Background

Cécile Mathys obtained her degree in psychology – specialising in the clinical psychology of delinquency – from the University of Liège in 2005. Her dissertation featured a proposal for a social skills program for delinquent adolescents. “At the time, this sort of group activity dealing with both cognitions and behavioural learning was just starting to develop here – up until then, institutions focused especially on sports activities, catching up on school work or integration into the job market. My reflection was as follows: before setting up these activities, shouldn’t we think about the composition and the contents of these group activities?” The issue of peer influence was already at the heart of her concerns.

After graduating, Cécile Mathys was hired as a clinician in a young offenders’ institution in the province of Liège where she was involved with delinquent adolescents. “It was here that the issues were raised that were to become the subject of my thesis”, she says. The homogeneity that characterised residential care was of such concern to her that for her thesis, entitled “Peer influence in the development of pro- and antisocial behaviours in the delinquent adolescent”, she decided to experiment with mixing delinquent and non-delinquent adolescents within the framework of a group discussion activity. More generally, her work sought to reveal the variables that intervene in peer influence processes by analysing verbal and non-verbal interactions.

The next stage? “A postdoctoral fellowship in Montreal that will focus on the group climate among delinquent adolescent girls.”