The goal of this study is twofold: (i) to develop an explanatory model to examine the relationship between school environment/climate and peer victimization and (ii) to determine whether previous models of preventive strategies in a single school or district could be expanded to the nationally representative sample of adolescents across multiple schools. The analyses in the current study are based on data from the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) 2005-2006 US study, and the sample consists of 7,001 students from 195 different schools. The findings reveal that students attending schools in which bullying prevention programs are implemented are more likely to have experienced peer victimization, compared to those attending schools without bullying prevention. Study limitations and implications for future research are discussed. 1. Introduction Although many studies suggest that there is a decline in various types of peer victimization among school children [1, 2], bullying remains a serious problem in schools today [3–5]. Approximately 1.5 million school-aged adolescents (i.e., ages 12 to 18) report that they have been victimized by violence while at school [6]. Furthermore, 75 percent of public school principals in the United States indicate that their schools reported one or more violent incidents to the police, and 25 percent of public schools reported school bullying on a daily or weekly basis [6]. A growing body of research has supported the premise that experiencing school violence has devastating effects on youth [7–13]. For example, victims have experienced a significantly increased risk of internalizing and somatic symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, confusion, lowered self-esteem, and suicidal ideation [7, 10, 11]. Further, they are more likely to perceive a lack of support from peers and parents and tend to be isolated from social interaction with others [10]. In light of this reality, a variety of bullying prevention and intervention programs have been implemented and examined for their effectiveness [14–16]. Although these studies have examined varying levels of strategies, targets, and participants, the majority of them have demonstrated that comprehensive and whole-school efforts yield promising results for reducing bullying within school grounds. The conditions of school environment, prevention/intervention programs, and situational factors complement or interact with individual-level characteristics to influence peer victimization [17, 18]. Despite a range of ecological and contextual factors that are accountable for
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