Peer victimization (or bullying) is a serious problem in American schools. Anywhere from 20 to 60 percent of school-aged youth report that they have experienced bullying, of whom 10-15 percent may be chronic victims. Bullying appears to peak during the middle school years, a time when youth are particularly concerned about status and fitting in. Victims tend to have low self-esteem and feel more lonely, anxious, and depressed than their non-victimized peers. These negative consequences partly explain why victims can also struggle academically. Most school interventions target all students in the school and are guided by the belief that reducing bullying is everyone's responsibility. Those universal interventions often lose sight of the most vulnerable youth who may have a history of being bullied and are already experiencing one or more painful outcomes. This research tests the effects of attribution processes, social networks, and group norms in an integrated model ("Powering Up") of bullying. The attribution processes often lead to a pattern of self-blame ("why me?") that can have long-term negative effects. The research further tests how to utilize social network patterns and group norms to reduce bullying behaviors. This research will facilitate our understanding of the social psychological processes involved in bullying and provide novel insight into middle school group dynamics.
This project examines the integrated effects of attributional processes, social network processes, and group norms on bullying during middle school. These social influence processes are integrated in "Powering Up", a program that focuses on victims during the middle school years. Powering Up utilizes three social influence mechanisms to combat peer victimization: (1) Why Power is a 12-lesson curriculum designed to alter the maladaptive attributions of at-risk victims; (2) Friend Power uses experimental techniques to build friendships between victims and influential peers in their grade; and (3) Peer Power utilizes leadership models to change peer norms about the acceptability of bullying. This multi-component program will be implemented in urban (California) and rural (Missouri) communities with 6th grade students in schools that vary in ethnic diversity. Powering Up will test these intervention strategies and focus on attributional change, building new friendships between bullying victims and influential peers, and spreading of anti-bullying norms throughout the peer networks. This research will advance basic social psychological knowledge on peer influence processes and the power of attributions to change behavior. The project will also provide new insights into individual, social, and contextual factors that promote resilience and academic achievement.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
