The Effects of a Short Video Intervention on Secondary School Pupils' Involvement in Definitions of and Attitudes towards Bullying

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of a single viewing of an anti-bullying video on secondary school pupils' views of, and involvement in, bullying. Participants (N = 170) were drawn from Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 (aged 11 to 14 years). Each participant completed a self-report questionnaire on two occasions separated by 2 weeks. Items focused on three main issues-pupils' tendencies to bully others, their definitions of bullying and their attitudes towards bullying. Participants in the experimental condition, but not in the control condition, were shown the video midway through the 2-week period. Participants who watched the video did not report less bullying of other pupils than those who did not watch it, nor was there evidence that the video led to more negative attitudes towards bullying in general. However, more of the participants who watched the video than did not watch it extended their definition of bullying to include three specific types of behaviour-'name-calling', 'telling nasty stories about some one' and 'forcing people to do things they don't want to do'. The implication of these results for schools' anti-bullying initatives are discussed.