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Reformed ‘Mean Girls’ Can Help Their Classmates

A study conducted by researchers at CHOP has demonstrated the possibility for former “mean girls” to turn their social influence into a positive force among their peers. Middle school “mean girls” are known for relational aggression such as gossip, rumors and manipulation of social relationships, but they also can be socially influential and popular, according to Stephen Leff, co-director of the Violence Prevention Initiative (VPI) at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and professor of clinical psychology in pediatrics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Leff led a team that has demonstrated it is possible to turn that influence into a positive force for pro-social behavior not only among relationally aggressive girls themselves, but among their classmates and teachers.

The researchers studied the classroom impact of their behavioral intervention, called Friend to Friend (F2F), that is targeted to ethnic minority girls in third through fifth grades in urban schools, after a randomized clinical trial of the program. F2F is a pull-out small group intervention for relational aggression and bullying behaviors that uses age-appropriate cartoons, videos and role-playing activities to engage with girls and help them slow down, act like “social detectives” in their peer interactions and think in moments when they might otherwise react aggressively. It encourages girls to give others the benefit of the doubt and consider their choices in social settings.

They compared classroom climate in classes where a subgroup of girls had participated in F2F with control classrooms where the eligible subgroup of girls at risk for relational aggression received an educationally-based group intervention focused on homework and study skills.

“In the past, the girls might have been excluding people, and that’s how they used their influence,” said study co-author Brooke Paskewich, program manager for VPI. “If they demonstrate how they use their influence to include people and encourage people to do positive things instead of negative ones, they hold on to popularity and influence while doing something positive.”

In classes of girls who received the F2F intervention, boys and girls uninvolved in the small-group sessions received higher peer ratings in friendship and nice behaviors and improved closeness with their teachers than those in the classes whose relationally aggressive girls received a homework intervention. Boys in the F2F classes also received lower scores on negative behaviors including rumor spreading, exclusion, and fighting, and lower teacher conflict scores.

The team reported these results in the journal Behavior Modification.

Drs. Leff and Paskewich recommend that, even for aggressive girls who are not enrolled in a formal program like F2F, teachers and parents can help build pro-social skills by looking for positive teachable moments and reinforcing social behaviors when they catch kids behaving well.

“We know that kids who are aggressive, especially aggressive girls, have tons of potential and a lot of resilience,” Dr. Leff said. “When they do something right, give them positive attention and reinforce it. When appropriate, look for opportunities for leadership, such as mentoring younger girls, or talking about when they resolved a situation in a positive way.”

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