This document examines risk factors of public-school teacher victimization, discussing previously published research results on the topic in the literature review section, before detailing micro- and macro-level opportunity factors and victimization; it also discusses opportunity theories regarding teacher victimization; and it describes the research study’s materials and methodology, results, and policy implications.
This report describes a research study that investigated the risk factors of teacher victimization; it used opportunity theories as a framework and a random sampling of more than 2,000 public-school teachers that were surveyed across two waves of data collection, to explore victimization through physical assault, sexual harassment, and theft or vandalism. The research used a multilevel crime opportunity perspective, which suggests that characteristics at micro- and macro-levels have simultaneous effects on the likelihood of crime occurrence and victimization. The authors’ results were consistent with previous research findings, noting that a significant incidence of violence and aggression was directed toward teachers by students, with approximately one out of 10 teachers in the sample reporting a physical assault and sexual harassment in the 12 months leading up to the survey, and more than one-quarter of the sample reported incidents of theft or vandalism.