Human capital consequences of violence in schools: Estimating the impact of violence in schools on education outcomes in Brazil

Abstract

Implementation of policies to reduce the incidence of violence in schools needs a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon and its consequences for the victims, perpetrators, and witnesses alike. However, much of the existing literature either focuses on the impact of violence on victim students or studies the specific cases of violent conflicts. Using Brazilian education data, this paper examines the impact of violence in schools on educational outcomes of the schooling system and emphasizes the human capital consequences of recorded violent incidents in schools.First, the paper establishes the psychological stress-threat mechanism by which violent incidents in schools directly impact students' mathematics test scores as well as school level average of these test scores. Thereafter, the paper demonstrates the reduced learning mechanism by which violence further detriments the quality of education, albeit indirectly, by disengaging the teachers and students from their professional responsibilities. The main results are tested for robustness and policy implications are discussed.

Prevalence of school related violence in seven countries: A cross-sectional survey

“…Other studies focus on the impacts of school-related violence but do not generate broad prevalence estimates for this violence. These include analyses of the impacts of various forms of school-related violence including bullying on health outcomes, physical violence on mental health and education performance, and childhood violence on educational outcomes [ 2 , 9 , 10 ]. This work is also limited to non-representative samples drawn in particular settings, frequently limited to district or subnational region scales.…”

Heterogeneous effects of violence on student achievement: Evidence from Colombia

“…Some of them are physical, such as the recruitment of children during civil wars (Blattman & Miguel, 2010), destruction of infrastructure and human displacement (Justino, 2011). Others are psychological, such as depression (Schwartz & Gorman, 2003), lower ability to concentrate (Liew et al, 2008; Sharkey et al, 2012), lack of sleep (El‐Sheikh et al, 2011, 2019; Heissel et al, 2017, 2018) and the distress caused by the exposure to homicides and violent assaults (Ang, 2021; Chang & Padilla‐Romo, 2019; Deole, 2018; Laurito et al, 2019; Miller et al, 2019;). All these mechanisms may be more problematic for poor households, as they are less likely to have the resources and support needed to mitigate and recover from these effects.…”

“…Psychological factors can also explain how exposure to violent environments can directly undermine learning. An environment filled with threats and violent acts can cause distress (Ang, 2021; Chang & Padilla‐Romo, 2019; Deole, 2018; Laurito et al, 2019; Miller et al, 2019; World Bank, 2011), lower the individual's ability to concentrate (Liew et al, 2008; Sharkey et al, 2012) and cause depression (Schwartz & Gorman, 2003), which in itself can also disrupt sleep. Sleep deprivation in this context is another factor explaining lower school performance (El‐Sheikh et al, 2011, 2019; Heissel et al, 2017, 2018).…”

“…This reduction is equivalent to 3.2 percentage points in the final score, taking into consideration its effect in each of the four test subject areas. One potential consequence of these disparate effects may be to widen gaps in access to 1 Evidence about the negative effect of armed conflict on educational achievement comes from Palestine (Brück et al, 2019), Israel (Shany, 2018), Mexico Orraca-Romano, 2018), Costa Rica (Gimenez & Barrado, 2020), Brazil (Deole, 2018) and the United States (Aizer, 2008;Beland & Kim, 2016;Gershenson & Tekin, 2018;Lacoe, 2016;Laurito et al, 2019;Miller et al, 2019;Sharkey, 2010Sharkey, , 2018Sharkey et al, 2012Sharkey et al, , 2014. 2 Evidence about this negative effect on educational attainment comes from countries such as Côte d'Ivoire (Dabalen & Paul, 2014), Timor-Leste (Justino et al, 2014), Nepal (Silwal, 2016), Rwanda (Akresh & de Walque, 2008;Guariso & Verpoorten, 2018), Iraq (Diwakar, 2015), Perú (Le on, 2012), Guatemala (Chamarbagwala & Morán, 2011) and in Europe (Ichino & Winter-Ebmer, 2004;Omoeva et al, 2016).…”

Marriage of convenience, love at first sight? A brief manual for teaching international relations in Brazil and beyond

“…The amount of information easily available online may cause internal crises in teachers (who might (re)think their supposedly decreasing relevance in the classroom). On the other hand, the generation from which most undergraduate and graduate students are coming from at this moment in time -the so-called Generation Z -faces devastating emotional consequences from socioeconomic instabilities and Covid-19 (Alves and Ferreira 2022), violent threats (Deole 2018), food insecurity 3 (Martinez et al 2020), environmental problems (Wray 2022) and other crises, which are not easily sidestepped in the classroom (Zartner 2018).…”