Topeka, Kan.-- Preliminary results from the three-year Peaceful Schools research project, conducted by the Menninger Child and Family Center, show that while bullying has, in the past, been an accepted part of any student's school experience, it does not have to be tolerated. Students and school staff can learn alternatives to dealing with difference and conflict.

"Not only is bullying frequently the cause of distress, it is also the known precursor of much more serious school violence," said Peter Fonagy, PhD, director of the Menninger Child and Family Center. "Preventing bullying is a key step in reducing violence in our schools."

The Menninger Peaceful Schools research project, which began in 1999, is believed to be the most ambitious privately-funded study of its kind. It was designed to compare an anti-violence/bullying intervention to an intervention that focused on individual students and schools conducting business as usual. Researchers aimed to determine which intervention was more effective at reducing bully-victim problems.

Schools were divided into three intervention study groups, including an anti-violence/bullying intervention. This environmental intervention focused on the entire school climate with the behaviors and attitudes of all persons in a school building (students, teachers, even administrative and other support staff). The intervention assumed all could potentially be part of the solution. Preliminary findings indicate that this group was the more effective of the three interventions. Some of the findings from the student are:

* Children in schools participating in the anti-violence/bullying intervention over time appeared to engage in less aggressive bystanding (i.e., encouraging bullying) and to be more likely to help victims of bullies, compared to children in other schools studied. This intervention focuses in part on changing the behavior of bystanders to be less passive and more helpful to children who are being harassed.

* Children who are repeated targets of bullying become increasingly isolated, angry and unhappy as they move through elementary school. Children who are bullied, and those who act as bullies in early elementary grades, are more likely to continue to experience these problems later in elementary school.

"This adds further urgency to develop effective interventions to address bully-victim problems throughout the elementary school years," said Fonagy.

* Both overt aggression (e.g., hitting, pushing) and relational aggression (e.g., spreading rumors, trying to get other kids not to like someone) appear to decline over time in schools that participated in the anti-violence/bullying intervention, compared to other schools.

" The effects of the anti-violence/bullying intervention on children's social behavior, thoughts and emotions depends in part on individual teachers' acceptance and use of the program. Some teachers are more enthusiastic and supportive of this type of intervention than others. Evidence shows that the beneficial effects are more apparent for children in classrooms with teachers who expressed greater use of the program philosophy, strategies and techniques.

Dr. Peter Fonagy was the principal investigator on the project. He collaborated with co-principal investigators, Stuart Twemlow, M.D., Menninger staff psychiatrist, and Eric Vernberg, PhD, a professor in Clinical Child Psychology at the University of Kansas. The project involved 11 elementary schools, over 300 teachers and 3,000 students.

Menninger is taking the next step to develop an implementation protocol for other school districts to use. Support for this project has been provided by a grant from the Jessie Ball duPont Fund in Jacksonville, Florida. District representatives from a diverse sampling of schools from across the nation are consulting on the project. Most schools are using some type of bullying or violence prevention programs. "A great deal of wisdom can be gained from the experiences districts have had training, implementing and bringing their own districts on board to this type of thinking," said Fonagy.

"Our principal hope is that early intervention in elementary schools will create a cascade effect that carries into middle schools and high schools."

What is Menninger?
Menninger is a national psychiatric and behavioral healthcare hospital located in Topeka, Kansas. Founded in 1925, Menninger offers specialty hospital treatment programs for adolescents and adults, and research and training for mental health professionals. For more information about Menninger and its programs, visit our web site: www.menningerclinic.com 

---Menninger Clinic