Mentoring, Bullying, and Educational Outcomes Among US School‐Aged Children 6‐17 Years

BACKGROUND New Jersey (NJ) Safe Schools Program, primarily funded by the NJ Department of Education, has aims concerning safety and health including helping to alleviate harassment, intimidation, and bullying (HIB) in secondary school because HIB can affect learning. We evaluated officially reported adolescent HIB total incidents and estimated rates in NJ public city and county school districts for the 2011‐2016 school years. METHODS A cross‐sectional observational study using population‐based state‐reported public data. We calculated point prevalence and incidence rates for K‐12 students in 22 public city school districts, students in 21 career‐technical‐vocational education (CTE) school districts, and 8 special services school districts during 2011‐2016. RESULTS HIB is prevalent in NJ school classrooms. HIB comprised ≥75% of total officially reported in‐school violence‐related incidents in a given school year. Rates per 100 enrollees of total officially reported incidents for the 5‐year period of 2011‐2016 was highest in special services school districts (5.00; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.67, 5.34) followed by CTE districts (1.94; 95% CI: 1.86, 2.01), and lowest in city districts (1.46; 95% CI: 1.44, 1.48). The special services school district also had the highest rates per year and the 5‐year period. CONCLUSIONS Data analyses suggested ideas for further research and improvements for school HIB incident reports. Policies and programs could remedy issues observed in state secondary school classrooms. Best practices within districts and schools can help protect students from HIB and promote safety, health, learning, and maturation.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Online and in‐Person Violence, Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying in New Jersey: 2011‐2016

Simmons

Shah

Campbell

et al. 2020

“…School personnel also must focus on creating positive school climates in which all students, regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc., feel safe, supported, and welcome . Efforts aimed at increasing teacher connectedness and creating positive mentoring programs for high‐risk boys, especially those of color, are vital to curbing violence and bullying perpetration, as well as supporting the well‐being of all students . Additionally, school counselors can be integral in delivering training to students and facilitating group sessions of students focused on strengthening protective factors .…”

Section: Implications For School Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey in schools, 16% of boys were bullied on school property during the previous 12 months, 12% were in a physical fight on school property one or more times during the previous 12 months, and 6% reported not feeling safe enough to attend school at least once during the previous 30 days . Some research suggests younger students (grades 7th and 8th) are more likely than older students (grades 11th and 12th) to perpetrate bullying behavior, and students of color are more likely than white students to be involved in physical fighting and bullying perpetration . Physical violence and bullying not only are associated with deleterious outcomes during adolescence, including lower academic achievement, but also negative health outcomes later in life such as criminal behavior, substance use, and suicidality …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Profiles of Risk and Protection for Violence and Bullying Perpetration Among Adolescent Boys

Taliaferro

Doty

Gower

et al. 2020

BACKGROUND: Violence and bullying perpetration among boys are major public health problems. We address gaps in the literature by examining: (1) how risk and protective factors co-occur, and (2) how different risk/protection profiles are associated with violence and bullying perpetration among adolescent boys. METHODS:Data came from the population-based 2016 Minnesota Student Survey. The analytic sample included boys in grades 8, 9, and 11 (N = 63,818). Latent profile analyses identified patterns of 22 behavioral, intrapersonal, family, and school and community risk/protective factors. Logistic regression analyses examined how these patterns related to violence and bullying perpetration. RESULTS:We identified 5 groups: Class 1: Low risk, high safety, high connectedness; Class 2: Low risk, moderate safety, moderate connectedness; Class 3: Moderate risk, high safety, moderate connectedness; Class 4: High risk, moderate safety, low connectedness; and Class 5: High risk, low safety, low connectedness. Compared to Class 1, Class 5 students had the highest odds of all for violence and bullying perpetration. Class 4 students also demonstrated high odds of violence and bullying, compared to Class 1. Though not as high as Classes 4 or 5, Class 2 and 3 students showed higher odds for both outcomes, compared to Class 1. CONCLUSIONS:Substantive variations exist in boys who engage in violence and bullying. We highlight cumulative, co-occurring risk factors, connectedness to parents and other prosocial adults (eg, teachers), and school and neighborhood safety as important factors to address in school health programs seeking to prevent violence and bullying perpetration among boys. Keywords: bullying; child and adolescent health; public health; risk behaviors; violence. Citation: Taliaferro LA, Doty JL, Gower AL, Querna K, Rovito MJ. Profiles of risk and protection for violence and bullying perpetration among adolescent boys.S chools should represent environments conducive to learning, where students feel safe and secure. 1 School violence, including bullying and physical fighting, 2 impedes successful learning and instills fear for safety in students, teachers, staff, and communities.although most boys do not engage in violence or bullying perpetration, boys are significantly more likely than girls to report involvement in physical violence (eg, physical fighting) and other forms of violence, such as assault, robbery, and weapon carrying, as well as physical bullying perpetration (eg, threatening to beat-up someone). 3-6 Boys might demonstrate greater risk for perpetrating violence 7 due to expectations that Association * High scores indicate more of the behavior/factor. † PHQ-2 cut-point supported by previous research. For continuous variables, the mean was calculated; Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to assess internal consistency.Students were classified as ''never'' if they answered never to all the questions comprising a scale, and classified in the once or more group if they answered once or more to any of the questi...

“…Many tribal youth struggle with these issues. It would be important to also engage community resources for support, including working with community leaders, teachers, and American Indian college students as mentors . School screenings for at‐risk students could be conducted in collaboration with tribal organizations.…”

Section: Implications For School Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reservation‐Urban Comparison of Suicidal Ideation/Planning and Attempts in American Indian Youth

Manzo

Hobbs

Gachupin

et al. 2020

BACKGROUND Our aim was to identify sex-and location-specific risk factors for suicide ideation/planning and attempts among American Indian youth.METHODS Biennial data for 6417 American Indian high school students attending reservation and urban schools were extracted from the Montana volunteer sample Youth Risk Behavior Survey data for pooled years 2003 to 2011. Logistic regression was used to identify sex-and school location-specific risk behaviors and psychosocial factors for past 12-month ideation/planning and past 12-month attempts. RESULTSContrary to our hypothesis, the prevalence of ideation/planning and attempts did not significantly differ between reservation/urban location; however, risk factors associated with suicidality did. Sadness/hopelessness was associated with both outcomes for all groups. However, violent victimization was associated with both outcomes only among girls. Lack of school safety was associated with attempts but not ideation/planning among all students. There were distinct differences in risk factors associated with both outcomes among boys. CONCLUSIONSThe results indicate differences and similarities in risk behaviors and psychosocial factors associated with suicidality by sex and reservation/urban setting. Implications include screening potentially at-risk students for depression, violent victimization, substance use, and school safety and use of the findings by tribal and school programs in designing prevention and intervention programs.Citation: Manzo K, Hobbs GR, Gachupin FC, Stewart J, Knox SS. Reservation-urban comparison of suicidal ideation/planning and attempts in American Indian youth.