scholarly journals The Potential of Anti-Bullying Efforts to Prevent Academic Failure and Youth Crime. A Case Using the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP)

Author(s):  
Nicolai Topstad Borgen ◽  
Dan Olweus ◽  
Lars Johannessen Kirkebøen ◽  
Kyrre Breivik ◽  
Mona Elin Solberg ◽  
...  

AbstractThe effectiveness of bullying prevention programs has led to expectations that these programs could have effects beyond their primary goals. By reducing the number of victims and perpetrators and the harm experienced by those affected, programs may have longer-term effects on individual school performance and prevent crime. In this paper, we use Norwegian register data to study the long-term impact of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) on academic performance, high school dropout, and youth crime for the average student, which we call population-level effects. The OBPP program is widely acknowledged as one of the most successful programs reducing school-level bullying; yet, using a difference-in-difference design, no statistically significant population-level effects of the OBPP were found on any of the long-term outcomes in this study. When studied at the population level, as in the current project, the base rate prevalence of bullying is a major explanatory factor for these results. Earlier studies have shown that OBPP reduces bullying prevalence by 30–50%. This decrease translates into absolute reductions in bullying victimization and perpetration at the population level of “only” four and two percentage points, respectively. Our results suggest the average causal effects of school bullying involvement are too small to translate this reduction in bullying into a sizeable population-level impact on students’ long-term outcomes. However, a limited potential of anti-bullying programs to prevent population-level adversity can very well be compatible with substantial program effects for individual bullies and victims. Further, our results do not speak to the main objective of anti-bullying programs of limiting childhood abuse and safeguarding children’s human rights.

2000 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa D. Lieberman ◽  
Heather Gray ◽  
Megan Wier ◽  
Renee Fiorentino ◽  
Patricia Maloney

2021 ◽  
pp. 410-429
Author(s):  
Dan Olweus ◽  
Susan P. Limber ◽  
Jane Riese ◽  
Jan Urbanski ◽  
Mona E. Solberg ◽  
...  

PLoS ONE ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. e0201802 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Dahrouge ◽  
Janusz Kaczorowski ◽  
Lisa Dolovich ◽  
Michael Paterson ◽  
Lehana Thabane ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Fanny Carina Ossa ◽  
Vanessa Jantzer ◽  
Lena Eppelmann ◽  
Peter Parzer ◽  
Franz Resch ◽  
...  

Abstract Bullying is a common and significant risk factor for mental and physical health problems. The aim of the outlined study was to evaluate the German version of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) and to investigate potential moderators of its effectiveness. 23 schools started with the implementation and all students were invited to complete the Olweus Bullying Questionnaire annually. For our analyses, the data from grades 5 to 9 were used (t0: n = 5759; t1: n = 5416; t2: n = 4894). 16 out of the 23 schools completed the 18-months implementation period. The effectiveness of the program statistically depended on its complete implementation (χ2(2) = 7.62, p = 0.022). In the group of non-completers, the prevalence of victimization did not change during the observation period of 2 years (χ2(2) = 4.64, p = 0.099). In the group of the completer schools, a significant decrease in bullying between t0 and t1 was found for victims (t0: 9.14%; t1: 6.87%; OR = 0.74; 95% CI 0.62–0.88; p = 0.001) and perpetrators (t0: 6.16%; t1: 4.42%; OR = 0.70; 95% CI 0.55–0.89; p = 0.004). After 24 months (t2), this decrease could be retained (victims: t2: 6.83%; OR = 0.73; 95%CI = 0.61–0.88; p = 0.001; perpetrators: t2: 4.63%; OR = 0.72; 95% CI 0.57–0.92; p = 0.009). Furthermore, we found the following moderators of program effectiveness in the completer schools: (1) gender (with a stronger decrease among victimized girls; p = 0.004) and (2) school grade (with a stronger decrease of victimization among grades 5–7; p = 0.028). The German version of the OBPP significantly reduced the bullying prevalence in the completer schools. Effective prevention needs time and resources: fulfilling the 18-months implementation period was the basis for positive results.


2020 ◽  
pp. 001312452097209
Author(s):  
Nooshin Salimi ◽  
Akram Karimi-Shahanjarin ◽  
Forouzan Rezapur-Shahkolai ◽  
Behrooz Hamzeh ◽  
Ghodratollah Roshanaei ◽  
...  

School violence and bullying are considered a serious concern worldwide. Evidence shows that applying the Health Promoting Schools (HPS) framework could be effective in reducing school bullying. While there have been significant efforts to evaluate school-based anti-bullying interventions in the world, the implementation process and the effectiveness of this framework in reducing bullying in schools have not been previously evaluated in Iran. This mixed methods study was carried out using simultaneously a cross-sectional (900 students, 104, teachers/school executive staff, and 563 parents) and qualitative study (24 policy makers and teachers/school executive staff) to examine the implementation and effect of counseling and mental health services component of the Iranian Health Promoting School (IHPS) in 2017–2018. Results revealed that there were weaknesses in the implementation of all six elements of anti-bullying programs. A lack of any clean policy toward school violence and bullying, lack of priority set by local decision makers and principals of schools, logistical problems with providing training and supplying counseling resources, limited funding, and presence of competing issues and problems facing the schools were identified as barriers to implement violence and bullying prevention programs in schools. Results also showed that there were no significant differences between non-IHPS and IHPS in students’ bullying behaviors ( p = .228) and scores of leadership, the school environment, capacity, partnership, services and support, and evidence ( p > .05). It is essential to revise the content and how to implement anti-bullying programs in schools.


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