Support groups reduce bullying: study

The first scientific study of peer support programs has found they are reducing the amount of bullying in schools.

The research from the University of Western Sydney has also found almost three quarters of students made new friends during the program.

Col Harrison from the Peer Support Foundation says the study has confirmed what a lot of anecdotal evidence has been saying for years.

"Attitudes to bullying behaviours was one of the significant findings," he said.

"As far as we were concerned it helped kids to identify their role, whether or not they were directly involved or indirectly, being a bystander or a looker on, that they still had a role to play."

By No Smack 10 March 05