Academic Consequences of Multiple Victimization: Potential Buffering Effects of School Security Measures

• In Event: Impact of School Climate on Bullying and Student Victimization

Abstract

Although various studies demonstrate that multiple victimization, conceptualized here as suffering from numerous actions intended to harm, is associated with detrimental effects, few studies assess pathways that may support positive youth development for adolescents who experience frequent victimization incidences. Using path analysis, the authors tested a theoretical model suggesting that subsequent truant behaviors may mediate the association between the experience of frequent victimization and concurrent academic achievement. The authors also tested a model suggesting that increasingly utilized visible school security mechanisms (i.e. surveillance cameras, metal detectors, security guards, and adult supervision) would moderate the association between the experience of frequent victimization and concurrent truant behavior through addressing fear and guardianship. Participants were 5,930 (49.6% female & 79.51% White) 12 to 18 year old students from a national sample collected through the 2011 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey. Path analysis models of the hypothesized effects contribute to social development model, a theory that identifies paths leading to pro or anti-social outcomes, and its considerations of contextual influences. Implications for the routine activity theory are discussed. Moreover, these findings have implications for researchers and school practitioners for understanding the effectiveness of increased securitization of schools.

Authors

• Joseph Hiroyuki Gardella, Vanderbilt University

• Emily Tanner-Smith, Vanderbilt University