Search

The Preventing Relational Aggression in Schools Everyday (PRAISE) Program is a school-based program that has shown promise for reducing aggression. PRAISE, 20-session classroom-based universal prevention program, was designed to be appropriate and responsive to the needs of youth within the urban school context. A preliminary trial of PRAISE evinced positive effects for girls but was less effective for boys. Following the trial, the PRAISE program was adapted to enhance its impact for boys while maintaining its impact for girls. The current paper describes the changes and a new 3-school trial of the PRAISE program that examines its impact on subgroups. Results indicate that girls in PRAISE classrooms showed improvements in knowledge of social problem-solving strategies (SIP), reductions in hostile attributions (HAB), decreases in relational aggression, and suppression of overt aggression. Boys in PRAISE classrooms showed decreases in relational aggression and improvements in academic engagement, but no improvement in knowledge of SIP or HAB. Pooled analyses comparing boys' results from the initial trial and the current trial showed significant improvements in relational aggression and relational HAB with no differences in overt aggression, overt HAB, or SIP knowledge. Taken together, this iterative adaptation of PRAISE overcame many subgroup differences in program effects.

Latent class analysis was used to examine whether patterns of bystander responses varied as a function of both student- and school-level characteristics. Data from 18,863 high school students from 58 schools who "ever witnessed bullying" were used to identify five latent classes of bystander behavior. Three of the classes identified paralleled commonly used researcher-identified categories ("Passive" = 9.7%, "Defender" = 20.4%, and "Contributor" = 3.4%), whereas we also identified two patterns of bystander responses that had not been previously characterized ("Limited" = 64.8% and "Inconsistent" = 1.7%). Multilevel logistic regression models were then used to examine student- and school-level characteristics that differentiate those in the defender class from other bystander classes. Youth in the defender class were more likely to believe that other students intervene with bullying, and they felt a greater connection with school staff as compared to youth in all other bystander classes. Further, gender, normative beliefs about retaliation, and bullying involvement were associated with class membership. Findings indicated that defending bystander responses are relatively low and suggested that school-level contextual factors, youth perceptions of others' bystander behavior, and bullying involvement all inform our understanding of adolescent bystander behavior.

This study examined school staff reported behavioural responses to bullying, general likelihood of intervening and perceived self-efficacy for intervening with student bullying. We explored if the existence of school bullying-related policies and/or policy trainings was associated with the ways in which school staff responded to bullying. Data came from 8,668 school staff from 156 elementary, middle and high schools in the U.S. Results suggested that while the existence of anti-bullying policies was an important contributor to increased staff self-efficacy for intervening with bullying, it was not associated with self-reports of increased responses to bullying. However, being trained on their schools' anti-bullying policy was associated with higher odds of intervening with the involved students, discussing the incident with other school staff (e.g., administrators, counsellors), and referring the students involved to the school counsellor/psychologist. Moreover, there were clear role and grade level differences in staff responses, such as being less likely to respond to bullying in high school, as compared to middle and elementary school. The results suggested that the existence of a school policy is not likely sufficient to shift behaviour. Additional training and professional development are necessary across all school staff, especially in upper grades.

Peer bullying occurs frequently among middle school youth, negatively impacting students and the broader school climate. However, during these years there is a gap in translating empirically supported prevention science into school-based practices. This paper describes how the evidence-based Free2B bullying prevention multimedia assembly was disseminated by a team of educators, researchers, and technologists to over 14,000 students in 40 middle schools across the state. This dissemination and scaling effort was conducted in partnership with the state's government officials and Office of Safe Schools in order to ensure that each school and district across the state had equal access in applying for the programming. Over half of participating students expressed concerns about school bullying, with 36% reporting victimization and 17% reporting perpetration of bullying in the past month. Significant improvements were found in problem-solving knowledge, confidence in being a positive bystander, and sympathy for peer victims. We discuss gender and community setting differences (urban, suburban, rural) in the findings, implications for dissemination and implementation science, and school psychologists' role in disseminating bullying prevention practices.

Positive school climate has been consistently associated with many desirable student outcomes in both middle and high schools. However, there has been little work comparing the perceptions across these two school settings. The U.S. Department of Education conceptualized a three-factor model for school climate consisting of safety, engagement, and environment. Drawing on data from 29,720 middle and 34,950 high school students, the fit of the three-factor model was examined for measurement invariance, to explore whether the measure functioned similarly across both middle and high schools. The results indicated measurement invariance, which suggests that practitioners and researchers can confidently compare findings across middle and high schools to inform local decision making related to school-based programming. A series of multilevel analyses also explored the extent to which perceptions of school climate differed for middle and high school students; these results generally indicated that middle school students perceived the school more favorably than high school students. Implications of these findings for social workers are considered.

Research, theory, and practice suggest an important role for parents in supporting their children when exposed to violence and helping them cope with victimization experiences. Despite this little is known about how parents respond to bullying and the factors that influence their response. Using data from 1,117 parents who reported that their middle or high schooler had been bullied in the past 30 days, this article identified different patterns of responses as well as examined the influence of perceptions of school climate, school policies and training, and school structural characteristics on their responses. A latent class analysis identified 3 different patterns of parental responses including "Only Talk" (72%), "Contact School" (23%), and "Handle Themselves" (5%). Parents who perceived the school to have more effective school rules were less likely to be in the class of parents who contacted the school versus the only talking class; however, school staff training was associated with a greater likelihood of parents being in the contact the school class versus the only talking class. Perceptions of equity were also related to an increased likelihood of being in the contact the school class versus the handle themselves class. These findings suggest that parents' behaviors in response to bullying may be related to their perceptions of the school and school actions around bullying. Efforts to promote a collaborative approach to bullying between school and home should focus on communicating this expectation, potentially addressing parents' perceptions of equitable treatment for all students.

Peer report of aggression has typically been obtained through peer nominations. The purpose of this study was to identify the extent to which peer nominations and peer ratings identified the same children as aggressive and to explore whether the two methods were equally accurate in identifying children at risk for poor social adjustment. Participants were 1,051 students in third, fourth, or fifth grade and were predominantly African American (76.6%). Participants provided self-report of sympathy and peer nominations and ratings of overt and relational aggression, prosocial behavior, and leadership. Teachers reported on participants' school adjustment. Peer nominations and peer ratings of aggressive behavior were closely related. Peer ratings of overt and relational aggression emerged as a unique predictor of all indicators of adjustment, whereas peer nominations were uniquely associated with three of six outcomes of interest. Peer ratings are a promising approach to assessing aggression and may address problems of consumer acceptance.

While much prior research has documented the negative associations between aggression, peer relationships, and social skills, other research has begun to examine whether forms of aggression also may be associated with prosocial skills and increased social status. However, few studies have examined these associations within diverse samples of elementary aged youth. The current study examined the associations between aggression, popularity, social preference, and leadership among 227 urban, ethnic minority (74% African American, 9% bi-racial including African American, 12% other ethnic minorities, and 5% European American) elementary school youth (average age 9.5 years, 48.5% female). Results indicated that in an urban, high risk environment, displaying aggressive behaviors was associated with increased perceived popularity, decreased social preference, and, in some cases, increased perceived leadership. The results also suggested gender differences in the association between the forms of aggression (i.e. relational and overt) and popularity. The current study underscores the importance of examining youth leadership along with forms of aggression and social status among urban minority youth. Implications for future research and aggression prevention programming are highlighted.

Research on the role of race and urbanicity in bullying involvement has been limited. The present study examined bullying involvement subgroups that relate to race, urbanicity, and the perceived reason for the bullying. Self-report data were collected from 10,254 middle school youth (49.8% female; 62.4% Caucasian, 19.0% African American, and 5.6% Hispanic) and latent class analyses were used to identify three subtypes of bullying involvement: low involvement (50%), victim (31.3%), and bully-victim (18.7%). Irrespective of urbanicity (urban vs. non-urban), African American youth were more likely to be members of either the victim or bully-victim classes than the low involvement class. Further exploration of the community context suggested that urbanicity was associated with the increased likelihood of having been racially bullied. Urban bully-victims were also more likely to have been bullied about money than non-urban bully-victims. Findings underscore the importance of addressing both race and urbanicity for culturally sensitive prevention programming.

Recent media attention has increased interest in behavioral, mental health, and academic correlates of involvement in bullying. Yet, there has not been much interest in investigating the co-occurrence of other health-risk behaviors, such as gang membership, weapon carrying, and substance use. The potential influence of contextual factors, such as youth ethnicity, urbanicity, and school characteristics, also has been overlooked in previous research. The current study examined different subtypes of involvement in bullying--as primarily a victim, as primarily a bully, as both a victim and bully, and no involvement--and the association with significant health-risk behaviors, including engaging in violence and substance use, as well as academic problems. The analyses use self-report data from 16,302 adolescents (50.3% female, 62.2% Caucasian, 37.8% African American) enrolled in 52 high schools. A series of three-level HLM analyses revealed that bullies and bully/victims were generally at greatest of risk of being involved in violence, engaging in multiple types of substance use, and having academic problems. These findings extend prior research by emphasizing a potential link between involvement in bullying and multiple health-risk behaviors, particularly among urban and African American high school youth.

A growing number of researchers encourage parents to notify the school when their children are bullied and work collaboratively with the school to resolve the situation. However, there is limited research on factors that are associated with parents' responses to their child's victimization. Using data from an online survey of 773 parents of victimized students enrolled in 93 schools (elementary, middle, and high), the current study employed structural equation modeling to examine the association between parents' perceptions of the school's climate and parents' responses to their child's victimization. The results indicated that the more favorable parents' perceptions of the climate were, the less likely they were to contact their child's school or talk to their child in response to the victimization. The parents' perception of the climate and response choice also varied as a function of the child's age and the form of bullying experienced. These findings suggest that parents' perceptions of the school are associated with their responses to their child's victimization. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)

Bullying is a major concern in schools, yet there has been limited research examining the ways in which students respond to frequent victimization by their peers. The current study explored whether there are discrete groups of children who display similar patterns of responses to frequent bullying. We also examined the associations between the patterns of responding, characteristics of the victimization (form, chronicity, and perpetration of bullying), and co-occurring internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Latent class analysis regarding response strategies was conducted on data from 4,312 frequently victimized middle and high school students. The results revealed 4 common patterns of responses, including passive/low, active/support-seeking, aggressive and an undifferentiated/high pattern. The patterns of responses were differentially related to internalizing and externalizing symptoms, such that the children with the undifferentiated/high pattern were most likely to experience social-emotional problems and were more likely to experience indirect forms of victimization. Implications for future research on interventions with victimized children are discussed. (Contains 6 tables and 4 figures.)

Although many bullying prevention programs aim to involve multiple partners, few studies have examined perceptual differences regarding peer victimization and the broader bullying climate among students, staff, and parents. The present study utilized multilevel data from 11,674 students, 960 parents, and 1,027 staff at 44 schools to examine the association between school-level indicators of disorder, norms regarding bullying and bullies, and students, parents, and staff perceptions of safety, belonging, and witnessing bullying. Results revealed several important discrepancies between adults and youth with regard to their perceptions. Moreover, results highlight the significance of normative beliefs about bullies, retaliation, and the influence of school contextual factors on students' risk for exposure to bullying. (Contains 4 tables and 2 figures.)

Although there is a growing body of research documenting the deleterious effect of experiencing relational aggression, few studies have explored how children cope with relational aggression, especially when it occurs between close friends. Moreover, relational aggression is understudied among urban African American children. Using data from a sample of 126 urban, low-income predominantly African American children we examined children's beliefs concerning relational aggression and their use of coping strategies when faced with relational aggression in their close friendships. Findings suggested that relational aggression was perceived to be prevalent and harmful by both the boys and the girls. Both boys and girls reported they would use ruminative/avoidance coping strategies when experiencing relational aggression in a close friendship. Implications for future research and the development of gender-sensitive prevention programs are discussed. (Contains 3 tables.)

Despite recent research suggesting that relationally aggressive behaviors occur frequently and may lead to physically aggressive actions within urban school settings, there has been little prior research to develop and evaluate relational aggression prevention efforts within the urban schools. The current article describes the development and preliminary evaluation of the Preventing Relational Aggression in Schools Everyday (PRAISE) Program. PRAISE is a 20-session classroom-based universal prevention program, designed to be appropriate and responsive to the needs of youth within the urban school context. Results suggest strong acceptability for the program and feasibility of implementation. Further, the program was especially beneficial for girls. For instance, girls in classrooms randomly assigned to the PRAISE Program demonstrated higher levels of knowledge for social information processing and anger management techniques and lower levels of relational aggression following treatment as compared to similar girls randomly assigned to a no-treatment control condition. Further, relationally aggressive girls exhibited similar benefits from the program greater knowledge and lower levels of relational aggression) plus lower levels of overt aggression following treatment as compared to relationally aggressive girls within the control classrooms. In contrast, the program was not associated with improvements for boys across most measures. The significance and implications of the findings for research and practice are discussed. (Contains 3 tables and 5 footnotes.)

Research suggests that involvement in relational aggression is associated with serious adjustment problems, including concurrent and future social maladjustment (e.g., problematic friendships; rejection), internalizing problems (e.g., depressive symptoms), and school avoidance. Despite the burgeoning literature focusing on the harmful and damaging nature of relationally aggressive behavior, this research has only recently begun to be used to inform school-based prevention and intervention programming. This article reviews the developmental research related to relational aggression and presents a systematic examination of nine published school-based prevention and intervention programs to prevent relational aggression. Programs reviewed target preschool through eighth-grade students. Strengths and limitations of each program are discussed. Recommendations are offered for future research to develop and validate school-based programming for relational aggression, and implications for school psychologists are discussed. (Contains 2 tables and 6 footnotes.)

Increasing research documents the negative short- and long-term effects of relational aggression on children's behavior and social-emotional functioning. Although parents likely play an important role in the way children learn to cope with and attempt to resolve relational aggression, there is little research on this issue. The present study explored children and parents' beliefs concerning relational aggression and the children's use of coping strategies when experiencing relational aggression in close friendships. Fifty-four low-income, urban, predominantly African American children and a parent/guardian participated in the current study. Findings suggest that the children and their parents were largely discordant in their perceptions of relational aggression and the way the children cope with being a victim of relational aggression. Although the vast majority of parents perceived that their children would come to them for support when experiencing relational aggression, the girls were most likely to report going to teachers, whereas boys were most likely to go to another adult. These results enhance our understanding of how parents and children view relationally aggressive behaviors and may inform the development of strategies to help children cope with relational aggression.

Although the scientific community continues to struggle with the most accurate and efficient method for assessing the prevalence of bullying, the article by Bandyopadhyay, Cornell, and Konald (2009) highlights a critical but often overlooked aspect of assessment--the broader culture and climate of bullying. Through two large-scale studies, the authors provide evidence that the School Climate Bullying Survey (SCBS) has adequate psychometric properties and is thus a potentially useful measure of the bullying climate within a school. The studies by Bandyopadhyay et al. also raise a number of important issues for researchers, school psychologists, and prevention scientists concerned about the issue of bullying and its effect on the school context. In this commentary, the authors build on the work by Bandyopadhyay et al. (2009) and identify some areas for further research related to the "culture of bullying". The authors also consider some implications of this work for researchers and practitioners aiming to prevent bullying and promote a positive school climate for all students.