School-wide anti-bully programs work best

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When it comes to curbing bullying at school, school-based programs that seek to alter the school's entire culture and involve individuals, peer groups, classroom teachers, social workers, and administrators work best, especially at the junior and high school level, a study shows.

"Whole-school interventions...address bullying as a systemic problem meriting a systemic solution," write pediatricians Rachel C. Vreeman and Aaron E. Carroll of the Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis.

They took a systematic look at 26 rigorously evaluated school-based anti-bullying interventions. Ten interventions "curriculum" based; 10 multidisciplinary or "whole-school" interventions; 4 involved "social skills" training; 1 was a mentoring program; and 1 relied on social worker support.

Vreeman and Carroll report in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine that only 4 of the 10 curriculum-based approaches decreased bullying "but 3 of those 4 also showed no improvement in some populations."

In contrast, 7 of the 10 whole-school programs decreased bullying, with younger children having fewer positive effects.

Three of the 4 social skills training studies showed "no clear bullying reduction." The mentoring study produced a drop in bullying among mentored students and the social worker support study showed decreased bullying, truancy, theft, and drug use.

"Bullying is a complex health problem for both girls and boys," Vreeman points out in a written statement. "Up to 10 percent of children are bullied or are bullies themselves. As a pediatrician, I see a growing number of children with physical, social and emotional problems, including lower self esteem, that are the result of bullying."

"As governments, schools, and educators invest increasing amounts of money and time into anti-bullying interventions, the findings of this review provide evidence for who to best achieve the desired outcome of decreased bullying within schools," Vreeman and Carroll conclude.

SOURCE: Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, January 2007.