Reconceptualizing school safety for Black students

Heidelburg, Kamontá; Phelps, Chavez; Collins, Tai A.

doi:10.1177/01430343221074708

Cited by 16 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 81 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our findings that adolescents who experienced racism reported lower levels of school connectedness and safety, regardless of sex or birthplace align with research from the United States demonstrating that African adolescents report lower school connectedness and safety (Heidelburg et al, 2022; Lacoe, 2015). Such findings are vital to consider, as existing research indicates that decreased feelings of safety and connectedness may play a role in peer victimization (Eugene et al, 2021; Williford et al, 2019), as well as racial achievement gap in schools (Voight et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…Despite this body of evidence, many African adolescents struggle to feel a sense of belonging at school (Gray et al, 2020; Heidelburg et al, 2022; Lacoe, 2015; Maxwell et al, 2017). The experience of race‐based peer victimization among African adolescents has received much attention in the United States (Berkowitz et al, 2015; Gusler & Kiang, 2019; Hong et al, 2021; Seaton et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Racism as a social determinant of health: Link to school‐related psychosocial stressors in a population‐based sample of African adolescents in Canada

Okoye

Ojukwu

Villalobos

et al. 2023

Journal of Advanced Nursing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundRacism is a social determinant of health that links to the health and well‐being of racial/ethnic marginalized populations. However, perceived racism among African Canadian adolescents has not been adequately addressed, especially the link between racism and psychosocial stressors in school settings.AimThe aim of the current study was to assess racism and the link to school‐related psychosocial stressors in a population‐based sample of African Canadian adolescents.DesignSecondary analysis of the population‐based 2018 British Columbia Adolescent Health Survey dataset.MethodsLogistic regression and generalized linear models tested the link between racism and psychosocial stressors among African Canadian adolescents (n = 942), adjusting for sociodemographic factors.Results/FindingsMore than 38% of the adolescents reported racism in the year preceding the survey. Regardless of gender and birthplace, and controlling for covariates, those who experienced racism were significantly more likely to report peer victimization, which includes teasing, social exclusion, cyberbullying and sexual harassment, and they felt less safe and connected to their schools compared to those who did not experience racism. With gender and birthplace differences, those who reported racism had higher odds of having been physically assaulted, stayed away from school, reported negative emotional responses and used avoidant behaviours to evade racism.ConclusionAfrican Canadian adolescents are a visible racialized ethnic group in British Columbia, who are at heightened risk of racism and the associated psychosocial stressors.ImpactThese findings demonstrate the influences of racism on psychosocial stressors and related emotional responses among African Canadian adolescents. Nurses and other healthcare providers should be cognizant of racism and the psychological impacts when providing care to “at‐risk” populations. Promoting positive and inclusive school climates and addressing racism at all levels of the society will foster better social integration, as well as improve the health and academic achievement of African Canadian adolescents.Patient or Public ContributionWe presented the research and preliminary results of the data analysis to the African community (parents and adolescents who self‐identify as African). The African community who attended the gathering corroborated the link between racism and health and reiterated that addressing these psychosocial stressors can promote adolescent health and well‐being. The attendees accepted all the variables that we included in the analysis. However, they emphasized the need for more African representation among school staff and teachers to foster trust, feelings of safety and connectedness, and to promote African students' academic achievement and well‐being. They stressed the need to train and build the capacities of the school staff and teachers so that they can assist students regardless of race. They emphasized the need to promote cultural awareness and cultural sensitivity among all healthcare providers. We included the recommendations in the appropriate sections of the manuscript.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Racism as a social determinant of health: Link to school‐related psychosocial stressors in a population‐based sample of African adolescents in Canada

Okoye

Ojukwu

Villalobos

et al. 2023

Journal of Advanced Nursing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Similar to Beckham's (1933b) research on juvenile delinquency, Heidelburg et al (2022) provide a discussion on reconceptualizing school safety for Black students. These authors provide information on how school environments can be more secure and welcoming for Black students.…”

mentioning

confidence: 87%

Introduction: Revisiting Albert Sidney Beckham

Graves

2022

School Psychology International

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Significant issues have impacted the practice of school psychology particularly for Black school psychologists such as increased awareness of anti-Black racism and racial trauma from police shootings (Mosley et al., 2021;Nguyen et al., 2021;Noltemeyer & Grapin, 2021). In light of these issues, the need to discuss progress in specific areas related to race and African American populations is warranted. As such, this special issue uses the diverse career of Albert Beckham to revisit several areas of research and practice.Albert Sidney Beckham has been credited with being the first African American school psychologist (Guthrie, 2004). To date research by Graves (2009) this is still the first published article that discusses an African American contributor to the field of school psychology. The career of Albert Beckham spanned many topics such understanding the racial attitudes of adolescents (Beckham, 1934), the relationship between social background characteristics and giftedness (Beckham, 1942a) and within race differences between intelligence and musical ability (Beckham, 1942b).In the first article in this issue Proctor (2022) provides and elementary examination of issues relevant to recruitment, retention, and inclusion of Black people in school psychology. This article offers a new perspective on the field by discussing research perspectives of contemporary Black school psychologists. Relatedly Grapin ( 2022) offers a commentary on Proctor (2022) and expands upon notions of how psychologists can advance and agenda of social justice. Similar to research conducted by Beckham (1933a), the next article in this issue is by Aston et al. (2022) discuss the importance of Culturally Responsive Clinical Judgement when conducting assessment with Black children. As a commentary to Aston et al. (2022), Graves (2022) discusses the limits of clinical judgement in light of the disparate outcomes involved with psychologists conduct assessment with Black children and the limits of alternative assessment methods (i.e., response-to-intervention). Similar to Beckham's (1933b) research on juvenile delinquency, Heidelburg et al. (2022) provide a discussion on reconceptualizing school safety for Black students.

show abstract

“…Indeed, research shows that many students worldwide are regularly exposed to wide-ranging victimization in schools, such as verbal, social (in person and online), physical, and sexual victimization [ 6 , 7 ]. Some students are targets of bullying because of their looks, ethnicity, race, nationality, sexual orientation, or other biases [ 8 , 9 ]. Moreover, some students experience weapons on school grounds, such as carrying a weapon such as a gun or a knife, being threatened or injured by a weapon, or seeing another student carrying a weapon at school [ 10 – 12 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An eighteen-year longitudinal examination of school victimization and weapon use in California secondary schools

2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background School safety has been a major public health issue in the United States and internationally for more than three decades. Many policies and programs have been developed and implemented to prevent school violence, improve the school climate, and increase safety. There are only a few peer-reviewed studies of changes in school violence over time. The study examined changes over time in school victimization, weapon involvement and school climate, comparing change trajectories by gender and race and different change trajectories among schools. Methods A longitudinal study of the biennial California Healthy Kids Survey in secondary schools from 2001 to 2019. The representative sample included 6,219,166 students in grades 7, 9, and 11 (48.8% male) from 3253 schools (66% high schools). Results All victimization and weapon involvement items had significant and substantial linear reductions. The largest reduction involved being in a physical fight (from 25.4% to 11.0%). There were reductions in weapon involvement (d = 0.46) and victimization (d = 0.38). Biased-based victimization only declined slightly (d = −0.05). School belongingness and safety increased (d = 0.27), adult support increased a small amount (d = 0.05), and student participation declined (d = −0.10). Changes were smallest among White students. Ninety-five percent of the schools showed the same pattern of reductions. Conclusions The findings are in contrast to the public’s concerns that school violence is a growing problem. Reductions in school violence may result from social investment in school safety. A distinction should be made between school shootings and other forms of school violence.

show abstract

Reconceptualizing school safety for Black students

Cited by 16 publications

References 81 publications

Racism as a social determinant of health: Link to school‐related psychosocial stressors in a population‐based sample of African adolescents in Canada

Racism as a social determinant of health: Link to school‐related psychosocial stressors in a population‐based sample of African adolescents in Canada

Introduction: Revisiting Albert Sidney Beckham

An eighteen-year longitudinal examination of school victimization and weapon use in California secondary schools

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About