Do Antibullying Initiatives At Schools Have the Opposite Effect?

While anti-bullying programs are becoming commonplace in schools these days, now, a study done by researchers at the University of Texas at Arlington questions whether they are having the opposite effect. As the study points out, through these programs, many students become familiar with what a bully is, what kind of power they can have, and they know what to do or say when questioned by parents or teachers. Additionally, the study says that although bullies may learn a variety of anti-bullying techniques, they may simply choose not to practice what they have learned. Of course, as the researchers point out, bullying can be such an individualized problem that teaching students techniques to deal with bullies may just not work.  The study’s authors say that more needs to be done to identify the dynamics involved between bullies and their victims in order to develop prevention tactics for the problem, which affects more than 70 percent of middle and high school students, according to the American Psychological Association.