Childhood and Adolescent Experience: Deviant Behaviors in Different Contexts

Dear Colleagues,

Family and school are important environments in development. The way family subsystems relate to each other influences not only family members’ relationships but also extra-family relationships in several contexts, including offline and online relationships.  During the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of violence and deviant behaviors has increased. From the ecological perspective, an inter-relationship between both the family and school environment seems to exist. Therefore, in-depth knowledge about these problems is crucial in order to facilitate early prevention and also attempt intervention. Articles that debate prevalence, risk and protective factors, etiology, impacts, actors, and psychosocial intervention are of particular interest for this Special Issue. Articles should focus on the deviant behaviors of children and adolescents in different contexts, and the problem can be addressed using complex and multiple perspectives, aiming to contribute to the development of risk prevention and the implementation of intervention programs aimed at victims, offenders, and the community. Articles must be based on studies, which may include systematic reviews, meta-analyses, quantitative and/or qualitative research, prevalence studies, comparative studies, and clinical or interventional evidence in different scientific areas of study.

Dr. Inês Carvalho Relva
Dr. Margarida Simões
Dr. Ana Paula Monteiro
Prof. Dr. Ana Isabel Sani
Guest Editors

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• family relationship
• children
• adolescents
• risk factors
• deviant behaviors
• bullying
• cyberbullying
• domestic violence
• violence
• intervention
• prevention
• traits of psychopathy

Title: Staff perspectives on the effects of COVID-19 pandemics among children’s victims of domestic violence living in the Portuguese residential foster care system
Authors: Neves, S. et al
Affiliation: Interdisciplinary Center for Gender Studies, University of Maia (CIEG/ISCSP-ULisboa), 4475-690 Maia, Portugal
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic had several negative impacts on children and adolescents’ victims of domestic violence, especially on those who lived in the residential foster care system. The main goal of the present study was to understand those negative impacts through the perspectives of professionals from Portuguese residential care structures, using both individual interviews and an online survey. One hundred and three professionals, aged between 22 and 64 years (M=38.39; SD=8.34), participated in the study, 86 female and 17 male. According to participants, the conditions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic contributed adversely not only to the increase of domestic violence against children and adolescents but also to the aggravation of the conditions children and adolescents living in the Portuguese residential foster system were exposed to, namely in what concerns family relationships, accessibility to resources and services and institutional dynamics. The results suggest the necessity to develop standard procedures to cope with pandemic situations in the residential foster system.