Positive School Climate as a Moderator of Violence Exposure for Colombian Adolescents

Abstract

Highlights• Community violence witnessing and victimization are associated with externalizing behaviors.• Armed conflict exposure is associated with externalizing behaviors and developmental competence.• School safety, connectedness, and services moderate relation between witnessing and externalizing.• School services moderates relation between victimization and competence.• School climate has implications for mitigating the effects of violence exposure for adolescents.Abstract In Colombia, many adolescents have experienced violence related to the decades-long armed conflict in the country and have witnessed or been directly victimized by violence in their communities, often related to gang activity or drug trafficking. Exposure to violence, both political and community violence, has detrimental implications for adolescent development. This study used data from 1857 Colombian adolescents in an urban setting. We aim to understand the relations between exposure to violence and adolescent outcomes, both externalizing behaviors and developmental competence, and then to understand whether school climate (i.e., safety, connectedness, services) moderates these relations. Results demonstrate that armed conflict, community violence victimization, and witnessing community violence are positively associated with externalizing behaviors, but only armed conflict is negatively associated with developmental competence. School safety, connectedness, and services moderate the relation between community violence witnessing and externalizing behaviors. School services moderates the relation between community violence victimization and developmental competence. As students perceived more positive school climate, the effects of community violence exposure on outcomes were weakened. This study identifies potential levers for intervention regarding how schools can better support violence-affected youth through enhancements to school safety, connectedness, and services.

Risk or resource: Does school climate moderate the influence of community violence on children’s social‐emotional development in the Democratic Republic of Congo?

“…Ozer et al () noted that in addition to the understudied nature of schools as a moderator for community violence exposure, findings to date have been mixed. A recent study of school climate as a moderator of violence exposure in Colombian youth found while three dimensions of school climate moderated the effects of witnessing community violence on externalizing behavior, none of them moderated the effects of witnessing community violence on developmental competence, and only one of those dimensions moderated the effects of victimization in the community on developmental competence (Galas, Lindstrom Johnson, White, Pettigrew, & Dumka, ).…”

Community and school violence as significant risk factors for school climate and bonding of teachers in Chile: A national hierarchical multilevel analysis

“…Moreover, community violence can affect the school environment, which can negatively influence students and teachers' well-being. For that, it is important to build school environments with the conditions to moderate or compensate for the negative effects that violence can have on individuals and communities, as Gaias et al (2019) point out. Even in risky environments with high rates of violence, something can be done to diminish the negative impact of violence in individuals.…”

“…But not only a positive school climate serves to prevent school violence, it could also work as a protective factor against the negative effects of being exposed to different types of community violence. A recent study from Gaias et al (2019) that used a sample of 1857 Colombian adolescentes, showed from that some aspects of school environment can protect students from the detrimental implications that violence can have on their development.…”

La Percepción de Apego con la Escuela Como un Factor Protector Para Conductas Antisociales en Escolares Chilenos

“…Un mecanismo de influencia de los pares sobre la aparición y mantención de la conducta antisocial es por medio de las normas de grupo. Se ha estudiado que, dentro de los grupos de pares, los niveles de tolerancia y aceptación hacia las conductas de violencia o agresión pueden explicar su desarrollo y mantención (Benbenishty, Astor, Zeira & Vinokur, 2002;Caicedo & Jones, 2014;Gaias, Lindstrom, White, Pettigrew & Dumka, 2019). Considerando esto, Vitaro et al (2015) observaron, en una muestra de 266 pares de gemelos de Montreal, Canadá, la existencia de factores genéticos comunes que influirían en la conducta antisocial y, a su vez, que podría ser moderada por las normas de grupo, evidenciando la importancia de los pares en estas conductas.…”

“…Para comprender mejor la influencia del espacio escolar sobre el desarrollo psicosocial de los estudiantes, es importante considerar, también, que los objetivos de la escuela como institución formadora ya no se reducen solo a la entrega de información por medio de procesos unidireccionales de interacción, sino que incluyen la responsabilidad de los actores educativos de promover procesos de desarrollo integral en los estudiantes (Casassus, 2002). De esta forma, se reconoce que aquellos contextos escolares que son capaces de satisfacer las necesidades sociales y emocionales de sus estudiantes permiten una mayor probabilidad de aprendizaje de los contenidos curriculares, junto a la generación de una mayor motivación por aprender y un aumento del compromiso con la escuela, reduciendo, de esta manera, deserciones, repitencias y expulsiones en la trayectoria escolar (Bruns et al, 2016;Catalano, Haggerty, Oesterle, Fleming & Hawkins, 2004;Gaias et al, 2019;Hawkins, Catalano, Kosterman, Abbott & Hill, 1999;Jimmerson, Nickerson, Mayer & Furlong, 2012;Johnson, Crosnoe & Elder Jr., 2001;Malecki & Elliot, 2002).…”