Ana Kozina

• PhD
• Head of the Centre at Educational Research Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia

In this study, we analyse the predictive power of home and school environment-related factors for determining pupils’ aggression. The multiple regression analyses are performed for fourth- and eighth-grade pupils based on the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2007 (N = 8394) and TIMSS 2011 (N = 9415) databases for Slovenia. At the nat...

Research on developmental and time-related trends (cohort effects) of anxiety is important for the assessment of anxiety levels that are not in line with expected developmental trends, and are in need of intervention. We present the results of a large cross-sectional, two-wave cohort study for anxiety for emotional and cognitive components of anxie...

The paper introduces a new aggression scale LA (lestvica agresivnosti [Aggression Scale]) for measuring self-reported aggression in elementary and upper secondary school students in Slovenia. The scale has been developed with a special focus on the school setting, using three elementary school samples (preliminary study: N=2777; main study: N=10427...

The article introduces a new anxiety scale, called the LAOM (Lestvica anksioznosti za otroke in mladostnike [The anxiety scale for children and adolescents]) for measuring self-reported multidimensional anxiety. The scale has been developed with a special focus on the school setting, using one sample from an elementary school which is representativ...

The aim of the present study was to conduct an analysis of TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) 2003 database and to determine how negative school factors, such as aggression, are associated to the mathematical and science achievement of students. The analyses were conducted separately for national and international data. N...

Introduction Academic success paves the way for positive youth (and adult) development, leading to short- and long-term positive outcomes. In the case of Spain, research has identified the need to pay closer attention to youth academic performance and well-being. Grit is one of the more consistent predictors of academic adjustment, with possible me...

Peer victimization and anxiety are consistently positively correlated, though the longitudinal relationship remains inconsistent. Previous research often failed to account for the reciprocal relationship between traditional and cyber victimization, with limited evidence of the influence of broader societal factors. Thus, the present study aimed to...

The challenges faced by teachers are adding to the frequency and intensity of their emotional problems. In this study, the authors argue not only that social, emotional and intercultural (SEI) learning interventions are associated with an increase in mindfulness and fewer teachers’ emotional problems, but also that the change in teachers’ mindfulne...

Medvrstniško nasilje je kompleksen pojav, vpet v socialni kontekst, zato ga je treba proučevati z uporabo različnih pristopov in z vključevanjem različnih perspektiv. V znanstveni monografiji so predstavljeni ključni izsledki projekta, v katerem smo z uporabo raznovrstnih virov podatkov (samoporočanje, vrstniška imenovanja, poročanje učiteljev) in...

As burnout affects teachers’ health and well-being, as well as their teaching understanding interventions beneficial for prevention is crucial. In this study, we explored possible predictors of the decrease in the dimensions of burnout (emotional exhaustion, physical fatigue, cognitive weariness) after the HAND: ET intervention. We used following p...

The chapter is based on summarised findings of both the HAND in HAND: Empowering Teachers Across Europe to Deal with Social, Emotional and Diversity-Related Career Challenges policy experiment (presented in volume 1) and analyses of current European Union and national policy frameworks (presented in this volume), and elaborates on the conditions ne...

Priročnik za načrtovanje krepitve vključujoče razredne in šolske klime ter preprečevanja in odzivanja na medvrstniško nasilje v osnovni šoli poglobljeno predstavlja pojav medvrstniškega nasilja in njegove dejavnike. V priročniku so prav tako predstavljene ključne ugotovitve kvantitativne in kvalitativne raziskave, ki jo je raziskovalna skupina izve...

The complexities of individual (developmental changes) and contextual (change of school) factors interact during a school level transition period. The current study focuses on one aspect of possible difficulties, namely anxiety, and one potential support mechanism, specifically social support from family and peers, and their interplay during the sc...

Teachers require a variety of skills and competencies to deliver effective teaching (Kaendler et al., 2015). Mindfulness-based approaches are recognized in continuous professional development programs for enhancing outcomes for both teachers and students (Roeser et al., 2012). Although mindfulness is typically viewed as an individual meditative pra...

The increase in reported levels of stress and burnout in teachers across Europe highlights the importance of teachers' social and emotional competencies and diversity awareness (SEDA). Since teaching is an extremely social and emotional process where diversity, if recognised, is embraced at every step, we believe that supporting teachers to develo...

The current study investigated the motives that underlie support for COVID-19 preventive behaviorsin a large, cross-cultural sample of 12,758 individuals from 34 countries. We hypothesized that the associations of empathic prosocial concern and fear of disease, with support towards preventive COVID19 behaviors would be moderated by the individual-l...

With the COVID-19 pandemic, behavioural scientists aimed to illuminate reasons why people comply with (or not) large-scale cooperative activities. Here we investigated the motives that underlie support for COVID-19 preventive behaviours in a sample of 12,758 individuals from 34 countries. We hypothesized that the associations of empathic prosocial...

Background and objectives: We investigated the trajectories of anxiety, general anxiety and more specifically COVID-19 anxiety in the period of school closure in Slovenia using a longitudinal design with three time points: at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the school year. Design and methods: We have used data from a representati...

Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) is a widely used measure that captures somatic symptoms of coronavirus-related anxiety. In a large-scale collaboration spanning 60 countries (Ntotal = 21,513), we examined the CAS’s measurement invariance and assessed the convergent validity of CAS scores in relation to the fear of COVID-19 (FCV-19S) and the satisfac...

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated anxiety and triggered a new and specific COVID-19 anxiety in all age groups, especially in adolescence. The aim of the present study was to identify differences between anxiety and COVID-19 anxiety in profiles of positive outcomes by using the Positive Youth Development (PYD) framework (i.e., the Five Cs of com...

The present paper focuses on social and emotional learning, and highlights empirical findings on its importance for teachers, students and schools. The importance of social and emotional learning in school settings has been a central focus of research for the last 30 years. The development of teachers’ social and emotional competencies has been an...

The paper analyses the longitudinal pathways for the 5Cs of positive youth development outcomes (Competence, Confidence, Character, Caring, Connection) in a school context during the COVID-19 pandemic. The theoretical framework for the paper is provided by the Positive youth development (PYD) perspective, which focuses on the importance of the inte...

The aim of the study was to examine school belongingness and family support as predictors of bullying behavior and victimization, and the moderating role of students’ gender and immigrant background in a large representative sample of Slovenian adolescents (N = 1925; 42.50% male). The results indicated that school belongingness significantly predic...

The present paper focuses on teacher’s role in social justice and explores how teachers perceive and react upon diversity and inequality in their classrooms. Through a literature review, we aimed to answer three research questions: 1) what are diversity awareness and critical consciousness in education; 2) why are diversity awareness and critical c...

The current study investigated the motives that underlie support for COVID-19 preventive behaviorsin a large, cross-cultural sample of 12,758 individuals from 34 countries. We hypothesized that the associations of empathic prosocial concern and fear of disease, with support towards preventive COVID-19 behaviors would be moderated by the individual-...

Strokovna monografija v prvem delu predstavi ozadja in cilje projekta na kateri temelji skupaj s podrobno predstavljenimi metodami raziskovanja. V drugem obsežnem delu predstavi analize empiričnih podatkov in analize fokusnih skupin. Analize empiričnih podatkov zajemajo obsežen nabor opisnih statistik ter primerjav med različnimi skupinami (na prim...

Numerous interventions in the school environment focus on supporting empathy to prevent aggressive behaviour. But when planning interventions inside classrooms one needs to consider the context of each specific classroom, e.g., relationships between students and teachers. Based on the Developmental System Theory and Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Syst...

"There are many benefits of a high sense of school belonging (i.e., lower psychological distress), yet a lot of students do not feel like they belong to their schools. Many researchers have therefore tried to increase the sense of belonging in adolescents via different interventions. One of the recent review articles (Allen et al., 2021) discovered...

"The PYD framework is based on Relational Developmental System Theory, which focuses on the importance of the interplay between individual characteristics and contexts (e.g., school, family, community, society) (Lerner, 2007). In the study, we will put this model through an empirical test using structural equation modelling. We will test a path lea...

In addition to COVID‐19 being a health threat, its longevity and restrictions act as significant stressors and risk for mental health. In the current study, we take a look at how psychological response, both its positive aspects, e.g., mental well‐being and life satisfaction, and its negative aspects, e.g., anxiety, and specifically COVID‐19 anxiet...

Um die vielfältigen Herausforderungen zu adressieren, die mit dem Berufsalltag von Lehrpersonen verbunden sind, braucht es pädagogische Konzepte, die den Fokus auf die Wahrnehmungen und das Wohlbefinden der Lehrer*innen legen. Im folgenden Beitrag werden die Konzepte der Achtsamkeit und des Diversitätsbewusstseins kurz beschrieben, miteinander in B...

This monograph offers a starting point for Positive Youth Development research in Slovenia with clear links to the research in international settings. An overview is also provided of the complexities of the various contexts of Europe and Slovenia able to influence positive youth development. Thus, while the research reported in the monograph focuse...

This chapter combines Positive Youth Development (PYD) and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) models as joint prevention and intervention strategies to address positive youth development. The chapter is based on two main assumptions (i) on the significant theoretical overlap between PYD and SEL models and (ii) that SEL interventions can be used al...

In a non-Western African society, like Ghana, the resources and opportunities available to facilitate optimal youth development do not only fall short but also appear to be unevenly distributed across gender, with females at a disadvantage. In a Western society like Norway, such gender inequality is addressed with political initiatives. The present...

Social-emotional and intercultural (SEI) competencies have documented positive effects on individual-level and school-level outcomes (e.g. Taylor et al., 2017) but there are still considerable variations across countries in the availability of policies and programmes aimed at enhancing these competencies (OECD, 2015). At the same time, neither soci...

The present study adopts The Developmental Assets and Positive Youth Development (PYD) perspectives which (in contrast to the deficit-based approaches which highlight risks and deficit in youth development) claim that young people have potencies to achieve optimal development if supported by their social environment. Extant research indicates that...

Several of the most frequent psychological difficulties in childhood and adolescence are related to anxiety and lead to numerous short- and long-term negative outcomes in emotional, social, and academic domains. Empirical evidence consistently shows that the 5Cs (competence, caring, confidence, connection, and character) of Positive Youth Developme...

Anxiety-related difficulties, one of the most common psychological difficulties in childhood and adolescence (Neil & Christensen, 2009), are associated with numerous short and long-term negative consequences and are in the increase (Kozina, 2014; Twenge, 2000). Core elements of the PYD model are the 5Cs: competence, confidence, connection, characte...

With stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic, an increase in anxiety and a decrease in overall mental well-being is expected. We investigated the role of emotional competencies (mindfulness and emotional self-efficacy) for psychological responding (mental well-being, general anxiety, and COVID-19 anxiety) during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also exami...

The development of positive attitudes towards immigrants among students can be addressed at the individual level through their empathic abilities and at the school or classroom level, where the classroom climate plays an important role. In the present study, we have taken a closer look into the relationship between attitudes towards immigrants, two...

Over the last few decades, there has been a significant rise in the number of programmes aimed at developing students’ social, emotional and intercultural competencies. This has coincided with growing recognition of the role that schools have to play in fostering not only the cognitive, but also the social and emotional development of their student...

The Positive Youth Development approach views youth development from a broader perspective by emphasizing strengths rather than deficits. If youth strengths are aligned with the resources in their environment, positive youth development outcomes (5Cs: Competence, Confidence, Character, Connection, and Caring) will be more probable, and risky behavi...

Bullying and victimization pose a serious risk for youth optimal development due to numerous negative short- and long-term consequences. One of the models with a focus on adolescents that can serve as a theoretical framework in designing prevention and intervention programmes targeting bullying and victimization is Positive Youth Development Perspe...

Aggressive behaviour has negative consequences for students who are exposed to it and those who are aggressive. In addition to a number of negative consequences at the individual level aggression negatively impacts processes within the school. Successful methods of preventing and reducing aggressive behaviour at school often include activities rela...

The purpose of the present study was to examine the social, emotional and intercultural competencies of teachers in more detail and to determine the predictive value of these competencies for teachers' satisfaction with their work. The paper focuses on the results of a pilot study of the project HAND in HAND (Kozina et al., 2017), which was conduct...

FRIENDS for Life is an anxiety prevention programme that integrates cognitive behavioural approach with social and emotional learning. The current study examines the effects of the FRIENDS for Life programme in a school environment, with outcomes focusing on anxiety and aggression. The theoretical basis for the joint prevention and intervention of...

As important socialization agents, schools can provide an open climate as a contextual framework for the development of tolerant attitudes (Gniewosz & Noack, 2008). Building positive attitudes towards immigrants can be addressed at the individual and school level. On an individual level, empathy is negatively connected to the development of prejudi...

The book „Social, emotional and intercultural competencies for inclusive school environments across Europe: Relationships matter“ brings in the insights from the three-year learning process of the HAND in HAND: Social and Emotional Skills for Tolerant and Non-discriminative Societies Erasmus K3 policy experimentation project that targeted the need...

Well-being has gained importance in psychological research as well as in the field of education. However, there is a lack of validated questionnaires in Slovenia that would measure well-being in different domains in childhood and youth. In the present paper we focused on psychometric properties of two children and adolescent well-being measures: Mi...

Preučevanje nasilja v vzgoji in izobraževanju, kot tudi v družbi nasploh, ima v svetu dolgo tradicijo, saj velja zagotavljanje varnega in spodbudnega učnega okolja za enega od temeljnih načel šolanja. Poleg teoretikov, snovalcev politik ter strokovno-pedagoških delavcev in staršev zagotavljanju varnega in spodbudnega učnega okolja posebno pozornost...

Doživljanje medvrstniškega nasilja (t. i. viktimizacija) v mladostništvu predstavlja dejavnik tveganja za pojav psihosocialnih težav in ima negativne posledice za posameznika tudi kasneje v življenju. Zaradi pomanjkanja raziskav na področju čustvenih in socialnih kompetenc (empatija, samozavedanje in samopodoba), vrstniških odnosov (pozitivni odnos...

The paper examines the development of self-concept across multiple domains using Slovenian late childhood and early adolescence samples in longitudinal design. In the preset study we analyzed (i) the developmental paths of specific domains of self-concept; (ii) sex related differences in the development specific domains of self; (iii) stability of...

The inclusion of social, emotional, and intercultural competences (SEI) in academic contexts has been supported by international organizations, such as the European Union, the United Nations, and the OECD, since the early 2000s. However, little information is yet available regarding the assessment of these competencies. This paper shares the findin...

The inclusion of social, emotional, and intercultural competences (SEI) in academic contexts has been supported by international organizations, such as the European Union, the United Nations, and the OECD, since the early 2000s. However, little information is yet available regarding the assessment of these competencies. This paper shares the findin...

Garmon (2005) and identifies six factors, which influence teachers' beliefs about diversity. He groups them into factors of disposition (openness, self-awareness/self-reflectiveness, commitment to social justice) and factors of experiences (intercultural experiences, educational experiences, support group experience). The aim of the article is firs...

One of the key ingredients of social, emotional and intercultural competencies, which contributes significantly to a positive and inclusive classroom climate is empathy (Zorza, 2015). Empathy enables us to understand others and feel connected with them (Eisenberg, et al., 1996). High ability of empathy, which includes cognitive (e.g. taking the per...

Framed by the EU-project Hand in Hand focusing on Social, Emotional and Intercultural (SEI) competencies among students and school staff the paper discusses implementation and professional competencies based on a literature review. Five themes were identified: 1) Intercultural/transcultural competency is not often referred to in the same research a...

Monografija, skupaj z drugimi študijami o pravičnosti, ki so v Sloveniji nastale v zadnjih letih, osvetljuje potrebne in mogoče spremembe na področju izobraževalnih politik, ki lahko vodijo do uresničevanja njegovega načela. Pravičnost v znanstveni monografiji poglobljeno in interdisciplinarno obravnavamo v treh sklopih. Prvi sklop je namenjen pogl...

Background The transition from lower-secondary to upper-secondary education marks a critical period for adolescents that impacts their academic achievement. Objective Based on Positive Youth Development (PYD) framework, we examined associations between math achievement as measured by PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) and PYD ou...

The establishment and sustainability of positive and supportive relationship with students, also referred to as relational competence (Vidmar & Kerman, 2016), is one of the main social and emotional competencies a teacher can possess, which includes seeing the students, leadership of the educational process, the teachers´ authenticity and responsib...

Aggression and externalisation problems at school hold negative consequences for both the perpetrators and the victims. This paper argues that the relationship between anxiety and aggression may make it possible to use certain anxiety prevention programmes to help prevent aggression. This hypothesis was tested on a sample of early adolescents using...

Anxiety‐related problems are common in childhood and adolescence and, if left untreated, may hold short‐term and long‐term negative consequences for psychosocial functioning and other domains. In addition to having negative individual‐level consequences, anxiety‐related problems may have a negative impact at the school level. Because almost all chi...

Even though there are proven benefits of enhanced social, emotional and intercultural (SEI) competencies on an individual, classroom and school level these are so far not explicitly included in national educational systems across Europe (OECD, 2015). The HAND in HAND: project aims to provide a systemic tool in a form of SEI competence development p...

The HAND in HAND project started with in-depth and systematic state-of-the-art analyses in the partner countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Sweden, Germany, Denmark) and wider (the EU and international) in relation to SEI competency measurements or the SEI programme development, resulting in three comprehensive catalogues to be used during the project lif...

The HAND in HAND project started with in-depth and systematic state-of-the-art analyses in the partner countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Sweden, Germany, Denmark) and wider (the EU and international) in relation to SEI competency measurements or the SEI programme development, resulting in three comprehensive catalogues to be used during the project lif...

The HAND in HAND project started with in deapth and systematic state of the art analyses in the partner countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Sweden, Germany, Denmark) and wider (EU and international) in relation to SEI competences measurement or SEI program development, resulting in three comprehensive catalogues to be used during the project lifetime (in...

The presentation focuses on the importance of social, emotional and intercultural skills (SEI skills) for building inclusive societies and to prevent segregation and discriminative bullying by enhancing SEI skills of all students and school staff (the whole school approach) focusing on schools with larger proportions of migrant and refugee students...

http://novice.pei.si/?page_id=1853

Presentation of the HAND in HAND Social and Emotional Skills for Tolerant and Non-discriminative Societies (A Whole School Approach) at the thematic WG Meeting (#4) on Social and Civic Competences and Social Inclusion

Background The present study investigated age differences in trait aggression in the period of late childhood and early adolescence that are important for assessment of the aggression levels that are not in line with expected developmental trends and are in need of intervention. Additionally the authors present the time trends from measurement of...

The current study provides an empirical test of the model proposing that increased trait anxiety (TA) leads to increased reactive aggression (RA) using SEM analyses with representative samples of elementary, lower secondary and upper secondary students from Slovenia. This model is a part of a larger already developed model, the model of defensive b...

Zgodnje opuščanje šolanja ima tako za posameznika kot tudi za družbo kot celoto številne negativne posledice. V prispevku bomo raziskali nekatere dejavnike, ki lahko vodijo v zgodnje opuščanje šolanja ter kako lahko na te dejavnike na ravni šol vplivamo. Omenjeni pregledi dejavnikov povezanih z zgodnjem opuščanjem šolanja so na Pedagoškem inštitutu...

PREDGOVOR Anksioznost in agresivnost sta zaradi številnih negativnih učinkov na posameznika, šolo in družbo kot celoto v ospredju tako v strokovnih kot tudi v znanstvenih razpravah. Cilj, ki mu s publikacijo želimo slediti, je učinkovito in našemu okolju prilagojeno preprečevanje in zmanjševanje tako težav na področju anksioznosti kot tudi težav,...

http://www.zrss.si/digitalnaknjiznica/VIZ-3-4-2016/index.html#2

The paper analyses the role of intrinsic motivation in achievement in international comparative studies using the framework of Self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2002). Self-determination theory argues that people have three basic psychological needs: (i) need for autonomy, (ii) need for competence and (iii) need for relatedness. It has been e...

This paper focuses on the assumption that students’ learning outcomes can be influenced by fostering social and emotional learning and by reducing their anxiety. Learning and teaching in schools are not only characterised by a strong cognitive component, but also by emotional and social components (Zins, Weiss- berg, Wang and Walberg, 2004). Social...

http://www.pei.si/UserFilesUpload/file/digitalna_knjiznica/Documenta_10_ISBN_978-961-270-223-6_PDF/978-961-270-223-6.pdf

http://www.pei.si/UserFilesUpload/file/digitalna_knjiznica/Documenta_10_ISBN_978-961-270-223-6_PDF/978-961-270-223-6.pdf

http://www.pei.si/UserFilesUpload/file/digitalna_knjiznica/Documenta_10_ISBN_978-961-270-223-6_PDF/978-961-270-223-6.pdf

TITLE: Prevention of anxiety and aggression with social and emotional learning program among school aged children and adolescents: A universal school based trial Dr. Ana Kozina, Educational Research Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia ana.kozina@pei.si Anxiety and aggression have negative effect on an individual and also substantially affect the scho...

Aggressive behavior has negative outcomes, both short-term and long-term ones for children and adolescents and at the same time disrupts the process of learning and affects the school climate, which is positively connected to students’ educational achievement. Current study focuses on the developmental perspective of aggression and aims at better u...