A group randomized controlled trial evaluating parent involvement in whole-school actions to reduce bullying

Donna Cross, Leanne Lester, Natasha Pearce, Amy Barnes, Shelley Beatty

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Citations (Scopus)
10 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Parents can significantly affect children's peer relationships, including their involvement in bullying. The authors developed and evaluated ways to enhance parents’ knowledge, self-efficacy, attitudes, and skills related to parent–child communication about bullying. The 3-year Friendly Schools Friendly Families whole-school intervention included a family component, which provided training and resources to support school teams to engage families in awareness-raising and skill-building activities. Over 3,200 parents of the Grade 2, 4, and 6 cohorts were recruited. For the Grade 2 and 4 cohorts at both 10 and 22 months postintervention, the family component increased parents’ self-efficacy to talk about bullying with their children and their frequency of doing so. Grade 4 parents reported more provictim attitudes at 22 months. No differences were found for the Grade 6 cohort. These data suggest a whole-school capacity-building intervention in early and middle childhood can improve the likelihood and frequency of positive parent–child communication about bullying.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)255-267
Number of pages13
JournalThe Journal of Educational Research
Volume111
Issue number3
Early online date14 Nov 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 4 May 2018

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