Do Anti-Bullying Programs Really Work?

IMAGE: American Friends Service Committee
 https://afsc.org/ 

I have always been on the fence about character education, D.A.R.E and anti-bullying programs, and while I have some very knowledgeable and capable colleagues that are doing some great work in these areas, I have always wondered if they are actually reducing the problem?

My personal approach with my own kids as well as the students I have worked with is to instill a sense of pride and self-reliance in them through setting goals & overcoming challenges.

Bullying is always about an imbalance of power. While each party plays a different role in bullying-(one passive-one aggressive) BOTH are displaying a symptom of a bigger problem: helplessness.

While the victim feels helpless and cannot or will not act to maintain or take back their power, the aggressor also feels helpless and uses intimidation and violence to establish or affirm theirs. Both are victims and both need specific interventions to address their own issues with power. Some programs have "zero tolerance" and punish both parties, others give awards to victims and in effect reward the victim for being a victim, and still others vilify and wind up bullying the bully for being a bully.

I've watched as well meaning educators and "experts" have drummed into our kids heads how horrible bullying is-and I've watched as kids interpret that to mean that teasing & bullying it is the worst thing that can happen to them. In my opinion, we need to change the way that we approach bullying education. I firmly do believe that no one can make you feel inferior without your permission. But simply telling kids this will not work. (Read more about Affirmations & why they don't work here.) Especially for a child who has self-esteem challenges. They need to experience it to learn it first hand, and how they learn is by being allowed and encouraged to develop themselves as individuals. We need to stop feeding into what the 'experts" say and use common sense. We need to provide kids with viable tools and options that allows them to stand up for themselves, because as we have also seen, others will not always stand up for them.


The following research study regarding the effectiveness of school-based anti-bully programs comes from the Journal of Criminology Volume 2013 (2013), Article ID 735397, 10 pages:

A Multilevel Examination of Peer Victimization and Bullying Prevention in Schools

Seokjin Jeong1 and Byung Hyun Lee2
1Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Texas at Arlington, P.O. Box 19595, Arlington, TX 76019, USA
2Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

Received 4 March 2013; Revised 20 May 2013; Accepted 28 May 2013

Academic Editor: Christopher Schreck

Copyright © 2013 Seokjin Jeong and Byung Hyun Lee. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract:

The goal of this study is twofold: (i) to develop an explanatory model to examine the relationship between school environment/climate and peer victimization and (ii) to determine whether previous models of preventive strategies in a single school or district could be expanded to the nationally representative sample of adolescents across multiple schools. The analyses in the current study are based on data from the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) 2005-2006 US study, and the sample consists of 7,001 students from 195 different schools. The findings reveal that students attending schools in which bullying prevention programs are implemented are more likely to have experienced peer victimization, compared to those attending schools without bullying prevention. Study limitations and implications for future research are discussed.

[In the interest of time/space, I have skipped to section 7 Conclusion/Discussion]

7. Conclusion and Discussion:

Surprisingly, bullying prevention had a negative effect on peer victimization. Contrary to our hypothesis, students attending schools with bullying prevention programs were more likely to have experienced peer victimization, compared to those attending schools without bullying prevention programs. It is possible that bullies have learned a variety of anti-bullying techniques but chose not to practice what they have learned from the program. Sometimes, bullies maintain their dominant social status among peers in school. As a result, the preventive strategies may become ineffective.

Read the full research article here: 

http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jcrim/2013/735397/ 

Admittedly, this is just one study I came across, and does not prove nor disprove the effectiveness of these programs, but it does support what some of us have always suspected. It also raises some interesting points and questions about school climate in general. I personally, would like to see more research done in this area.


Does your school currently have an anti-bully program? In your opinion, and based on your observations, has it had a positive or negative impact on school climate? Have you seen any other studies supporting or refuting the effectiveness of Anti-bullying programs? 

Please tell us in the comments area below.