Speakers
Description
School bullying remains a serious issue with far-reaching consequences, sparking ongoing debates about the most effective interventions: Should we focus on promoting positive behaviors like empathy and defending, on condemning and punishing bullying behaviors? This symposium presents four empirical studies from diverse cultural contexts, offering nuanced insights into different approaches to intervention. The first study explored targeted interventions in Finland, evaluating the immediate and sustained impacts of three approaches—condemning bullying, fostering empathy, and combining both—on reducing victimization. Findings suggest short-term effectiveness across all approaches, though long-term benefits were limited. A second study with 860 Chinese early adolescents examined the impact of two brief school-based interventions: one promoting a positive classroom climate and another building understanding of bullying. During WABF, the findings of this RCT will be discussed, and it is expected that focusing on positive interpersonal climates offers more benefits. The third study, an RCT involving 95 Australian adolescents with peer problems, compared the new Teen Connect Triple P, which engages families in fostering supportive peer relationships, to an existing cognitive behavioral program for depression. Both programs reduced depression, and Teen Connect reduced victimization rates. Finally, research with 1,200 Canadian adolescents highlighted that 2SLGBTQIA+ youth witnessed more bullying, engaged in more defending, and experienced greater negative impacts of witnessing bullying on wellbeing, pointing to specific needs within these communities. These studies collectively underscore the importance of fostering supportive environments alongside targeted interventions to mitigate bullying’s effects.
Keywords
Bullying Prevention, Peer Relationships, School Context, Defending, Targeted Interventions
Additional field for symposia
Title Study 1: Do Targeted Interventions Stop Victimization? Short- and Long-term Effectiveness
Authors: Laninga-Wijnen, L., Huisman, M., Graf, D. & Salmivalli, C.
While extensive research has explored the impact of school-wide anti-bullying programs on preventing victimization, little is known about the optimal intervention strategies school personnel should employ once bullying incidents occur despite preventive efforts. This study evaluated the short- and long-term effectiveness of three targeted intervention approaches for reducing victimization: (1) promoting empathy for victims among bullies, (2) explicitly condemning bullying behaviors, and (3) a combination of these approaches. For a total of n = 274 victims, school personnel used a mobile application (MASKED) to document the steps they took when implementing targeted interventions on bullying perpetrators. The bullies of 113 victims received a condemning approach, the bullies of 117 victims received an empathy-raising approach, and the bullies of 44 victims received a combined approach. Targeted intervention data was matched to survey data collected to examine long-term changes in self-reported victimization. The success rates of targeted interventions on the short-term were promising: 88.2% of the victims indicated that the victimization had decreased or ceased. The combined approach seemed to be the best bet, because the percentage of full cessation of victimization was highest (70.0%), even though differences did not reach statistical significance. In the long-term, victims whose bullies were enrolled in a targeted intervention were equally stable in victimization as the control group - irrespective of the approach taken in the targeted intervention. Thus, despite short-term successes, targeted interventions may not be enough to help victims of bullying escape their plight in the long-term.
Title Study 2: A Briefer Positive-Oriented Classroom Interventions to Address School Bullying: An RCT
Authors: Liu Yang; Ping Ren
School bullying requires urgent attention, but existing interventions show mixed effectiveness. While school-based approaches are widely adopted, they are often time-consuming, resource-intensive, and challenging to implement. Moreover, most focus on identifying developmental risks and fixing weakness, leaving it unclear whether positive-oriented interventions would have an equal or even better impact. To address these issues, we conducted a randomized controlled trial to test briefer classroom-based interventions as alternatives for tackling bullying. Two intervention conditions were further developed to compare their effectiveness: the positive-oriented intervention group aims to alleviate bullying and victimization by fostering the positive qualities of early adolescents and creating a positive interpersonal classroom climate; the problem-oriented intervention group focuses on helping students and teachers understand the definition of bullying and learn how to identify and respond to it. Both conditions included an eight-session student curriculum and a teacher training session. A total of 860 students from fourth to sixth grades (47.2% girls; Mage = 11.73 ± .69 years) in a school in central China participated. Six classrooms from each grade, for a total of twelve classrooms, were randomly assigned to either the waiting-list control group or one of thetwo treatment conditions. All classrooms participated in the pre-test, post-test, and one-month follow-up, with data collected from students, homeroom teachers, and parents. This study anticipates that classroom-based interventions may offer a low-cost and effective approach to improving anti-bullying attitudes, as well as preventing bullying and victimization. Additionally, it is expected that positive-oriented interventions may yield more favorable and lasting effects.
Title Study 3: Pilot RCT of a family intervention for adolescents experiencing peer problems and emotional distress
Healy, Thomas, Cobham, Sanders, Malacova, Pelecanos, Gordan, & Scott
Bullying by peers greatly increases the risk of internalising problems of depression and anxiety. Risk factors for bullying victimisation include modifiable child factors (e.g., quality of peer relationships) and supportive parenting. Our previous research showed that a family program reduced depression and peer victimisation of primary school children. This pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) evaluates a new program, Teen Connect Triple P, that aims to reduce both bullying victimisation and internalising problems of adolescents by engaging families to strengthen the quality of adolescent’s supportive relationships with peers and family. Outcomes for bullying victimisation and internalising problems for Teen Connect Triple P were compared to an effective cognitive behavioural program for depression. Families of adolescents (95), with co-occurring peer problems and internalising problems, were randomly allocated to one of the two programs. Both programs were delivered over six sessions to small groups of six adolescents through an online platform; the Teen Connect Triple P program also included six sessions for parents, also delivered online in small groups. Adolescents and parents completed online questionnaire assessments prior to the program, 3 months and then 12 months after randomisation. There were large reductions in adolescent depression across both conditions and greater reductions in bullying victimisation for adolescents whose families were allocated to the Teen Connect Triple P condition. Opportunities to refine the program were identified in preparation for a fully powered trial. Interventions that focus on strengthening peer and family relations show potential to reduce bullying victimisation and depression of adolescents.
Title Study 4: Exposure to bullying is not equal: Implications for peer defending among 2SLGBTQIA+ youth
Authors: Laura Lambe, Ann Farrell, Brett Holfeld, Alexa Martin-Storey, Elizabeth Baker, Deinera Exner-Cortens, Wendy Craig
2SLGBTQIA+ youth experience a disproportionate amount of bullying victimization. 2SLGBTQIA+ youth tend to be friends with other 2SLGBTQIA+ youth, suggesting they may also be witnessing a disproportionate amount of bullying victimization as bystanders, and potentially engaging in more peer defending behaviors than their cisgender/heterosexual peers. Many bullying prevention programs encourage peer bystanders to defend their victimized peers, yet often fail to consider these inequities. The goal of the current research was to examine differences in witnessing bullying, peer defending behaviors, and wellness among 2SLGBTQIA+ youth relative to their cisgender, heterosexual peers. Self-report survey data were collected from 1200 youth in Grades 7-12 across Canada, including 155 2SLGBTQIA+ youth. Results indicated that 2SLGBTQIA+ youth witnessed significantly more bullying (all types) relative to cisgender/heterosexual peers, ps < .001. Witnessing bullying was negatively associated with well-being for all youth, however, this effect was stronger for 2SLGBTQ+ youth. In general, 2SLGBTQIA+ youth engaged in significantly more peer defending behaviors (all types) than their cisgender/heterosexual peers, ps < .001. Predictors of various defending behaviors depended on youths’ social identity. For example, witnessing identity-based bullying was a predictor of aggressive defending among all youth, but predicted reporting to authority among cisgender/heterosexual youth only. Taken together, results suggest that 2SLGBTQIA+ youth are exposed to more bullying in their peer groups, leading to more opportunities to engage in peer defending behaviors. Given the potential costs associated with defending, especially in the context of identity-based bullying, prevention programs must consider these inequities to better support 2SLGBTQIA+ youth.
| Please also indicate what kind of contribution it is: | Scientific |
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| Please indicate what type of scientific contribution it is | Mixed method study |
