Reducing Physical Bullying and Improving Social Competence in Students: From Functional Behavior Assessment to Developing Behavioral Intervention

The present study aimed to identify the function of physical bullying behavior, develop and evaluate the effectiveness of multifaceted function-based intervention, and to compare antecedent and consequence- based interventions and replacement behavior training on the bullying behavior and social competence of bully students. The study subjects consisted of sixty bully students, fifteen pro-bully students and nine fifth-grade teachers, who were selected using the purposeful sampling, simple random sampling and screening procedures. Measurement instruments include the Participant Role Scale, Peer Nomination Form, Teacher Nomination Form, Illinois Bullying Scale, Self-report Scale for Social Competence, Motivation Assessment Scale and Problem Behavior Questionnaire. A pre-test/post-test and control group, semi-experimental design was used for the research. In this study, receiving sensory reinforcement was found to be the function or cause of bullying behavior in 45% of the bully subjects. The results of multivariate analysis of covariance revealed that reduced bullying behavior and improved social competence among the students are significantly associated with the multifaceted function-based behavioral intervention, but not alone with the antecedent- and consequence-based intervention and replacement behavior training. The results thus indicate the importance and the role that multifaceted function-based interventions have on reducing bullying behavior and improving the social competence of bully students, given the simultaneous change in antecedents, consequences and target behaviors. Limitations of research and implications for educational psychologists are discussed.