Physical and relational bullying can happen among children as young as three years old, but a relatively short intervention program can lead to significant reductions in some of these behaviours, rese
Physical and relational bullying can happen among children as young as three years old, but a relatively short intervention program can lead to significant reductions in some of these behaviours, research shows.
The intervention, called the Early Childhood Friendship Project (ECFP), lasts eight weeks and uses puppets, stories, and activities appropriate for pre-schoolers that can easily be folded into existing curriculums. “Our goal is to eventually give this program away to all those qualified to implement it,” says Jamie Ostrov, associate professor of psychology at the University at Buffalo.
The current study, published in the journal School Psychology Review, is an extension of earlier research that demonstrated how the program reduced different types of aggression and peer victimisation broadly at the classroom level. “We needed to show that the program worked to change the individual child’s behaviour. We also expanded the study at the request of teachers,” he says.
While the previous research focused on general aggressive behaviour, the follow up closely examines bullying behaviour, Ostrov says. “All bullying is aggression, but not all aggression is bullying. The starting point to bullying is aggressive behaviour. But what makes bullying a subset of aggressive behaviour is a power imbalance, where for example one child is older, physically bigger, or more popular than their victim. That’s followed by either repetition of the unwanted and intentional behaviour or a fear the behavior will repeat itself.”
The study developed a new measure that helps assess bullying behaviour in an age group where it wasn’t previously thought to exist. It also expanded on its predecessor by examining different types of bullying, including relational bullying. “This is a form of social exclusion that uses the threat of the removal of the relationship as a means of harm,” says Ostrov. “It occurs when a child might say to another, ‘You can’t play with us’.” It’s a 10-minute puppet show that emphasises a different theme each of the eight weeks. The puppet presents a developmental problem the children are likely to encounter and asks their help to solve it.
