Effects of the KiVa Anti-Bullying Program on Adolescents' Perception of Peers, Depression, and Anxiety

Abstract

Bullying is associated with negative developmental outcomes for both the bully and the victim. Consequently, several school-based intervention programs have been developed to prevent such behaviors. A recently developed bullying intervention program in Finland (the KiVa program) placed concerted emphasis on enhancing the empathy, self-efficacy, and anti-bullying attitudes of onlookers, who are neither bullies nor victims. Importantly, the KiVa program is designed to enhance the role of bystanders thereby reducing the rewards gained by bullies and consequently their motivation to bully. The present study included 8,613 students from 78 schools who were randomly assigned to either an intervention or control condition. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test whether the KiVa program reduced depression and anxiety symptoms and increased students' positive perceptions of their classmates. A cross-lagged panel model suggested that the KiVa program was effective for reducing students' depression and anxiety symptoms and improving their peer-group perceptions among intervention participants as compared to controls. Implications of the findings and future directions for research are discussed.