The WITS Programs: Changing the Context of Peer
Victimization
www.witsprogram.ca
What is peer victimization?
Peer Victimization is the experience of being a target of a peer’s hurtful teasing and aggressive behavior
Two subtypes of victimization:
Physical Victimization involves overt, direct actions aimed at causing a child bodily harm or threats of harm
Relational Victimization involves covert, indirect actions directed at damaging a child’s social status in the peer group
Prevalence of Peer Victimization
Approximately 1 in 10 children are persistently victimized by peers
Frequency of victimization episodes is generally higher in the early elementary grades
Episodes of victimization become more chronic in the late elementary grades
WITS Classroom and Community
Resources
1. Emergency Services Personnel Manual
2. University Student/WITS Representative
3. WITS Booklist
4. Curriculum for Teachers and Librarians
5. Activities for the Classroom and School
6. Resource Pamphlets for Parents: Using Your WITS at Home Cyberbullying
What is Unique about the WITS Programs?
The WITS Programs are community-based programs that:
Call upon community champions including schools, families, and emergency services personnel to promote prosocial behaviors and to help children deal with peer victimization
Take a comprehensive, multi-setting approach to reducing peer victimization and enhancing social competence at the school- and classroom-level
Give a common language for children and adults to use to resolve conflicts peacefully
WITS Program Evaluation 1 Participants & Data Collection
Data were collected from eleven program schools and six control schools
Wave 1 Wave 2 Wave 3 Wave 4
• Fall of 2000
• N = 432
•Beginning of 1st grade
• Spring of 2001
• N = 423
•End of 1st grade
• Spring of 2002
•N = 397
•End of 2nd grade
• Spring of 2003
• N = 385
•End of 3rd grade
Indicators of Success
Measures that were examined:
Children’s ratings on:
Physical Victimization How often are you hit by another kid at school?
Relational Victimization How often does another kid tell lies about you to
make other kids not like you anymore?
Rates of Decline for Physical Victimization
Rates of Decline for Relational Victimization
Understanding the findings
Children in the WITS schools report more victimization. Why? All of the WITS program schools had the WITS
program by the time this study was under way. Higher levels of reporting may reflect the program children’s greater awareness of what victimization is and their willingness to report it or “Seek Help”.
Rates of victimization reported decline over the three years of elementary school for these children in program schools but not in the control schools.
Follow-Up Study
Goals:
1. To assess the effectiveness of the WITS Program with a broader & more independent sample of schools
Indicators of Success
WITS Program Evaluation 2
WITS Program Evaluation 2
Participants & Data Collection Data were collected from six program schools and
five control schools
Wave 1 Wave 2 Wave 3
• Fall of 2006
• N = 829 (472 in program schools)
• Grades 1 to 3 students
• Fall of 2007
• N = 737 (422 in program schools)
• Spring of 2008
• N = 732 (418 in program schools)
Measures that were examined:
Children’s ratings on:
Physical Victimization (e.g., hitting, pushing)
Relational Victimization (e.g., social exclusion, rumour-spreading)
Peer Support (e.g., receiving help, being cheered up by classmates)
Teacher’s ratings on: Social Responsibility (e.g., giving help to others, solving
problems in peaceful ways)
Average Levels of Physical & Relational Victimization
Physical Victimization The rate of decline in
physical victimization was significantly greater in program than control schools
Relational Victimization The rate of decline in
relational victimization was greater in program than control schools
Note: Children in program schools reported higher initial levels of physical & relational victimization, possibly due to a greater awareness of victimization created by the WITS Program
Average Levels of Peer Support & Social Responsibility
Peer Support Levels of peer support did
not significantly differ in program and control schools
Social Responsibility Teachers of children in
program schools reported higher average levels of social responsibility at each time point, compared to control schools.
Conclusion
WITS joins a growing number of studies showing promise of school, parent, and community involvement in interventions for reducing peer victimization in elementary schools
Peer Victimization can be reduced through:
multi-setting programs and multiple systems of support that include visible (uniformed) community members, school staff and parents
strategies that convey consistent and developmentally appropriate messages for peaceful conflict resolution across contexts