Improving social competencies and fighting bullying: effects of an intervention addressing social skills

Abstract

Bullying is the intentional manifestation of violent and repetitive attitudes committed by one or more people toward peers. Because of its negative effect on the development, physical and psychosocial well-being of children and adolescents, bullying is considered an important problem to be investigated and dealt with in schools. Because the literature shows that victims present lower levels of social abilities, this study's aim is to verify whether training students to acquire social skills can help them change their situation of vulnerability to bullying. This case-control study will be conducted with 6th grade students from five public schools located in Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil, with follow-up one year after the intervention, which is expected to improve the students' social competencies and, consequently, reduce their vulnerability to bullying. (AU)