Enhancing children's responsibility to take action against bullying: Evaluation of a befriending intervention in Italian middle schools

Abstract

This paper reports on the evaluation of a peer support model implemented in two Italian secondary middle schools as an anti-bullying intervention. Specifically, the aims of the intervention were (1) to reduce bullying episodes through developing in bullies an awareness of their own and others' behaviour, (2) to enhance children's capacity to offer support to the victims of bullying, (3) to enhance responsibility and involvement on the part of bystanders, (4) to improve the quality of interpersonal relationships in the class group, and (5) to analyse possible age and gender differences related to the effect of intervention.Two middle schools from central Italy took part in the study (age range of pupils, 11-14 years). In the two schools, nine classes (94 boys and 84 girls ) were part of the experimental group, whereas the remaining five classes formed the control group (63 boys and 52 girls). The intervention was implemented for one school year, from October 1998 to May 1999. Before and after the intervention, two measures were administered in the experimental and control classes: (1) a questionnaire on the participants' roles in bully/victim relationships, originally developed by Salmivalli et al. [1996: Aggressive Behavior 22:1-15] and revised for younger children by Sutton and Smith [1999: Aggressive Behavior 25:97-111], and (2) a questionnaire on attitudes toward bullying-an Italian questionnaire comprising 11 attitude items previously developed : EARLI Conference] on the basis of Rigby and Slee's [1991: Journal of Social Psychology 131:615-627] pro-victim scale. Given the within-subjects design of the study, a MANOVA was run using time as the within-subjects factor and sex and age as between-subject factors.The results of this short-term study highlight the fact that a befriending intervention had a positive effect on the experimental classes, preventing the increase of negative behaviours and attitudes reported in the group that did not receive the intervention. The findings that related to the pro-bullying roles and to the role of outsiders are particularly relevant since these roles remained stable or decreased in the experimental group, whereas they clearly increased in the control group. The opposite trend was registered for children's pro-victim attitude, which shows a decrease in the control sample and good stability in the experimental group. On the whole, the intervention seemed to prevent the escalation of negative behaviours and attitudes that often develop spontaneously in young people of this age. Aggr.

Explicit- and Implicit Bullying Attitudes in Relation to Bullying Behavior

“…These studies show that the majority of school-aged children have a negative explicit bullying attitude whereas only a minority have a positive explicit bullying attitude (e.g. Andreou et al 2005;Menesini et al 2003). Furthermore, children's explicit bullying attitudes are also related to their bullying behavior.…”

Developmental trajectories of adolescent victimization: Predictors and outcomes

“…loneliness at school, connectedness to school, peer support and feeling safe at school) that predict membership to victimization trajectory groups. Importantly, the social health factors investigated in this study are all amenable to school intervention (Libbey, 2004;Menesini et al, 2003;Naylor & Cowie, 1999).…”

Ayuda entre Iguales en las escuelas: desarrollo y retos

“…En una detallada intervención realizada sobre dos clases de secundaria, Menesini et al (2003), expresaron que las víctimas presentaban actitudes muy positivas hacia el programa de ayuda entre iguales, pero comprensiblemente, eran bastante cautelosas a la hora de acudir a un alumno ayudante que anteriormente era identificado como un agresor, y manifestaban su preferencia de ser ayudado por otro alumno del programa.…”

“…Al mismo tiempo, Menesini et al (2003), encontraron resultados positivos relacionados con la prevención de conductas y actitudes negativas entre los escolares, destacando la ruptura del silencio de los testigos ante conductas violentas, y el desarrollo de sentimientos de empatía y responsabilidad entre los compañeros. Los mayores efectos se dieron en los agresores y observadores, produciéndose en ellos un mayor conocimiento de las consecuencias de sus conductas anteriores.…”

“…Sólo dos estudios han hecho esto último, Cowie y Olafsson (2000) y Naylor y Cowie (1999), concluyéndose en ellos que el desarrollo de un programa de ayuda entre iguales, por sí solo, no parece reducir el bullying, pero sin embargo, su presencia hace percibir a estudiantes y profesores una disminución del maltrato ocurrido en la escuela. Esto ilustra la necesidad de Menesini et al (2003) y Fernández et al (2002, en las que se trabaja directamente tanto con víctimas como con agresores, informan de una disminución de los episodios de bullying, pudiendo ser un factor determinante de estos resultados el trabajo realizado por los ayudantes con ambas partes implicadas en la violencia escolar, y no centrando su ayuda únicamente en las víctimas.…”