Reducing adolescents' involvement with relational aggression: Evaluating the effectiveness of the Creating A Safe School (CASS) intervention

This study examined the effectiveness of a comprehensive, school-based intervention program, Creating A Safe School (CASS; The Ophelia Project) designed to reduce relational aggression (RA) and relational victimization (RV). Sixth-grade students (N = 406) were surveyed before and after the intervention. Program effects were tested using a repeated-measures design. Results revealed significant reductions in RA and RV among students who reported initially high levels of involvement. Findings also showed that decreasing approval of RA accounted for a significant amount of variance in changes in RA between pre-and posttest. These results provide initial evidence of the effectiveness of the CASS intervention model in reducing RA among early adolescents.