Violence Among Middle School and High School Students: Analysis and Implications for Prevention

Schools, Neighborhoods, and Adolescent Conflicts: A Situational Examination of Reciprocal Dynamics

“…In fact, nearly 20 percent of such violence occurs during weekdays of the school year, between the hours of 3 pm and 7 pm (Snyder & Sickmund, 1999). Despite these patterns, only a small number of scholars have examined the situational dynamics of such violence, including features of the physical and social environments of schools that contribute to conflicts (Astor & Meyer, 2001;Astor et al, 1999;Lockwood, 1997), and the reciprocal nature of neighborhood and school settings (Hagan et al, 2002;Hellman & Beaton, 1986;MateuGelabert, 2000). Our goal in this analysis has been to build from these studies to further illuminate the situational contexts of school violence and the significant school/neighborhood interaction effects that contribute to adolescent violence.…”

“…This may be heightened in the school setting as the result of the large numbers of youths brought into continuous contact with one another (Lauritsen and Quinet, 1995), the presence of numerous sites of "unowned" spaces in schools (Astor & Meyer, 2001), and "age-grad[ed] … identity building via violent performances" among adolescents (Wilkinson, 2001, p. 254). In fact, Lockwood (1997) found that peers were present in the majority of high school fights, and most often encouraged the violence or joined in. Based on an analysis of 250 violent school incidents, he reports that peers attempted to mediate in less than 5 percent of cases.…”

“…According to Anderson (1999), this is a prominent feature of the "street code," which spills over into the school environment. Anderson (1999, p. 22) observes that "the hallways of the school are in many ways an extension of the street," and provide youths the opportunity to establish and display personas that can result in the acquisition and maintenance of respect (see also Lockwood, 1997;Welsh et al, 2000).…”

“…However, as Mateu-Gelabert (2000, p. 2) surmises, the "literature hints at the existence of a bi-directional flow of violence between schools and neighborhoods but has yet described the process by which this phenomenon takes place." His ethnographic investigation of school violence revealed that 39 percent of students' fights involved some kind of carryover between the school and community, including 18 percent of incidents that began in school and escalated to the neighborhood and 21 percent that began in the neighborhood and were brought into the school (see also Lockwood, 1997). The majority of these were gang-related, but also included what he calls "staged fights"-conflicts that began in school but were purposely scheduled by youths to be resolved off school grounds.…”

“…Recent research utilizing such approaches has been particularly fruitful in illuminating those features of schools' physical and social environment that contribute to school-based conflicts and violence (see Anderson, 1999;Astor & Meyer, 2001;Astor, Meyer, & Behre, 1999;Felson, Liska, South, & McNulty, 1994;Lockwood, 1997). Even more promising is recent scholarship that also examines how school violence is situated within, and overlaps with, neighborhood violence among adolescents (see Hagan et al, 2002;Hellman & Beaton, 1986;Mateu-Gelabert, 2000;Sullivan, 2002).…”