School violence includes violence between school students as well as attacks by students on school staff and attacks by school staff on students. It encompasses physical violence, including student-on-student fighting, corporal punishment; psychological violence such as verbal abuse, and sexual violence, including rape and sexual harassment. It includes many forms of bullying (including cyberbullying) and carrying weapons to school. The one or more perpetrators typically have more physical, social, and/or psychological power than the victim. It is a widely accepted serious societal problem in recent decades in many countries, especially where weapons such as guns or knives are involved.
Forms of school violence and different types of bullying School violence occurs in all countries and affects a significant number of children and adolescents. It is mostly perpetrated by peers but, in some cases, is perpetrated by teachers and other school staff. School violence includes physical, psychological and sexual violence.
Bullying
Bullying, in its broadest sense, can be defined as a form of aggressive behavior characterized by unwelcome and negative actions. It entails a recurring pattern of incidents over time, as opposed to isolated conflicts, and typically manifests in situations where there exists an imbalance of power or strength among the individuals involved. It is important to distinguish bullying from occasional conflicts or disagreements that may arise among peers.
Various forms of bullying exist, including physical, psychological, sexual, and cyber-bullying.
Physical bullying encompasses a series of aggressive acts, such as physical assault, injury, kicking, pushing, shoving, confinement, theft of personal belongings, destruction of possessions, or coerced participation in undesirable activities. It is important to note that physical bullying differs from other types of physical violence, such as physical fights or attacks. Psychological bullying entails verbal abuse, emotional abuse, as well as social exclusion. This form of bullying includes derogatory name-calling, malicious teasing, deliberate exclusion from activities, purposeful neglect or ignorance, and the spread of lies or rumors. Sexual bullying involves subjecting an individual to ridicule through sexual jokes, comments, or gestures, causing embarrassment or discomfort. Cyber-bullying refers to bullying that takes place through electronic means. This can involve receiving mean-spirited instant messages, posts, emails, or text messages, or the creation of websites intended to mock or ridicule a particular student. Additionally, cyber-bullying encompasses the unauthorized capture and online dissemination of unflattering or inappropriate images of a student, as well as hurtful or malicious behavior through mobile phones (such as texts, calls, or video clips) or online platforms (including email, instant messaging, social networking sites, and chatrooms).
Physical fights According to the Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSSHS), a physical fight "occurs when two students of about the same strength or power choose to fight each other" and therefore is a form of physical violence between peers. The Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) does not refer specifically to school-related violence or to violence between peers, as it can occur between a student and "a total stranger, a parent of other adult family member, a brother or sister, a boyfriend or girlfriend or date, a friend or someone known by the student".
Sexual violence
According to Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), sexual violence is forced sexual intercourse or any other sexual acts against one's will. Violence Against Children Survey (VACS) defines it as completed non-consensual sex acts (such as rape), attempted non-consensual sex acts, abusive sexual contact (such as unwanted touching), and non-contact sexual abuse (such as threatened sexual violence, exhibitionism, and verbal sexual harassment).
Physical violence perpetrated by teachers This is defined as the intentional use of physical force with the potential to cause death, disability, injury or harm, regardless of whether it is used as a form of punishment.
Corporal punishment perpetrated by teachers In school, corporal punishment is defined as any punishment in which physical force is used against a student and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort. This often involves hitting children with a hand or implement, but it can also involve kicking, shaking, throwing or scratching children. Since the Ingraham v. Wright ruling in 1977 a growing opposition to School corporal punishment in the United States has led most states to ban it. In April of 2023 both Colorado and Idaho banned corporal punishment in schools so now there are only seventeen states still allowing it in schools and two of them, North Carolina and Kentucky, have bans in all counties, even though it's still allowed statewide, or in Private Schools.[https://www.denverpost.com/2023/04/20/colorado-bans-corporal-punishment-in-schools/ Gov. Jared Polis signs bills banning corporal punishment in schools 4/20/2023Corporal punishment, restraint and seclusion as discipline will be banned in Idaho schools 4/4/2023
Risk factors
Internalizing and externalizing behaviors
A distinction is made between internalizing and externalizing behavior. Internalizing behaviors reflect withdrawal, inhibition, anxiety, and/or depression. Internalizing behavior has been found in some cases of youth violence although in some youth, depression is associated with substance abuse. Because they rarely act out, students with internalizing problems are often overlooked by school personnel.Christie, C.A., Nelson, C.M., & Jolivet, K. (2005). Prevention of antisocial and violent behavior in youth: A review of the literature. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky. Retrieved 2009-05-01. Externalizing behaviors refer to delinquent activities, aggression, and hyperactivity. Unlike internalizing behaviors, externalizing behaviors include, or are directly linked to, violent episodes. Violent behaviors such as punching and kicking are often learned from observing others.Bandura, A. (1983). Psychological mechanisms of aggression. In R. G. Geen & Edward I. Donnerstein (Eds.), Aggression: Theoretical and empirical reviews. New York: Academic. Just as externalizing behaviors are observed outside of school, such behaviors also observed in schools.
Other individual factors
A number of other individual factors are associated with higher levels of aggressiveness. Compared to children whose antisocial conduct begins in adolescence, early starters have a worse prognosis in terms of future aggression and other antisocial activities. Lower IQ seems to be related to higher levels of aggression. Other findings indicate that motor, attention, and reading problems predict later persistent antisocial conduct in boys.
Home environment
The influence of the home environment on school violence has been a subject of study from the Constitutional Rights Foundation. According to this foundation, various factors within the home contribute to the acceptance of criminal and violent behavior among children. Long-term exposure to gun violence, parental alcoholism, domestic violence, physical abuse, and child sexual abuse all play a role in shaping children's perception of acceptability regarding such activities.Constitutional Rights Foundation. (1997). Causes of school violence. Retrieved on April 20, 2009. Research indicates a correlation between harsh parental discipline and increased levels of aggression in youth. Additionally, exposure to violence on televisionBushman, B. J., & Huesmann, L. R. (2001). Effects of televised violence on aggression. In D. G. Singer & J. L. Singer (Eds.), Handbook of children and the media (pp. 223–254). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. and, to a lesser extent, violent video games has been linked to heightened aggressiveness in children. These aggressive tendencies can carry over into school environments.
One line of research, led by Straus, suggests that parental corporal punishment heightens the risk of aggressive behavior in children and adolescents. However, these findings have been challenged by LarzelereLarzelere, R. (1997). Critique of anti-spanking study. Biola University. and Baumrind.Words from Diana Baumrind on corporal punishment. (1998). Nonetheless, a comprehensive meta-analysis of numerous studies on corporal punishment suggests that it leads to unfavorable outcomes for children and young people. The most methodologically sound studies demonstrate a "positive, moderately sized association between parental corporal punishment and children's aggression". Gershoff found that the trajectory of mean effect sizes (the size of the effect of corporal punishment on children's problem behavior) was curvilinear with the largest mean effect size in middle school (M = 0.55; on average the mean of corporal punishment group was more than half a standard deviation higher than the mean of the non-punishment group) and slightly smaller effect sizes in elementary school (M = 0.43) and high school (M = 0.45).
Another influential model in understanding the development of aggressive behavior is Gerald Patterson's social interactional model.Patterson, G. (1982). Coercive family process. Eugene, OR: Castalia. Patterson, G. R. (1995). Coercion as a basis for early age of onset for arrest. In J. McCord (Ed.), Coercion and punishment in long-term perspectives (pp. 81–105). New York: Cambridge University Press. This model highlights the dynamic between the mother's use of coercive behaviors and the child's counter-application of such behaviors. Coercive behaviors can include actions that are typically punishing, such as whining, yelling, and hitting. Abusive home environments can hinder the development of social cognitive skills necessary for understanding others' intentions. Short-term longitudinal evidence supports the idea that a lack of social cognitive skills mediates the relationship between harsh parental discipline and aggressive behavior in kindergarten. Follow-up studies indicate that the mediating effects persist until third and fourth grade.
Hirschi's control theory, proposed in 1969, suggests that children with weak emotional bonds to their parents and school are more likely to engage in delinquent and violent behavior both within and outside of the school setting.Hirschi, T.W. (1969). Causes of delinquency. Berkeley: University of California Press. Hirschi's cross-sectional data from northern California largely support this view. Findings from case-controlSampson, R., & Laub, J. (1993). Crime in the making: Pathways and turning points through life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. and longitudinal studies also align with this perspective.
Neighbourhood environment