SynthesisJournal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines2022
Research Review: Do antibullying interventions reduce internalizing symptoms? A systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression exploring intervention components, moderators, and mechanisms.
Synthesis in Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness of bullying prevention-associated interventions among children and adolescents: an umbrella review of systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Response: Clarifying the evidence and our position on universal school-based mental health interventions: A response to Bonell et al.Child and adolescent mental health · 2026Article
- Peer Victimization, Bullying, and Sexual Orientation-Related Health Disparities: Conceptual and Methodological Distinctions and Considerations.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2026Article
- Annual Research Review: Improving school climate to improve child and adolescent mental health and reduce inequalities.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2026Review
- Teacher-student relationship quality and social, academic, and behavioral adjustment are associated within and between persons from kindergarten to grade 6.Developmental psychology · 2026Article
- Let's Learn About Emotions Program: Acceptability, Fidelity, and Students' Mental Well-Being Outcomes for Finnish Primary School Children.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The Perniciousness and Promise of School-Based Mental Health Service Delivery for Youth.Research on child and adolescent psychopathology · 2025Review
- The Lifelong Impact of Bullying Behaviours on Crime Through David Farrington's Legacy.Criminal behaviour and mental health : CBMH · 2025Article
- When Push Comes to Shove: Unravelling the Developmental and Longitudinal Dynamic Relationship between Bullying and Empathy in Chinese School Children.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2025Article
- Article
- Upholding the Human Rights and Well-Being of Refugee Children Through Effective Clinical Care.Child and adolescent psychiatric clinics of North America · 2024Review
- Bullying fosters interpersonal distrust and degrades adolescent mental health as predicted by Social Safety Theory.Nature. Mental health · 2024Article
- Do no harm: can school mental health interventions cause iatrogenic harm?BJPsych bulletin · 2023Review
- Article
- The Association between Internalizing Symptoms and Witnessing School Bullying and Defending Behavior: An Analysis of Gender Differences among Elementary and Middle School Students.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEffective antibullying interventions may reduce the impact of bullying on young people's mental health. Nevertheless, little is known about their effectiveness in reducing internalizing symptoms such as anxiety or depression, and what factors may influence intervention effects. The aim of this systematic review, meta-analysis, and metaregression is to assess the effects of school-based antibullying interventions on children's and adolescent's internalizing symptoms. The secondary aims are to explore potential moderators, intervention components, and reductions in bullying as mediators of intervention effects on internalizing symptoms.
methodsWe searched nine databases: PsycINFO, Web of Science, ERIC, SCOPUS, CINAHL, Medline, Embase, ProQuest, and Cochrane Library, and performed an author search of included studies in English from January 1983 to April 2021. We included studies that evaluated school-based antibullying interventions using controlled designs and reporting on both bullying and internalizing outcomes. Random-effects and metaregression models were used to derive Hedges g values with pooled 95% CIs as estimates of effect size and to test associations between moderator variables and effect size estimates. Path analysis was used to test potential mediation using effect size measures of victimization, perpetration, and internalizing outcomes. Quality and risk of bias were assessed using Cochrane collaboration tools.
resultsThis review included 22 studies with 58,091 participants in the meta-analysis. Antibullying interventions had a very small effect in reducing overall internalizing symptoms (ES, 0.06; 95% CI, 0.0284 to 0.1005), anxiety (ES, 0.08; 95% CI, 0.011 to 0.158), and depression (ES, 0.06; 95% CI, 0.014 to 0.107) at postintervention. The reduction in internalizing symptoms did not vary significantly across geographic location, grade level, program duration, and intensity. The intervention component 'working with peers' was associated with a significant reduction, and 'using CBT techniques' was associated with a significant increase in internalizing outcomes. Bullying victimization and perpetration did not mediate the relationship between intervention condition and internalizing outcomes.
conclusionsAntibullying interventions have a small impact on reducing internalizing symptoms. Ongoing development of antibullying interventions should address how best to maximize their impact on internalizing symptoms to safeguard young people from the damaging mental health outcomes of bullying.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.