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Students’ Feelings of Safety, Exposure to Violence and Victimization, and Authoritative School Climate

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Abstract

Although many students feel unsafe at school, few malleable factors have been identified to increase students’ feelings of safety. Drawing on criminological behavior control theories, this study posits authoritative school climate as one such factor. With data from two nationally representative datasets, this study uses path analysis to examine the relationship between authoritative school climate and feelings of safety, as well as the extent to which this relation is explained by exposure to violence and victimization. Across both datasets, a more authoritative school climate was associated with increased feelings of safety at school. Both models also indicated that this relationship was explained in part by reduced exposure to violence and victimization, although the strength of this indirect effect varied across models. These findings suggest that strengthening students’ relationships with adults and increasing the fairness and consistency of rules in the school may both reduce exposure to violence and victimization and help students feel safer at school.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminal Justice, University of Louisville, 2301 South Third Street, Louisville, KY, 40292, USA

    Benjamin W. Fisher

  2. Vanderbilt University, Peabody College #414, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA

    Samantha Viano

  3. School of Public Policy, University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD, 21250, USA

    F. Chris Curran

  4. School of Education, Center for Urban Education, University of Pittsburgh, 4118 Wesley W. Posvar Hall, 230 South Bouquet Street, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA

    F. Alvin Pearman

  5. Vanderbilt University, Peabody College #90, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA

    Joseph H. Gardella

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  1. Benjamin W. Fisher
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  2. Samantha Viano
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  3. F. Chris Curran
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  4. F. Alvin Pearman
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  5. Joseph H. Gardella
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Correspondence to Benjamin W. Fisher.

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Fisher, B.W., Viano, S., Chris Curran, F. et al. Students’ Feelings of Safety, Exposure to Violence and Victimization, and Authoritative School Climate. Am J Crim Just 43, 6–25 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-017-9406-6

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