Chapter 16
Harnessing the Power of the Group to Reduce Bullying and Victimization
Amanda L. Duffy,
Lindsey Cameron,
Amanda L. Duffy
Search for more papers by this authorLindsey Cameron
Search for more papers by this authorAmanda L. Duffy,
Lindsey Cameron,
Amanda L. Duffy
Search for more papers by this authorLindsey Cameron
Search for more papers by this authorBook Editor(s):Adam Rutland,
Drew Nesdale,
Christia Spears Brown,
Adam Rutland
Search for more papers by this authorDrew Nesdale
Search for more papers by this authorChristia Spears Brown
Search for more papers by this authorFirst published: 27 January 2017
Summary
This chapter provides a systematic review of school-based interventions that draw on the group to tackle the problem of bullying. Large-scale evaluations of the KiVa anti-bullying program have been conducted in Finland with children from Grades 1 to 9. These evaluations revealed that, nine months after program implementation, reductions of around 15% were apparent in the prevalence of bullying and victimization. Two well-known approaches that involve intervention efforts that occur after a bullying incident are the Support Group Method and the Method of Shared Concern. Both approaches involve discussions with the victim and bullies individually and as a group, with additional children such as bystanders or prosocial individuals also potentially included. More encouraging results regarding peer-group-focused strategies come from a review by Polanin, Espelage, and Pigott. Their metaanalysis focused on more studies in which the anti-bullying intervention directly addressed bystander behavior and attitudes.
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