Session: The Role of Adult Stakeholders in Bullying Prevention and Intervention Across Public Systems of Care (Society for Prevention Research 25th Annual Meeting)

Bullying and peer victimization is the most common form of aggression experienced by school-aged youth. It has far-reaching academic, mental health, and behavioral impacts on individuals involved: victims and bullies as well as those who merely witness the bullying. Studies have shown that to reduce bullying, systemic approaches are most effective (e.g., Ttofi & Farrington, 2011; Bradshaw, 2015).While there are programs that show promise for reducing bullying (e.g., Hahn Fox, Farrington, & Ttofi, 2012), often adults who interact with children still feel unequipped to intervene. Specifically, research is needed across a variety of settings where adults are in the position to detect and intervene in peer victimization and bullying situations. Rather than encouraging adult stakeholders to apply general strategies universally across settings, it may be more effective to do in-depth work to understand the variety of contexts in which peer victimization and bullying is witnessed or reported. In doing this, we can obtain specific information about which intervention strategies may be effective, under what circumstances, and in which contexts. This information can inform those adults who are in positions to prevent peer victimization and bullying or to intervene with those impacted by peer victimization and bullying. This panel brings together three groups of researchers who examine bullying across a range of settings: schools, primary care, and emergency departments. The aim of this panel is to add to our current knowledge of how adults can assist youth who are impacted by bullying while taking into account the context in which the adults and youth interact. The first paper used qualitative data to assess differences between students’ (aged 11-14) and teachers’ perceptions of bullying behaviors and intervention efforts. The second paper also used qualitative data to examine youth (aged 10-17), their parents’, and primary care providers’ perceptions of the role that adults can play in the prevention of and intervention in cyberbullying. The third paper used quantitative data to examine the etiology of assault-injuries of youth in emergency departments (aged 10-15) to examine how many were there because of bullying. All three of these papers have strong implications for adults who regularly work with youth who are at risk for peer victimization and bullying. A discussant with expertise in prevention and intervention of peer victimization and bullying will explore how the information included in each of these papers can inform prevention and interventions across these public systems of care.