While research suggests that social emotional competencies (SECs) influence students' disciplinary outcomes, less is known of their potential to explain racial disparities or grade level differences in those outcomes. This study used survey and administrative data from 30,494 students in grades 3-12 to examine the degree to which SECs were related…

The rise in highly publicized cases of sexual assault, along with offenders in these cases alluding that those alleged victims were being untruthful about their claims, has fostered myths about false reporting of sexual assault, increasing discussions over fears of being falsely accused. This study uses an exploratory approach to identify the…

Title IX prohibits sex-based harassment (SBH) in all federally funded educational activities, yet little is known about SBH in K-12 schools. We used the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) data (N = 96,440) to examine rates and school-, district-, and state-level predictors of SBH in K-12 schools. Results found the vast majority of schools had…

Recently, states have enacted teacher-carry laws. While controversial, little scholarship has tapped public attitudes toward such reforms. Because public opinion shapes policy, the public is an important stakeholder in this debate. Thus, we investigated three questions. First, how supportive is the public of arming teachers? Second, what…

Researchers often use self-reported instruments to collect data from students when investigating the causes and effects of bullying. When completing the instrument, students may skip items despite anonymous data collection. To interpret data accurately, researchers must identify the causes of nonresponse. This study examined the impact of item…

While the link between childhood abuse and future victimization has been developed, the effects of other negative events in childhood on future victimization, and whether protective factors may guard against it, remains unclear. To address this topic, the relationships between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES), protective factors, and violent…

Cyber bullying has become more pervasive as a result of advances in communication technology such as email, text messaging, chat rooms, and social media sites. Despite the growth in research on correlates associated with engagement in cyber bullying, few studies test the applicability of criminological theories to explain engagement in cyber…

This study examined the association between various types of peer-directed violence and suicidal thoughts and behaviors among adolescents. A nationally representative sample of 15,425 high school students completed the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. All types of peer victimization (bullying, physical violence, and dating violence) were found to…

Using a national data set, Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002), we examined three dimensions of 10th-grade school climate--unfairness, hostility, and victimization--as predictors of teacher-perceived student engagement and achievement in reading and mathematics in the same year. The dimensions of school climate that predicted…

This study compares the prevalence of drinking behaviors and violence (fighting, weapon carrying, being threatened and feeling unsafe) among Hawaiian, other Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI), and Caucasian students, using data collected from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey in Hawaii in 1997 and 1999 (N = 2,146). Native Hawaiians and…

While policymakers have granted a substantial commitment of resources in order to reduce fear of crime among U.S. school students, the research literature on fear of crime at school is in its infancy. This study investigates whether school security techniques reduce or exacerbate fear of crime among students, net of community and school disorder…