Out-of-School Time Activity Participation, School Engagement and Positive Youth Development: Findings from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development

The relations in early adolescence among out-of-school-time activities and indicators of youth development were assessed through the use of 8th grade data from the longitudinal, 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development. Hierarchical multiple linear regressions indicated that “hanging out” with friends without set plans and excessive media use were associated with lower behavioral engagement with school, lower academic achievement, and higher rates of risk behaviors. Youth who ate dinner with their family reported higher levels of emotional engagement, lower depression and risk behaviors, and better grades. Engagement in civic activities was associated with higher levels of emotional engagement. Behavioral and emotional engagement were both associated with better grades and lower depression. Emotional school engagement was also associated with lower rates of risk behaviors. Implications of the findings for evaluating the role of out-of-school-time activities and behavioral and/or emotional school engagement in academic achievement and youth development are discussed

Évaluation du dispositif « Prévention et prise en charge du harcèlement, du cyber harcèlement et des discriminations en milieu scolaire : comment agir sur les violences visibles et invisibles en éducation scolaire ? » Rapport final de l’année 2015-2016.

En septembre 2015, une circulaire ministérielle proposait aux établissements scolaires de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles de nouveaux dispositifs en matière de prévention et de prise en charge du harcèlement en milieu scolaire. Un mois plus tôt, le Gouvernement de la Communauté française octroyait une subvention à l’Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) en vue de réaliser l’évaluation de l’efficacité d'un de ces dispositifs, diffusé dans les écoles par l’équipe du Professeur Willy Lahaye de l’Université de Mons. La mission d’évaluation de l’UCL, sous la direction du professeur Benoît Galand, s’articule autour de deux volets : l’évaluation de l’efficacité du dispositif, d’une part, et la compréhension des conditions d’implémentation, d’autre part. Ce rapport présente les résultats des informations recueillies sur ces deux voltes pour la première année de mise ne oeuvre du dispositif

L’aménagement des cours de récréation et l’organisation d’espaces de parole permettent-ils de réduire le harcèlement scolaire ?

Cet article présente deux études qui visent à évaluer l’efficacité d’un dispositif de prévention et de lutte contre le harcèlement scolaire basé sur l’aménagement de la cour de récréation, l’organisation d’espaces de parole avec les élèves et l’instauration d’un conseil de discipline. Ces études suivent un plan de recherche quasi-expérimental impliquant un groupe intervention et un groupe témoin ainsi qu’une comparaison pré-test/post-test. Des mesures liées aux violences agies et subies, au climat scolaire, à l’adaptation psycho-sociale des élèves ainsi qu’à la cohésion et à l’efficacité perçue de l’équipe éducative ont été recueillies auprès de plus de 2 000 élèves de 8 à 13 ans et d’une centaine d’enseignants pour l’étude 1, et de 534 élèves de 10 à 12 ans pour l’étude 2. Les résultats convergent pour indiquer l’absence d’effet du dispositif évalué et soulignent l’importance des conditions de mise en oeuvre ainsi que la nécessité d’évaluer rigoureusement les programmes avant leur diffusion à large échelle

L’aménagement des cours de récréation et l’organisation d’espaces de parole permettent-ils de réduire le harcèlement scolaire ?

Cet article présente deux études qui visent à évaluer l’efficacité d’un dispositif de prévention et de lutte contre le harcèlement scolaire basé sur l’aménagement de la cour de récréation, l’organisation d’espaces de parole avec les élèves et l’instauration d’un conseil de discipline. Ces études suivent un plan de recherche quasi-expérimental impliquant un groupe intervention et un groupe témoin ainsi qu’une comparaison pré-test/post-test. Des mesures liées aux violences agies et subies, au climat scolaire, à l’adaptation psycho-sociale des élèves ainsi qu’à la cohésion et à l’efficacité perçue de l’équipe éducative ont été recueillies auprès de plus de 2 000 élèves de 8 à 13 ans et d’une centaine d’enseignants pour l’étude 1, et de 534 élèves de 10 à 12 ans pour l’étude 2. Les résultats convergent pour indiquer l’absence d’effet du dispositif évalué et soulignent l’importance des conditions de mise en œuvre ainsi que la nécessité d’évaluer rigoureusement les programmes avant leur diffusion à large échelle.This paper presents two studies assessing the effectiveness of a new anti-bullying programme. The programme involves redesigning the school playground, holding daily discussion forums led by teachers, and setting up a disciplinary board. These studies use a quasi-experimental research plan, with an intervention group and a control group, and a pre-test/post-test comparison. Measures related to bullying and victimization, the school climate, the psychosocial adjustment of the pupils, as well as the perceived efficacy and cohesion of the school staff, were collected from more than 2,000 pupils between the ages of 8 and 13 and around a hundred teachers (study 1), and from 534 pupils between the ages of 10 and 12 (study 2). The results consistently indicate that the programme shows no effect and underline both the importance of the conditions in which it is implemented and the need for anti-bullying programmes to be rigorously assessed before being disseminated on a large scale

Bullying and cyberbullying in Belgian primary schools: The evaluation of an anti-bullying program

Background. Bullying and cyberbullying are increasingly being recognized as important problems affecting children’s well-being and social functioning (Kowalski et al., 2014). As a consequence, multiple school-wide intervention programs have been developed to reduce bullying in schools (for review, Farrington & Ttofi, 2007). Purpose. Despite the existence of numerous anti-bullying trainings and programs in the French speaking part of Belgium, none has yet been identified as evidence-based. The Ministry of Education has thus funded the evaluation of an existing anti-bullying program. Our goal was to evaluate the effectiveness of this program. Program description. This anti-bullying program, developed by the University of Mons, has three main components: the regulation of the school playground by creating different zones, peer mediation, and rule-enforcement committee, which involves parents, teachers, and/or school directors. The program aims at reducing bullying and victimization by conflict management and violence prevention. Sample. We obtained data from 2,353 primary school children (47.8% female, mean age = 10.16 years, SD = 1.07). Twenty-two schools from a geographically representative sample were assigned in either the intervention or the control group. All children filled an online questionnaire in their school’s computer lab. Design and methods. We used a pre-test/post-test design. The pre-test data were collected in December 2015. The intervention took place during the second half of the school year. We collected data on bullying, cyberbullying, victimization, cybervictimization, perceived violence, peer rejection, and negative affect. The first post-test was executed at the end of the same school year, in June 2016. The second post-test data will be collected in December 2016. Results. A 2 (Time) X 2 (Group) multivariate analysis of variance yielded a main effect of Time, (F (1, 2563) = 17.80, p <.001 and Group, F (1, 2563) = 3.00, p <.01. The Group X Time interaction was not significant. At Time 2, regardless of their groups, students reported significantly lower rates of bullying and victimization but higher rates of perceived violence and peer rejection. Students in the intervention group reported perceiving violence at significantly lower rates than their peers in the control group at both times, F (1, 2563) = 16.08, p <.001. Conclusion. Our findings so far suggest this anti-bullying program may not be effective in reducing bullying or cyberbullying in schools. In fact, some schools in the control group also actively tried to reduce bullying through more informal practices such as inviting experts to discuss how to prevent bullying at school. Although further analyses are needed, our results show this anti-bullying program may not be more effective than some of these practices. We will present the results from the second post-test and discuss research and policy implications

An instrument to operationalize the balance between risks and resources and predict job burnout

The goal of the present paper was to develop a valid and reliable instrument to operationalize the balance between job demands and resources in order to predict job burnout. After generating the items, we first conducted a cross-sectional study (Study 1) based on 656 participants, which provided preliminary evidence for the validity of the balance. We then conducted a longitudinal study (Study 2) based on 882 participants to improve and validate the final version of the balance. In study 1, the (im)balance between risks and resources explained a high percentage of variance in job burnout (44%) and a significant percentage in job turnover intention (27%) as well as subjective health (12%). In study 2, results indicated that a change in the balance produced significant change in job burnout scores over time. In addition, balance scores positively predicted positive outcomes (i.e., overall job satisfaction and subjective health) and negatively predicted negative outcomes (i.e., job turnover intention, counterproductive behaviors at work, depression, alcohol use, sleep disorders and somatic complaints). Findings support the usefulness of the Balance for clinicians, companies and researchers interested in assessing job demands and resources