Using Multiple Data Sources to Conceptualize School and Youth Safety

• In Event: Multi-Level and Multi- Component Approaches to Understanding and Intervening in School Safety and School Violence

Abstract

There is growing evidence that school safety is inextricably linked with the characteristics of students, and community within which both the youth and school are embedded. However, much of the research on school safety has been focused on school-related behavioral problems making it difficult to see how these problems are enmeshed with risks, and/or the data has been cross-sectional making it difficult to examine changes over time. We will present an approach that utilizes multiple data sources, gathered at multiple-levels of ecology to conceptualize youth safety. Specifically we will address the theoretical basis for including multiple data sources to conceptualize the safety, describe the data sources (including student, school, and community data), and discuss the benefits and difficulties in combining these data in ways that promote an integrated conceptualization of the phenomenon.

Authors

• Maury Nation, Vanderbilt University

• Benjamin W. Fisher, University of Louisville

• Christine Stenson, Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools

• Karissa Dieter, The Oasis Center

• Emily Tanner-Smith, University of Oregon