Abstract
Much of the research literature on school violence has focused narrowly on individual characteristics of troubled youth, without careful examination of contextual factors that might influence violence and victimization in school settings. This study examines the associations among Student Participation in Decision-Making in their Schools, Teacher Support, and Student Victimization (by students and staff members) in a nationally representative sample of 10,254 students in 164 junior high and high schools in Israel. Data were analyzed using structural equations modeling for full group analyses and for group comparisons of patterns among junior high, high school, male, female, and Jewish and Arab students. Across all models, higher levels of teacher support were associated with lower rates of victimization. Participation in Decision-Making was also related to Victimization, with varying patterns depending on students' gender and ethnicity. Theoretical and social cultural factors contributing to these gender and cultural differences are discussed. The general findings are consistent with the research literature on teacher support, however they raise future research questions about culture and gender effects when considering participation and school contexts.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson CS (1982) The search for school climate: A review of the research. Rev Educ Res 52(3):368–420
Astor RA, Benbenishty R (2005) Theoretically atypical schools and school violence: school factors as buffers and facilitators of student victimization. Research report submitted to the Israeli Ministry of Education and to the W. T. Grant Foundation
Astor RA, Benbenishty R, Vinokur A, Zeira A (2006) Arab and Jewish elementary school students' perceptions of fear and school violence: Understanding the influence of school context. Br J Educ Psychol 76:91–118
Astor RA, Benbenishty R, Zeira A, Vinokur A (2002a) Perceptions of violence and fear of school attendance among junior high school students in Israel. Soc Work Res 26(2):71–87
Astor RA, Benbenishty R, Zeira A, Vinokur A (2002b) School climate, observed risky behaviors, and victimization as predictors of high school students' fear and judgments of school violence as a problem. Health Educ Behav 29(6):716–736
Astor RA, Gutierrez L (1999) Gender, schools and school social workers. Soc Work Educ 21:195–200
Astor RA, Meyer HA (2001) The conceptualization of violence – prone school subcontexts. Is the sum of the parts greater than the whole? Urban Educ 36(3):374–399
Astor RA, Meyer HA, Behre WJ (1999) Unowned places and times: Maps and interviews about violence in high schools. Am Educ Res J 36:3–42
Baker JA (1999) Teacher-student interaction in urban at-risk classrooms: Differential behavior, relationship quality, and student satisfaction with school. Elementary School J 100(1):57–70
Baumrind D (1966) Effects of authoritative parental control on children. Child Dev 37(2):887–907
Benbenishty R, Astor RA (2005) School Violence in Context: Culture, Neighborhood, Family, School, and Gender. Oxford University Press, New York, NY
Benbenishty R, Zeira A, Astor RA (2000) A national study of school violence in Israel – Wave II: Fall 1999. Jerusalem. Israeli Ministry of Education, Israel
Benbenishty R, Zeira A, Astor RA (2002) Children's reports of emotional, physical, and sexual maltreatment by educational staff in Israel. Child Abuse Neglect 26:763–782
Bentler PM (1990) Comparative indexes in structural models. Psychol Bull 107:238–246
Bentler PM (1995) EQS structural equation manual. BMDP Statistical Software, Los Angeles
Bronfenbrenner U (1992) Ecological systems theory. Six theories of child development: Revised formulations and current issues. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, Bristol
Crick NR, Bigbee MA (1998) Relational and overt forms of peer victimization: A multi-informant approach. J Consult Clin Psychol 66:337–347
Croninger RG, Lee VE (2001) Social capital and dropping out of high school: Benefits to at-risk students of teachers' support and guidance. Teac Coll Rec 103(4):548–581
Dodge KA, Newman JP (1981) Biased decision-making processes in aggressive boys. J Abnorm Psychol 90:375–379
Eisenberg N, Carol G, Murphy B, van Court P (1995) Prosocial development in late adolescence: A longitudinal study. Child Dev 66:1179–1197
Fine M (1991) Framing dropouts: Notes on the politics of an urban high school. State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
Furlong M, Chung A, Bates M, Morrison RL (1995) Who are the victims of school violence? A comparison of student non-victims and multi-victims. Educ Treat Child 18(3):282–298
Furlong M, Morrison G (2000) The school in school violence: Definitions and facts. J Emotional Behav Disord 8(2):71–82
Furlong MJ (1999) California school climate and safety survey
Gottfredson D (2001) Schools and Delinquency. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Haj-Yahia MM (1998a) A patriarchical perspective of beliefs about wife beating among Palestinian men from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. J Fam Issues 19:595–621
Haj-Yahia MM (1998b) Perceptions of abusive and violent husbands by engaged Arab men in Israel. J Soc Psychol 138:772–786
Holdsworth R, Thomson P (2002) Students researching and acting for change: Australian Experiences. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Education Research Association, New Orleans, LA
Hu L, Bentler PM (1999) Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Struct Equation Model 6:1–55
Huesmann L (1988) An information processing model for the development of aggression. Aggressive Behav 14:13–24
Hyman IA (1990) Reading, writing and the hickory stick: The appalling story of physical and psychological abuse in American schools. Lexington Books, Lexington
Hyman IA (1997) School discipline and school violence. Allyn and Bacon, Boston
Hyman I, Perone DC (1998) The other side of school violence: Educator policies and practices that may contribute to student misbehavior. J Sch Psychol 36:7–27
Hyman IA, Snook PA (2000) Dangerous schools and what you can do about them. Phi Delta Kappan 81(7):489–501
Kachur P, Stennies G, Powell K, Modzeleski W, Stephens R, Murphy R (1996) School-associated violent deaths in the United States, 1992–1994. J Am Med Assoc 275;1729–1733
Katz SR (1999) Teaching in tensions: Latino immigrant youth, their teachers, and the structures of schooling. Teac Coll Rec 100(1):809–840
Kaufman P, Chen X, Choy S, Ruddy S, Miller A, Fleury J (2000) Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2000 (No. NCES 2001–017): U.S. Department of Education and Justice
Khoury-Kassabri M, Benbenishty R, Astor RA (2005) The effects of school climate, social economics, and cultural factors on school victimization in Israel. Social Work Research 9(23):165–180
Kingery PM (2001) Suspension and expulsion: New directions
Klem L (2000) Structural Equation Modeling. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC
Lippitt R, White RK (1958) An experimental study of leadership and group life. In: Maccoby EE, Newcomb TM, Hartley EL (eds) Readings in Social Psychology, Third Edn. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, Inc., New York, pp. 497–522
Loeber R, Dishion T (1984) Boys who fight at home and school: Family conditions influencing cross-setting consistency. J Consult Clin Psychol 52:759–768
Midgley C (2002) Goal orientations, goal structures, and adaptive patterns of learning. Erlbaum, New Jersey
Nansel T, Overpeck M, Pilla R, Ruan W, Simons-Morton B, Scheidt P (2001) Bullying behaviors among US youth: Prevalence and association with psychosocial adjustment. J Am Med Assoc 285:2094–2100
Noddings N (1992) The challenge to care in schools: An alternative approach to education. Teachers College Press, New York
Noguera PA (1995) Preventing and producing violence: A critical analysis of responses to violence. 65(2):189–212
Olweus D (1993) Bullying at school. Blackwell, Oxford, UK
Patterson GR, Stouthamer-Loeber M (1984) The correlation of family management practices and delinquency. Child Dev 55:1299–1307
Rosenblatt JA, Furlong MJ (1997) Assessing the reliability and validity of student self-reports of campus violence. J Youth Adolesc 26:187–202
Rudduck R, Flutter J (2000) Pupil participation and pupil perspective: `Carving a new order of experience'. Camb J Educ 30(1):75–89
Smith P, Morita Y, Junger-Tas J, Olweus D, Catalano R, Slee P (1999) The nature of school bullying: A cross-national perspective. Routledge, New York
Smith P, Sharp S (1994) School bullying. Routledge, London, England
Stevenson RB, Ellsworth J (1993) Dropouts and the silencing of critical voices. State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
Stipek DJ (1988) Declining perceptions of competence: A consequence of changes in the child or in the educational environment? J Educ Psychol 80(3):352–356
Turner JC, Midgley C, Meyer DK, Gheen M, Anderman EM, Kang Y, et al (2002) The classroom environment and students' reports of avoidance strategies in mathematics: A multimethod study. J Educ Psychol 94:88–106
Voelkl KE (1995) School warmth, student participation and achievement. J Exp Educ 63(2):127–138
Walker JMT (2003) Teacher classroom management practices as context for student engagement in learning. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, Illionois
White RK, Lippitt R (1960) Autocracy and democracy: An experimental inquiry. Harper, New York
Zeira A, Astor RA, Benbenishty R (2002) Sexual harassment in Jewish and Arab public schools in Israel. Child Abuse Negl 149–166
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank the many students, principals, teachers, supervisors, and administrators who generously gave their time and support to make this research possible. The study was funded by a grant from the Israeli Ministry of Education to Ron Astor and Rami Benbenishty.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, July 31st, 2004 Honolulu, Hawaii.
Roxana Marachi is an Assistant Professor of Education at San José State University. She received her Ph.D.in Education and Psychology in 2003 from the University of Michigan. Her major research interests include school climate, learning environments, social behavior in schools, and the prevention of school violence
Ron Avi Astor is Professor of Social Work and Education at the University of Southern California. He received his Ph.D. in School Psychology and Human Development from the University of California at Berkeley in 1991. His major research interests include school violence, moral reasoning about family and school violence, violence interventions, and student empowerment methods using mapping and monitoring methods
Rami Benbenishty is a Gordon Brown Professor of Social Work and Social Welfare at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. He received his Ph.D. in Social Work and Psychology in 1981 from the University of Michigan. His major research interests include child welfare, student victimization, and clinical judgment and decision making
Appendix
Appendix
Survey items, factor loadings, reliability coefficients, and CFA fit indices for latent factors in structural equations model.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Marachi, R., Astor, R.A. & Benbenishty, R. Effects of Student Participation and Teacher Support on Victimization in Israeli Schools: An Examination of Gender, Culture, and School Type. J Youth Adolescence 36, 225–240 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-006-9136-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-006-9136-4