Anne Williford

Effects of the KiVa Anti-bullying Program on Adolescents’ Depression, Anxiety, and Perception of Peers

The present study investigated the effects of the KiVa antibullying program on students’ anxiety, depression, and perception of peers in Grades 4–6. Furthermore, it was investigated whether reductions in peer-reported victimization predicted changes in these outcome variables. The study participants included 7,741 students from 78 schools who were randomly assigned to either intervention or control condition, and the program effects were tested with structural equation modeling. A cross-lagged panel model suggested that the KiVa program is effective for reducing students’ internalizing problems and improving their peer-group perceptions. Finally, changes in anxiety, depression, and positive peer perceptions were found to be predicted by reductions in victimization. Implications of the findings and future directions for research are discussed.

Effects of the KiVa Antibullying Program on Cyberbullying and Cybervictimization Frequency Among Finnish Youth

Cyberbullying among school-aged children has received increased attention in recent literature. However, no empirical evidence currently exists on whether existing school-based antibullying programs are effective in targeting the unique aspects of cyberbullying. To address this important gap, the present study investigates the unique effects of the KiVa Antibullying Program on the frequency of cyberbullying and cybervictimization among elementary and middle school youth. Using data from a group randomized controlled trial, multilevel ordinal regression analyses were used to examine differences in the frequencies of cyberbullying and cybervictimization between intervention (N = 9,914) and control students (N = 8,498). The effects of age and gender on frequencies of cyber behaviors were also assessed across conditions. Results revealed a significant intervention effect on the frequency of cybervictimization; KiVa students reported lower frequencies of cybervictimization at posttest than students in a control condition. The effect of condition on the perpetration of cyberbullying was moderated by age. When student age was below the sample mean, KiVa students reported lower frequencies of cyberbullying than students in the control condition. We also found evidence of classroom level variation in cyberbullying and cybervictimization, suggesting cyberbullying is in part a classroom-level phenomenon. KiVa appears to be an efficacious program to address cyber forms of bullying and victimization. We discuss several unique aspects of KiVa that may account for the significant intervention effects. Results suggest that KiVa is an intervention option for schools concerned with reducing cyberbullying behavior and its deleterious effects on childrens adjustment.

Individual and Contextual Predictors of Cyberbullying: The Influence of Children's Provictim Attitudes and Teachers' Ability to Intervene.

Electronic social communication has provided a new context for children to bully and harass their peers and it is clear that cyberbullying is a growing public health concern in the US and abroad. The present study examined individual and contextual predictors of cyberbullying in a sample of 16, 634 students in grades 3–5 and 7–8. Data were obtained from a large cluster-randomized trial of the KiVa antibullying program that occurred in Finland between 2007 and 2009. Students completed measures at pre-intervention assessing provictim attitudes (defined as children’s beliefs that bullying is unacceptable, victims are acceptable, and defending victims is valued), perceptions of teachers’ ability to intervene in bullying, and cyberbullying behavior. Students with higher scores on provictim attitudes reported lower frequencies of cyberbullying. This relationship was true for individual provictim attitudes as well as the collective attitudes of students within classrooms. Teachers’ ability to intervene assessed at the classroom level was a unique, positive predictor of cyberbullying. Classrooms in which students collectively considered their teacher as capable of intervening to stop bullying had higher mean levels of cyberbullying frequency. Our findings suggest that cyberbullying and other indirect or covert forms of bullying may be more prevalent in classrooms where students collectively perceive their teacher’s ability to intervene in bullying as high. We found no evidence that individual or contextual effects were conditional on age or gender. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Transitions between subclasses of bullying and victimization when entering middle school

We examined the effects of depressive symptoms, antisocial attitudes, and perspective-taking empathy on patterns of bullying and victimization during the transition from late elementary (4th grade to 5th grade) to middle school (6th grade) among 1,077 students who participated in the Youth Matters (YM) bullying prevention trial. Latent transition analysis was used to establish classes of bullying, victimization, bully-victimization, and uninvolvement. The intervention had a positive impact on children as they moved from elementary to middle school. More students in the YM group transitioned from the involved statuses to the uninvolved status than students in the control group during the move to middle school. Elementary school bullies with higher levels of depressive symptoms were less likely than other students to move to an uninvolved status in the first year of middle school. Students who held greater antisocial attitudes were more likely to be a member of the bully-victim status than the uninvolved status during the move to middle school. Perspective-taking empathy, however, was not a significant predictor of status change during the transition to middle school. Implications for school-based prevention programs during the move to middle school are noted.

Identifying Predictors of Instrumental and Reactive Aggression Among Low- Income Minority Adolescent Girls

Research on both the forms and functions of aggression has yet to include the experiences of low-income minority adolescent girls, particularly Latinas. The present study addresses this limitation by applying ecological systems theory to identify risk and protective factors across multiple domains that increase and mitigate aggressive behavior among a sample of 212 low-income minority adolescent girls, primarily Latinas. Using hierarchical regression, 4 models are presented that capture significant risk and protective factors for instrumental overt aggression, instrumental relational aggression, reactive overt aggression, and reactive relational aggression. Results reveal several interesting patterns of risk and protection for each subtype of aggressive behavior. Relationships with parents and peers are key predictors for this sample, representing both risk and protection that might relate to important cultural factors. The study findings offer further considerations of culturally relevant, gender-specific risk and protective factors. Implications for social work research in terms of refining current prevention and intervention strategies are discussed.

Student–Teacher Congruence in Reported Rates of Physical and Relational Victimization Among Elementary-School-Age Children: The Moderating Role of Gender and Age

The present study investigated the degree of congruence between student self-reports and teacher reports of relational and physical victimization and tested whether gender and age moderated these relations. Mixed effect regression models were conducted on a sample of 294 students (50.7% male) in Grades 2 to 5 and their classroom teachers. Results revealed that, despite its covert nature, greater agreement was found between students and teachers on reported rates of relational victimization. However, contrary to our expectations, teacher and student reports of physical victimization were unrelated. Greater agreement was also found among girls and teachers as well as between older students and teachers, however, on reported rates of relational victimization only. Implications are discussed in light of school-based intervention efforts to address peer victimization among students.

Assessing a Measure of Femininity Ideology for Low-Income, Latina Adolescent Girls

The purpose of the study presented here was to examine whether a measure of femininity ideology, normed on largely white, middle-class samples of adolescent girls, could be verified among a sample of low-income Latina adolescents. The results revealed that the previously identified factor structure could not be confirmed for this sample, which brings the scales’ validity for use with low-income, Latina samples into question. These findings suggest that minority girls may interpret femininity ideologies differently than do white, middle-class girls and underscore the importance of examining the validity of measurement tools for use with diverse populations. They emphasize that improving measurement for diverse populations is needed to develop culturally responsive and relevant intervention strategies.

Classroom-Level Differences in Child-Level Bullying Experiences: Implications for Prevention and Intervention in School Settings

Objective: Bullying occurs within children’s peer groups and in classroom and school settings. Accordingly, this study aims to characterize student-level heterogeneity and change in bullying experiences by classifying students into bully/victim subgroups and to characterize how these child-level bullying experiences coalesce at the classroom and school levels. Method: A sample of 692 students in Grades 3–5 from 6 elementary schools self-reported the frequency of their involvement in bullying and victimization during the fall and spring semesters of 1 academic year. We used multilevel latent Markov modeling to identify bully/victim subgroups and classroom-level subgroup mixtures. Results: We identified 5 child-level victimization–bullying classes and 2 classroom-level mixtures, which differ in the proportions of children with few or no experiences of victimization or bullying and children who reported high levels of victimization. The proportion of classroom-level mixtures differed significantly across sampled schools, suggesting that classroom bullying climate may be partly a function of school-level phenomena. Conclusions: Classroom-level differences indicate a need for unique prevention and intervention approaches. Targeted classroom interventions may be useful for influencing students moderately involved in bullying to transition into an uninvolved state, but more intensive, individualized interventions may be needed for students who are highly involved in bullying behaviors.

Pilot evaluation of a targeted intervention for peer-victimized youth: FITE et al.

OBJECTIVE Due to the limited effectiveness of extant prevention and intervention strategies, the current study is an initial evaluation of a cognitive behavioral group intervention, originally designed to treat symptoms of depression and anxiety, for youth who experienced peer victimization. METHODS Twelve third- through fifth-grade youth participated in the intervention, and their data were compared with 12 youth who were a part of a naturalistic control group. Additionally, school-wide data are reported to provide overall school trends. RESULTS Whereas the intervention group participants exhibited decreases in relational victimization, depressive symptoms, and passive coping, the control group participants exhibited nonsignificant increases in relational victimization, depressive symptoms, and passive coping. School-wide data also indicated overall increases in relational victimization and depressive symptoms, but no changes in passive coping. CONCLUSION Findings suggest that cognitive behavioral group interventions may provide a promising avenue for addressing the mental health needs of victimized elementary school-age youth.

Acculturative dissonance and risks for proactive and reactive aggression among Latino/a adolescents: implications for culturally relevant prevention and interventions

Abstract There is a dearth of studies concerning the functions of aggression among Latino/a youth despite the fact they are one of the fastest growing youth populations in the United States. We examined individual, peer, cultural, and community level indicators of reactive and proactive aggression and determined whether these relationships were moderated by acculturative dissonance (e.g., culturally specific family conflicts arising from the acculturation process) among a sample of Latino/a adolescents who were predominantly of Mexican heritage. Consistent with prior evidence, results revealed that peer delinquency was uniquely associated with proactive aggression, whereas impulsivity was uniquely associated with reactive aggression. Further, acculturative dissonance was uniquely associated with proactive but not reactive aggression. No moderating effects for acculturative dissonance were found, indicating that the significant risk factors in our study were associated with proactive and reactive aggression regardless of the level of acculturative dissonance experienced. Notably, acculturative dissonance was a unique risk factor for proactive aggression and thus may be an important target for prevention and interventions among Latino/a youth. Consequently, interventions designed to prevent culturally specific family conflicts and promote family functioning may be particularly useful in mitigating the risk of aggression intended to achieve social and material awards among in this population.