TY - JOUR
T1 - A meta-analysis of school-based bullying prevention programs' effects on bystander intervention behavior
AU - Polanin, Joshua R.
AU - Espelage, Dorothy L.
AU - Pigott, Therese D.
PY - 2012/3
Y1 - 2012/3
N2 - This meta-analysis synthesized bullying prevention programs' effectiveness at increasing bystander intervention in bullying situations. Evidence from 12 school-based programs, involving 12,874 students, indicated that overall the programs were successful (Hedges's g =. 20, 95% confidence interval [CI] =.11 to.29, p <.001), with larger effects for high school (HS) samples compared to kindergarten through eighth-grade (K-8) student samples (HS effect size [ES] = 0.43, K-8 ES = 0.14; p <.05). A secondary synthesis from eight of the studies that reported empathy for the victim revealed treatment effectiveness that was positive but not significantly different from zero (g =. 05, 95% CI = -.07 to.17, p =.45). Nevertheless, this meta-analysis indicated that programs increased bystander intervention both on a practical and statistically significant level. These results suggest that researchers and school administrators should consider implementing programs that focus on bystander intervention behavior supplementary to bullying prevention programs.
AB - This meta-analysis synthesized bullying prevention programs' effectiveness at increasing bystander intervention in bullying situations. Evidence from 12 school-based programs, involving 12,874 students, indicated that overall the programs were successful (Hedges's g =. 20, 95% confidence interval [CI] =.11 to.29, p <.001), with larger effects for high school (HS) samples compared to kindergarten through eighth-grade (K-8) student samples (HS effect size [ES] = 0.43, K-8 ES = 0.14; p <.05). A secondary synthesis from eight of the studies that reported empathy for the victim revealed treatment effectiveness that was positive but not significantly different from zero (g =. 05, 95% CI = -.07 to.17, p =.45). Nevertheless, this meta-analysis indicated that programs increased bystander intervention both on a practical and statistically significant level. These results suggest that researchers and school administrators should consider implementing programs that focus on bystander intervention behavior supplementary to bullying prevention programs.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84860598096
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84860598096&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:84860598096
SN - 0279-6015
VL - 41
SP - 47
EP - 65
JO - School Psychology Review
JF - School Psychology Review
IS - 1
ER -