schools, parents and youth violence: a multilevel, ecological analysis

Abstract

this study utilized an ecological approach to investigate the joint contribution of par-ents and schools on changes in violent behavior over time among a sample of 6,397 students (54 % female) from 125 schools. This study examined the main and interac-tive effects of parent and school connectedness as buffers of violent behavior within a hierarchical linear model, focusing on both students and schools as the unit of analy-sis. Results show that students who feel more connected to their schools demonstrate reductions in violent behavior over time. On the school level, our findings suggest that school climate serves as a protective factor for student violent behavior. Finally, par-ent and school connectedness appear to work together to buffer adolescents from the effects of violence exposure on subsequent violent behavior. In 2001 the Surgeon General emphasized an urgent need to confront the problem of youth violence in the United States (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001), and recent studies have confirmed alarmingly high rates of adolescent violent behavior (Farrington, 2004; Mendel, 2003). The frequency of violent crime increases during the adolescent years, with 27 % of all serious violent victimizations in the United States committed by youth under the age of 1