Effects of Olweus Bullying Prevention Program on Elementary-School Student's Bullying, Social Skills, and Self-Esteem

The main purpose of the present research is to study the effects of Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) on bullying, social skills, and self-esteem of five-graders. The statistical population included 19752 students studying in the school year 2011-2012. The method was experimental with pre-test, post-test, and control group. The research sample consisted of 60 bullying students who were selected by available sampling and assigned randomly to control group (n=30) and experimental group (n=30). Both groups responded to Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire-Revised (OB/VQ-R), Matson Social Skills Scale, and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. The data were analyzed using MANOVA and multiple regression analysis. The results indicated that the two groups showed significant difference in bullying but not in social skills and self-esteem. Multiple regression analysis step-by-step method results indicated that self-esteem predicted and explained 44 percent of the variance of bullying while the subscales of social skills failed to do so.