Student’s Perceptions of School Safety

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 319-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Williams ◽  
Mallory Schneider ◽  
Cory Wornell ◽  
Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling

This study examined the relationship of students’ perceptions of school safety and school avoidance related to feeling unsafe with predictor variables: bullying victimization, student/teacher/parent/administration relations, rule clarity and consistency, school physical environment (negative and positive), and student’s belongingness. In a public high school sample ( n = 585), 24.7% of students felt unsafe and 14.4% avoided school due to feeling unsafe during the past month. Being female and experiencing bullying was associated with feeling unsafe. However, after accounting for demographics and bullying victimization, perceptions of safety increased when students reported positive student and teacher relations, consistent rules, a clean school that is also crowded/noisy, and a sense of school belonging. Avoiding school because of safety concerns was related to decreased school belonging and teacher/student relationships, but not bullying. Focusing on enhancing the school climate/environment, facilitating student belongingness, and reducing bullying are ways school nurses can help promote safer schools.

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eerika Finell ◽  
Asko Tolvanen ◽  
Juha Pekkanen ◽  
Timo Ståhl ◽  
Pauliina Luopa

Abstract Background Little previous research has analysed the relationship between schools’ indoor air problems and schools’ social climate. In this study, we analysed a) whether observed mould and dampness in a school building relates to students’ perceptions of school climate (i.e. teacher-student relationships and class spirit) and b) whether reported subjective indoor air quality (IAQ) at the school level mediates this relationship. Methods The data analysed was created by merging two nationwide data sets: survey data from students, including information on subjective IAQ (N = 25,101 students), and data from schools, including information on mould and dampness in school buildings (N = 222). The data was analysed using multilevel mediational models. Results After the background variables were adjusted, schools’ observed mould and dampness was not significantly related to neither student-perceived teacher-student relationships nor class spirit. However, our mediational models showed that there were significant indirect effects from schools’ observed mould and dampness to outcome variables via school-level subjective IAQ: a) in schools with mould and dampness, students reported significantly poorer subjective IAQ (standardised β = 0.34, p < 0.001) than in schools without; b) the worse the subjective IAQ at school level, the worse the student-reported teacher-student relationships (β = 0.31, p = 0.001) and class spirit (β = 0.25, p = 0.006). Conclusions Problems in a school’s indoor environment may impair the school’s social climate to the degree that such problems decrease the school’s perceived IAQ.


2012 ◽  
Vol 111 (3) ◽  
pp. 761-764 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Yang Liu

In a sample of 916 Chinese high school students, the relations among the students' perceptions of school climate and their trait test anxiety were examined. The results indicated that students' perceptions of teacher-student relationships and student-student relationships negatively predicted their trait test anxiety. Furthermore, girls had higher scores on trait test anxiety than boys.


Author(s):  
Sebastian Wachs ◽  
Anke Görzig ◽  
Michelle F. Wright ◽  
Wilfried Schubarth ◽  
Ludwig Bilz

We applied the Social Cognitive Theory to investigate whether parent–child relationships, bullying victimization, and teacher–student relationships are directly as well as indirectly via self-efficacy in social conflicts associated with adolescents’ willingness to intervene in a bullying incident. There were 2071 (51.3% male) adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 from 24 schools in Germany who participated in this study. A mediation test using structural equation modeling revealed that parent–child relationships, bullying victimization, and teacher–student relationships were directly related to adolescents’ self-efficacy in social conflicts. Further, teacher–student relationships and bullying victimization were directly associated with adolescents’ willingness to intervene in bullying. Finally, relationships with parents, peers and teachers were indirectly related to higher levels of students’ willingness to intervene in bullying situations due to self-efficacy in social conflicts. Thus, our analysis confirms the general assumptions of Social Cognitive Theory and the usefulness of applying its approach to social conflicts such as bullying situations.


2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 256-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Bowser ◽  
James D. Larson ◽  
Amy Bellmore ◽  
Chelsea Olson ◽  
Felice Resnik

Given their significance to school violence, this study quantifies the association between bullying victimization and perceptions of safety separately for victimization where the type is not specified versus victimization that is physical in nature. Generalized liner mixed modeling was employed with 5,138 sixth- to eighth-grade students in 24 schools who self-reported on their bullying victimization and perceptions of school safety on an anonymous survey in fall 2015. Results indicate a multiplicative interaction exists with regard to the odds of feeling unsafe at school among those who were bullied at all (odds ratio [ OR] = 3.1) compared to those who were bullied physically ( OR = 9.12). For school nurses who work with students with a variety of concerns and health issues, this research indicates that the use of bullying victimization as an outcome, proxy and/or predictor, requires inquiry into the type of bullying experienced to aid in the care and support received.


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