Dating violence is a serious form of violence that places students at risk for injury, death, and negative mental health sequelae. The current analysis presents data on the prevalence of dating violence over a 12-year period among a nationally representative sample of high school-attending youth in the United States, stratified by race and gender. Data from the national Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) 1999-2011 revealed that physical dating violence victimization rates are similar for males and females; the 12-year prevalence rate of physical dating violence victimization was 9.4% for males and 9.2% for females. Black and Multiracial students were at increased risk for dating violence victimization in comparison to their White, Asian, and Hispanic counterparts. There were no changes in the reported rate of dating violence victimization over the 12-year period.

This study employs latent class analysis to construct bullying involvement typologies among 3114 students (48% male, 58% White) in 40 middle schools across the U.S. Four classes were constructed: victims (15%); bullies (13%); bully-victims (13%); and noninvolved (59%). Respondents who were male and participated in fewer conventional activities were more likely to be members of the victims class. Students who were African-American and reported being less successful at school had a higher likelihood of membership in the bullies class. Bully-victims shared characteristics with bullies and victims: Students with more feelings of anger toward others and a higher tendency toward sensation-seeking had a higher likelihood of membership in the bullies and bully-victims classes, whereas lower levels of social inclusion was associated with membership in the victims and bully-victims classes.

The climate of school classrooms, shaped by a combination of teacher practices and peer processes, is an important determinant for children's psychosocial functioning and is a primary factor affecting bullying and victimization. Given that there are relatively few theoretically-grounded and validated assessment tools designed to measure the social climate of classrooms, our research team developed an observation tool through participatory action research (PAR). This article details how the assessment tool was designed and preliminarily validated in 18 third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade classrooms in a large urban public school district. The goals of this study are to illustrate the feasibility of a PAR paradigm in measurement development, ascertain the psychometric properties of the assessment tool, and determine associations with different indices of classroom levels of relational and physical aggression.

Although many bullying prevention programs aim to involve multiple partners, few studies have examined perceptual differences regarding peer victimization and the broader bullying climate among students, staff, and parents. The present study utilized multilevel data from 11,674 students, 960 parents, and 1,027 staff at 44 schools to examine the association between school-level indicators of disorder, norms regarding bullying and bullies, and students, parents, and staff perceptions of safety, belonging, and witnessing bullying. Results revealed several important discrepancies between adults and youth with regard to their perceptions. Moreover, results highlight the significance of normative beliefs about bullies, retaliation, and the influence of school contextual factors on students' risk for exposure to bullying.

Although researchers have identified individual-level predictors of nonphysical bullying among children and youth, school-level predictors (i.e., characteristics of the school environment that influence bullying exposure) remain largely unstudied. Using data from a survey of 1,838 students in 21 Boston public high schools, we used multilevel modeling techniques to estimate the level of variation across schools in student reports of nonphysical bully victimization and identify school-level predictors of bullying. We found significant between school variation in youth reports of nonphysical bullying, with estimates ranging from 25-58%. We tested school-level indicators of academic performance, emotional well-being, and school safety. After controlling for individual-level covariates and demographic controls, the percent of students in the school who met with a mental health counselor was significantly associated with bullying (OR = 1.03, 95% CI = 1.01, 1.06). There was no significant association between school-level academic performance and perceptions of school safety on individual reports of bullying. Findings suggest that prevention and intervention programs may benefit from attending to the emotional well-being of students and support the importance of understanding the role of the school environment in shaping student experiences with bullying.

This research examined the relationship between parenting practices and adolescent conduct problems and the mediation of these relationships by two parent-adolescent relationship variables, conflict and psychological autonomy. Autoregressive latent trajectory (ALT) analyses were used to assess relationships over time between parent practices and adolescent conduct problems. Participants were 2,453 students recruited from 7 public middle schools and assessed 5 times between fall of 6(th) and 9(th) grades on the following measures: Parent Monitoring; Parent Knowledge; adolescent Psychological Autonomy; parent-adolescent Conflict; and adolescent Conduct Problems. Adolescent Conduct Problems and parenting practices were associated in both cross-sectional and prospective analyses. In time-lagged autoregressive modeling as a part of ALT analyses, adolescent Conduct Problems and parenting practices were reciprocally related from Time 1 to Time 2, but there after only Parent Monitoring was consistently associated with adolescent Conduct Problems over time. Adolescent Psychological Autonomy positively mediated the relationships between adolescent Conduct Problems and Parent Monitoring, but not the relationship between Parental Knowledge and Conduct Problems; while Conflict partially mediated the relationships between the slope of Conduct Problems and the slopes of both parenting behaviors and the relationship between the slopes of Conduct Problems and Psychological Autonomy. The findings provide evidence of reciprocal relationships between Conduct Problems and parenting behaviors and parent-teen relationship variables. Mediational analyses indicated relationships with Conduct Problems unmediated by Autonomy and partially mediated by Conflict. The findings provide support for the hypothesis that associations over time between parenting practices and adolescent Conduct Problems depend in part on the parent-adolescent relationship.

Limited research has been conducted on the state-level factors that may be associated with intentional school shootings. We obtained school shooting data from the that identified any act of intentional interpersonal gunfire in a K-12 school over the course of two decades. We also compiled new data on active school shootings during the same twenty-year time period, which identified any attempted mass shooting incident in a K-12 school. We conducted a time-series analysis to measure the association of permissiveness of state firearm laws and state gun ownership with K-12 school shootings and active shootings. More permissive firearm laws and higher rates of gun ownership were associated with higher rates of both school shootings and active school shootings after controlling for critical covariates. Specific recommendations for K-12 schools to consider as they seek to prevent acts of intentional gunfire on school grounds are presented.

Bullying threatens the mental and educational well-being of students. All states have enacted antibullying laws. This study surveyed 634 educators about the implementation of the North Carolina School Violence Prevention Act, which enumerated social classes protected from bullying: race, national origin, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, gender identity, appearance, and disability. Results showed that local antibullying policies most often included race as a protected class and least often included sexual orientation and gender identity. More educators had been trained on bullying based on race than any other social class. Students were more often informed that bullying based on race was prohibited and were least often informed about prohibitions regarding sexual orientation and gender identity. Reporting, investigating, and remediating bullying was highest for racial bullying, followed by disability bullying, and was lowest for bullying based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

This prospective study examined the effects of early childhood physical aggression and violence exposure on bullying victimization/perpetration and attitudes toward guns and violence in early adolescence (EA) in a high-risk sample. Participants included 216 mother-child dyads from an ongoing longitudinal study using multi-method assessments (e.g., classroom observations, laboratory assessment, parent-, teacher-, and child self-reports). Results supported a developmental pathway from early adversity (i.e., prenatal substance use) to aggression at kindergarten age to bullying perpetration and gun violence attitudes (aggressive responses to shame) in EA. Higher peer victimization was also associated with aggressive responses to shame in EA. Results are discussed in light of the complexity of the motives for aggression and the need for prevention and early intervention.

This systematic review synthesizes research on school-based crisis intervention protocols, descriptions, and evaluations. We performed a comprehensive literature search, and 60 studies met the inclusion criteria for this review. We found an overwhelming lack of evaluation studies (n=3), suggesting that interventions are being administered post-crises without evaluation. The most frequently named crisis intervention model was the Prevent/Prepare, Reaffirm, Evaluate, Provide and Respond, and Examine (PREPaRE) model (n=6). All evaluation studies in the sample were observational, and most adopted qualitative methods of evaluation. Future studies are needed to evaluate crisis interventions to measure the fidelity, reliability, and effectiveness of such interventions.

School-based bullying perpetration and victimization is common worldwide and has profound impacts on student behavior and mental health. However, few studies have examined young adult outcomes of bullying perpetration or victimization. Research on factors that protect students who have bullied or been bullied is also lacking. This study examined young adult externalizing and internalizing problems (aged 18-19 years) and adolescent protective factors related to self-reported bullying perpetration and victimization among over 650 Victorians aged 16-17 years. Opportunities for prosocial involvement in the family lessened subsequent involvement in nonviolent antisocial behavior, as an outcome of prior bullying. High academic performance and having strategies to cope with stress reduced young adult depressive symptoms for participants who had been victims of bullying. The implications for bullying prevention and early intervention programs are discussed.

Peer report of aggression has typically been obtained through peer nominations. The purpose of this study was to identify the extent to which peer nominations and peer ratings identified the same children as aggressive and to explore whether the two methods were equally accurate in identifying children at risk for poor social adjustment. Participants were 1051 students in third, fourth, or fifth grade and were predominantly African American (76.6%). Participants provided self-report of sympathy and peer nominations and ratings of overt and relational aggression, prosocial behavior, and leadership. Teachers reported on participants' school adjustment. Peer nominations and peer ratings of aggressive behavior were closely related. Peer ratings of overt and relational aggression emerged as a unique predictor of all indicators of adjustment, whereas peer nominations were uniquely associated with three of six outcomes of interest. Peer ratings are a promising approach to assessing aggression and may address problems of consumer acceptance.

Peer victimization represents a pervasive problem, particularly for students in middle school. Although curriculum-based prevention programs have generated small to moderate effects on victimization, these effects tend to weaken beginning with the transition to middle school. In this study, we evaluated cooperative learning (CL) as a mechanism to prevent victimization, and evaluated reciprocated friendships as a mediator of these effects. Using four waves of data from a cluster randomized trial of CL (7 intervention and 8 control middle schools; N=1,890 students, 47.1% female, 75.2% White), we found that CL significantly reduced victimization after two years, and these effects were mediated by growth in reciprocated friendship in the first year. We conclude that CL can reduce victimization by providing a means for students to engage in extended social interactions with a wider range of peers and thus creating opportunities for students to forge stronger (i.e., reciprocated) friendships.

The No Child Left Behind Act requires state boards of education to identify schools that are unsafe. Schools that are identified by measures such as suspension and expulsion rates are subsequently labeled "persistently dangerous." To our knowledge there is no published research that attempts to characterize fighting behavior among youth who may attend schools designated as "persistently dangerous." Two hundred and thirteen sixth grade African American boys and girls attending two urban middle schools on probation for "persistently dangerous" status were examined to investigate differences in demographic characteristics of gender and age and predictor factors of non-parental adult mentorship, parental acceptance of fighting behavior, and peer fighting. These analyses suggest a relationship between the number of peers who fight, youth who believed their parents endorse fighting, and youth without non parental adult mentorship were more likely to fight. This study also indicates that regardless of school status there are modifiable predictors associated with early adolescent fighting.

Although sexual minority (SM) youth are at an increased risk for being bullied and experiencing depression, it is unclear how caregiver support is interrelated with those variables. Therefore, we sought to assess: (a) the prevalence of nonphysical bullying, depressive symptomatology, and caregiver support among heterosexual and SM girls, (b) the association between caregiver support and bullying in both groups, and (c) whether sexual orientation moderates the interactive effect of caregiver support and bullying on depressive symptoms. Data come from a survey of students in 22 Boston public high schools; 99 of the 832 girls in the analytic sample were SM. We used chi-square statistics to examine group differences, and multiple regression to estimate the association between the caregiver support, sexual orientation, being bullied, and depressive symptomatology. SM girls reported similar levels of caregiver support as heterosexual girls, but reported higher levels of depressive symptomatology. They were also more likely to report nonphysical bullying. Tests for interactions were not statistically significant, suggesting that bullying, caregiver support, and sexual orientation are independently associated with depressive symptomatology.

This study assesses how perceptions of school climate and four mediating factors (school connectedness, peer attachment, assertiveness, and empathy) influence reports of bullying behaviors among 2,834 students in 14 middle schools. Results revealed that students in positive school climates reported experiencing fewer physical, emotional, and cyberbullying behaviors. They also reported greater levels of school connectedness, peer attachment, assertiveness, and empathy, which in turn helped explain the influence of perceived school climate on bullying. In addition, the greater levels of empathy that students reported, the more likely they were to report being bullied. These results highlight the role that perceptions of school climate can play in influencing bullying and underscore the importance of mediating factors as schools work to track and improve school climate.

Self-control has provided a useful framework for understanding both offending behavior and victimization risk. As a theory of victimization, research has established that low self-control is directly related to victimization risk beyond a range of other factors. This finding raises the issue of whether other personality traits are associated with an increased risk of victimization. Using a sample of ninth-grade adolescents (N = 2,912) from the Rural Substance Abuse and Violence Project (RSVP), we tested whether the Big Five Inventory (BFI) of personality traits predicted adolescent school-based victimization above and beyond low self-control and rival explanations of victimization. The results indicate that, after controlling for risky behaviors, school attachment, and low self-control, neuroticism is positively related to victimization. This finding suggests that examining traits other than low self-control is important to capture fully what makes someone vulnerable to crime. Further, we consider the theoretical and policy implications of the findings.

This research examined the relation between early adolescent aggression and parenting practices in an urban, predominately African American sample. Sixth graders (N = 209) completed questionnaires about their overt and relational aggressive behaviors and perceptions of caregivers' parenting practices. Findings indicated that moderate levels of parental expectations for peaceful solutions at Time 1 were associated with a lower likelihood of overt aggression at Time 2. Furthermore, findings suggest that when caregivers' support and knowledge of adolescents' whereabouts were relatively low or when caregivers' exerted high psychological control, moderate levels of parental expectations for peaceful solutions protected early adolescents against engagement in both overt and relational aggression. The implications of the findings for schools and other youth violence prevention settings are discussed.

This paper describes the theoretical foundation, development, and feasibility testing of an online, evidence-based intervention for teen dating violence prevention designed for dissemination. relies on the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change and expert system technology to deliver assessments and feedback matched to stage of change for using healthy relationship skills. The program also tailors feedback to dating status, risk level, and other key characteristics. Ninety-nine students from high schools in Tennessee and Rhode Island completed a session and 97 completed an 11-item acceptability evaluation. 100% of participants completed the intervention session as intended. Evaluations of the program were favorable. For example, 88.7% agreed the program feedback was easy to understand, and 86.7% agreed that the program could help people develop healthier relationships. Findings provide encouraging evidence of the acceptability and feasibility of this approach to dating violence prevention.

Recent research highlights the role of peer victimization in students' adjustment across a variety of domains (e.g., academic, social), but less often identifies potential mediating variables. In the current study, we tested for direct effects from peer victimization to adolescents' academic behavior and alcohol use, as well as indirect effects through school belonging. Adolescents from two large samples (middle school: = 2,808; high school: = 6,821) self-reported on peer victimization, school belonging, academic outcomes (GPA, school truancy), and alcohol use (lifetime, past 30 days). Two-group structural equation models revealed (a) direct and indirect paths from peer victimization to academic functioning; (b) indirect, but not direct, effects through school belonging for lifetime drinking; and (c) direct and indirect effects from peer victimization to current drinking. Findings implicate school belonging as a mediator between peer victimization and important outcomes in adolescence.

Cyberbullying is a growing problem for middle school students. Bystander interventions that train witnesses to positively intervene can prevent cyberbullying. Through six focus groups, we explored forty-six middle school students' experiences with cyberbullying and opportunities for school-based prevention programs to encourage positive bystander behavior. Focus groups were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using content analysis. Students viewed cyberbullying as an important problem with significant consequences. They noted hesitancy in reporting to parents and school personnel and felt more comfortable discussing cyberbullying with a near-peer (e.g., older sibling or friend). Students desired combining school-based and online programming with near-peer mentorship. This study suggests need for targeted prevention programs that center middle school students' lived experiences with cyberbullying and their preferences for learning and utilizing positive bystander strategies.