Intervention for Reactive/Proactive Aggressors and Aggressive/Pure Victims of School Bullying in Hong Kong: A Review and New Developments

No prior study has focused on intervention specifically for high-risk schoolchildren with both subtypes of aggression, reactive and proactive aggression, as well as both subtypes of victimization, aggressive and pure victimization. It was being ignored by the researchers that not much work has been done on evidence-based evaluations of longitudinal study of the effectiveness of interventions for such the above specific children. Based on the pioneering longitudinal mixed-methods study of the effectiveness of Cognitive-behavioral Group Therapy on aggressive victimization conducted by Fung in 2012, recent further studies have proven the effectiveness of Cognitive-behavioral Group Therapy for schoolchildren with pure victimization as well as those with reactive or proactive aggression. A review of quantitative and qualitative results found consistent findings indicating that schoolchildren’s cognition, emotion, and behavior were positively reconstructed by group interventions. Furthermore, an evidence-based study on adopting Cognitive-behavioral Group Therapy in the parallel parent-child group, child-only group, and parent-only group for reducing schoolchildren with reactive and proactive aggression, the most significant outcome was found in child-only group rather than parent-only and parallel parent-child group. It confirmed that children directly involvement was the most effective format. These studies have had important short and long-term impacts, such as lessening school bullying, violence, and peer victimization in school settings, reducing juvenile delinquency and adult crime including intimidation, assault, and homicide. There will be enormous across-the-board financial savings to society. It is believed that by intervening before these adult problems fully develop; a more cost-effective way to reduce the long-term burdens on society can be achieved. However, limitations such as the attrition rate and the availability of control groups limit the power of the research. Implications for future research direction and intervention were discussed.