A study of children in 37 Maryland elementary schools has found that teachers in schools that implemented schoolwide positive behavioral interventions and supports reported lower rates of bullying and peer rejection than those in schools that didn’t use such methods.
The underlying idea of the interventions is to teach behavioral expectations in the same way any other core subject would be taught.
The Johns Hopkins University researchers who conducted the study also said their results suggest that the effects of the interventions on rejection were strongest among children who were first exposed to them at a younger age.
The study was published online last week by the Journal of the American Medical Association.
