This study examined the differences in personality traits between the clusters reflecting the roles in violent interactions among high school students. The sample included 397 students (51.1% male) of Serbian nationality from the first to the fourth grades of different high schools. Based on scores of five dimensions related to peer violence (Physical Aggression, Psychological Aggression, Victimization, Adapted Behavior, and Risky Behavior), three clusters were extracted: Adapted Adolescents, Victims, and Bullies. These three clusters were compared with respect to lexical Big Seven personality traits, and the results indicate that the clusters differ significantly on Aggressiveness, Neuroticism, and Negative Valence. The Adapted Adolescents have the lowest scores on all three dimensions, while the Victims score highest on Neuroticism, and the Bullies on Aggressiveness. The potential importance of certain Extraversion facets for the roles in violent interaction was discussed.

The study examined the relationships between empathy and peer violence among adolescents, along with gender as a moderator in these associations. Thereby, multidimensionality of empathy (affective and cognitive empathy) and different forms of violence (physical, verbal, and relational) were considered. The participants were 646 high school students (aged 15-to 19-years-old) from Serbia. The findings revealed that only the cognitive dimension of empathy was related to violence, namely to physical and relational violence, while relations between the empathy dimensions and verbal violence were not significant. Gender moderated only the relation between cognitive empathy and physical violence, in a way that there was significant negative relation only among boys. Cognitive empathy was negatively related to relational violence, regardless of gender. The results are discussed in the context of the characteristics of violent interactions among adolescents, and recommendations are given for violence prevention programs in high schools.

The first twin study in Serbia began in 2011 as a part of the research project, ‘Psychological Foundations of Mental Health: Hereditary and Environmental Factors’. At the same time, the research team from the Faculty of Philosophy and Faculty of Medicine in Novi Sad established the first Serbian twin registry. The registry is intended primarily for the purpose of the research in behavioral genetics, as well as potential future studies in human genetics. It includes information on 1658 volunteers, including twin-pairs, their parent and siblings. The behavioral genetic study of adult twins has been focused on the hereditary and environmental sources of variance of different psychological characteristics, such as personality traits, cognitive abilities, executive functions and aggression, as well as some anthropometric measures and aspects of mental and physical health. Certain molecular genetic analyses have also been performed. The research team is currently starting the longitudinal twin study of children, which will be focused on different indicators of emotional, cognitive and physical development.

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Originalni naučni rad Razlike u učestalosti i oblicima nasilnog ponašanja između učenika osnovnih i srednjih školaPrikazano istraživanje je sprovedeno u okviru projekta UNICEF-a "Škola bez nasilja" u osnovnim i srednjim školama. Osnovni cilj je utvrđivanje razlika u učestalosti nasilja i osnovnim oblicima nasilnog ponašanja između učenika osnovnih škola i srednjoškolaca. Ukupan uzorak je činilo 14943 učenika -8689 (58,1%) učenika osnovnih škola i 6254 (41,9%) učenika srednjih škola. Za prikupljanje podataka korišćena je upitnička samoprocena, binarnog ili Likertovog formata, u kojoj su ispitanici davali nezavisne procene sopstvene nasilnosti, samoprocene o izloženosti nasilju, kao i stavove i uverenja vezane za različite aspekte situacije nasilja. Rezultati pokazuju da je u osnovnim i srednjim školama u Srbiji vršnjačkom nasilju, tokom školovanja, bilo izloženo oko 43,5% učenika. Pri tome, oko 11% učenika bili su žrtve vršnjačkog nasilja više puta ili veoma često. Među učenicima srednjih škola znatno je veći procenat onih koji nikada nisu doživeli nasilje. Najučestaliji oblik vršnjačkog nasilja kako u osnovnim, tako i u srednjim školama, jeste verbalno nasilje. Učenici srednjih škola skloniji su da reaguju na nasilje: procenat onih koji bi reagovali na bilo koji način veći je među učenicima srednjih škola.Ključne reči: nasilje u školama, verbalno nasilje, fizičko nasilje, svedoci nasilja UvodOd prvih sistematičnih istraživanja siledžijstva (bullying) koja su započela u skandinavskim zemljama 70-tih (Heinemann, 1972, prema Popadić, 2009Olweus, 1978), istraživanje ovog problema ne gubi na aktuelnosti. Broj zemalja u kojima se povremeno ili permanentno sprovode istraživa-