Teaching leadership and problem-solving skills to elementary school girls prevents aggression.

Empowering girls prevents future problem behaviors.

A study conducted in Philadelphia (USA) suggests that educators, particularly in elementary grades, should teach their students problem-solving skills and should provide opportunities to develop leadership skills to prevent relational aggression in the future.

The relational aggression includes gossip and social exclusion to hurt others, and is the most common form of aggression among girls.

Study tests efficacy of aggression prevention program

A recent study was conducted by the Violence Prevention Initiative (VPI) at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and claims that teaching leadership skills and providing opportunities for girls to develop leadership skills prevents relational aggression among girls..

The study has been published in The Journal Psychology of Violenceand used a random sample of African-American girls in third through fifth grade (8 to 11 year olds) to test the effectiveness of the Friend to Friend (F2F) aggression prevention program.

First violence prevention program to show effectiveness even a year after implementation

The F2F is the first and only aggression prevention program to show its effectiveness in decreasing relational aggressive behavior among girls and to continue its positive results even one year later, continues to show positive results even one year after the end of the program.. This program improves skills and knowledge in social problem solving and causes a decrease in the levels of relational aggression.

"Including the learning of these skills in school curricula is important because children who attend school, especially in marginalized areas, are at serious risk of acquiring emotional and behavioral problems," says Dr. Stephen Leff, director of this study and co-director of the Violence Prevention Initiative (VPI). (VPI).

"This is evidence that possessing problem-solving skills and having the opportunity to develop leadership capacity increases resilience and guides toward a better future in terms of social interactions. This positive approach is infused into the school-based prevention programs that are part of our Violence Prevention Initiative at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia."adds Dr. Leff.

A program that is more than a decade old

The team of researchers has been developing and redefining the program for a decade thanks to the various investigations it has conducted at the CHOPin partnership with key stakeholders in the community. "This partnership approach has been used to develop the F2F program and to innovate the teaching modalities used in the program itself, such as drawings, videos or role-playing," says Brooke Paskewich, psychologist and director of the VPI.

In addition, she explains that "involving students, teachers and parents in the design of the program has helped ensure its cultural sensitivity, developmental appropriateness and appropriate use for ethnic minorities."

F2F, which was used in this study, is a 20-session program that was conducted for 40 minutes per session. Taught social problem-solving strategies and provided opportunities for girls to lead classroom sessions for their peers. and provided opportunities for girls to lead classroom sessions for their peers. A pilot study published in 2009 already advanced the effectiveness of the F2F program in decreasing relational aggression among elementary school girls in two North American schools.

The current study involved 144 aggressive girls (relational aggression) from 44 different classrooms belonging to the Philadelphia district. The subjects were randomly divided between the F2F group and the control group to conduct the research.

Tips for designing a successful school-based aggression prevention program

Dr. Leff, after analyzing the results of his study, offers the following suggestions for designing and evaluating successful aggression prevention programs:

• Aggression should be defined in general terms.The term "bullying" is defined as any action taken by a child that inflicts physical or mental harm on another child.
• Programs should focus on prevention and early intervention
• Programs should emphasize positive social behaviorsPrograms should emphasize positive social behavior: prosocial behaviors, anger management skills, and respect for peers and adults.
• Attention should be given to recognizing and understanding of different types of aggression: For example, girls more commonly express relational aggression and boys are more likely to engage in acts of physical aggression.
• There is a need to be culturally sensitive and foster collaboration between schools, families and neighborhoods.
• Aggression prevention programs should be developed in a way that responds to the specific needs and values of the school and its community.
• They must incorporate a strong research component and must measure results. Long-term effects also need to be evaluated.
• Rather than in the classroom, aggression prevention programs should be carried out in natural environments: e.g., playgrounds.