The Causal Impact of an Anti-bullying Intervention on Children’s Development

Last registered on January 30, 2023

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

The Causal Impact of an Anti-bullying Intervention on Children’s Development

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0010879

Initial registration date

January 27, 2023

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

January 30, 2023, 5:54 AM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country

Finland

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Ana Costa-Ramon

Affiliation

University of Zurich

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Ana Rodríguez-González

PI Affiliation

Lund University

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Ursina Schaede

PI Affiliation

MIT

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

Completed

Start date

2007-01-01

End date

2009-06-01

Keywords

Education

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.

Abstract

In this project, we study the impact of an anti-bullying randomized intervention at schools on child development.
KiVa is a large-scale anti-bullying program implemented in Finnish compulsory schools in 2007-2009. We use the original KiVa RCT data to evaluate the program's impact on children's immediate outcomes. In addition, we will link this survey data from the randomized intervention to administrative population records to examine the causal effect of the program on children's health, education, and labor market outcomes as young adults.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Costa-Ramon, Ana, Ana Rodríguez-González and Ursina Schaede. 2023. "The Causal Impact of an Anti-bullying Intervention on Children’s Development." AEA RCT Registry. January 30. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.10879-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The KiVa program was launched as a collaboration between the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture and the University of Turku.

The KiVa anti-bullying program is predicated on the idea that the way peer bystanders react when witnessing bullying is crucial for putting an end to (or sustaining) it. Influencing the peer context is therefore an essential part of the KiVa program. The program is an intensive intervention that includes both universal (targeted at all students) and indicated actions (implemented when a case of bullying comes to attention). The universal actions consist of student lessons and a virtual learning environment (an anti-bullying computer game for primary school students and an Internet forum ‘‘KiVa Street’’ for secondary school students). The student lessons include discussion, video films, and
exercises done in dyads and small groups. The topics cover various issues related to group interaction and group pressure, the mechanisms and consequences of bullying, different forms of bullying, and especially, what the students can do together to counteract bullying and support the victimized peers. The virtual learning environments are closely connected to the topics of the lessons and themes, motivating students and enhancing their learning process. In addition, the universal actions include a parents’ guide as well as symbols (posters, highly visible vests for teachers supervising recess time), reminding both students and school personnel of the topic.

The indicated interventions involve discussions with victims and bullies, as well as with selected prosocial classmates who are challenged to support the victimized classmate. The discussions with the bullies and victims are ran by the so-called KiVa teams within the schools, whereas the classroom teacher organizes a separate meeting with the potential supporters of the victim.

Intervention Start Date

2007-01-01

Intervention End Date

2009-06-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

From the KiVa survey data, we focus on three dimensions: bullying, victimization, and mental health.
From the administrative data, we are interested in studying the following dimensions: mental health, physical health, crime, education, and labor market outcomes.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Application behavior after compulsory schooling, siblings' health and educational attainment, and parental health, marriage stability, and labor market outcomes.

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

The RCT KiVa anti-bullying program was implemented for two consecutive school years: in 2007–08, for grades 4–6 (primary school, children aged 10–12) and in 2008–09, for grades 1–3 (primary school, children aged 7–9) and 7–9 (secondary school, students aged 13–15).

The randomization was stratified at the province and school-language level (Finnish or Swedish).

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization done in office by a computer

Randomization Unit

Randomization was done at the school level

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

In the first wave, 77 schools in Finland participated in the program. We refer to this as RCT1.

In the second wave, a total of 147 schools in Finland participated, with 74 in grades 1 to 3 (which we refer to as RCT2) and 74 schools in grades 7-9, respectively (RCT3).

Sample size: planned number of observations

Approximately 25000 individuals

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

RCT1 (grades 4-6): 38 schools in the control group and 39 in the treatment.
RCT2 (grades1-3): 36 schools in the control group and 38 in the treatment.
RCT3 (grades 7-9): 35 schools in the control group and 39 in the treatment

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB