Variations and Similarities in School Victimization

This chapter examines which patterns of victimization are universal and shared by many groups and in multiple contexts and which are more unique to groups or contexts. The chapter distinguishes among base rates (i.e., the prevalence of victimization types) and structures of victimization. It suggests that although base rates of victimization types may vary significantly among different contexts, structural patterns may be much more similar across contexts. The chapter suggests that are multiple ways to address structures of victimization. For example, will the prevalence of being humiliated by a peer always be higher than being pushed or shoved? Are verbal and physical types of victimization correlated in the same ways in different countries? Will latent class analyses reveal the same profiles of students in different countries? cultures? Are poverty, sexual minority status, school climate, and teacher support associated with victimization in the same way in different countries?

School Climate

This chapter reviews the conceptualization and definitions of school climate and examines evidence regarding its correlates and consequences. The review indicates that there are multiple ambiguities in current conceptualizations of climate. The roles of school violence, bullying, and safety are not consistent across definitions. Most definitions focus on climate as it relates to individuals. Far less attention has focused on the school as whole, overlooking to a large extent school level issues, including school subcontexts that have particular subclimates (e.g. “unowned spaces”). The role of the district is also sorely missing. It discusses the importance of conceptualizing and measuring multiple perspectives on school climate, both on the individual and school level. The chapter presents a cross-lagged study of the relationships between school climate, violence, and academic achievement over time in a large and representative study of all schools in California. Finally, the chapter discusses climate improvement programs, interventions, and practices.

Introduction

This introduction chapter presents the historical, personal, and academic background that led to this book that examines a model of school violence in context. The chapter presents the book chapters: a revised model of school violence in evolving contexts; the definition of bullying and school violence; exploring similarities and differences between groups in base rates of victimization and in the structures of victimization types; the multiple ways of exposure to a range of weapons on school grounds, focusing on school-level analysis; sexual victimization and its association with cultural groups; suicide and its relations with bullying both on the individual and school levels; the victimization of teachers by students and of students by their teachers and their interrelationships on a student and school-level; multiple forms of cyberbullying and their relationships with “traditional” bullying; school climate, its definitions, and relationships with victimization and academic achievement over time; policy and intervention implications.

Future Theory, Research, and Policy

This chapter focuses on issues of theory, research, and policy that should be considered in the future, especially issues germane to the theoretical model of school violence in evolving contexts. The chapter elaborates on the importance of including the temporal-historical context in future study and the methodological and conceptual implications of the recent revolution in data infrastructure, including the need to build collaborations with other “big data” organizations. The chapter outlines the need to develop conceptual and methodological tools of analysis with “the school at the center,” including school profiles as analytic tools and identifying classes of schools sharing similar profiles, and calls for studying how schools are nested in multiple ecological contexts, including the hierarchical educational structures of districts, counties, states, nations, and the global context, including the role of technology and media. Finally, the chapter discusses the need to study the impact of the school on its context.

Victimization

This chapter examines the definitions of bullying and school violence, suggesting that the use of the term “bullying” needs to be more specific and concrete, referring to behaviors that are intended to cause social, physical, emotional, sexual, or property damage. The chapter presents a wide range of victimization types that vary widely in terms of their prevalence in schools, their nature, and the severity of their impact on victims. It presents factor analyses that examine the relationships among different types of behaviors and reveal six distinct yet interrelated categories: verbal (e.g., humiliating), physical (e.g., pushing and shoving), threats, indirect social (e.g., spreading mean rumors), sexual, and cyber. Additionally, the chapter uses latent class analysis to examine how different groups of students experience multiple types of bullying and school victimization. Four groups (classes) were identified, each with a different profile of student background characteristics.

A Heuristic Model of School Violence and Bullying in Evolving Nested Contexts

This chapter presents an integrated ecological theoretical model of school violence in evolving and nested contexts. In contrast to other models that put the student in the center, this heuristic model puts the school in the center of nested contexts, such as the student body, family, community, and culture. The school is also embedded in a hierarchical organizational structure, being part of a district, county, state, and country that also affect the school. All these outside contexts overflow into the school and influence internal school violence and safety. The school’s internal context, including the school organization and climate, moderates and mediates outside influences and helps shape the students’ experiences, perceptions, emotions, and behaviors Finally, the model suggests that school violence, bullying, safety, and student outcomes are dynamic and ever evolving, reflecting changes in norms and contexts. The dynamics of the school context impact all the external ecological layers as well.

Cyberbullying

This chapter explores the emerging issues surrounding cyberbullying. It discusses the role of the school regarding cyberbullying victimization (even when it does not take place on school grounds) and the shift toward schools taking more responsibility over these behaviors. The chapter examines critically multiple definitions of cyberbullying and their implications for research and policy. It identifies specific types and manifestations of cyberbullying (e.g., social and sexual victimization). The chapter reviews some of the findings on prevalence, correlates, and consequences of cyberbullying and discusses interventions, policies, and legal frameworks that address these issues. The chapter presents a case study of a large national sample of Israeli students that examines the prevalence of cyberbullying, traditional bullying, and their interrelationships in the context of school climate, both on the student and the school level.

Teacher–Student and Student–Teacher Victimization and their Interrelationship

This chapter examines the victimization of teachers by students and victimization of students by teachers and explores their interrelationships. The chapter reviews the literature on these issues and notes the paucity of research in education on the prevalence and consequences of victimization of students by teachers—this, in contrast to a recent worldwide interest in the victimization of teachers by students. The chapter examines cultural beliefs and shifting norms with regards to corporal punishment of students. A study of student–teacher mutual victimization as reported by Israeli students from several cultural groups. The chapter suggests that students’ reports of being victimized by their teachers are associated with their reports of victimizing teachers, both on the student and school level (especially with regard to more physical and sexual types of victimization) and for all three cultural groups. The chapter explores the role of teacher unions in teacher perpetration and victimization.

Understanding Suicide in the School Context

This chapter examines the relationships between suicide ideations and behaviors and school victimization, bullying, and school climate. The chapter reviews the evidence on the prevalence of suicide among youth and its relationships with peer victimization and identifies gaps in knowledge. The chapter suggests that the social context and the climate of the school are moderating the relationships between bullying and suicide. Despite the importance of school experiences for adolescents, only a few studies have attempted to conceptualize and empirically investigate the relationships between school-level contextual characteristics and suicidal ideation. Based on the model of school violence and bullying in context, the chapter presents a study of suicide ideation among high school students in California. The study examined student-level, school-level, and cross-level interactions predicting suicide ideation. The chapter discusses the implications of the findings for a public health approach to the prevention of students suicide ideation.

Sexual Victimization

This chapter examines issues of sexual victimization in schools. It discusses the complexity of definitions of sexual victimization in light of shifting societal norms and expectations. The chapter takes a nuanced approach to issues of sexual assault, victimization due to sexual orientation or gender identity, and sexual humiliation or sexual predatory behaviors as they relate to various forms of bullying, harassment, victimization, and discrimination. It discusses the interrelations between school climate and sexual harassment, the vulnerability of certain groups to being targeted for such harassment (e.g., sexual minorities such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer [LGBTQ]). The chapter also explores issues of sexual harassment in schools as they relate to issues of patriarchal and religious cultures and examines differences in sexual victimization among cultural groups in Israel, both on the level of the individual student and on the school level.