The WITS Programs: Changing the Context of Peer

Victimization

www.witsprogram.ca

What is peer victimization?

Peer Victimization is the experience of being a target of a peer’s hurtful teasing and aggressive behavior

Two subtypes of victimization:

Physical Victimization involves overt, direct actions aimed at causing a child bodily harm or threats of harm

Relational Victimization involves covert, indirect actions directed at damaging a child’s social status in the peer group

Prevalence of Peer Victimization

Approximately 1 in 10 children are persistently victimized by peers

Frequency of victimization episodes is generally higher in the early elementary grades

Episodes of victimization become more chronic in the late elementary grades

WITS Classroom and Community

Resources

1. Emergency Services Personnel Manual

2. University Student/WITS Representative

3. WITS Booklist

4. Curriculum for Teachers and Librarians

5. Activities for the Classroom and School

6. Resource Pamphlets for Parents: Using Your WITS at Home Cyberbullying

What is Unique about the WITS Programs?

The WITS Programs are community-based programs that:

Call upon community champions including schools, families, and emergency services personnel to promote prosocial behaviors and to help children deal with peer victimization

Take a comprehensive, multi-setting approach to reducing peer victimization and enhancing social competence at the school- and classroom-level

Give a common language for children and adults to use to resolve conflicts peacefully

WITS Program Evaluation 1 Participants & Data Collection

Data were collected from eleven program schools and six control schools

Wave 1 Wave 2 Wave 3 Wave 4

• Fall of 2000

• N = 432

•Beginning of 1st grade

• Spring of 2001

• N = 423

•End of 1st grade

• Spring of 2002

•N = 397

•End of 2nd grade

• Spring of 2003

• N = 385

•End of 3rd grade

Indicators of Success

Measures that were examined:

Children’s ratings on:

Physical Victimization How often are you hit by another kid at school?

Relational Victimization How often does another kid tell lies about you to

make other kids not like you anymore?

Rates of Decline for Physical Victimization

Rates of Decline for Relational Victimization

Understanding the findings

Children in the WITS schools report more victimization. Why? All of the WITS program schools had the WITS

program by the time this study was under way. Higher levels of reporting may reflect the program children’s greater awareness of what victimization is and their willingness to report it or “Seek Help”.

Rates of victimization reported decline over the three years of elementary school for these children in program schools but not in the control schools.

Follow-Up Study

Goals:

1. To assess the effectiveness of the WITS Program with a broader & more independent sample of schools

Indicators of Success

WITS Program Evaluation 2

WITS Program Evaluation 2

Participants & Data Collection Data were collected from six program schools and

five control schools

Wave 1 Wave 2 Wave 3

• Fall of 2006

• N = 829 (472 in program schools)

• Grades 1 to 3 students

• Fall of 2007

• N = 737 (422 in program schools)

• Spring of 2008

• N = 732 (418 in program schools)

Measures that were examined:

Children’s ratings on:

Physical Victimization (e.g., hitting, pushing)

Relational Victimization (e.g., social exclusion, rumour-spreading)

Peer Support (e.g., receiving help, being cheered up by classmates)

Teacher’s ratings on: Social Responsibility (e.g., giving help to others, solving

problems in peaceful ways)

Average Levels of Physical & Relational Victimization

Physical Victimization The rate of decline in

physical victimization was significantly greater in program than control schools

Relational Victimization The rate of decline in

relational victimization was greater in program than control schools

Note: Children in program schools reported higher initial levels of physical & relational victimization, possibly due to a greater awareness of victimization created by the WITS Program

Average Levels of Peer Support & Social Responsibility

Peer Support Levels of peer support did

not significantly differ in program and control schools

Social Responsibility Teachers of children in

program schools reported higher average levels of social responsibility at each time point, compared to control schools.

Conclusion

WITS joins a growing number of studies showing promise of school, parent, and community involvement in interventions for reducing peer victimization in elementary schools

Peer Victimization can be reduced through:

multi-setting programs and multiple systems of support that include visible (uniformed) community members, school staff and parents

strategies that convey consistent and developmentally appropriate messages for peaceful conflict resolution across contexts