Students for Peace

Students for Peace

OVERVIEW

Students for Peace is a multi-component violence-prevention program for middle school students. Students are taught a violence-prevention curriculum, engage in peer mediation, and provide newsletters for parents. Results of this random assignment study showed no impact on fights in school, being injured in a fight, perceived school safety, threatening to hurt others, or overall aggression.

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Target Population Middle school students

The Students for Peace (SP) is a violence-prevention program based on Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1986), which uses the Second Step: A Violence Prevention Curriculum, as well as two other student training programs: Peer Mediation and Peers Helping Peers. Second Step is designed to reduce impulsive and aggressive behavior and increase social competence. Second Step includes information about violence and training on empathy, conflict resolution, and anger management. Teachers participate in a two-hour training session on the curriculum. In Peer Mediation, students are trained to mediate conflicts among fellow students formally and informally. Name-calling, rumors, and threats are addressed. Depending on school size, 50-60 students are trained as peer mediators, with teachers serving as sponsors to meet regularly with the students. Peers Helping Peers trains students to meet in a one-on-one setting with other students requesting help because of alcohol or drug use, school attendance, peer or family conflict, or academic problems. Within the school, a School Health Promotion Council is formed to coordinate curriculum and implementation and organize peace-related activities such as writing contests or plays. The Council is composed of a paid coordinator, three to 10 teachers, and a school nurse or counselor. Parents receive newsletters with descriptions from parents and students about avoiding and preventing violence. Parents are encouraged to use positive conflict resolution skills, increase parental monitoring, and reduce modeling and praising aggressive behavior.

EVALUATION OF PROGRAM

Orpinas, P., Kelder, S., Frankowski, R., Murray, N., Zhang, Q., & McAlister, A. (2000). Outcome evaluation of a multi-component violence-prevention program for middle schools: The Students for Peace project. Health Education Research, 15(1), 45-58.

Evaluated Population: Eight middle schools from a large, urban school district in Texas participated in this evaluation. Approximately 50% of the sample was male, 68% was Hispanic, 17% was African American, and 8% was white. Approximately 60% of the students received free or reduced cost lunch and approximately 50% of the students were at risk of dropping out of school.

Approach: The eight middle schools were divided into matched pairs based on ethnic composition, levels of aggression, and frequency of fights. One school in each pair was randomly assigned to the treatment or control group. Control schools received the standard district violence-prevention activities. Some control schools had a Peer Mediation or Peers Helping Peers program, but they were delivered with less intensity than in intervention schools. Students were measured on aggressive behavior, frequency of fights at school, frequency of injuries due to fights, perceptions of school safety, and frequency of threats received at school.

Results: At post-test, one-year, and two-year follow-up, there were no significant differences between the intervention and control groups on frequency of fights in school, being injured in a fight, perceived school safety, threatening to hurt others, or overall aggression.

Sources for More Information

References

Program categorized in this guide according to the following:

Evaluated participant ages: 11-12

Program components: School-based

Measured outcomes: Behavioral problems

KEYWORDS: School-based, Children (3-11), Adolescents (12-17), Middle School, Co-ed, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, Urban, Aggression/Violence/Bullying, Parent/Family Component.

Last Updated: 6/10/10