School and Street Efficacy: Understanding the Ecology of Victimization Across Neighborhood and School Contexts

• In Event: Predicting risks of victimization in diverse contexts

Abstract

Research on adolescent victimization has tended to treat in-school and street victimization as independent ecological systems. Research on polyvictimization highlights how some adolescents experience the same or similar types of victimization both in and outside of school, while others in the same context experience little to no victimization, or such experiences are limited to a single context. There is a need among researchers to examine how adolescents conceptualize and respond to victimization risk across contexts. The current study builds upon prior work on the notion of “street efficacy” to determine whether adolescents view their own abilities to avoid victimization in similar ways across school and street settings. Using cross-sectional quantitative data and panel (i.e., 3 waves) qualitative interview data from the Safe School Transitions Project (SSTP), the authors present evidence on the prevalence and nature of polyvictimization across school and neighborhood contexts, the association between school and street efficacy, and how adolescents describe their strategies for victimization avoidance across these settings.

Authors

• Matthew Almanza, Michigan State University

• Jennifer Cobbina, Michigan State University

• Chris Melde, Michigan State University

• Daniel Abad, Michigan State University

• Justin Heinze, University of Michigan