The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of peer mediation on reducing violence and negative behaviors in middle school students. Negative behaviors included various ways students disrupt learning and included tardiness, absenteeism and truancy as well as classroom distractions of all forms. Three middle schools all in the same school district were the focus of the study using data gathered from reports as well as surveys of educators in the same school district. Results were gathered before and after the implementation of a peer mediation program. Although there are a plethora of school mediation programs there is very little research indicating the effectiveness of peer mediation on reducing violence and no known information on the effectiveness of peer mediation on reducing negative behaviors. This study used t-tests, correlation analysis, ANOVA, Kruskall-Wallis nonparametric test and educator surveys to measure the effectiveness of peer mediation on negative behaviors before and after the implementation of a peer mediation program. The t-tests revealed a significant decrease in negative behaviors after the implementation of the peer mediation program. The educator survey revealed that peer mediation lowered the incidents of negative behaviors on all of the measured factors based on the educators' opinions. The correlation analysis ANOVA and Kruskall-Wallis nonparametric tests indicated that there was no significant relationship between the types of behaviors or between the results of the three middle schools. The study found that peer mediation had a positive effect on reducing violence and negative behaviors in the middle school environment. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]