Bullying Involvement and Perceived School Safety: Do Students Feel Equally Safe?

• In Event: Psychological and Physical Safety at School: Examining a Social Determinant

Abstract

This study examined how students’ perceived school safety and their associations with individual and school-wide bullying varied by racial/ethnic backgrounds and grade-levels. Results suggested that both levels of bullying were negatively associated with perceived school safety. Perception of school safety and the strength of the association between student-level bullying victimization and school safety varied significantly by race/ethnicity, and the strength of the association between both levels of bullying and school safety differed by grade-levels. The findings highlight the ecological influences of bullying on perceived school safety and the importance of developing racially/ethnically responsive and grade-level specific strategies to promote students’ positive perception of school safety and to alleviate the negative influences of bullying on students’ perceived school safety.

Authors

• Chunyan Yang, University of California, Berkeley

• Meg Stomski, University of California - Berkeley

• Xueqin Lin, University of California - Berkeley