Practice Profile: Parent-Involved Antibullying Programs for Youth

Chen, Zhu, and Chui (2021) analyzed the effects of parent-involved antibullying programs on youth and parent outcomes. Studies were included in the analysis if the study 1) evaluated prevention or intervention programs focused on bullying among school-age youths, 2) included a parent involvement component (such as parent training in schools or home visiting services from the community, the agency, or another stakeholder), and 3) provided sufficient data for calculating an effect size. Studies were excluded from the analysis if 1) the program did not include a parent involvement component, 2) the study did not evaluate program effectiveness, and 3) the program did not focus on bullying among youths. The literature search included English databases including ERIC, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Sociological Abstracts, Social Service Abstracts, and PubMed. Articles were included that were published in or before March 2019 and were identified through title, key word, and abstract searches. Searches of the reference lists of review articles were conducted to identify further relevant studies.

The analysis included 16 studies, which were conducted in Australia (2 studies), Canada (1 study), Finland (1 study), Germany (1 study), Greece (1 study), Hong Kong (1 study), the Netherlands (1 study), Norway (1 study), Turkey (1 study), United States (4 studies), or in locations not specified (2 studies). Four studies used randomized controlled trials, and the remaining 12 studies used quasi-experimental design. The studies included 46,361 participants. Participants were recruited from general school populations without any detection of bullying victimization in all but one of the programs. However, one study recruited participants who reported being targets of bullying by peers. There was no information provided on gender, age ranges, or the race/ethnicity of study participants.

Researchers categorized program outcomes into three types: 1) bullying victimization and internalizing behaviors, 2) positive parenting skills, and 3) negative parenting skills. Effect sizes were calculated as a standardized mean difference using Cohen’s d. The effect sizes were synthesized using a random-effects model.

Huang and colleagues (2019) conducted a meta-analysis to assess the effectiveness of school-based antibullying programs that include a specific focus on parental components. The review was part of a larger meta-analysis conducted by the same authors that focused on multiple outcomes associated with all forms of school violence. A comprehensive literature search was conducted to identify studies published from 2000 to 2017 in 12 databases, including ERIC, ProQuest Criminal Justice, and PsychINFO. Gray-literature databases and hand searches of journals such as Journal of School Violence and Developmental Psychology also were searched. Studies were eligible for inclusion if they evaluated a school-based antibullying intervention program that included a parental involvement component (studies outside of a school setting were excluded). Studies had to be published or conducted after 2000 but before 2018 and written in English. Studies had to include only students from kindergarten through 12th grade. Studies also had to focus on bullying perpetration and victimization behavioral outcomes. Finally, studies had to include a comparable control or treatment-as-usual condition or use an age cohort design.

Twenty-two studies were included in the analysis; 17 studies reported outcomes on bullying perpetration, and 19 studies reported outcomes on bullying/peer victimization. The studies were conducted in the United States (seven studies), Finland (four studies), Australia (four studies), Canada (two studies), the Netherlands (one study), New Zealand (one study), Belgium (one study), Hong Kong (one study), and Switzerland (one study). Nine studies were randomized controlled trials, six used matched control designs, two used age cohort designs, two had some other comparable control conditions, and two studies did not have a comparable control condition. One study included students in kindergarten, nine took place among elementary school populations, three took place among middle school populations, one took place among a high school population, one took place among elementary and middle school populations, three studies took place among middle and high school populations, and four studies took place among elementary, middle, and high school populations. Approximately 50 percent of study participants were females in most of the included studies. There was no information provided on age ranges or race/ethnicity of study participants.

With regard to parental involvement in the programs that were evaluated, 13 programs included materials (such as newsletters and guidebooks) to provide parents with information about school bullying and strategies that parents can use to raise their awareness of the issue. Nine programs organized meetings with the parents to convey bullying, school policy, or programming information or to solicit their input on policymaking. Four programs assigned home activities for parents and children to complete together. Seven programs held events such as parent training, workshops, or classes to improve parental strategies for handling bullying; communication among parents, children, and school officials; and family management skills.

For outcomes reported on a continuous scale, the standardized mean difference effect size (Cohen’s d) was calculated. For outcomes reported on a dichotomous scale, odds-ratios were calculated and then converted to Cohen’s d for summarizing and comparing results across studies). The effect sizes were synthesized using a random-effect models.