| All
programs and trainings endorsed by the Violence Prevention
Program (VPP) have evidence-based research proving their
efficacy. Below are some research sources, organized according to
our program offerings.
Behavior Management
Kounin,
J. (1970). Discipline and group management in classrooms. New
York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Observations and analysis
of masterful teachers found that their responses to misbehavior once
it had occurred was much the same as teachers who struggled. What
masterful teachers did more effectively was a combination of five
characteristics that prevented the misbehaviors from occurring in
the first place. The five preventative characteristics are
withitness, smoothness, momentum, group alerting and individual
accountability.
Tolan, P., & Guerra, N. (1994).What works at reducing
adolescent violence: An empirical review of the field. Boulder,
CO.; The Center for the study and Prevention of Violence.
25%
of student violence is rooted in relationship issues, while 40-65%
of student violence stems from situational circumstances. The
interventions most effective with situational and relationship
include: effective instruction, improved physical setting and school
climate, social skills training, school-wide discipline, conflict
resolution and peer mediation.
Rutter, M., Maughan, B., Mortimore, P. OUston, J., &
Smith, A. (1979) Fifteen thousand hours. Cambridge, Mass.:
Harvard University Press.
Rutter et al. identified specific
factors that promote a positive or negative climate within the
school. They reported that high levels of corporal punishment and
frequent disciplinary interventions actually led to worse behavior
and that the use of frequent praise was associated with better
behavior.
Conflict Resolution / Peer
Mediation
Carruthers, W. L., & Sweeney, B. (1996).
Conflict resolution: An examination of the research literature
and a model for program evaluation. School Counselor, Sept/1996,
5-19.
Focuses on conflict resolution and peer mediation in
schools in the United States. Common findings of professional
literature; Considerations relevant to conducting research and
evaluations in school settings; Proposal of a model to guide
educators' decisions on how to evaluate programs.
Johnson, D.W., & Johnson, R. T. (1995). Training
elementary school students to manage conflict. The Journal of
Social Psychology, Dec/1995, 673-687.
Examines the
effectiveness of a peer mediation program in a midwestern, suburban
school and indicates that students successfully learned the
negotiation and mediation procedures.
Johnson, D.W., & Johnson, R. T. (1996). Conflict
resolution and peer mediation programs in elementary and secondary
schools: A review of the research. Review of Educational
Research, Winter/1996, 459-506.
A review of recent literature
indicates that after peer mediation training, students tend to use
conflict strategies that lead to constructive outcomes.
Stevahn, L., Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R.T., Oberle, K., &
Wahl, L. (2000). Effects of conflict resolution training
integrated into a kindergarten curriculum. Child Development,
May-June/2000, 772-784.
The effectiveness of a conflict
resolution training program was examined in an American midwestern
suburban elementary school utilizing 80 kindergarten participants.
Results indicated knowledge and retention of the conflict resolution
procedure, willingness and ability to use the procedure in conflict
situations, and a conceptual understanding of friendship.
Stevahn, L., Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R.T., & Schultz, R.
(2002). Effects of conflict resolution training integrated into a
high school social studies curriculum. The Journal of School
Psychology, 2002, 305-331.
The effectiveness of conflict
resolution and peer mediation training programs were examined among
California high school students. Results indicated the trained
students tended to learn the integrative negotiation and peer
mediation procedures, apply the procedures completely, choose an
integrative over a distributive approach to negotiation, and develop
more positive attitudes toward conflict.
Classroom Management
Classroom Organization and Management Program
(COMP)Wang, M.C., Haertel, G.D., & Wahberg, H.J.
(1994). What helps students learn. Educational Leadership,
Jan/1994, 74-79.
An analysis of over 11,000 statistical
findings identified the factors that most influence student
learning. Of these factors, classroom management had the greatest
influence on student learning, followed by the student's
meta-cognitive processes, the student's cognitive functioning and
the fourth most influential factor was parental support. This study
demonstrates the connection between classroom management and student
achievement and indicates the value of training teachers in
classroom management.
View on online chart of COMP validation studies
Bullying Prevention
Bollmer,
J.M., Milich, R., Harris, M.J. & Maras, M.A. (2005). A friend in
need. The role of friendship quality as a protective factor in peer
victimization and bullying. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Vol.
20, No. 6, June 2005, 701-712.
This study has a small sample
size and is not representative of the population at large. Numerous
checklists and interviews with students and parents were conducted.
Children scoring higher in internalizing problems were more likely
to be victimized. Children reporting a higher quality best friend
were less likely to be victimized by peers. Children who tended to
display externalizing behaviors were more likely to engage in
bullying than other children. However, children who displayed
externalizing behaviors but had a higher quality best friendship,
were significantly less likely to engage in bullying. Children who
possessed more internalizing behaviors and did not have a higher
quality best friendship were most likely to be victimized by their
peers.
Espelage, D.L., Bosworth, K., & Simon, T.R. (2000).
Examining the social context of bullying behaviors in early
adolescence. Journal of Counseling and Development, 78,
326-333.
Researchers concluded that the best predictor of
students' non-bullying behavior was having positive adult role
models.
Fox, C.L. & Boulton, M.J. (2005). The social skills
problems of victims of bullying: Self, peer and teacher perceptions.
British Journal of Educational Psychology, 75, 313-328.
This
study, conducted on a small sample (n=330) of students aged 9-11 in
the UK, looked at the extent of poor social skills of victims over
20 behaviors/competencies. This study found a core of social skill
problems associated with peer victimization. Victims were perceived
to: 1. Display a behavioral vulnerability (looking scared), 2. Be
non-assertive (give in to the bully to easily), 3. Reward and thus
reinforce the bully's behavior (cries when picked on), 4. Be
withdrawn and solitary in their behavior (talks very quietly), 5. Be
quite provocative (annoys other kids).
Hanish, L.D. & Guerra, N.G. (2004). Aggressive victims,
passive victims, and bullies: Developmental continuity or
developmental change? Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, Vol. 50, No. 1,
17-37.
This study evaluated how aggressive victim's
(provocative victims) developmental pathways are different than
those of passive victims, bullies and non-involved children. This
study was conducted using a sample of students who were involved in
another longitudinal study looking at aggression. The sample was
taken from students moving from grade 4 through grade 6. Bullying
became increasingly more prevalent with age, seen in both boys and
girls. Being an aggressive victim was only moderately stable over
time. As the number of bullies increased, so did the number of
passive victims among the boys suggesting a symbiotic relationship.
Few passive victims moved into the aggressive group indicating that
these two types of victims are distinct.
Juvonen, J., Graham, S. & Schuster, M.A. (2003). Bullying
among young adolescents: The strong, the weak and the troubled.
Pediatrics, Vol. 112, No. 6, 1231-1237.
This study was
conducted with 6th graders in 11 schools in greater metro-Los
Angeles. They looked at the psychological and social problems
exhibited by bullies, victims and bystanders. This study used peer
nominations to identify student roles rather than relying only on
self-report data. They found: Boys were twice as likely to be
classified as bullies by their peers, 3 times as likely to be
identified as bully-victims (provocative victims) and twice as
likely to be classified as victims.When the variables of ethnicity
and race were assessed, black and youth identified as "other" were
more likely to be classified as bullies and Asians least likely.
Black youth were also most likely to be classified as bully-victims.
Bullies reported the lowest and victims the highest levels of
depression, social anxiety and loneliness. Bully-victims generally
fell in between.Bullies were regarded as the highest and victims as
the lowest in social status though both tended to be avoided by
other classmates, especially avoided were the bully-victims.
Mouttapa, M., Valente, T., Gallaher, P., Rohrbach, L.A. &
Unger, J.B. (2004). Social network predictors of bullying and
victimization. Adolescence, Vol. 39, No. 154 summer,
315-335.
This study was conducted in Southern California and
looked to determine how bullies, victims and aggressive victims
differed on social network variables, gender, and ethnicity. Males
had more friends who were bullies and victims, girls had more
reciprocated friendships. Males were more often bullies and
aggressive victims relative to females. Female bullies have smaller
more cohesive friendship groups relative to other females. Male
bullies did not score higher on any of the sociometric measures.
Victims received fewer friend nominations and were
disproportionately Asian. Victims did not have a lower proportion of
reciprocated friendships relative to other students. Bullies and
aggressive victims tended to nominate friends who are also
aggressive. The presence of aggressive friends is associated with
lower rates of victimization and the presence of non-aggressive
friends is associated with higher rates of victimization. Female
bullies received fewer friendship nominations but their friendships
were more often reciprocated. Since victims did not have fewer
reciprocated friendships, this suggests that the number of friends
may be a greater protection factor than the reciprocation of
friendships.
Pellegrini, A.D. & Long, J.D. (2002). A longitudinal study
of bullying, dominance and victimization during the transition from
primary school through secondary school. British Journal of
Developmental Psychology, 20, 259-280.
This study found that:
Bullying and aggression would initially increase and then decrease
over time (in middle school) and that boys would engage in more
aggressive bullying behavior. There is an increase in bullying as
youngsters make the transition from primary to secondary schools and
that bullying strategies were used to establish dominance and
position in the social group.
Peterson, R.L. & Skiba, R. (2000). Creating School
Climates that prevent school violence. Preventing School Failure,
Spring 2000, 122-129.
The article reviewed research and found
that: Effective programs have two key prerequisites: awareness and
adult involvement, Effective prevention also requires a commitment
on the part of all adults to reduce or eliminate bullying,
Bullying programs are a whole school effort designed to send a
message that bullying will not be accepted in school.
Rock, E.A., Hammond, M. & Rasmussen, S (2002).
School-based program to teach children empathy and bully prevention.
Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the American
Psychological Association. Chicago, Il. Aug 2002.
This paper
presents the results of a qualitative study that looked at empathy
in the easily aroused child (provocative victim in the bullying
paradigm) and the effectiveness of a bully prevention program.
Incidents of bulling dropped 73% overall after the program was
implemented. Students attributed this decrease to two things,
teachers were now watching the bullies more so they didn't get away
with bullying as often and they found that other kids were inviting
them to play more often. These were skills taught in the bully
prevention class.
Roland, E. & Galloway, D. (2004). Professional cultures in
schools with high and low rates of bullying. School Effectiveness
and School Improvement, Vol. 15, Nos. 3-4, 241-260.
This
Norwegian study was conducted at the elementary level to identify
the professional culture variables found in schools that contributed
to pupil bullying. Three aspects of professional culture,
leadership, professional cooperation and consensus were assessed.
Schools that were high in bullying were compared to schools low in
bullying. This study found these three levels were significantly
different in the low-bullying schools compared to the high-bullying
schools indicating that these three qualities at the school level
contribute to the amount of bullying that occurs in that school.
Salmivalli, C., Kaukiainen, A. & Voeten, M. (2005).
Anti-bullying intervention: Implementation and outcome. British
Journal of Educational Psychology, 75, 465-487.
This study
was conducted to evaluate the effects of an anti-bullying program
after 12 months of intervention. Positive pre and post test changes
were found in the 4th grade when there was a high level of
implementation. These implementation effects were not significant at
the 5th grade level even when there was a high level of
implementation. The reduction in the reports of bullying changed in
the self-reports but not in the peer-reports of victimization. This
may be due to the fact that the reputation of being a victim may be
more resistant to change than the child's own subjective feelings.
Shellard, E. (undated). Recognizing and preventing bullying.
Educational Research Service: On the Same Page Series.
Online: www.ers.org/otsp/otsp8.htm
This article uses
other research data to summarize the issue of bullying. This author
reports: Bullies have a more positive attitude about violence than
their peers, Bullies often have a positive view of themselves and
unusually low levels of anxiety or insecurity, Research does not
support the idea that children are bullied because of external
factors such as weight or hair etc. except in the case of below
average physical size and strength.
Smith, J.D., Schneider, B.H., Smith, P.K. & Ananiadou, K.
(2004). The effectiveness of whole-school antibullying programs: A
synthesis of evaluation research. School Psychology Review, Vol. 33,
No. 4, 547-560.
This article is a synthesis of existing
research on whole-school interventions to determine the
effectiveness of this approach. The researchers indicate some
concerns about the inadequacy of the available evidence which made
some research difficult to synthesize. They did, however, identify
that the whole school approach alone was not necessarily effective
in reducing bullying. They did find that schools that implemented a
monitoring component into their intervention did see more positive
outcomes, especially in the area of victimization self-reports.
Toblin, R.L., Schwartz, D., Gorman, A.H. &
Abou-ezzeddine,T. (2005). Social-cognitive and behavioral attributes
of aggressive victims of bullying. Applied Developmental Psychology,
26, 329-346.
This study looked at aggressive victims
(provocative victims) and how they compared to bullies, passive
victims and children not classified. Aggressive victims had higher
ratings for emotion dysregulation, hyperactivity, lower social
preference scores and lower GPAs. Bullies had higher scores on
scales assessing aggression related social information processing
biases but they had low scores on hyperactivity and emotion
regulation. They also displayed lower scores on
submissiveness-withdrawl. Passive victims were generally better
adjusted than aggressive victims though when compared to other
non-classified children, they had higher scores on the scales
assessing submissiveness-withdrawl, hyperactivity, depression and
emotion dysregulation. They also had lower GPAs, social preference
scores, assertiveness-prosociability scores, loneliness scores and
efficacy beliefs for aggression. No significant differences were
found regarding the total number of friends among the subgroups.
Warden, D. & Mackinnon, S. (2003). Prosocial children,
bullies and victims: An investigation of their sociometric status,
empathy and social problem-solving strategies. British Journal of
Developmental Psychology, 21, 367-385.
This Scottish study
looked at the social behavior, empathy skills and problem solving
strategies of 9 and 10 year olds. Their findings: Prosocial children
were significantly more popular, showed greater empathy and better
capacity to respond constructively to socially difficult situations
and had more awareness of how their actions impacted others than did
bullies, Students who were victims were less popular than prosocial
children but they were not significantly different in the areas of
empathy and social problem solving.
Xin, M. (2002) Bullying in middle school: individual and
school characteristics of victims and offenders. School
Effectiveness and School Improvement, v12, n1, 63-89.
This
Canadian study looked at individual and school characteristics of
victims and offenders of bullying. Their findings: Gender (male) and
physical condition were the most important characteristics of
victims in grade 6. In grade 8, the victim characteristics were
being male, and having poor academic, affective and physical
conditions. Offenders were found to be male with good academic
status, and having poor affective and physical conditions. At the
school level, victims tended to come from schools with poor
disciplinary climate in both grades 6 and 8 though school
characteristics were not as important as individual characteristics.
Steps to Respect Frey, K.S., Hirschestein, M.K.,
Snell, J.L., Van Schoiack Edstrom, L., MacKenzie, E.P., &
Broderick, C.J. (2005). Reducing playground bullying and
supporting beliefs: An experimental trial of the Steps to Respect
program. Developmental Psychology, 41, 479-491.
Recent
research using six elementary schools indicates many positive trends
and the conclusion that longer program implementation is necessary
for greater success.
Hirchstein, M.K., Van Schoiack Edstrom, L., Frey, K.S., Snell,
J.L., & MacKenzie, E.P. (2007). Walking the talk in bullying
prevention: Teacher implementation variables related to initial
impact of the Steps to Respect program. School Psychology
Review, 36, 3-21.
This study utilizes 859 students and 36
teachers. Results indicated that students receiving greater teacher
support towards generalizing and using skills beyond the lessons (2
to 3 times per week) were rated by observers as being less
aggressive after the curriculum intervention, and as being
victimized less often. Furthermore, students in high coaching
classrooms were reported by observers to be less supportive and
encouraging of bullying behaviors at post-test. Overall, after one
year, classroom implementation corresponded with positive changes in
observed playground behavior. Older elementary students seemed to
benefit most.
Hodges, E.V.E., Boivin, M., Vitaro, F, & Bukowski, W.M.
(1999). The power of friendship: Protection against an escalating
cycle of peer victimization. Developmental Psychology, 35,
94-101.
Steps to Respect focuses on both bullying and
friendship skills because research shows that friendship protects
children from the harmful effects of bullying.
Olweus, D. (1991). Bully/Victim problems among
schoolchildren: Basic facts and effects of a school-based
intervention program. In D. Pepler and K. Rubin (Eds.) The
Development and Treatment of Childhood Aggression. (pp. 411-448).
Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Steps to Respect takes a whole school
approach to deal with bullying. This comprehensive approach is
supported in the research.
Smith, P., & Sharp, S. (1994). School bullying:
Insights and perspectives. New York: Routledge.
Steps to
Respects includes an adult training component. Research indicates
that active adult involvement is necessary to right the power
imbalance inherent to bullying and bring about schoolwide changes
and effectively decrease bullying.
Socio-Emotional Learning
First Step to Success Walker, H.M., Kavanagh,
K., Stiller, B., Golly, A., Severson, H.H., Feil, E.G. (1998).
First step to success: An early intervention approach for
preventing school anti-social behavior. Journal of Emotional and
Behavioral Disorders, 6(2), 66-80.
A four year study was
conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the First Step to Success
program. Participants were at risk kindergarteners demonstrating
early signs of anti-social behavior. Results of the study found a
measurable effect which persisted into the primary grades.
Second Step McMahon, S.D., Washburn, J., Felix,
E.D., Yakin, J., & Childrey, G. (2000) Violence prevention:
Program effects on urban preschool and kindergarten children.
Applied and Preventive Psychology, 9, 271-281.
Pre-school and
kindergarten students displayed lower levels of aggression and
classroom disruption following completion of Second Step.
Van Schoiack-Edstrom, L., & Frey, K.S. (in press).
Changing adolescents' attitudes about relational and physical
aggression: An early evaluation of a school-based intervention.
School Psychology Review.
After participating is the Second
Step curriculum, Middle and Junior High students were more confident
of their social-emotional skills. They were also less likely to view
aggression as justifiable behavior.
Grossman, D.C., Neckerman, H.J., Koepsell, T.D., Liu, P.Y.,
Asher, K.N., Beland, K., Frey, K., & Rivera, F.P. (1997).
Effectiveness of a violence prevention curriculum among children
in elementary school: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of
the American Medical Association, 227, 1605-1611.
Second and
Third grade students who had Second Step showed significant
reductions in physical aggression while physical aggression among
students who did not complete the curriculum actually increased
throughout the school year.
Frey, K., Nolan, S., Van Schoiack-Edstrom, L., &
Hirschstein, M. (2001). Second Step: Effects on social goals and
behavior. Paper presented at the Ninth Annual Meeting of the
Society for Prevention Research, Washington DC.
A two-year
study of more than 1000 second through fifth grade students found
improved social competence in the intervention but not the control
schools, according to teacher ratings.
Talking About Touching Davis, M.K., &
Gidycz, C. A. (2000). Child sexual abuse prevention programs: A
meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 29 (2).
257-265.
Woven Word Bryant, D. (2000, Spring). Linking
literacy and language with social-emotional learning. Prevention
Update, 1–4.
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning.
(2003). Safe and Sound: An Educational Leader’s Guide to
Evidence-Based Social and Emotional Learning Programs. Chicago,
IL: CASEL.
Dickinson, D. K. (2001). Putting the pieces together:
Impact of preschool on children’s language and literacy development
in kindergarten. In D. K. Dickinson and P. O. Tabors (Eds.),
Beginning literacy with language: Young children learning at home
and school (pp. 257–287). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.
|
