An Updated Review of Existing Relational Aggression Programs
This chapter reviews school-based programming for its impact on relational aggression, relational victimization, and/or relational bullying: specifically, 14 programs with publications between 2010–2016 that were reviewed across key areas, including: (1) mode of operation; (2) targeted population and age range; (3) implementation factors; (4) primary strategies employed; (5) materials available to conduct the program; and (6) their impact on relevant target outcomes. Review of these programs highlighted certain factors important for future research related to relational aggression and bullying prevention programming, such as employing strong designs using random assignment taking into account the complexity of relational aggression at the individual, classroom, and school level whenever possible, and examining the impact of programming on the forms of aggression separately. Generalizability and implementation integrity need to be considered when designing and implementing programming. The field of relational aggression and bullying prevention programming has grown substantially over the past decade, but much remains to be done.