NCJ Number
213613
Journal
Journal of School Violence Volume: 4 Issue: 4 Dated: 2005 Pages: 5-29
Date Published
2005
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This study identified sets of attitudes toward statements that explained the causes of or appropriate interventions for school violence, particularly gun violence, in a convenience sample of 456 university students, public school teachers and administrators, school psychologists, and others.
Abstract
This study found that the members of the sample who had the strongest feelings about parental irresponsibility as a primary factor in school violence also tended to feel strongly about other causes of school violence, notably the content of the popular media and the lack of religious influences in the school experience, which creates a climate conducive to school violence. On the other hand, the study found that persons who did not place as much emphasis on irresponsible parenting as a cause of school violence tended to favor strict gun control, were especially sensitive to troubled children's disturbed feelings, and felt that society in general and educators in particular should increase services to these troubled children, including counseling and anger management. The authors explain how a study such as the one reported in this article can assist school districts at the pre- and post-implementation stages of programs intended to prevent school violence. The study used a methodology called the Profile Analysis via Multidimensional Scaling, which enables researchers to identify individual differences in the degree to which a person's responses on instruments with multiple items correspond with a smaller number of core profiles that underlie data. An Attitude Toward School Violence inventory was developed to assess participants' attitudes toward statements related to the causes of or appropriate interventions for school violence, particularly gun violence. 2 tables and 34 references