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Effects of the KiVa Anti-bullying Program on Adolescents’ Depression, Anxiety, and Perception of Peers

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An Erratum to this article was published on 08 September 2011

Abstract

The present study investigated the effects of the KiVa antibullying program on students’ anxiety, depression, and perception of peers in Grades 4–6. Furthermore, it was investigated whether reductions in peer-reported victimization predicted changes in these outcome variables. The study participants included 7,741 students from 78 schools who were randomly assigned to either intervention or control condition, and the program effects were tested with structural equation modeling. A cross-lagged panel model suggested that the KiVa program is effective for reducing students’ internalizing problems and improving their peer-group perceptions. Finally, changes in anxiety, depression, and positive peer perceptions were found to be predicted by reductions in victimization. Implications of the findings and future directions for research are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Welfare, University of Kansas, 1545 Lilac Lane, Lawrence, KS, 66044, USA

    Anne Williford

  2. Department of Quantitative Psychology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA

    Aaron Boulton & Todd D. Little

  3. Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA

    Brian Noland

  4. Department of Behavioural Sciences and Philosophy, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Antti Kärnä

  5. Department of Psychology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Christina Salmivalli

  6. Faculty of Arts and Education, University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway

    Christina Salmivalli

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  1. Anne Williford
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  2. Aaron Boulton
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  3. Brian Noland
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  4. Todd D. Little
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  5. Antti Kärnä
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  6. Christina Salmivalli
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Correspondence to Anne Williford.

Additional information

This project was supported by the Ministry of Education, Finland.

Parts of this work are based on the dissertation at the University of Kansas of the third author. The production of this manuscript was supported by the Center for Research Methods and Data Analysis at the University of Kansas.

An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10802-011-9562-y.

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Williford, A., Boulton, A., Noland, B. et al. Effects of the KiVa Anti-bullying Program on Adolescents’ Depression, Anxiety, and Perception of Peers. J Abnorm Child Psychol 40, 289–300 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-011-9551-1

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