Calls to weaponize teachers with guns as a means of enhanced school safety and protection against a school shooting have intensified in recent years. Arguments for and against arming teachers are relatively well-established, but a paucity of scholarly research exists regarding its effectiveness and whether teachers generally support carrying guns…

Little is known about principals' perceptions and their links to how school safety practices operate. Using data from School Survey on Crime and Safety from 2,009 public schools in the US, the current study examines the extent to which principals/administrators' perceptions of academic climate and crime risk are related to school practices…

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…

Limited empirical findings suggest that teacher victimization at school is highly prevalent, with detrimental negative impacts on victimized teachers. Given the scarce body of literature on teacher victimization, further research is necessary to investigate its extent, predictors, and negative consequences. The present research, using a…

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…

This study presents results from a nationally representative survey of school district transportation officials (N = 2,595) to understand how common seven types of behavioral problems (fighting, bullying, substance use, sexual harassment, sexual behaviors, profanity, violations of basic rules) are perceived to be on school buses. Ordinary…

Relationships among individual- and school-level factors and students' perpetration of violence, victimization, and safety were studied in two southeastern school districts (N = 26,160, Grades 6-12). Both student demographics (sex, ethnicity, and grade) and school level (high vs. middle school) were associated with perpetration, victimization, and…

Teacher victimization is a relatively understudied phenomenon that may contribute to teacher turnover. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between teacher reports of victimization and teachers leaving their school and the profession. Using nationally representative data (n = 104,840) from the Schools and Staffing Survey, we…

This study examines the role played by a limited number of fear-of-crime correlates in structuring variations in fear of violent victimization expressed by a nationally representative sample of U.S. adolescents who participated in the 2013 National Crime Victimization Survey School Crime Supplement. Results show that both male and female…

Complex issues such as bullying have brought to light the importance of expanding school prevention efforts to include interventions focused on multiple levels of practice. Utilizing data gathered from middle-school teachers across the state of Michigan, this study examines how both individual and organizational characteristics influence teacher…

Recent incidents of school-based violence have resulted in the widespread implementation of school safety strategies across the United States. While research on these strategies has grown over the past decade, there is little understanding about their collective influence on indicators of school violence. Using data from the 2007-2008 School…

Researchers have shown that college students are at an increased risk of experiencing interpersonal violence (IV). One factor that appears to play a role in shaping their likelihood of IV is sexual orientation. However, little is known about this relationship and how IV risk varies across categories of sexual orientation. Utilizing a sample of…

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…

A common response to school violence features the use of security measures to deter serious and violent incidents. However, a second approach, based on school climate theory, suggests that schools exhibiting authoritative school discipline (i.e., high structure and support) might more effectively reduce school disorder. We tested these approaches…

We surveyed public school educators on the workplace incivility and workplace bullying they experienced and obtained their ratings of the organizational climate of the school. We used multilevel modeling to determine the effects of individual-level and school-level predictors. Ratings of school climate were significantly related to incivility and…