Victory Over Violence Issues

School Violence

2013-02-07T22:11:38+00:00

School Violence Defined

The term school violence describes acts of interpersonal violence that occur within a school community.

It can occur in both passive and physical forms, causing both bodily and psychological harm. Passive forms of school violence include verbal bullying, making threats, intimidating, ostracizing, and electronic aggression (cyber-bullying). Physical forms of school violence include various types of fighting (punching, kicking, biting, slapping), and can involve assault with a weapon or involvement with a gang.

Researchers sometimes define school violence as a subset of youth violence, involving student victims, perpetrators or witnesses between the ages of 10 and 24. School violence can occur (1) on school property, (2) on the way to or from school, (3) during a school-sponsored event, or (4) on the way to or from a school-sponsored event.

School Violence in the United States

Although a 2011 report produced by the National Center for Education Statistics found that acts of physical violence in schools resulting in death are relatively rare, many students experience nonfatal acts of passive and physical school violence.

17 homicides of school-age youth ages 5 to 18 years occurred at school during the 2009-2010 school year.
Of all youth homicides, less than 2% occur at school, and this percentage has been stable for the past decade.
In 2010, there were about 828,000 nonfatal victimizations at school among students 12 to 18 years of age.
Approximately 7% of teachers report that they have been threatened with injury or physically attacked by a student from their school.
In 2009, about 20% of students ages 12–18 reported that gangs were present at their school during the school year.

According to a 2011 report by the Center for Disease Control, a nationally representative sample of youth in grades 9-12 found that:

12% reported being in a physical fight on school property in the 12 months before the survey.
5.9% reported that they did not go to school on one or more days in the 30 days before the survey because they felt unsafe at school or on their way to or from school.
5.4% reported carrying a weapon (gun, knife or club) on school property on one or more days in the 30 days before the survey.
7.4% reported being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property one or more times in the 12 months before the survey.
20% reported being bullied on school property and 16% reported being bullied electronically during the 12 months before the survey.

The Physical and Emotional Impact of School Violence

While school violence results in death only rarely, many youth experience nonfatal injuries ranging from the relatively minor (cuts, bruises, and fractured bones) to more serious injuries that can result in permanent disability (gunshot wounds or head trauma). More insidious is the invisible ocean of passive violence that young students are often confronted with (emotional, psychological, and verbal abuse). Without effective prevention strategies, exposure to passive and physical violence in school can lead to a broad range of harmful health behaviors and outcomes including drug and alcohol abuse, depression, anxiety, fear and suicide.

Risk Factors

While these risk factors do not guarantee that a young student will become a perpetrator of school violence, these factors have been correlated with an increased risk of engaging in school violence.

Past history of violence
Abuse of drugs, alcohol, or tobacco
Association with delinquent peers
Poor family functioning
Poor grades in school
Poverty in the community

How to Prevent School Violence

The goal of school violence prevention strategies should be primary prevention - preventing the violence from occurring in the first place. Prevention efforts should be aimed at promoting protective factors at multiple levels of influence to build a culture of peace at individual-, relationship-, community- and societal-levels. Researchers have begun identifying promising prevention strategies in these four areas.

Individual-level Prevention Strategies

Strategies to prevent school violence at the individual-level have two objectives. Firstly, they aim to encourage nonviolent attitudes and behavior in children and young people to prevent violence before it occurs. Secondly, they aim to help change attitudes and behaviors in students who have already become violent or are at risk of harming themselves.

Inner Change: Students develop skills such as emotional self-awareness and control, positive social skills, problem solving, conflict resolution, and teamwork in order to resolve conflicts without resorting to violence. Universal, school-based prevention programs focused on the individual have been shown to significantly lower rates of aggression and violent behavior. To be effective, these programs should be delivered to all students in a school or grade level.

Relationship-level Prevention Strategies

Strategies to prevent school violence at the relationship-level focus primarily on influencing the type of relationships that both victims and perpetrators of school violence have with the people they most regularly interact.

Bystanders: Programs that encourage youth to serve as active bystanders can improve the likelihood that students will intervene to stop episodes of school violence when they occur. When such programs aim to improve social skills and problem solving among peers, the result can be improved peer relationships throughout the school.
Family: Parent- and family-based programs involve parents in the academic and social aspects of their children’s school experience. They can improve family cohesion and connections, thereby lowering the risk of violence by children. When begun early while children are young, such programs can achieve substantial long-term effects in reducing violent behavior in youth. Successful programs teach parents about child development, communication skills, and help parents learn to solve problems in nonviolent ways.
Mentors: Mentoring programs that pair a young person with an adult who can serve as a positive role model and help guide the young person’s behavior can be effective at significantly reducing youth violence.
Teachers: In order to affect broader changes in school culture, teachers should be mindful of not conveying attitudes to students that condone violence. Instead, teachers should strive to develop supportive relationships in which students feel comfortable approaching them about violence-related issues.

Community-level Prevention Strategies

Strategies to prevent school violence at the community-level focus on raising public awareness and debate about school violence issues, encouraging community action, addressing the social and material causes of school violence in the environment and providing care and support for victims.

Culture: Efforts to improve the overall environment of the school community to reduce the likelihood of violence include improved classroom management practices, promoting cooperative learning techniques, student monitoring and supervision, and involving parents and caregivers.
Environmental Design: Proper environmental design can reduce crime, fear and improve the overall quality of student life. Simple environmental design features that can improve safety include (1) natural surveillance - making sure no shrubbery blocks the view from building windows, (2) limiting movement into and out of buildings to identified entrances and exits that are continually monitored, (3) territoriality - through a prominently displayed logo or mascot, (4) regular building maintenance to ensure the structures are sound and lighting systems are working.
Supervision: Given the link between lack of supervision and youth violence, communities can help decrease school violence through formal or informal supervision opportunities such as after school activities, mentoring programs, and recreational activities. Community leaders who take an active role in such programs can demonstrate their commitment to preventing school violence.

Societal-level Prevention Strategies

Strategies to prevent school violence at the societal-level focus on the normative cultural, social and economic values that shape societies, thereby influencing the educational systems and institutional policies that emerge from them.

In the future, VOV will highlight the best of these programs, introduce you to creative individuals putting these prevention strategies into action, report the latest research findings, share the best ideas for applying these lessons to our daily lives, and share some of your inspiring personal stories of victory over school violence that are helping to build a culture of peace. Keep checking the VOV Blog and Stories sections for the latest updates and share them throughout your social network.

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Keep Learning and Stay Engaged

We recommend visiting these websites to learn more and take further action toward achieving victory over school violence.

CDC Division of Violence Prevention, www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention
CDC Division of Adolescent and School Health, www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/index.htm
STRYVE, www.vetoviolence.org/stryve/home.html
Stop Bullying, www.stopbullying.gov
Surgeon General’s Report on Youth Violence, www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/youthviolence

Image Source: Tomas Fano (Attribution via Flickr: Creative Commons)

Intimate Partner Violence

2013-01-22T18:12:03+00:00

IPV Defined

Intimate partner violence (IPV) occurs between two people in a close relationship, including current and former spouses and dating partners.

IPV can occur in a myriad of forms, appearing along a broad continuum of emotional and physical experiences, and as a single incident of violence or an ongoing pattern of abuse.

IPV can be defined within four major categories covering both passive and physical forms of violence.

Physical

Physical violence occurs when one partner physically hurts or attempts to hurt the other person through hitting, kicking, biting or some other form of physical means.
Sexual violence occurs when one partner forces the other person into a sex act without their consent.

Passive

Threats of physical or sexual violence through words, gestures or weapons are a form of passive violence in which one partner communicates a threat in order to intimidate or control.
Emotional abuse occurs when one partner threatens to withhold the other person’s access to possessions or loved ones, or undermines their sense of self-worth. Examples of emotional abuse range from stalking, name-calling, and intimidation, to denying a partner the opportunity to contact friends or family.

Often, IPV starts passively with emotional abuse. However, this behavior can lead to physical or sexual assault. Also, several different types of IPV may occur simultaneously.

IPV in the United States

IPV is a serious problem in the United States:

On average, twenty-four people per minute are victims of rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States. Over the course of a year, that adds up to more than 12 million women and men.
Studies have found that nearly 3 in 10 women and 1 in 10 men in the U.S. have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by a partner that has impaired their ability to function optimally.
In 2007, the Department of Justice reported that IPV resulted in 2,340 deaths or 14% of all homicides. Of these 2,340 deaths, 1,638 or 70% were females and 702 or 30% were males.
It is estimated that the economic cost of IPV dues to associated medical care, mental health services, and lost productivity exceeds $8.3 billion annually.

As dramatic as these numbers appear, they underestimate the problem as many victims of IPV do not report the abuse to police, friends, or family. Victims often get trapped into thinking that others will not believe them or that the police simply cannot help.

The Physical and Emotional Impact of IPV

As a victim of IPV continues to be abused, the harmful effects become increasingly severe.

Physical injuries range from minor trauma such as cuts, scratches, bruises, and welts to more serious assaults resulting in broken bones, internal bleeding, and head trauma, and even death or disabilities.

The emotional symptoms of IPV trauma may include flashbacks, panic attacks, and trouble sleeping. Victims often have low self-esteem, have a hard time trusting others, and being in relationships. The unresolved feelings of anger and stress can lead to eating disorders, depression, and suicidal thoughts or actions.

IPV victims may try to cope with their emotional trauma in unhealthy ways such as through smoking, drinking, taking drugs, or having risky sex.

Risk Factors

While not a guarantee that IVP will occur, the following risk factors are associated with greater likelihood of a perpetrator hurting one’s partner.

A history of violent or aggressive behavior
Personally experiencing or witnessing violence as a child
Heavy alcohol or drug abuse
Unemployment or other high stress life experiences

How to Prevent IPV

There is a lot to learn about how to prevent IPV. Research has shown that strategies to promote healthy behaviors in relationships are important and that programs to teach young people such behaviors for dating can help prevent violence before it occurs.The goal of IPV prevention strategies should be primary prevention - preventing the violence from occurring in the first place. Prevention efforts should be aimed at promoting protective factors at multiple levels of influence to build a culture of peace at individual-, relationship-, community- and societal-levels.

In the future, VOV will highlight the best of these programs, introduce you to creative individuals putting these prevention strategies into action, report the latest research findings, share the best ideas for applying these lessons to our daily lives, and share some of your inspiring personal stories of victory over IPV that are helping to build a culture of peace. Keep checking the VOV Blog and Stories sections for the latest updates and sharing them throughout your social network.