More Anti-Bullying Research

In my ongoing quest to find effective anti-bullying programs to recommend to my clients, I ran across two recent literature reviews. Both continued the depressing trend of finding no significant impact from the programs.

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Are Anti-Bullying Programs Effective?

Anti-bullying programs get a lot of attention these days, because everyone wants to spare children the trauma of true bullying. Yet in spite of our best efforts, the problem is not getting better, and some experts worry that we are creating new problems for our kids.

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Child Protection Policies: Bullying

One important area of youth protection policies is a policy to prevent bullying. An effective policy must first correctly define the problem, and then focus on ways to empower the children involved.

Contrary to what many parents (and children) think, not every insult is "bullying." Negative feedback is a normal part of human interaction, and is one of the ways that we all learn not to be obnoxious. Wise adults don't get involved in developmentally normal disputes between children. True bullying that warrants adult intervention is a much more serious, and sustained, activity.  

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Fewer Rules Mean Fewer Injuries & Less Bullying

Speaking of active children, it cannot be a coincidence that the diagnoses of ADHD skyrocketed as schools began phasing out recess. This article reports that schools participating in a study in New Zealand got rid of most of the rules on their playgrounds, and saw a dramatic decrease in injuries and serious bullying incidents. They also saw an increase in children's ability to concentrate in the classroom.

AUT professor of public health Grant Schofield, who worked on the research project, said there are too many rules in modern playgrounds. 'The great paradox of cotton-woolling children is it's more dangerous in the long-run.'

Society's obsession with protecting children ignores the benefits of risk-taking, he said. Children develop the frontal lobe of their brain when taking risks, meaning they work out consequences. 'You can't teach them that. They have to learn risk on their own terms. It doesn't develop by watching TV, they have to get out there.'