Equipping Youth to Think and Act Responsibly: The Effectiveness of the “EQUIP for Educators” Program on Youths’ Self-Serving Cognitive Distortions and School Bullying Perpetration
School bullying is a serious public health concern in many countries worldwide. Over recent decades, several effective anti-bullying prevention programs have been developed. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an adapted version of the “Equipping Youth to Help One Another (EQUIP) for E...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-07-01
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| Series: | European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2254-9625/12/7/60 |
| _version_ | 1797466196734377984 |
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| author | Mirella Dragone Concetta Esposito Grazia De Angelis Dario Bacchini |
| author_facet | Mirella Dragone Concetta Esposito Grazia De Angelis Dario Bacchini |
| author_sort | Mirella Dragone |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | School bullying is a serious public health concern in many countries worldwide. Over recent decades, several effective anti-bullying prevention programs have been developed. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an adapted version of the “Equipping Youth to Help One Another (EQUIP) for Educators” (EfE) program in reducing adolescents’ engagement in school bullying perpetration by correcting their use of self-serving cognitive distortions (CDs). Furthermore, guided by the vantage sensitivity framework, we investigated whether the intervention effects varied depending on the adolescents’ gender and environmental sensitivity. A quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test with a control group design involved 354 Italian middle and high school adolescents (51.7% males; <i>M<sub>age</sub></i> = 14.86, <i>SD</i> = 2.54). Both the control (<i>n</i> = 187) and experimental group (<i>n</i> = 167) completed self-report questionnaires, before and after the intervention. Structural equation modeling revealed a significant moderated mediation effect: highly sensitive males participating in the EfE program decreased their engagement in bullying by reducing CDs, compared to females and those with low- and medium- sensitivity. These findings support the effectiveness of the EfE program in equipping youth to think and act more responsible and shed light on “why” and “for whom” the intervention might work better to counteract school bullying during adolescence. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T18:33:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9004e9fa6eb644618d5377b9a1af3c00 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2174-8144 2254-9625 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T18:33:22Z |
| publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-9004e9fa6eb644618d5377b9a1af3c002023-11-24T07:23:03ZengMDPI AGEuropean Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education2174-81442254-96252022-07-0112781483410.3390/ejihpe12070060Equipping Youth to Think and Act Responsibly: The Effectiveness of the “EQUIP for Educators” Program on Youths’ Self-Serving Cognitive Distortions and School Bullying PerpetrationMirella Dragone0Concetta Esposito1Grazia De Angelis2Dario Bacchini3Department of Humanistic Studies, University of Naples “Federico II”, 80133 Napoli, ItalyDepartment of Humanistic Studies, University of Naples “Federico II”, 80133 Napoli, ItalyDepartment of Humanistic Studies, University of Naples “Federico II”, 80133 Napoli, ItalyDepartment of Humanistic Studies, University of Naples “Federico II”, 80133 Napoli, ItalySchool bullying is a serious public health concern in many countries worldwide. Over recent decades, several effective anti-bullying prevention programs have been developed. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an adapted version of the “Equipping Youth to Help One Another (EQUIP) for Educators” (EfE) program in reducing adolescents’ engagement in school bullying perpetration by correcting their use of self-serving cognitive distortions (CDs). Furthermore, guided by the vantage sensitivity framework, we investigated whether the intervention effects varied depending on the adolescents’ gender and environmental sensitivity. A quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test with a control group design involved 354 Italian middle and high school adolescents (51.7% males; <i>M<sub>age</sub></i> = 14.86, <i>SD</i> = 2.54). Both the control (<i>n</i> = 187) and experimental group (<i>n</i> = 167) completed self-report questionnaires, before and after the intervention. Structural equation modeling revealed a significant moderated mediation effect: highly sensitive males participating in the EfE program decreased their engagement in bullying by reducing CDs, compared to females and those with low- and medium- sensitivity. These findings support the effectiveness of the EfE program in equipping youth to think and act more responsible and shed light on “why” and “for whom” the intervention might work better to counteract school bullying during adolescence.https://www.mdpi.com/2254-9625/12/7/60EQUIP for educatorsbullying perpetrationself-serving cognitive distortionsenvironmental sensitivityadolescence |
| spellingShingle | Mirella Dragone Concetta Esposito Grazia De Angelis Dario Bacchini Equipping Youth to Think and Act Responsibly: The Effectiveness of the “EQUIP for Educators” Program on Youths’ Self-Serving Cognitive Distortions and School Bullying Perpetration European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education EQUIP for educators bullying perpetration self-serving cognitive distortions environmental sensitivity adolescence |
| title | Equipping Youth to Think and Act Responsibly: The Effectiveness of the “EQUIP for Educators” Program on Youths’ Self-Serving Cognitive Distortions and School Bullying Perpetration |
| title_full | Equipping Youth to Think and Act Responsibly: The Effectiveness of the “EQUIP for Educators” Program on Youths’ Self-Serving Cognitive Distortions and School Bullying Perpetration |
| title_fullStr | Equipping Youth to Think and Act Responsibly: The Effectiveness of the “EQUIP for Educators” Program on Youths’ Self-Serving Cognitive Distortions and School Bullying Perpetration |
| title_full_unstemmed | Equipping Youth to Think and Act Responsibly: The Effectiveness of the “EQUIP for Educators” Program on Youths’ Self-Serving Cognitive Distortions and School Bullying Perpetration |
| title_short | Equipping Youth to Think and Act Responsibly: The Effectiveness of the “EQUIP for Educators” Program on Youths’ Self-Serving Cognitive Distortions and School Bullying Perpetration |
| title_sort | equipping youth to think and act responsibly the effectiveness of the equip for educators program on youths self serving cognitive distortions and school bullying perpetration |
| topic | EQUIP for educators bullying perpetration self-serving cognitive distortions environmental sensitivity adolescence |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2254-9625/12/7/60 |
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