School Climate Associated with School Dropout Among Tenth Graders

Objective. This study evaluated the association between high school dropout and six dimensions of schoolclimate. Method. The sample consisted of 638 tenth graders who participated in the Healthy Teens LongitudinalStudy. Participants attended school in Northeast Georgia, United States of America; they were surveyedeven if they dropped out of school. Information about dropout was obtained through twelfth grade. Logisticregression was used to identify predictors of dropout. Results. More boys (22.1%) than girls (14.4%) droppedout of school. Compared to students who remained in school, students who dropped out of school reportedsignificantly higher overt and relational peer victimization and lower positive relationships with peers, schoolconnectedness, caring adults at school, and meaningful participation in school. In the logistic regression model,male gender [AOR = 1.68] and relational victimization [AOR = 1.51] increased the odds of dropping out, andschool connectedness [AOR = 0.78] and the presence of a caring adult at school [AOR = 0.73] decreasedodds of dropping out. Conclusion. The dimensions of school climate in tenth grade were associated with thedecision to abandon or persist in school. Its multiple dimensions can guide educators to develop programs andpractices to reduce high school dropout

School Climate Associated with School Dropout Among Tenth Graders

Objective. This study evaluated the association between high school dropout and six dimensions of school climate. Method. The sample consisted of 638 tenth graders who participated in the Healthy Teens Longitudinal Study. Participants attended school in Northeast Georgia, United States of America; they were surveyed even if they dropped out of school. Information about dropout was obtained through twelfth grade. Logistic regression was used to identify predictors of dropout. Results. More boys (22.1%) than girls (14.4%) dropped out of school. Compared to students who remained in school, students who dropped out of school reported significantly higher overt and relational peer victimization and lower positive relationships with peers, school connectedness, caring adults at school, and meaningful participation in school. In the logistic regression model, male gender (AOR = 1.68) and relational victimization (AOR = 1.51) increased the odds of dropping out, and school connectedness (AOR = 0.78) and the presence of a caring adult at school (AOR = 0.73) decreased odds of dropping out. Conclusion. The dimensions of school climate in tenth grade were associated with the decision to abandon or persist in school. Its multiple dimensions can guide educators to develop programs and practices to reduce high school dropout

Las escalas de agresión y victimización: validación y prevalencia en estudiantes chilenos

La victimización entre pares es un fenómeno recurrente en la investigación en educación. No obstante, no contamos con suficientes instrumentos validados para la población latinoamericana. Presentamos los resultados de la adaptación y validación de las Escalas de Agresión y Victimización,su prevalencia y características en una muestra de 1004 estudiantes chilenos de grados 6, 7 y 8 de enseñanza básica. Los resultados indican que las escalas, en su versión adaptada al español, tienen buenas características psicométricas. La prevalencia en estudiantes chilenos fuede una media de 9.7 conductas de agresión y 7.9 conductas de victimización reportadas durante la semana previa a la investigación. Los varones informaron participar en más conductas de agresión y recibir también más acciones de victimización. La victimización disminuye en octavo grado. Si bien no hubo diferencias en el autorreporte de agresión de estudiantes de distintos niveles socioeconómicos, los estudiantes provenientes de niveles socioeconómicos medio-bajo y medio perciben mayor victimización. Estos resultados se discuten bajo la necesidad de incorporar la investigación sobre victimización entre pares dentro de unmarco mayor de análisis que incorpore las dimensiones sociales de la violencia escolar

La relación entre los juegos de viodeo violentos, la aculturación y la agresión entre adolescentes latinos

Multiple factors are involved in the occurrence of aggressive behavior. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the hypotheses that Latino middle school children exposed to higher levels of video game playing will exhibit a higher level of aggression and fighting compared to children exposed to lower levels and that the more acculturated middle school Latino children will play more video games and will prefer more violent video games compared to less acculturated middle school Latino children. This study involved 5,831 students attending eight public schools in Texas. A linear relationship was observed between the time spent playing video games and aggression scores. Higher aggression scores were significantly associated with heavier video playing for boys and girls (p < 0.0001). The more students played video games, the more they fought at school (p < 0.0001). As Latino middle school students were more acculturated, their preference for violent video game playing increased, as well as the amount of time they played video games. Students who reported speaking more Spanish at home and with their friends were less likely to spend large amounts of time playing video games and less likely to prefer violent video games (p < 0.05).Múltiples factores están relacionados con el comportamiento agresivo. El propósito de este estudio fue evaluar dos hipótesis: 1) estudiantes latinos de sexto a octavo grado expuestos a numerosas horas de juegos de video mostraran altos niveles de agresión y pelearan mas comparados con los estudiantes expuestos a menos horas de juego de video y, 2) mientras más aculturados sean los estudiantes latinos de sexto a octavo grado, mas tiempo pasarán jugando juegos de video y preferirán más los juegos de video violentos en comparación con los estudiantes menos aculturados. Este estudio incluye 5.831 estudiantes de ocho escuelas públicas de Houston, Texas. Se observó una relación lineal entre la cantidad de tiempo invertido en juegos de videos y los puntajes en la escala de agresión. Se encontró una asociación positiva y estadísticamente significativa entre los puntajes más altos en la escala de agresión y la cantidad de tiempo que los estudiantes indicaron jugar juegos de video. Esta asociación fue positiva tanto para ambos sexos (

Correlates of video games playing among adolescents in an Islamic country

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>No study has ever explored the prevalence and correlates of video game playing among children in the Islamic Republic of Iran. This study describes patterns and correlates of excessive video game use in a random sample of middle-school students in Iran. Specifically, we examine the relationship between video game playing and psychological well-being, aggressive behaviors, and adolescents' perceived threat of video-computer game playing.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This cross-sectional study was performed with a random sample of 444 adolescents recruited from eight middle schools. A self-administered, anonymous questionnaire covered socio-demographics, video gaming behaviors, mental health status, self-reported aggressive behaviors, and perceived side effects of video game playing.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Overall, participants spent an average of 6.3 hours per week playing video games. Moreover, 47% of participants reported that they had played one or more intensely violent games. Non-gamers reported suffering poorer mental health compared to excessive gamers. Both non-gamers and excessive gamers overall reported suffering poorer mental health compared to low or moderate players. Participants who initiated gaming at younger ages were more likely to score poorer in mental health measures. Participants' self-reported aggressive behaviors were associated with length of gaming. Boys, but not girls, who reported playing video games excessively showed more aggressive behaviors. A multiple binary logistic regression shows that when controlling for other variables, older students, those who perceived less serious side effects of video gaming, and those who have personal computers, were more likely to report that they had played video games excessively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our data show a curvilinear relationship between video game playing and mental health outcomes, with "moderate" gamers faring best and "excessive" gamers showing mild increases in problematic behaviors. Interestingly, "non-gamers" clearly show the worst outcomes. Therefore, both children and parents of non-game players should be updated about the positive impact of moderate video gaming. Educational interventions should also be designed to educate adolescents and their parents of the possible harmful impact of excessive video game playing on their health and psychosocial functioning.</p

The Multisite Violence Prevention Project: Impact of a Universal School-Based Violence Prevention Program on Social-Cognitive Outcomes

This study evaluated the impact of a universal school-based violence prevention program on social-cognitive factors associated with aggression and nonviolent behavior in early adolescence. The effects of the universal intervention were evaluated within the context of a design in which two cohorts of students at 37 schools from four sites (N=5,581) were randomized to four conditions: (a) a universal intervention that involved implementing a student curriculum and teacher training with sixth grade students and teachers; (b) a selective intervention in which a family intervention was implemented with a subset of sixth grade students exhibiting high levels of aggression and social influence; (c) a combined intervention condition; and (d) a no-intervention control condition. Short-term and long-term (i.e., 2-year post-intervention) universal intervention effects on social-cognitive factors targeted by the intervention varied as a function of students' pre-intervention level of risk. High-risk students benefited from the intervention in terms of decreases in beliefs and attitudes supporting aggression, and increases in self-efficacy, beliefs and attitudes supporting nonviolent behavior. Effects on low-risk students were in the opposite direction. The differential pattern of intervention effects for low- and high-risk students may account for the absence of main effects in many previous evaluations of universal interventions for middle school youth. These findings have important research and policy implications for efforts to develop effective violence prevention programs

Who is violent?: factors associated with aggressive behaviors in Latin America and Spain

The main purpose of this paper was to evaluate the strength of the association between: 1) ag gres sive behaviors and 2) attitudes and self-efficacy for alternatives to violence, in different cities of the Region of the Americas and Spain. Results were based on a cross-sectional household survey of a sample of the population aged 18 to 70 years. The survey was conducted in eight metropolitan areas of Latin America and Spain: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Salvador, Bahia, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; Cali, Colombia; San José, Costa Rica; San Salvador, El Salvador; Caracas, Venezuela; and Madrid, Spain. Each sample of approximately 1 200 respondents per city was stratified by clusters and was proportional in terms of socioeconomic position and population density. In all cities and for all targets of aggression studied, people who reported using aggression were less likely to feel confident that they could solve conflicts without violence, and they were more likely to hold attitudes supporting violence. Young persons were also more likely to commit aggression against all the targets. In addition, aggression toward nonfamily members was found most frequently among young men who reported binge drinking, who either carried a firearm or would have liked to carry one, or who perceived the police as inefficient. Additional studies need to be done in each country to describe more specific attitudes as so ciated with aggression within each subculture. Future prevention programs should focus on modifying attitudes that support violence, increasing self-efficacy in solving problems without using violence, supporting the development of a police system that people can trust, regulating firearms and access to alcohol, and raising peoples education levels