Potential school violence: Relationship between teacher anxiety and warning‐sign identification

This study examined the relationship between teacher anxiety and their identification of warning signs of student violence. Fifty‐six public school teachers, 22 male and 34 female, between the ages of 23 and 60 participated. Participants identified warning signs in five fictional student case files created for this study and completed the State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory and a demographic survey. The case files included positive and negative information, and high‐ and low‐severity warning signs. Neither state (r = .02) nor trait (r = .04) anxiety was significantly correlated with high‐severity warning‐signs identification. Low‐severity warning‐signs identification was positively correlated with state anxiety (r = .28, p < .05) but not trait anxiety (r = .18, p > .05). False positive identification was not significantly related to state anxiety (r = .07) or trait anxiety (r = .06). The findings indicate that teachers who experience higher levels of state anxiety when confronted with warning signs of potential violence are better able to identify low‐severity warning signs than do their less anxious counterparts, without over‐identifying nonthreatening information as potential warning signs. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 42: 623–635, 2005.     

School violence,school differences and school discourses

This article highlights one strand of a study which investigated the concept of the violence‐resilient school. In six inner‐city secondary schools, data on violent incidents in school and violent crime in the neighbourhood were gathered, and compared with school practices to minimise violence, accessed through interviews. Some degree of association between the patterns of behaviour and school practices was found: schools with a wider range of well‐connected practices seemed to have less difficult behaviour. Interviews also showed that the different schools had different organisational discourses for construing school violence, its possible causes and the possible solutions. Differences in practices are best understood in connection with differences in these discourses. Some of the features of school discourses are outlined, including their range, their core metaphor and their silences. The authors suggest that organisational discourse is an important concept in explaining school effects and school differences, and that improvement attempts could have clearer regard to this concept.     

Use of stimulant medication for treatment of attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A survey of middle and high school students' attitudes

Six hundred fifty‐one students (ages 11–18) completed a questionnaire that asked if they were taking stimulant medication for ADHD. Those who responded positively were then asked to answer a section of the questionnaire that asked them about their experiences and attitudes related to their treatment with the medication. If they responded that they were not diagnosed with ADHD and not receiving treatment with stimulant medication, they answered a section of the questionnaire that inquired about their perceptions of students who did take medication. Fifty students completed the taking‐medication portion of the questionnaire. Although the students reported that the medication helped them somewhat in the areas of behavior, social ability with friends, parents, and teachers, and attention, they reported that the medication did not help them in the area of academic achievement. The majority of the students reported some side effects from their medication. Thirty‐four percent of students taking ADHD medication reported being approached to sell or trade their medication, and 53% of students not taking ADHD medication reported that some students taking ADHD medication gave away or sold their medication. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

校园暴力产生的原因及对策

近年来,校园暴力事件时有发生。文章分析了隐藏这一现象的深刻原因,同时呼吁教育工作者应当高度关注这一问题;并提出了两点解决办法:普法教育的加强和非暴力情感的培养。     

当前中学生成就动机的调查与分析

运用成就动机问卷，对575名中学生的成就动机进行调查。研究结果表明，中学生的成就动机在年级上有显著性差异，初二学生追求成功的动机明显强于高二年级的学生；城乡差异接近显著水平；但性别上无显著差异。追求成功的动机与避免失败的动机之间有显著的负相关。     

Antisocial behavior and the prediction of violence: A meta‐analysis

Youthful antisocial behavior is often viewed as a precursor to later violent and threatening behavior. Olweus (1979) reported aggressive reaction patterns in males that over time approached the stability of intelligence. While Olweus did not examine violent behavior directly, his study is often cited as evidence for the stability of violence. To examine the evidence for this assertion, this study synthesized the evidence from 82 reports of 58 prospective studies that followed individuals over some period of their life span. After correcting effect sizes for exogenous study features, the grand mean correlation of antisocial and substance misusing behaviors with later crimes against persons was estimated to be r = .33, a far cry from the stability of intelligence. Because these predictors are often used to select people into intervention, this study estimated the conditional error rates associated with identification for preventive intervention. Overall, selection failed to identify 66% of those who displayed later violence, while on average, 60% of those engaging in antisocial or substance‐using behavior were not later violent. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Cross‐cultural epistemological orientations to socioscientific issues

The purpose of this investigation was to examine, from a cross‐cultural perspective, students' epistemological patterns of reasoning about socioscientific issues (SSI), and to identify potential interactions of cultural and scientific identity. Mediating factors associated with students' argumentation and discourse about SSI, as well as the public's understanding of science, has been identified as an important area of investigation in the field of science education. This mixed‐methods design included over 300 students from Jamaica, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan, and the United States. Students responded to instruments designed to assess their epistemological conceptualizations and justifications related to distributive justice, allocation of scarce medical resources, and epistemological beliefs over five dimensions related to scientific knowledge. Four iterations of a coding scheme produced over 97% inter‐rater agreement for four independent coders. Results indicate there is a consistent trend toward epistemological congruity across cultures within inductively derived themes of: (1) Fairness; (2) Pragmatism; (3) Emotive Reasoning; (4) Utility; and (5) Theological Issues. Moreover, there were no discernable differences in terms of how students from these countries presented their beliefs on the sub‐categories of each of the five major categories. It appears that students displayed a high degree of congruence with respect to how they frame their reasoning on this SSI as well as their justifications for their epistemological beliefs. There were statistically significant differences regarding the ability to raise scientifically relevant questions among countries. Commonalities as well as distinguishing characteristics in epistemological orientations are compared and contrasted and connections to a model of socioscientific reasoning with implications for research and pedagogy are discussed. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 50:251–283, 2013     

School demographic variables and out‐of‐school suspension rates: A quantitative and qualitative analysis of a large,ethnically diverse school district

This study examined out‐of‐school suspensions (OSS) in a large, ethnically diverse school district using both quantitative and qualitative procedures. Pearson product moment correlations and semi‐partial correlations were used to identify those school‐level variables that showed the strongest relationships to the duplicated OSS rate among elementary schools (n = 97) and secondary schools (n = 45). Additionally, interviews were conducted with administrators and student support personnel from the 24 schools in the district with the highest suspension rates and 24 demographically matched schools with significantly lower suspension rates. The majority of these schools served a high percentage of children from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Although the correlational analyses indicated that student demographic variables (e.g., percentage of White students, percentage of Black students, percentage of students receiving free or reduced price lunch) were strongly related to a school's suspension rate, the school comparisons showed that not all schools serving a high percentage of children placed at risk have high suspension rates. Implications of the findings for school discipline reform are discussed. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

校园暴力溯源及其防治对策

儿童攻击性行为发展成为校园暴力，其原因是多方面的：既有不良社会环境的影响、儿童社会交往的障碍，也有教育干预的不当。防治校园暴力，应培养儿童自我调控情绪的能力，进行社会交往技能的学习与训练，开展情感智能教育，培养他们良好的性格。     

Psychological adjustment in bullies and victims of school violence

The present study examined psychosocial adjustment in the following four groups of students: victims, bullies, bully/victims and a control group of adolescents not involved in bullying or victimization problems. Psychosocial adjustment was measured considering as indicators: level of self-esteem, depressive symptomatology, perceived stress, feeling of loneliness, and a general measure of satisfaction with life. Participants (N=1319) were aged from 11 to 16 (47% male) and drawn from seven state secondary schools in Valencia (Spain). ANOVAs revealed significant differences among groups, reporting adolescents not involved a general better psychosocial adjustment; they had higher levels of self-esteem and satisfaction with life, and lower levels of depressive symptomatology, perceived stress and feeling of loneliness. The scores for this group were equivalent to those of bullies with respect to self-esteem, depressive symptomatology and loneliness. However, bullies perceived more stress and expressed less satisfaction with life, as did the other two groups, namely victims and bully/victims. Victims reported the strongest feelings of loneliness. Bully/victims seemed to share characteristics with both bullies and victims, though showing more similarities with the latter and a general poor psychosocial profile.     

Out‐of‐school learning: The uneven distribution of school provision and local authority support

A significant volume of research demonstrates that out‐of‐school learning activities enhance student development in terms of cognitive, affective and social outcomes. However, there is also evidence that the opportunity to engage in these activities has been severely reduced in recent years. This paper explores the extent to which the provision of such opportunities is unevenly distributed—spatially and institutionally. The paper draws on research from two recently completed projects: one charting the distribution, attributes and vulnerability of local authority outdoor education centres across England and the other exploring variations in provision and participation in out‐of‐school learning within secondary schools throughout the UK. The paper highlights the uneven, precarious and uncertain nature of such activities and demonstrates that important regional and structural variations in the support and provision of opportunities for such activities by local authorities appear to have an important role in determining the provision of activities at the level of the schools.     

Comparison of the effects of mainstream and special school on National Curriculum outcomes in children with autism spectrum disorder: an archive‐based analysis

The literature dealing with the inclusion of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in mainstream schools has increased over recent years, propelled by the argument that it will improve the quality of life, educational performance and social development of ‘included’ children. This area of research is currently an important one for the development of policy and practice. The literature on inclusion dealing with the inclusion of children with ASD is limited, so the implementation of inclusion has preceded research. The current study investigated whether children in mainstream placements show enhanced performance, relative to those in specialist provisions. The study used a combination of primary and secondary data analysis to explore the impact of inclusion on children with ASD in four authorities in the south east of England. The results suggest that mainstream children have no greater academic success than children in specialist provision. The study suggests that a number of specific provisions are involved in promoting success, such as Speech and Language Therapy, and the impact of Learning Support Assistants, and these are also reviewed and discussed.     

Academic differentiation,school achievement and school violence in the USA and South Korea

Whilst school violence is a major public concern and a focus of educational reforms both in the USA and South Korea, few studies have comparatively examined the rates of school violence and school factors associated with them. Analysing nationally‐representative data from eighth graders, their mathematics teachers and principals in 150 South Korean schools and in 216 US schools, the authors found that: 1) the rates of school violence are higher in the US than South Korea, 2) student‐reported violence rates are not associated with school‐reported violence rates in both nations and 3) South Korean schools with academic tracking and low‐achieving US schools are more likely to have higher rates of school violence. Policy and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Specialist-level preparation in school violence and youth gang intervention

Surveys regarding the level and scope of training provided in both traditional child and youth issues and that of school violence and youth gang prevention were sent to 213 school psychology training programs. Ninety specialist-level programs were included in the final study. Results indicated the majority of programs provided substantial intervention training for more traditional behavioral concerns (e.g., ADHD, conduct problems). Training in school violence prevention and, in particular, youth gang prevention/intervention, were lower priorities for training. The hypothesis was not supported that programs located in or near metropolitan areas are more likely to offer training in school violence and gang interventions. These results are discussed within the context of practitioner preparation for violence intervention. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Predicting violence from school misbehavior: Promises and perils

This article considers the issue of predicting violence committed by students on school campuses through the use of school discipline indices such as office referrals, suspensions, and expulsions. The existing research on incidents of school discipline markers is reviewed as well as sources of variation due to student characteristics and classroom or school‐wide practices. Challenges in making accurate predictions about future behavior at school are outlined. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Boys negotiate violence and masculinity in the primary school

Abstract

In this paper, we contribute to the understandings of young masculinities by turning attention to the South African schooling primary school context. In the context of scarcity of interventions around violence in the primary school, we focus on how young boys construct, negotiate and experience violence. Notwithstanding dominant discourses around childhood innocence we argue that young boys are active participants in violent gendered cultures at school. We show how boys’ bodies are key sites for the enactment of violence and is especially a valuable resource in the context of food insecurity. The paper also shows the fluidity of masculinity as boys who are regarded as ‘victims’ can also defend and resuscitate masculinity that endorses violence. Implications for addressing young masculinities in the primary school within local context are considered in the conclusion of the paper.     

Cross‐Ethnic Friendships and Intergroup Attitudes Among Asian American Adolescents

This study examined cross‐ethnic friendship choices and intergroup attitudes in a sample of 762 sixth‐grade Asian American students (M_age = 11.5 years) attending 1 of 19 middle schools that varied in ethnic composition. Multiple measures of friendship (quantity and quality) and intergroup attitudes (affective, cognitive, behavioral) toward White, Latino, and Black grademates were assessed. The results showed that Asian American students overnominated White students and undernominated Latino and Black students as their friends when school availability of each ethnic group was accounted for. Cross‐ethnic friendships were related to better intergroup attitudes, especially the behavioral dimension of attitudes. Cross‐ethnic friendships were least likely to change attitudes toward Blacks. Implications for future research, educational practice, and attitude intervention programs were discussed.     

Girls negotiating sexuality and violence in the primary school

Girls’ vulnerability to sexual violence and harassment is a recurrent theme in much of the literature on schooling in sub‐Saharan Africa. Within this research, girls are often framed as passive victims of violence. By drawing on a case study, this paper focuses on 12 to 13‐year‐old South African school girls as they mediate and participate in heterosexual cultures that are simultaneously privileging and damaging. Set against the wider social context where violent gender relations are key to the building blocks of patriarchy, the paper examines how heterosexuality underscores the formation of femininity as girls engage with and participate with each other and boys in informal school relations. To this end, Butler's concept of the ‘heterosexual matrix’ is deployed to examine how girls navigate the wall of male power, where the ‘real’ expression of femininity is embedded within heterosexuality. The paper explores girls’ investment in heterosexual cultures in the school playground and on ‘dress‐up Friday’ to examine how gender power inequalities and violent relations manifest. In expanding the analysis of heterosexuality to primary school contexts, the paper broadens the focus of school‐based gender and sexualities research in sub‐Saharan Africa to address a neglected area of younger girls’ femininity and their active agency. The paper argues for the importance of addressing primary school girls, femininity and the power of heterosexuality through which relations of inequalities operate.