Peer Relationship Program: Effects on Bullying, Peer Relations, Self-Efficacy, and Critical Thinking

Overview

This study examines the effects of a Peer Relationship Enhancement Program on early adolescents' attitudes toward bullying, friendships, self-efficacy, and critical thinking skills. Participants will be early adolescents aged 11-12 years attending secondary schools. The program consists of 9 weekly group sessions with activities aimed at strengthening peer relationships and social skills. Assessments will be conducted before and after the program. The study is expected to help improve participants' self-efficacy, friendships, and taking an effective stance against bullying, critical thinking abilities.

In Turkey, correlational research has been conducted over the last five years, with almost no experimental studies. Correlational studies have been conducted primarily with kindergarten and high school groups. Research indicates that there is no preventive research aimed at strengthening peer relationships among pre-adolescent children in middle school regarding their attitudes toward peer bullying. Consequently, these studies, both international and domestic, demonstrate that functional peer relationships, attitudes toward bullying, self-efficacy, and critical thinking skills are not addressed together. Therefore, the planned study is highly original and will contribute to existing scientific knowledge. Because peer bullying is an environmental risk factor that significantly impacts peer relationships, seven secondary schools affiliated with the Ministry of National Education in the Sapanca district of Sakarya province constitute the population of the study. This study, which will examine the effects of the Strengthening Functional Peer Relationships Program developed for pre-adolescent children on children's attitudes toward bullying, peer relationships, self-efficacy levels, and critical thinking skills, will utilize a pre-test, post-test, control group experimental design that requires measurements in control and experimental groups before and after the training. The study sample consisted of 48 6th-grade middle school students (ages 11-12) aged 11-12 who agreed to participate in the study. Before developing the Strengthening Functional Peer Relationships Program for pre-adolescent children, a needs assessment was conducted to identify topics in which they needed support regarding peer relationships, based on teachers' observations, to ensure the program was appropriate for the children's needs. Module topics were then determined, and an "Expert Opinion Form" prepared by the researcher to evaluate the outcomes and indicators was sent to five experts working in the field and finalized based on their opinions. The 9-week module content was developed in line with the outcomes and indicators. The final version was developed by consulting seven experts in the field. Modules last a minimum of 40 and a maximum of 90 minutes. Throughout the implementation of the training program, students were actively involved in the process using games, collaborative group work, question-and-answer, drawing, pantomime, brainstorming, storytelling, drama, observation, role-playing, reflective writing, mind mapping, scamper technique, problem-based learning, station technique, visually supported presentation, case study analysis, scenario-based group work, visual production, interactive storytelling, and art-based creative expression methods. SPSS will be used to analyze the research data. After examining outliers, the Shapiro-Wilk test will be applied to test for normal distribution. If the data are normally distributed, the independent samples t-test will be performed for paired groups, and the Anova test will be performed for groups of three or more. If the data are not normally distributed, the Mann-Whitney U test will be performed for paired groups, and the Kruskal-Willis H test will be performed for groups of three or more. It is thought that the thesis study will meet the need of the Ministry of National Education to prevent peer bullying in secondary schools.