APRIL 16, 2012 (Champaign, Ill., UI NEWS BUREAU)—A new report by Dorothy Espelage, a professor of Educational Psychology in the College of Education, and Jun Sung Hong, a graduate student in the School of Social Work, indicates that anti-bullying programs developed outside the U.S. may have little to no efficacy with American schoolchildren.

The report offers sobering information about students who are the most vulnerable—those with health problems or learning/developmental disabilities, who are poor or are racial/ethnic or sexual minorities–are more likely to be victimized by their peers.

And as schools in the U.S. attempt to comply with state mandates that they implement anti-bullying programs, they may be adopting curricula that have little or no impact on reducing bullying behaviors among American children, although the programs may be effective with schoolchildren in other countries.