Center City, Minn. (Oct. 28, 2020) — Dan Olweus, PhD—founder of the world-renowned Olweus Bullying Prevention Program and one of the earliest researchers on bullying—died September 20 in Norway. He was 89.
The Olweus (pronounced ohl-VAY-us) Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) was first developed and researched in Norway during the 1980s, and has now been implemented across the world, including in an estimated 9,000 U.S. schools. It is generally recognized as the most-researched program of its kind—found to reduce bullying among students, improve the social climate of classrooms, and reduce related antisocial behaviors such as vandalism and truancy.
In 2000, Dr. Olweus began partnering with Clemson University and its Institute on Family & Neighborhood Life, which remains the hub for OBPP information, training, research and consultation. Another partner, Hazelden Publishing—part of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, has produced and managed the OBPP materials since 2005.
"No one in the world has done more than Dan Olweus to help reduce the harmful impact of bullying in schools, and we are honored to have joined him in his lifelong dedication to creating safer classrooms for students," said Joe Jaksha, vice president and publisher at Hazelden Betty Ford, the nation's largest nonprofit provider of addiction treatment, co-occurring mental health care, recovery resources and related prevention and education services.
"Dan's work has touched so many people around the world and made a difference for countless school children as well as all of us who worked with him. He will be greatly missed," added Clemson University Professor Susan P. Limber, PhD, who helped Dr. Olweus bring his program to the United States and worked closely with him for two decades. "It is fitting that we conclude October, which is National Bullying Prevention Month, honoring and celebrating Dan's unparalleled contributions."
One of every five kids in the U.S. reports being bullied. The OBPP is focused on long-term change—engaging students, teachers, other school staff and the community in a comprehensive approach that addresses both school culture and bullying behavior to create a safe, inclusive and positive climate. It is designed and evaluated for use in elementary, middle, junior high, and high schools, with the goal of reducing and preventing bullying problems and improving student relations. The OBPP has been implemented in more than a dozen countries.
"Bullying is an age-old problem that impacts young lives in far-reaching and sometimes long-lasting ways," said Hazelden Betty Ford's Jaksha. "Rather than acquiesce to the hopeless notion that ‘kids will be kids,' Dan Olweus tackled the challenging issue of bullying with tremendous compassion for both those bullied and those who do the bullying, and a rigorous focus on research and understanding what works. He was ahead of his time and will be remembered forever as a founding father of this important discipline that is so relevant to children and parents everywhere. In an era of heightened concerns about adolescent suicide, depression, substance use and loneliness, addressing bullying is a societal imperative, and we are proud to help carry forward the Olweus legacy in partnership with Dan's family and our friends at Clemson University."
The OBPP has been researched for more than 40 years. In the largest-ever study of bullying prevention efforts in U.S. schools—published in 2018 in the Journal of School Psychology—the program was found to produce significant, sustained positive impacts, with clear reductions in the number of students who reported being bullied or bullying others. School officials lauded the results.
"All too many young people have their lives more or less ruined by peer bullying during school years," Dr. Olweus said at the time. "It is rewarding to see the program has provided a large number of bullied students safer and better lives and that schools can learn new and more effective ways of preventing these problems."
The OBPP was selected as a Blueprints Promising Program by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado in Boulder. It also has been recognized by the American Academy of Pediatrics, is rated highly in the National Dropout Prevention Model Program Database and was the only program recommended for continued use by a Norwegian expert committee that evaluated 55 such programs in 2000.
Dr. Olweus was born in Sweden, where he led a training institute for child psychologists and earned a doctorate degree in 1969. He spent most of the past 50 years as a professor and researcher at the University of Bergen in Norway, and authored Aggression in the Schools: Bullies and Whipping Boys and the influential Bullying at School: What We Know and What We Can Do.
His numerous awards included the Nordic Public Health Prize from the Nordic Minister Council in 2002; Distinguished Contributions to Public Policy for Children from the Society for Research in Child Development in 2003; and Distinguished Contributions to the International Advancement of Psychology in 2011, and Distinguished Contributions to Research in Public Policy in 2012—both from the American Psychological Association.
Learn more about the life and work of Dr. Olweus at the tribute page on the Clemson University website.