Social problem situations

Research into the social information processing of young people with behavioural problems shows that as a rule problematic social situations (such as queue jumping, playing a game in which it looks likely they’ll lose or a correction by an authority) are often perceived as threatening by MID children, children and adults with psychiatric problems and so are responded to with aggression. To chart this problem, the Leiden University of Applied Sciences has developed a questionnaire (TOPS-A) that measures aggressive responses to problematic social situations. The questionnaire is currently being used in different residential and outpatient youth institutions to measure the degree of aggressive social information processing and progress in therapy targeting social-emotional problems to deploy oriented interventions in such cases. The TOPS-A is regularly combined with the living group climate questionnaire, but is also used in learning climate research. Leiden University of Applied Science and Windesheim University of Applied Science are currently developing a training program for group leaders at institutions, which reflects the (results of the) questionnaire.

• Questionnaire TOPS-A