Study: School Culture Affects Student Violence
Along with personality and peer relationships, a school’s culture also influences whether a child resolves an issue peacefully or goes off the deep end and resorts to violence, a new study finds.
The results, reported in the March issue of the journal Youth & Society, come as attention is focused on the mass shooting at Virginia Tech, an extreme example of student aggression at its most lethal.
Though it’s no magic solution , the research could help ensure and direct intervention in middle schools where students need it most, the scientists say.
Like any institution, each school has its own “persona,†or the unwritten set of norms and beliefs that dictate the everyday workings of that school. This so-called culture would include which student and teacher behaviors are unacceptable, the level of interaction between teachers and students, what constitutes good teaching techniques and the importance of values such as honesty.
Mean kids?
Janet Reis of the University of Illinois, Champaign, and her colleagues surveyed nearly 112,000 students in grades 6 through 8 with geographically, socio-economically, and racially diverse backgrounds from about 200 middle schools.
They defined aggression as the number of times a student reported hitting other people, acting mean toward others and getting into fights with other students. The participants reported how often they had engaged in these behaviors, from never to more than 12 times, over the previous six months. Other questions focused on a student’s problem-solving skills, coping strategies, daily hassles and social and emotional support from family and teachers.
Source: www.livescience.com
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