Grant: Operating Grant

Although great effort has been devoted to the prevention of bullying, bullying remains a serious Canadian public health problem. Involvement as a bully or victim is associated with poor school attendance, underachievement, dropout, health complaints, sleep difficulties, anxiety, depression, and suicide. The difficulties associated with bullying persist into adulthood as poorer health and mental health outcomes. Unfortunately, reviews of prevention trials suggest that programs designed to prevent or reduce bullying often yield very modest benefits. Our studies suggest that certain features of bullying prevention programs may limit their effectiveness by eliciting an unintended negative response, reactance. Reactance has been reported when prevention programs are perceived as an effort to change attitudes, restrict access to important activities, or limit decision control. Importantly, our studies suggest some features of bullying prevention programs may also reduce reactance. We have also found evidence that some features of these programs may elicit reactance among educators, and a subsequent reduction in support for the implementation of these programs. We propose to conduct focus groups with 60 students and 60 educators to explore the features of bullying prevention programs that elicit reactance, ways reactance is expressed, how reactance undermines outcome, and features that reduce reactance. Next, we will use survey methods from marketing research to model the influence of different features of bullying prevention programs on reactance by 1200 educators and 2000 students in grades 5, 6, 7, and 8, a period when bullying increases, students become more independent, and there is a greater likelihood of reactance. We will identify features of bullying prevention programs that are most likely to increase or decrease reactance, identify the demographic and behavioral predictors of reactance, and simulate a program that minimizes reactance.