY4YQC-bFMf7D-q9SYRh-us6twg-4f7Ptu-q7DPyG-h7PpD-pSnZd1-4kN9CH-pdbh88-4VySzz-ZJkvb-h7Ppb-3pEbQy-aRjSuB-51HhJn-4EX8jv-a1ucCz" target="_blank">Cathrine Idsøe</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-desctiprion field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Reading psychology...</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cc-attribute-text field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png" style="border-width:0" /></a><br />&#13; ֱ̽text in this work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>. For image use please see separate credits above.</p>&#13; </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-show-cc-text field-type-list-boolean field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Yes</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-license-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Licence type:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/imagecredit/attribution-noncommercial-sharealike">Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike</a></div></div></div> Thu, 26 Nov 2015 14:13:45 +0000 fpjl2 163232 at