NCJ Number
244560
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 42 Issue: 10 Dated: October 2013 Pages: 1596-1610
Date Published
October 2013
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This study examined the correlates of school violence and includes school and neighborhood influences.
Abstract
Few studies on the correlates of school violence include school and neighborhood influences. The authors used ecological systems theory and social disorganization theory to simultaneously incorporate neighborhood (e.g., concentrated poverty, residential instability, and immigrant concentration), school, family, and individual predictors of physical school victimization longitudinally among a large socio-economically and ethnically diverse (49 percent Hispanic; 34 percent African-American) sample of 6 and 9 year olds (49 percent female) from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. These children were followed up at Wave II at ages 8 and 11 (n = 1,425). Results of Hierarchical Generalized Linear Models reveal neighborhood residential instability increases school victimization net of family and individual correlates. Furthermore, cross-level interactions were also supported where residential family mobility has a stronger risk influence in areas of high residential instability. Also, the influence of residential family mobility is decreased in areas with higher levels of immigrant concentration. The study also found cross-context connections where parent-to-child aggression in the home is connected to a higher risk of victimization at school. The role of neighborhood and family residential instability on victimization warrants further research. Abstract published by arrangement with Springer.