Volume_5_Issue_3_Digest

3 TPC Digest Bullying , the most common form of aggression experienced by school-aged youth today, remains an ever-growing concern for students, parents and educators. Peer aggression can result in a myriad of long-term consequences (academic, behavioral, emotional, social, psychological) for bullies, victims and bystanders alike. As leaders in the school community, school counselors are well qualified and positioned to offer interventions and support services to students to combat this problem. School counselors provide comprehensive programming that includes classroom guidance lessons on an array of developmental topics. Anti-bullying efforts can be effectively addressed in these settings, providing students with the knowledge, skills and support needed to reduce peer tensions and foster a positive, safe and friendly school climate. A variety of anti-bullying interventions have been developed, ranging in their levels of effectiveness. Recent studies cite the need for interventions that incorporate the whole school in an effort to address school culture. These comprehensive, systematic, long-term approaches seem more promising given their focus on education, as well as on the incorporation of strategies that develop prosocial skills in students. The Student Success Skills (SSS) 4–12 program is a comprehensive, evidence-based program that supports development of key skills (cognitive, social and self-management) in students. These key skills are taught in the context of a positive, safe and caring learning environment, which is less likely to promote aggressive behaviors such as bullying. Evidence suggests that SSS positively affects student achievement as well as student behavior; however, to date, comparison studies have not been conducted on the behavior aspect. The researchers of the current study intended to link the SSS program to an increase in student prosocial behaviors, a decrease in bullying behaviors, increased engagement in school success skills and improved perceptions of classroom climate, outcomes that expand the SSS research line. This article reviews the findings of a quasi-experimental study conducted over the 2010–2011 school year, which involved fifth-grade students (N = 336) from five public elementary schools in one Florida school district. Researchers sought to investigate differences in prosocial behaviors, bullying behaviors, engagement in school success skills and perceptions of classroom climate between students in the treatment group, who received the school counselor-led SSS classroom guidance program, and those in the comparison group, who did not receive the intervention. SSS consists of five 45-minute classroom guidance lessons designed to be delivered a week apart, beginning in the fall, followed by three monthly booster lessons to be implemented in the spring. Student outcomes were investigated using the following three instruments: the Peer Relations Questionnaire, the Student Engagement in School Success Skills survey and the My Class Inventory–Short Form Revised. Findings resulted in statistically significant differences in several measures (p values ranged from .000 to .019) along with partial eta-squared effect sizes ranging from .01 (small) to .26 (quite large). Evidence supported the SSS classroom program as a positive intervention for affecting student engagement, perceptions and behavior. Melissa Mariani is an Assistant Professor at Florida Atlantic University. Linda Webb is Research Faculty III at Florida State University. Elizabeth Villares is an Associate Professor at Florida Atlantic University. Greg Brigman, NCC, is a Professor at Florida Atlantic University. Correspondence may be addressed to Melissa Mariani, 777 Glades Road, COE 47, 274, Boca Raton, FL 3343, mmarian5@fau.edu . Read full article and references: Mariani, M., Webb, L., Villares, E., & Brigman, G. (2015). Effect of participation in student success skills on prosocial and bullying behavior. The Professional Counselor , 5 , 341– 353. doi : 10.15241/mm.5.3.341 Effect of Participation in Student Success Skills on Prosocial and Bullying Behavior Melissa Mariani Linda Webb Elizabeth Villares Greg Brigman