Bully prevention campaign cracks down on gossip

By Staff Writer

Elementary schools that adopted a three-month anti-bullying program have reported a 72 percent decrease in malicious gossip, according to researchers from the University of Washington.

The study, which was published in the winter edition of the School Psychology Review, is the first to show that the Steps to Respect bullying prevention program can help reduce gossip. Researchers used Palm Pilots to electronically record observations of more than 600 students at elementary schools in the Seattle area. They tracked the kids' behavior for five minutes once a week for 10 weeks in the fall and 10 more in the spring.

The Steps to Respect program provided lessons that encouraged empathy among children in grades three through six. The campaign's organizers also taught children how to assert themselves and report any incident of bullying.

Karin Frey, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington, said that gossiping - which includes teasing, name-calling and rumor-spreading - can be just as painful for kids as being victimized by physical bullying. In many cases, she said, verbal bullying leads to physical altercations.

A survey funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development reports that more than 16 percent of U.S. children said that they had been bullied during their most recent academic term.