Mind Dump
 
Feb 20

Bullying interventions that involve student peers don't work

In a review of bullying-reduction programs, Farrington and Ttofi (2009) found that interventions that involve peers, such as using students as peer mediators or engaging bystanders to disapprove of bullying and support victims of harassment, were associated with increases in victimization! In fact, of 20 program elements included in 44 school-based programs, work with peers was the only program element associated with significantly more bullying and victimization. (In contrast, there were significant and positive effects for parent training and school meetings in reducing bullying.)

2 comments

Feb 20, 2012
onekind said...
Just want to slightly tweak the way this study is reported here. We don't actually know that bullying itself increased. We know that REPORTING of bullying increased. It's not the same thing. Take the example of sexual assault prevention: if my campaign intervention is successful, I might see increased reporting of rape, due to more victims understanding what's happened to them as a crime and/or feeling more confidence that reporting it will be taken seriously, handled sensitively, and prosecuted effectively. Yet if my outcome measure is "decreased incidence of rape", I might call that campaign a failure. I suspect something similar may be happening here.
Feb 21, 2012
toughLoveforx said...
to onekind I think you are much too kind with "Just want to slightly tweak the way this study is reported here" In fact the headline and summary give precisely the wrong message to those involved with bullying interventions on the ground.

Increased reporting to me is a necessary but not sufficient condition for protocols that can have sustainable effects.

I look forward to reading the report.

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