Speaker
Description
Bullying prevention remains a pervasive issue in schools today. In the U.S. approximately 20% of school-aged youth report high rates of peer-to-peer victimization, representing more than 5.6 million students. However, youth with social and communication skill difficulties or deficits tend to be disproportionately involved in bullying. Therefore, the current study identified, using the Social, Academic, & Emotional Behavior Risk Screener, we identified 55 students, in two rural middle schools, that were identified as “at-risk” in the social and/or emotional domains. Once identified, these 55 youth participated in a 10, 45 minute social and communication skill lessons, across 10 weeks in small groups (n 7 per group), which was facilitated by trained implementers. The social and communication skill lessons were adapted from the Social Skills Improvement System – Classwide Intervention Program. All participants completed pre/post surveys that evaluated bullying perpetration, victimization, physical aggress, school belonging, and peer social support. While data are still being cleaned and analyzed, preliminary results suggest a downward trend in bully perpetration, victimization, and physical aggression, and an upward trend in school belonging and peer social supports. Given these promising findings, several implications can be drawn. Most importantly, schools should considering using behavioral risk screeners to proactively identify youth with the greatest social and communicative needs and provide targeted programming to address these needs in an effort to reduce bullying among youth who are most at risk.
Keywords
Bully Prevention
Targeted Supports
At-Risk Youth
| Please indicate what type of scientific contribution it is | Quantitative method study |
|---|---|
| Please also indicate what kind of contribution it is: | Scientific |
