The Role of Bullying-Related Policies: Understanding How School Staff Respond to Bullying Situations

This study examined school staff reported behavioral 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, counselors), and referring the students involved to the school counselor/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 behavior. Additional training and professional development are necessary across all school staff, especially in upper grades. [This paper was published in "European Journal of Developmental Psychology" v18 n6 p880-895 2021.]