Palmer Quarterly - Vulnerable Children in Varying Classroom Contexts: Bystanders' Behaviors Moderate the Effects of Risk Factors on Victimization (original) (raw)

Examining the Effect of a Program Developed to Address Bullying in Primary Schools

The Journal of Pediatric Research, 2019

The purpose of this study is to evaluate effectiveness of a bullying prevention program, developed using an integrated approach, in the short-term and long-term, in primary schools. Materials and Methods: This study was made using quasi-experimental control group pretest-posttest design; one of the experimental research methods.; one of the experimental research methods. The study comprised 113 students receiving 6th grade education at 2 randomly selected schools in the counties of Konak and Karabağlar, in Izmir, Turkey. The data were gathered using the Demographic Data Questionnaire and The Peer Bully Adolescent Form. In the experimental group, the students attended a bullying prevention program and their parents and teachers attended seminars for 5 weeks. The data were collected before the training, 2 weeks after the training, at the 6th month, and at 1 year after the training. In the analysis of the data, ANOVA was used in repetitive measurements and t-tests were used in dependent and independent groups with Bonferroni correction. Results: A statistically significant difference was found among the control and experimental group victim subdimension point averages in the group (F = 68.28,p = 0.001), time (F = 7.39,p = 0.001), and group-time (F = 14.04,p = 0.001). A statistically significant difference was found between the control and experimental group bully subdimension point averages in the group (F = 7.63,p = 0.007) and time (F = 20.21, p = 0.001). No significant difference was determined in the group and time (F = 1.10, p = 0.349) interaction. Conclusion: It was found that the bullying prevention program based on the Social Cognitive Theory is effective after the training in decreasing the rate of students that are bullies or are victims of bullying, and this effect continues in victims in the 6th month and 1 st year; however, it becomes nonsignificant in the bullies in the 1 st year.

A Large-Scale Evaluation of the KiVa Anti-Bullying Program Antti Kärnä University of Turku, Finland Marinus Voeten Radboud University Nijmegen, the …

srcd.org

This study demonstrates the effectiveness of the KiVa antibullying program using a large sample of 8,237 youth from Grades 4-6 (10-12 years). Altogether, 78 schools were randomly assigned to intervention (39 schools, 4,207 students) and control conditions (39 schools, 4,030 students). Multilevel regression analyses revealed that after 9 months of implementation, the intervention had consistent beneficial effects on 7 of the 11 dependent variables, including self-and peer-reported victimization and self-reported bullying. The results indicate that the KiVa program is effective in reducing school bullying and victimization in Grades 4-6. Despite some evidence against school-based interventions, the results suggest that well-conceived schoolbased programs can reduce victimization.

Effectiveness of school-based programs to reduce bullying: a commentary

Journal of Experimental Criminology, 2012

Objectives Recent decades have seen a focus on intervention programs to reduce school bullying, in light of the severe negative consequences of such behavior. A recent meta-analysis by Ttofi and Farrington (Journal of Experimental Criminology 7: 27-56, 2011) provided encouraging findings in terms of some significant reductions in bullying and victimization achieved by many programs. They also report analyses of effect sizes associated with specific program elements and design features of the interventions. While this is an important step forward, we critique some of the strong policy implications which they draw from these latter analyses. Methods We discuss four important areas to substantiate this critique: analytical procedure, definitional issues, historical issues, and recent empirical data. As context, we use two particular program elements described by Ttofi and Farrington, namely use of disciplinary measures and work with peers, and one design feature, namely age of pupils. Results The findings for the program elements and design feature examined are complex and do not justify strong policy implications at this stage. Conclusions We conclude with suggestions for future research directions.

The Effectiveness of School-Based Anti-Bullying Programs

Criminal Justice Review, 2007

Youth violence, including bullying and other serious violent behaviors, has received increased political and scientific attention over the past several decades. Although violent behavior among youth and in the schools has declined over the past decade, the victimization of children by other children in school settings remains a major issue of concern. In response, a number of prevention and intervention programs have been developed to reduce the incidence of bullying and violence in schools. This meta-analysis attempted to examine the effect of school-based anti-bullying programs. Results suggested a significant effect for anti-bullying programs ( r = .12). However, this result seemed to be slightly influenced by publication bias and did not meet the adopted threshold for “practical significance.” The effect for programs targeted specifically at at-risk youth was slightly better, but overall, anti-bullying programs produce little discernible effect on youth participants. Reasons tha...

What Works for Whom in School-Based Anti-bullying Interventions? An Individual Participant Data Meta-analysis

Prevention Science, 2022

The prevalence of bullying worldwide is high (UNESCO, 2018). Over the past decades, many anti-bullying interventions have been developed to remediate this problem. However, we lack insight into for whom these interventions work and what individual intervention components drive the total intervention effects. We conducted a large-scale individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis using data from 39,793 children and adolescents aged five to 20 years (M age = 12.58, SD = 2.34) who had participated in quasi-experimental or randomized controlled trials of school-based anti-bullying interventions (i.e., 10 studies testing nine interventions). Multilevel logistic regression analyses showed that anti-bullying interventions significantly reduced self-reported victimization (d = − 0.14) and bullying perpetration (d = − 0.07). Anti-bullying interventions more strongly reduced bullying perpetration in younger participants (i.e., under age 12) and victimization for youth who were more heavily victimized before the intervention. We did not find evidence to show that the inclusion of specific intervention components was related to higher overall intervention effects, except for an iatrogenic effect of non-punitive disciplinary methods-which was strongest for girls. Exploratory analyses suggested that school assemblies and playground supervision may have harmful effects for some, increasing bullying perpetration in youth who already bullied frequently at baseline. In conclusion, school-based anti-bullying interventions are generally effective and work especially well for younger children and youth who are most heavily victimized. Further tailoring of interventions may be necessary to more effectively meet the needs and strengths of specific subgroups of children and adolescents.

Effects of Implementing Multiple Components in a School‐Wide Antibullying Program: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Elementary Schools

Child Development, 2021

This study investigates the effectiveness of the PRIMA antibullying program for elementary education using a cluster-randomized trial with two experimental conditions (with and without student lessons) and a control group. Students of 31 schools participated in the study (N = 3,135; M age = 10 years). Multilevel regression analyses demonstrated positive effects of the program on peer-reported victimization and reinforcing behavior. Implementing multiple program components was related to stronger program effects. The results provide partial experimental evidence for the beneficial effects of combining student lessons and teacher training in antibullying programs. Future experimental research is needed to investigate other approaches that reduce not only peer-reported victimization, but also self-perceived bullying and victimization.

Effectiveness of the KiVa Antibullying Program: Grades 1–3 and 7–9

Journal of Educational Psychology, 2013

This study investigated the effectiveness of the KiVa Antibullying Program in two samples of students, one from Grades 1-3 (7-9 years old, N ϭ 6,927) and the other from Grades 7-9 (13-15 years old, N ϭ 16, 503). The Grades 1-3 students were located in 74 schools and Grades 7-9 students in 73 schools that were randomly assigned to intervention and control conditions. Multilevel regression analyses revealed that after 9 months of implementation, the intervention had beneficial effects in Grades 1-3 on self-reported victimization and bullying (odds ratios Ϸ 1.5), with some differential effects by gender. In Grades 7-9, statistically significant positive results were obtained on 5 of 7 criterion variables, but results often depended on gender and sometimes age. The effects were largest for boys' peer reports: bullying, assisting the bully, and reinforcing the bully (Cohen's ds 0.11-0.19). Overall, the findings from the present study and from a previous study for Grades 4 -6 (Kärnä, Voeten, Little, Poskiparta, Kaljonen, et al., 2011) indicate that the KiVa program is effective in reducing bullying and victimization in Grades 1-6, but the results are more mixed in Grades 7-9.

Effectiveness of the KiVa antibullying program: Grades 1–3 and 7–9": Correction

Journal of Educational Psychology, 2013

This study investigated the effectiveness of the KiVa Antibullying Program in two samples of students, one from Grades 1-3 (7-9 years old, N ϭ 6,927) and the other from Grades 7-9 (13-15 years old, N ϭ 16, 503). The Grades 1-3 students were located in 74 schools and Grades 7-9 students in 73 schools that were randomly assigned to intervention and control conditions. Multilevel regression analyses revealed that after 9 months of implementation, the intervention had beneficial effects in Grades 1-3 on self-reported victimization and bullying (odds ratios Ϸ 1.5), with some differential effects by gender. In Grades 7-9, statistically significant positive results were obtained on 5 of 7 criterion variables, but results often depended on gender and sometimes age. The effects were largest for boys' peer reports: bullying, assisting the bully, and reinforcing the bully (Cohen's ds 0.11-0.19). Overall, the findings from the present study and from a previous study for Grades 4 -6 (Kärnä, Voeten, Little, Poskiparta, Kaljonen, et al., 2011) indicate that the KiVa program is effective in reducing bullying and victimization in Grades 1-6, but the results are more mixed in Grades 7-9.