Background: Being bullied online is associated with being bullied in school. However, links between online bullying and violence-related experiences are minimally understood. We evaluated potential disparities in these associations to illuminate opportunities to reduce school-based violence. Methods: We used five cohorts of Youth Risk Behavior…

In recent years, there has been a growing social, educational, and public policy focus on investigating the correlates associated with youth carrying weapons in their communities and schools. Victimization and other correlates such as drug use and violent risk behaviors among youth have been linked to deviant behavior including weapon carrying.…

The current study examined the unique and interactive effects of family and community violence across types of violence (weapon, physical, and death) and relationship proximity (self, family/friend, and strangers) in African American adolescents (mean age = 12.63, SD = 0.99, 54% female). Items from the community violence and family violence…

Research abounds on adolescent poverty and on gifted education, but these fields are seldom considered together. This study explores trajectories of aggressive behavior (i.e., weapon carrying) of impoverished, gifted youth. Results indicate that gifted students engage in lower levels of weapon carrying than non-gifted students. Gifted and…

Many studies have examined significant factors associated with school delinquency among adolescents, including relationship violence, property damage, and other serious threats to students' safety. However, students' coping behaviors after being victims of or witnesses to violence and other forms of delinquency have not been thoroughly examined.…

Background: In this cross-sectional study we explored relationships between aggressive and violent behaviors and emotional self-efficacy (ESE) in a statewide sample of public high school adolescents in South Carolina (N = 3836). Methods: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Youth Risk Behavior Survey items on aggressive and violent…

Safety is essential to student well-being and success. Because of this, a large percentage of parents and children are concerned about school safety. To get a better understanding of school safety from a student's perspective, ACT-tested students were surveyed and asked about their school's climate and the types of safety measures their school…

This study sought to identify features of peer victimization that aggravate negative outcomes in children. The features that were assessed include "power imbalance," a commonly used criterion in defining bullying, and 5 other characteristics: injury, weapon involvement, Internet involvement, sexual content, and bias content. Three…

Aggressive and weapons carrying behaviors are indicative of youth violence. The theory of planned behavior is used in the current analysis to improve our understanding of violence-related behaviors. We examine the influence of perceived behavioral control (self-control and decision making) as a part of the overall framework for understanding the…

This study explores community violence exposures among African American adolescents and whether coping strategies were gendered. In-depth interviews are conducted with a sample of 32 African American high school students. Data are analyzed using a thematic analysis. The primary forms of violence exposures are physical attacks, fighting, and…

Although research has examined the effectiveness of juvenile transfer on recidivism, there has been a lack of research done in assessing how well juvenile waiver to adult court meets the criteria necessary for deterrence to occur (i.e., certainty, severity, and swiftness of punishment). The purpose of this study is to assess how well juvenile…

Our nation's schools should be safe havens for teaching and learning, free of crime and violence. Any instance of crime or violence at school not only affects the individuals involved, but also may disrupt the educational process and affect bystanders, the school itself, and the surrounding community (Brookmeyer, Fanti, and Henrich 2006;…

"MCPS School Safety and Security at a Glance" provides, in a single document, information about the reporting of incidents related to school safety and security, school climate, local school safety program descriptions, and serious incidents. Information is presented for each Montgomery County (Maryland) public school. While much of this…

Using data that, to our knowledge, have not been used before for this purpose, we examined 9,231 opposite-sex intimate partner violence (IPV) calls for law enforcement assistance recorded in the Compstat system of a large U.S. city. Although women were the predominant victims, injuries were documented more often for men. Only about 1% of incidents…

In this study I examine the critical factors and themes that are identified as salient influencers of overt and relational aggression among youth. Sex differences and similarities associated with such adolescent perceptions are assessed. Forty-eight ethnically diverse youth between the ages of 14 and 16 years participated in sex-specific focus…