Differential effects of the KiVa anti-bullying program on popular and unpopular bullies
Section snippets
Bullying brings coveted status rewards
Gaining social power among peers appears to be children's main motivation for bullying others (Olthof, Goossens, Vermande, Aleva, & van der Meulen, 2011). Interviews of early adolescents who had been excluded from school for causing bullying incidents reveal that initial bullying is a deliberate choice aimed at gaining recognition and respect, and subsequent bullying behaviors are then perpetuated to promote and maintain the reputation (Houghton, Nathan, & Taylor, 2012). Similarly, studies
High popularity facilitates aggression
There is evidence of a bi-directional association between popularity and aggression: aggression positively predicts future popularity, but the achievement of high popularity status also promotes aggression (Cillessen & Mayeux, 2004). Popular bullies may feel increased pressure to maintain their rank and thus resort to coercive means. Being in a powerful position in the peer group may also lead to a sense of entitlement causing school bullies to abuse their power without any fear of negative
Bullies' popularity and bystanders' behaviors
The perpetuation of bullying heavily depends on the behavior of bystanders in bullying situations: self-reported frequency of bullying was found to be lower in classrooms where children tend to defend the victim and avoid reinforcing the bully, as reflected by proportions of peer nominations for these two behaviors (Salmivalli, Voeten, & Poskiparta, 2011). High classroom rates of bully reinforcement and low rates of victim defending also increase the likelihood that anxious and rejected
The KiVa anti-bullying program
KiVa is a nationwide anti-bullying program in Finland. It was developed in 2006 at the request of the Finnish Ministry of Education, following the release of a World Health Organization (WHO) report revealing Finnish children's low liking of school. After an evaluation phase in 2007 and 2008 with a sample of 78 intervention and 78 control schools, the program was disseminated across the country in 2009. KiVa is based on the notion that the behavior of bystanders – reinforcing bullies, defending
Sample
Data were collected as part of a large randomized controlled trial designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the KiVa program. Of the 78 schools originally taking part in this evaluation in 2007 and 2008, one school had to drop out before the first assessment due to facility-related issues. The data analyzed in this study were collected at two time points: before program implementation, at the end of one school year in May 2007 (T1) and 9 months after implementation, at the end of the subsequent
Analytical strategy
We conducted multiple-group SEM analyses on the subsample of 911 bullies. A robust maximum-likelihood estimation method was used to account for the nested data structure (i.e., bullies nested in classrooms). Bullying at both time points was modeled as a latent factor, with correlated residuals estimated for corresponding indicators at T1 and T2. Prior to evaluating the effects of KiVa participation, we tested for measurement invariance across time (T1 and T2) and group (low, medium, high
Discussion
In line with our hypothesis, results show that a nine-month exposure to the KiVa anti-bullying program led to a decrease in peer nominations for bullying behavior for bullies of medium or low popular status but not for highly popular bullies. This suggests that KiVa may be less effective at reducing bullying among perpetrators enjoying high social power in the peer group in comparison to their less popular counterparts. The finding that popular bullies may be the most resistant to anti-bullying
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