July 13, 2009

Contact:
Jeremy Craig, 404-413-1357
University Relations

CDC grant to fund GSU researchers’ investigations into ways to prevent bullying and its effects

ATLANTA — Three researchers at Georgia State University will explore ways to prevent bullying and its effects on schoolchildren, thanks to funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Regents Professor Joel Meyers and Associate Professor Kristen Varjas, of the Department of Counseling and Psychological Services, and Christopher Henrich, associate professor of psychology, will receive $799,639 over five years for two interconnected studies in a metro Atlanta school system.

“It's a pervasive social and societal problem with many negative effects on social and emotional development,” said Meyers, who is also director of Georgia State's Center for Research on School Safety, School Climate and Classroom Management in the university’s College of Education. "It causes not only injury, but also impacts how children perform in school. If a school environment is filled with physical and interpersonal violence of various kinds, it's less likely that children will be focused on the school work.”

The Georgia State research is part of a larger five-year, $5 million grant awarded to the Emory Center for Injury Control at Emory University as part of a CDC Injury Control Research Center designation. The five-year funding is devoted toward research on a wide variety of injuries, and their prevention and treatment.

“Injury can be physical and psychological,” said Meyers, who is the primary investigator in the Georgia State studies. “We’re delighted that the CDC and Emory are both interested in schools as a place where injuries can be controlled and prevented.”

The Center for Research on School Safety, School Climate and Classroom Management is an interdisciplinary center which supports efforts to better understand factors and preventative interventions affecting school safety, school climate and classroom management.

The first study will test a psychoeducational intervention program that targets fourth- and sixth-grade children who have been victims of bullying. The program includes helping children develop coping and decision-making skills, as well as to identify elements in their environments that they can use to deal with the situation. The children will be followed for a two-year period to evaluate the program’s effectiveness.

The second part of the research will develop and examine the impact of a bullying prevention program offered to not only children who are being bullied, but also bullies themselves, as well as those who aren’t involved in bullying.

Georgia State’s project is one of several under the overall $5 million CDC grant. Other institutions with projects funded by the grant include the University of Georgia and Emory University.

Additionally, Georgia State’s Monica Swahn, associate professor of public health and associate dean for research of the College of Health and Human Sciences, serves as the associate director for research at the Emory Center for Injury Control.