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…

Existing research on bullying and peer victimization among school-age youth focuses on identifying risk and protective factors, developing interventions, and assessing outcomes to address this pervasive problem. This article reviews research on bullying and victimization of Latino and Asian youth. The review suggests that risk and protective…

Within the past few decades, scholars, lawmakers, and educators have increased attention to a specific type of aggressive behavior known as bullying. While bullying is like peer aggression and harassment, in that they all pertain to negative aggressive actions, there are important distinctions among these three forms of behavior. The key features…

The detrimental effects of school violence on students' physical and emotional health are well studied, and research has shown that school violence affects students in every nation across the globe. However, few cross-national studies have compared direct, physical forms of school violence to indirect, emotional forms such as teasing. Using…

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…

In the ongoing effort of designing school contexts in support of proactive discipline, a range of practices and theoretical frameworks have been advanced, from behaviorist approaches to social and emotional learning. This article describes the theory and practice of restorative justice with the aim of defining this distinctive paradigm, in…

Despite decades of research analyzing fear of crime among adults, little is known about youth fear of crime in general and youth fear of crime in school, specifically. Moreover, among existing studies most emphasize causes of fear, with little discussion of avoidance or the academic consequences of these feelings and behaviors in school. This…

This article describes a crisis response framework based on the authors' first-hand experience following three Colorado school shootings. During each crisis response, one or more of the authors joined school and/or district crisis teams, providing direct assistance and leadership. The authors' experiences helped guide subsequent responses and…

Peer victimization is a documented antecedent of poor mental health outcomes for children and adolescents. This article explored the role of coping effectiveness in the association between victimization and perceived school safety. A sample of urban middle school students (N = 509) in the southeastern United States were surveyed regarding…

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,…

This study investigated public middle school students' opinions on the benefits of wearing a school uniform. A review of related literature is provided along with results of the opinions obtained from 604 seventh- and eighth-grade middle school students attending a public school in Nevada that had recently initiated a school uniform policy.…

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…

In this article, the authors review efforts to increase the availability of crime data to students and parents, utilize security technologies on campus, allow members of campus communities to carry concealed weapons, use criminal or potential shooter profiling, employ threat assessment techniques, and implement emergency response plans to address…

Several recent meta-analyses of universal school-based violence prevention studies indicate the overall positive impacts of these approaches on aggression. These studies, however, assess impacts on broadly defined measures of aggression. Furthermore, little research has analyzed the mechanisms through which these programs attempt to reduce overt…

Although researchers have identified individual-level predictors of nonphysical bullying among children and youth, school-level predictors (i.e., characteristics of the school environment that influence bullying exposure) remain largely unstudied. Using data from a survey of 1,838 students in 21 Boston public high schools, we used multilevel…