Search Results (52)

This article explores the importance of integrating socio-emotional competencies into the formal education of adolescents to promote sustainable development. It argues that social and emotional learning (SEL) not only enhances personal and academic well-being, but also facilitates the building of more resilient and sustainable communities. A scoping review was conducted using a qualitative methodology based on document analysis through matrix-based reviews. The 49 selected studies were analyzed in relation to the personality facets of the Big Five (OCEAN) model. The results of the interventions show improvements in self-efficacy, empathy, motivation, school climate, bullying reduction, and the prevention of mental health issues. It is concluded that a more holistic approach is needed, combining SEL with character education to achieve lasting impacts. Furthermore, interventions must be sensitive to cultural contexts and the specific realities of each school community. Full article

This study evaluates the effectiveness of a digital escape room designed according to the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles as an educational tool to raise awareness about school bullying and cyberbullying in lower secondary education. Using a quasi-experimental design with 137 students (66 in the control group and 71 in the experimental group), the gamified activity was compared to a traditional expository intervention. Empathy was measured using the Brief Basic Empathy Scale (BES-B), and bullying-related knowledge and experiences were assessed with the SPB-A scale. The escape room integrated key UDL principles, including multiple means of representation (e.g., video, images, text), action and expression (interactive tasks and puzzles), and engagement (narrative-based missions and collaborative challenges). The results indicate significant improvements in knowledge about behaviors related to school bullying among participants who completed the escape room. Although changes in affective and cognitive empathy were not statistically significant, positive trends were observed in the experimental group. The immersive, collaborative, and accessible nature of the activity positions the escape room as a promising tool within broader strategies for bullying prevention. Full article

Background/Objectives: Child protection from any form of physical or mental abuse or mistreatment is a fundamental right. The scientific literature supports that evidence-based interventions, such as the “Zero Violence Brave Club”, contribute to reducing school bullying by promoting a culture of zero tolerance for violence in diverse educational contexts, regardless of socioeconomic or cultural characteristics. This research aims to analyze how the prevention model, supported by evidence-based interventions with social impacts, is implemented in six schools and to evaluate its impact on child protection and its positive effects on children’s health. This study focuses on schools that adopt a clear stance against violence and implement prevention measures aligned with evidence-based guidelines, such as those established by the recent MeToo Schools movement. Methods: To achieve this, fieldwork was conducted, including in-depth interviews with 13 educational community members. Results: The findings show that the studied schools applying SESI-based interventions prevent violence, strengthen child protection, and enhance the health and well-being of children. Conclusions: This research highlights the importance of implementing evidence-based programs such as the Zero Violence Brave Club (ZVBC), contributing not only to the prevention of violence but also to the improvement of students’ health and well-being, offering schools a tool to position themselves as a safe space for children. Full article

This study examined the sequential mediating roles of anxiety and depressive symptoms in the effect of school bullying victimization on suicidal ideation. This study utilized a convenience sample of college students across South Korea, and an online survey was conducted. This quantitative research analyzed data collected from 1037 participants. The sample consisted of an equal gender distribution, with a mean age of 23.65 years (range: 18–30). Additionally, 30% of participants reported a household income of four million won or less (approximately USD $3076). More than half of the participants’ parents had attained a college education or higher. Also, multiple mediation analyses were conducted to examine whether anxiety and depressive symptoms mediated the relationship between school bullying victimization and suicidal ideation. In the results, multiple mediation analyses showed that school bullying victimization does not have a direct effect on suicidal ideation. On the other hand, school bullying victimization has an indirect effect on suicidal ideation through anxiety and depressive symptoms, controlling for covariates. Based on these research results, implications for school bullying prevention and intervention were discussed. Full article

In this conceptual article, the authors provide a narrative review of literature on bullying and sexual harassment in K-12 schools framed through a comparative analysis of risk and protective factors for both forms of violence across the social-ecological spectrum. We find that a greater number of studies of both forms of violence focus on student and microsystem-level factors rather than on higher levels of the ecosystem including school boards, neighborhoods, and broader cultural norms. In addition, the research overwhelmingly identifies more risk factors than protective factors. Finally, we find more similarities than differences in risk and protective factors between the two forms of school-based violence. We identify implications of the findings for theory, research, and policy and suggest that preventing any form of harassment at school will benefit not only students but the entire school community. We argue that the causes of school-based harassment are complex and require comprehensive prevention, intervention, and response approaches that address shared risk and protective factors, particularly those at the community and mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem levels. Ultimately, we argue that all community stakeholders must be committed to and engaged in these endeavors for them to be successful. Full article

Bullying and cyberbullying are critical global issues that significantly affect the mental health and behavioral well-being of youth. This article explores the complex challenges posed by these forms of aggression and introduces a strength-based model for health and mental health professionals to address these issues with impacted youth holistically. Grounded within findings from a scoping review of the literature, the SHIELD framework emphasizes Strengths, Healing, Interventions, Empowerment, Learning, and Development, offering a comprehensive approach for identifying and supporting youth impacted by bullying and cyberbullying. SHIELD emphasizes collaboration among health professionals, schools, families, and communities. By integrating empirical evidence and best practices from school-based approaches to bullying prevention, such as Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support (PBIS) and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), this framework provides a roadmap for creating safer, more inclusive environments for youth while prioritizing their mental health and overall well-being in the face of bullying and cyberbullying. A case study illustrates the framework’s practical application and future directions are proposed to guide further empirical investigation and stimulate innovative approaches to addressing the complexities of bullying and cyberbullying. Full article

With increasing mental health risks among school populations and prevalent bullying, school mental health professionals (SMHP) are crucial globally. This study explores the perspectives of SMHP on bullying in Omani schools, focussing on definitions, types, current practices, and future strategies. Involving 50 Omani SMHP from Muscat Governorate with at least three years of experience, data was collected through structured interviews and analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s six-step thematic analysis. Six key themes emerged: The definition of bullying, its components, common types, current anti-bullying practices, challenges, and future suggestions. Bullying, termed “سلوكعدواني” (Suluk Audwani), meaning aggressive behavior, includes five components: perpetrators, victims, harmful behavior, spectators, and psychosocial factors. Verbal bullying, physical bullying, and cyberbullying are common and vary by age. SMHP frequently employ awareness-raising and psychological first aid. Challenges include resistance from students and parents and institutional barriers. In the future, SMHP will emphasize greater awareness to effectively address Suluk Audwani. Oman has adopted international best practices to recruit SMHP. SMHP’s perspectives on Suluk Audwani reflect both their training and Omani cultural influences. Future research should explore various social strata to improve evidence-based understanding and prevention of Suluk Audwani. Full article

Bullying is a significant public health concern associated with mental health risks. Negative bullying outcomes extend beyond targets, with students who witness bullying reporting negative associated mental health consequences. Because bullying often occurs within the school setting, understanding the relationship between witnessing bullying and internalizing symptoms within the school environment can help shape school-based bullying prevention. The purpose of this study was to examine sense of school belonging as a mediator of the relationship between witnessing bullying and internalizing symptoms. We conducted two studies with middle school students (N = 130; N = 147) in which we used structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the mediational model. Results from Study 1 and Study 2 supported the mediational model, indicating that one explanation for the relationship between witnessing bullying and internalizing symptoms is that witnessing bullying negatively impacts students’ sense of school belonging, which in turn increases internalizing symptoms. Results from this study provide support for the importance of students’ perceptions of school climate in the development of internalizing symptoms related to witnessing bullying. Implications for school-based bullying prevention programs are discussed. Full article

In the past 30 years, there have been numerous positive body image and eating disorder prevention programs targeting youth developed for school-based settings. Frequently, teachers are used as interventionists to increase dissemination, decrease costs relative to researchers, and increase scalability. However, little is known about teacher concerns and barriers that may hinder successful uptake and implementation. The current study recruited a total of 269 teachers who consented to implement a universal body image and appearance-related bullying and teasing prevention program in their classrooms as part of a randomized controlled trial. Teachers expressed some worry that they may say the wrong thing, and concern about feeling uncomfortable teaching the program due to their own body dissatisfaction. Teacher’s ethnicity, gender, years teaching, dieting behaviors and other weight control behaviors, and self-efficacy were not associated with concerns related to teaching the curriculum. Teachers with lower body esteem reported higher concerns and anxiety related to teaching a body image curriculum. In free response items, teachers worried about handling student comments that were beyond the scope of the curriculum. Teacher self-efficacy was the only variable associated with the number of program sessions implemented. Findings suggest avenues to increase implementation. Full article

The prevalence of bullying and eating disorders among adolescents is alarmingly high. In response to these issues, a mobile application called “Searching Help” was designed to be incorporated into school environments. This study aims to understand parents’ views on a school-integrated app designed to prevent bullying and eating disorders. Additionally, it sought to identify potential gender differences in these perceptions. Utilizing a retrospective research approach, we gathered insights from 201 parents of Spanish adolescents aged 12–18. The findings highlighted that a school-integrated app to prevent bullying and eating disorders was positively received by parents. Regarding gender, mothers were more aware of eating disorders and had greater concerns about unauthorized data access compared to fathers. Conversely, fathers were more optimistic about the potential of the app in creating a secure school environment against bullying and eating disorders. Notably, it was observed that although parents had a decent understanding of the problems associated with bullying and eating disorders independently, their knowledge of the technological solutions available to address these issues was considerably limited. In conclusion, this research confirms the gender-specific variations in parents’ attitudes and views toward technology-based solutions in schools and emphasizes a need for enhanced awareness initiatives to familiarize parents with relevant technological solutions for their children’s safety. Full article

School bullying is widespread in countries around the world and has a continuous negative impact on the physical and mental health of students. However, few studies have explored the influence mechanism of a competitive school climate on school bullying among Chinese secondary vocational school students. This study aims to explore the relationship between a competitive school climate and bullying in secondary vocational schools in the Chinese context, as well as the mediating role of school belonging and the moderating role of gender. Logit regression analysis and a moderated mediation model were used to analyze 1964 secondary vocational students from China based on PISA 2018 data from Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu, China. (1) The detection rate of school bullying in secondary vocational schools in China is 17.8%, lower than the world average. (2) A competitive school climate is significantly and positively correlated with secondary vocational school students’ exposure to school bullying. (3) A moderated mediation model suggests that school belonging is an important mechanism by which a competitive school climate influences the occurrence of school bullying, whereas gender moderates the direct effect of a competitive school climate and the indirect effect of school belonging, which mitigates the negative effects of a competitive school climate to some extent. The research results show that creating a healthy competitive climate in schools, cultivating students’ sense of belonging, and facing up to gender differences are helpful to prevent school bullying in secondary vocational schools. Full article

(1) Background: China released regulations on school bullying prevention and control in 2017; however, current research on school bullying in China focuses on exploring influencing factors and lacks empirical research on the effectiveness of anti-bullying policies in schools. The objective of this study was to use an empirical model to explore the association between bullying prevention and control measures and secondary school students’ bullying victimization and multiple bullying victimization in Chinese schools. (2) Methods: Data were derived from the 2019 Surveillance of Common Diseases and Health Influencing Factors among Students in Jiangsu Province. The school’s bullying prevention and control measures, which was the independent variable, were obtained in the form of a self-report questionnaire and consisted of five measures: the establishment of bullying governance committees, thematic education for students, thematic training for parents, special investigations on bullying, and a bullying disposal process. Bullying victimization and multiple bullying victimization, which was the dependent variable, were obtained through a modified version of the Olweus bullying victimization questionnaire. In order to better explain the differences in the results, this study constructed multilevel logistic regression models to test the association between school bullying prevention and control measures and the rates of bullying victimization and multiple bullying victimization among secondary school students at both the school level and the student level. Meanwhile, this study constructed five models based on the null model by sequentially incorporating demographic variables, physical and mental health variables, lifestyle variables, and bullying prevention and control measures in schools to verify this association. (3) Results: A total of 25,739 students were included in the analysis. The range of bullying victimization rates for students in the different secondary schools in this study was between 6.8% and 37.3%, and the range of multiple bullying victimization rates was between 0.9% and 14.8%. The establishment of bullying disposal procedures was strongly associated with a reduction in bullying victimization (OR = 0.83, 95%CI: 0.71–0.99, p < 0.05). Establishing bullying disposal procedures was not significantly associated with multiple bullying victimization rates (OR = 0.89, 95%CI: 0.73–1.09, p > 0.05). The establishment of a bullying governance committee, thematic education for students, thematic training for parents, and special surveys on bullying were not significantly associated with bullying victimization rates or multiple bullying victimization rates (all p > 0.05). (4) Conclusions: Among the current bullying prevention and control measures for secondary school students in China, the establishment of a bullying disposal process was conducive to reducing the rate of bullying victimization, but it was ineffective in reducing the rate of multiple bullying victimization, and the other preventive and control measures did not achieve the purpose of anti-bullying in schools. Full article

Inclusion is an important aspect of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in education. This article will discuss the significance of recent developments in the field of school-based bullying prevention and evaluate their applicability to the policy discourse of inclusive education. Both inclusive education and school-based bullying remain contested phenomena without a clear consensus regarding their definition or how to operationalise them as concepts within school policy or practice effectively. UNESCO’s Scientific Committee has recently proposed the Whole Education Approach, which conceptualises a holistic, socially engaged, and interconnected vision for policy development in addressing school-based bullying prevention. Importantly, the Whole Education Approach conceptualises incidences of bullying as indicative of a deficit of care and support within the surrounding social environment, thus adopting an ecological and relational focus regarding bullying prevention. In addition, bullying prevention is viewed as requiring coherent collaboration between the school, family, and other relevant stakeholders in the local social community surrounding the school. This includes government funding, resource policies and national legal frameworks. This article argues that this approach may also have utility within inclusive education policy in supporting a more integrated and holistic promotion of social inclusion, underpinning equal opportunities in recognition of the diverse needs of all learners in schools. This article discusses the details of the Whole Education Approach and emphasises how this framework can also address educational inclusion by adopting an integrated, multi-elemental focus on supporting collaboration across stakeholders relevant to the lives of pupils within schools. Full article

This study focuses on the issue of school bullying and explores the potential of video games as a tool to prevent and address this problem. To accomplish this, the video game Monité, specifically designed for the prevention of school bullying, was utilized, using the paradigm of digital game-based learning as an intervention methodology that emphasizes its educational and recreational potential. This study was conducted using a quasi-experimental approach, employing a pre-test and post-test design with a non-equivalent control group. The sample consisted of 92 boys and girls from fifth and sixth grade in primary education in the province of Cáceres, Spain. Data were collected through questionnaires from the System for the Evaluation of Children and Adolescents (SENA), which allowed for the gathering of information on peer problems, school problems and family issues. The results show that there are significant differences between the intervention group and the control group regarding problems external to individuals. In conclusion, this study investigates the use of the video game Monité as a tool to prevent school bullying and analyzes its impact on students’ perception of external agents such as family, peer group, and school. Our findings support its implementation in educational environments as an effective strategy. Full article

Studies investigating the effectiveness of school-related gender-based violence prevention programs seldom report on the extent to which students themselves value and recommend such programs. Yet, along with evidence about effectiveness in relation to shifts in knowledge, attitudes, or intentions, student-valuing is a significant indicator that the programs can make a positive contribution to students’ lives. This mixed-method study analyses survey and focus group data collected from ninety-two schools in three African countries (Tanzania, Zambia, and Eswatini). Students found the program contributed to improved peer relationships and identified the five most useful components as learning about gender equality and human rights, learning how to obtain help for those affected by violence, understanding and communicating about their emotions, strategies to avoid joining in with bullying and harassment, and understanding the effects of gender-based violence. Full article