This study examines the association between moral disengagement and cyberbullying using a measure of moral disengagement tailored to cyberbullying. It also examines adolescents' self-beliefs in their competence to engage in cyberbullying (cyberbullying self-efficacy beliefs) and how these beliefs may moderate the relation between moral…

School-based bullying perpetration and victimization is common worldwide and has profound impacts on student behavior and mental health. However, few studies have examined young adult outcomes of bullying perpetration or victimization. Research on factors that protect students who have bullied or been bullied is also lacking. This study examined…

There is insufficient empirical evidence exploring associations between gang membership and school violence behaviors. Using a sample of 272,863 high school students, this study employs a structural equation model to examine how school risk and protective behaviors and attitudes mediate effects of gang members' involvement with school…

This study examined the extent to which disability status, alone and in combination with other social identities, was associated with differential levels of exposure to peer victimization. Logistic analyses of survey responses from eleventh graders completing the 2008 Oregon Healthy Teen survey (N = 7,091) utilized an intersectional,…

Antisocial behavior and school aggression in youth has been linked with affective, interpersonal, self-attributional, and behavioral characteristics; these traits have often been associated with psychopathic behaviors among adults. Psychopathic traits were examined in nonclinically-referred youth exhibiting antisocial and aggressive behavior.…

Dating violence is a serious form of violence that places students at risk for injury, death, and negative mental health sequelae. The current analysis presents data on the prevalence of dating violence over a 12-year period among a nationally representative sample of high school-attending youth in the United States, stratified by race and gender.…

This study compared age and gender differences in adolescents' perceptions of male involvement in relational aggression (RA). After viewing two of four video clips portraying RA, each participating adolescent (N = 314; Grades 8-12) answered questions related to rationalizing bullying behaviors--specifically minimizing bullying, blaming…

Despite the large body of research on neighborhood racial composition and perceptions of safety, only one geographically limited study has investigated the relation between school racial composition and student perceptions of safety. Using data from a 2010 national sample of high school seniors, this study found that being in a mostly-same-race…

This study presents the findings of a content analysis of 120 high school-level, written discipline policies collected from six states. Suspension was commonly offered as a response for all behaviors, including minor ones. Discipline policies varied by state in terms of the degree to which suspension was featured. Based on these findings and…

The number of school police officers, School Resource Officers (SROs), is increasing on school campuses to assist in preventing school violence, and in particular bullying. This mixed-methods study was conducted to compare the knowledge and perceptions of SROs (N = 184) hired by independent school districts (ISD SROs) and those contracted from law…

School violence research is often concerned with infrequently occurring events such as counts of the number of bullying incidents or fights a student may experience. Analyzing count data using ordinary least squares regression may produce improbable predicted values, and as a result of regression assumption violations, result in higher Type I…

While bullying among students is a recalcitrant problem in U.S. schools, research indicates that many students do not disclose bullying they experience or witness despite repeated efforts on the part of adults. The preponderance of research tends to neither include the perceptions of students nor provide understanding about their reluctance to…

In 2003, 31% of young Kenyan women ages 15-24 reported sexual harassment and violence (SHV), with a majority experiencing sexual debut due to coercion (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2004). Data were obtained from a sample of 20 girls attending school in Kamu and Lafamu (pseudonyms used for the study sites), 10 girls who had dropped out of school,…

Authorities in education and law enforcement have recommended that schools use a threat-assessment approach to prevent violence, but there is relatively little research on characteristics and outcomes of threats among students. The current study examined student reports of threat experiences in a sample of 3,756 high school students. Approximately…

Truancy, or unexcused absence, is a common problem facing nearly all high schools across the United States and other nations. Understanding how schools typically respond to student truancy and the relative effectiveness of these responses is an important, yet relatively unexplored area. Using a national extant dataset, this study examined which…