Effects of the Convive Program on the perception of school violence in adolescents

Abstract

School bullying represents a latent problem that brings with it multiple
consequences for the aggressor, the victim and all educational agents, therefore, the effects of an intervention focused on the development of life skills on the decrease of violence in educational centers. Consequently, the purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the CONVIVE program on school violence in adolescents from a public educational institution. A quasi-experimental type design was used to compare groups with pretest-posttest measurement, with an experimental group and a control group. The program consisted of 12 sessions developed with group cognitive behavioral techniques. 129 adolescents participated (78 men and 51 women), between 12 and 15 years old (M = 13.4, SD = 1.1), who responded to the CUVE3-ESO School Violence Questionnaire. It was found that, in general, the experimental group favored the program because in the post-test there was a decrease in school violence with a medium effect, while the control group did not present differences when comparing the pre-test and posttest. Similarly, there is a median decrease in the dimensions of social exclusion, studentteacher verbal violence, classroom disruption and verbal violence between students. The results obtained allow us to verify the effectiveness of the CONVIVE program in reducing school violence and its different manifestations. Thus, improving school coexistence in the classroom will be essential to avoid aggressive situations in the school system.