Harnessing the Power of Youth: An Evaluation of the Anti-Defamation League's Peer Leader Program

• In Event: 28.032 - Evaluation of School-Based Prevention Programs to Enhance Student Social and Emotional Well-Being

Abstract

Background: Incidents of identity-based bullying and harassment are on the rise in the U.S., and are associated with more adverse effects on emotional and physical health than other forms of harassment. Schools are increasingly implementing anti-bullying programs, but very few specifically target the role that peer influence plays in reducing the prevalence of identity-based bullying and harassment. To address this gap in prevention work, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) created a Peer Training Program (PTP), designed to harness the power of peer leaders in reducing identity-based bullying and harassment. Results from a field experiment to assess the impacts of the PTP on students’ attitudes and behavior towards prejudice and harassment indicated promising effects at the peer group level (Paluck, 2011), but school-wide effects have yet to be explored. This study fills this gap through considering school-wide impact of the PTP and more comprehensively examining peer group effects.

Research Aims: This study aims to determine the extent to which students in high schools implementing the ADL’s PTP report greater reductions in identity-based bullying, harassment, and discrimination, increases in ally behavior, and more respectful school communities than students in control schools. A secondary aim is to conduct a preliminary examination of the evolution and maintenance of peer friendship networks in the uptake of principles and behaviors associated with the PTP.

Method: Participants will be students from 10 New England high schools (approximately 5,500 students anticipated during the first round of survey administration). Five schools that have already committed to implementing the PTP in Fall 2018 will be assigned to the intervention group, and five schools who have committed to implementing the PTP in Fall 2019 will be matched (by school characteristics) to intervention schools and comprise the control group. Students will complete pre-test online surveys in the fall, and post-test online surveys 4 months later. Surveys will evaluate the presence of victimization, harassment, and discrimination at school, general peer-based victimization, prejudice, school climate, school racial climate, bystander/ally behaviors, and peer social support. Students will also identify their closest friends such that peer groups can be identified. Please note that the project is currently underway, and data will be definitely be collected prior to AERA.

Results: Analyses will assess differences on program outcomes between the treatment and control schools. This study will expand results results from the Paluck (2011) by assessing the effects of the PTP at the school level, and more closely examining social networks in order to further understand the mechanisms of peer influence.
Significance: Evaluating outcomes of the PTP can help us better understand the role of ally behaviors and peer influence in affecting the incidence of identity-based bullying, and inform school-based prevention efforts. Given the rise of identity-based bullying combined with the dearth of research on peer-led prevention programs, there is a clear need for further research in this area.

Authors

• Christine Marsico, Boston University

• Melissa K. Holt, Boston University

• Jennifer Greif Green, Boston University

• Dorothy L. Espelage, University of Florida

• Gabriel Joey Merrin, University of Illinois