Title: Bullying and Anxiety: Social Emotional Programming and Episodes of Victimization Amongst Children in School Settings
Scarfe, Room 308A
Examining Committee:
Dr. Lynn Miller, Research Supervisor
Dr. Shelley Hymel, Committee Member
Dr. Sterett Mercer, Committee Member
Abstract:
This study investigated the relationship between a school-based anxiety prevention and intervention social emotional learning (SEL) program (i.e., FRIENDS for Life) and the frequency of episodes of victimization due to bullying in an experimental intervention study of elementary aged school children. Standardized assessments were administered in ten school classrooms in an Independent school district (e.g., nonsecular) to Grade 4 children (N = 205), and were used to assess self-reported levels of frequency of victimization episodes, anxiety symptoms, social phobia symptoms and levels of social self-efficacy. Teacher-reports of children’s psychosocial problems were also assessed. Participants were randomly assigned to either the intervention (i.e., FRIENDS for Life SEL program) or a waitlist control group. Student self-report assessments were collected on two occasions: (a) pre-intervention, and (b) immediately post-intervention. A three way (2 x 2 x 2) repeated measures analysis of variance was conducted to investigate the effect of the treatment on frequency of victimization. A significant three-way interaction was found for victimization, gender, and treatment group. No other main effects of the treatment were found.