Quantcast
ZME Science
  • CoronavirusNEW
  • News
  • Environment
    • Climate
    • Animals
    • Renewable Energy
    • Eco tips
    • Environmental Issues
    • Green Living
  • Health
    • Alternative Medicine
    • Anatomy
    • Diseases
    • Genetics
    • Mind & Brain
    • Nutrition
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
    • Feature Post
    • Art
    • Great Pics
    • Design
    • Fossil Friday
    • AstroPicture
    • GeoPicture
    • Did you know?
    • Offbeat
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
Home Science News

Effective anti-bullying program focuses on by-standers

Bullying is still prevalent throughout the educational system, both in the real and in the cyber world.

Mihai Andrei by Mihai Andrei
February 15, 2016
in News, Psychology

Bullying is still prevalent throughout the educational system, both in the real and in the cyber world. Many programs have tried and failed to prevent or at least reduce bullying, but a new study found that one program seems to be working very well – a program that focuses on by-standers instead of bullies.

Image by TheCuriousGnome

Over 7,000 students in 77 elementary schools in Finland, this particular program fared especially well, improving the mental health of students who were bullied the most, improving their self esteem and reducing depression. The program, called KiVa focuses on increasing the empathy of by-standers through role-playing games. It also uses computer simulations to make children think how they would react if they would see someone being bullied.

Jaana Juvonen, lead author of the study and professor of psychology at UCLA said that this worked out much better than other approaches.

“Our findings are the first to show that the most tormented children — those facing bullying several times a week — can be helped by teaching bystanders to be more supportive,” Juvonen said.

Previous studies about bullying have found that:

  • People on social media are often unsupportive of cyberbullying victims who have shared highly personal feelings.
  • Bullies are considered the “cool” kids in school.
  • Nearly 3 in 4 teenagers say they were bullied online at least once during a 12-month period.
  • Nearly half of the sixth graders at two Los Angeles-area schools said they were bullied by classmates during a five-day period.
 All these together indicate one thing: bullying isn’t simply a bully-victim relationship, but the situation can be made much better or much worse by the other people in the environment. Bullies being considered “cool” and not dissuaded by any of their peers not only doesn’t help, but actually makes things worse. Programs like KiVa can go a long way towards fixing that.

“Our analysis shows that KiVa improves students’ perceptions of the school environment, especially among those who are bullied. For sixth-graders, it also improves their mental health, which is a big issue,” said Juvonen, who has conducted research on bullying for more than 20 years. “Typically we think individuals with mental health needs must be addressed individually. The beauty here is that this school-wide program is very effective for the children who most need support.”

 

Get more science news like this...

Join the ZME newsletter for amazing science news, features, and exclusive scoops. More than 40,000 subscribers can't be wrong.

   

Tags: bullying
Mihai Andrei

Mihai Andrei

Andrei's background is in geophysics, and he's been fascinated by it ever since he was a child. Feeling that there is a gap between scientists and the general audience, he started ZME Science -- and the results are what you see today.

Follow ZME on social media

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • Coronavirus
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
  • More

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Coronavirus
  • News
  • Environment
    • Climate
    • Animals
    • Renewable Energy
    • Eco tips
    • Environmental Issues
    • Green Living
  • Health
    • Alternative Medicine
    • Anatomy
    • Diseases
    • Genetics
    • Mind & Brain
    • Nutrition
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
    • Feature Post
    • Art
    • Great Pics
    • Design
    • Fossil Friday
    • AstroPicture
    • GeoPicture
    • Did you know?
    • Offbeat
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.