A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Interventions to Decrease Cyberbullying Perpetration and Victimization, United States, 2003-2019 (ICPSR 37676)

Version Date: Nov 10, 2022

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Principal Investigator(s):
Joshua R. Polanin, American Institutes for Research; Dorothy L. Espelage, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37676.v1

Version V1

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Summary

This study is driven by the hypothesis that intervention and prevention programs to address violence and bullying in general, and cyberbullying in particular, can affect students' cyberbullying perpetration and victimization outcomes. Cyberbullying can occur throughout a student's day via various information and communication technologies. Thus, school administrators, teachers, and researchers have a unique opportunity to implement prevention programs that will, in addition to reducing toxic behavior, increase students' academic achievement, attendance, and rates of high school graduation. The researchers used meta-analytic techniques, such as combining all available effect sizes using robust variance estimation, to determine program effects. Specifically, the team answered the following questions:

  1. What is the overall impact of anti-cyberbullying, traditional anti-bullying, anti-violence, and school-climate intervention and prevention programming on cyberbullying perpetration and victimization?
  2. Are there certain program characteristics, types, or genres that are ineffective at producing meaningful changes in students' cyberbullying behaviors?
  3. Are there additional characteristics of the primary studies' methodologies, measurements, or samples that significantly and meaningfully moderate the intervention effect size?
  4. Do the programs have an impact on secondary outcomes, such as traditional bullying perpetration and student achievement?

Citation

Polanin, Joshua R., and Espelage, Dorothy L. A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Interventions to Decrease Cyberbullying Perpetration and Victimization, United States, 2003-2019. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2022-11-10. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37676.v1

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Funding

United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. National Institute of Justice (2017-CK-BX-0009)

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Time Period(s)

2003 -- 2019

Date of Collection

2018 -- 2019
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Study Purpose

The purpose of the study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies that measure the impacts of school violence, bullying, and targeted cyberbullying prevention programming on cyberbullying perpetration and victimization outcomes, school performance indicators, and in-person bullying perpetration and victimization.

Study Design

To find literature, the research team conducted two rounds of electronic database searching (April 23, 2018; August 5, 2019) using keywords related to cyberbullying, schools, interventions, and comparison groups. Auxiliary searches were conducted via reference harvesting, forward citation searching, and searching in key journals that publish studies on school violence and cyberbullying. Study authors were also contacted directly in cases where studies implemented general bullying or violence prevention programs but it was unclear if cyberbullying was also measured.

Separate analyses were conducted for four outcomes: cyberbullying perpetration, cyberbullying victimization, traditional bullying perpetration, and traditional bullying victimization. The research team used random-effects modeling with robust variance estimation to estimate meta-analytic models, then conducted exploratory and confirmatory meta-regression moderator analyses predicting each of the four outcomes.

The initial searches yielded 11,304 results, reduced to 8,356 after removing duplicates. Abstracts were then screened, resulting in 539 citations. Full-text retrieval resulted in 464 PDFs, which were then reviewed for inclusion eligibility. 90 PDFs were retained. Reports that used the same sample were grouped together, resulting in a final sample size of 50 eligible reports from 90 independent studies and 428 relevant effect sizes.

Sample

All types of study reports, published and unpublished, were included. Eligible studies for this meta-analysis had to meet the following criteria:

  • Study design tested the effects of an intervention on K-12 students, with no limitations on the type of intervention
  • Study design contained an eligible comparison group, meaning that the minimal treatment had been shown to be ineffective
  • Study design used either randomized controlled trials or quasi-experimental designs in assigning participants, classrooms, schools, or school districts to a condition (no limitation on level of assignment)
  • Study design contained a cyberbullying perpetration or victimization outcome variable, even if not reported
  • Study was published on or after 1995
  • Study was published in English, Spanish, or Turkish, representing the native languages of the team members

Time Method

Cross-sectional

Universe

Published or unpublished studies that analyzed the effect of intervention programs with a cyberbullying component within K-12 schools.

Unit(s) of Observation

Other

Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection

Description of Variables

Predictor variables included in the analysis were country of origin (U.S. vs. non-U.S.), program target (whether or not cyberbullying was specifically targeted), second measurement timepoint (post-test vs. follow-up), effect size type (dichotomous vs. continuous), percentage of male participants in the study sample, and percentage of non-white participants in the study sample.

Other study descriptor variables were related to intervention name, length, components, and implementation; funding status; school setting; published status; and study design, including outcome measurement.

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Original Release Date

2022-11-10

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Notes

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