Physical aggression toward teachers: Antecedents, behaviors, and consequences

Abstract

School violence is a significant public health concern that occurs in many forms.Physical aggression can cause serious bodily injury and long-term negative effects, and both teachers and students experience significant rates of physical aggression.There are few studies examining teachers' experiences of physical aggression. Studies that go beyond prevalence are limited, and we know little about the triggers and consequences that surround these incidents. This qualitative investigation used an antecedent-behavior-consequence (A-B-C) framework to understand how incidents of physical aggression directed toward teachers unfold. The sample included 193 elementary and secondary teachers who completed an anonymous, online survey and described events leading up to and following their experiences with physical aggression. Using conventional content analysis, we identified common antecedents, such as breaking up fights, discipline, and directives, and common consequences, such as student removal, school staff involvement, positive outcomes, and inaction.Further analyses revealed seven common A-B-C patterns among physical aggression incidents that are highlighted and discussed. Utility of the A-B-C framework for teacher-directed violence is described, along with implications for research, practice, and policy. Exploring the context surrounding incidents of physical aggression directed against teachers provides useful information for violence prevention and interventions.

Addressing violence against teachers: A social‐ecological analysis of teachers' perspectives

“…The survey was developed by the APA Task Force to assess the extent and nature of teacher‐directed violence, including verbal and physical offenses, harassment, and property offenses across different types of perpetrators (e.g., students, parents, and colleagues), and attributions regarding violence they experienced (e.g., Anderman et al, 2018; McMahon et al, 2014; McMahon, Davis, et al, 2020; McMahon, Peist, et al, 2020). The current study explored a subset of responses to four open‐ended prompts about the most upsetting violent incident participants experienced.…”

“…In the context of describing their experiences with violence across these four prompts, and especially in response to the fourth prompt seeking additional information, teachers provided recommendations about how to avoid or address school violence; these excerpts provided the basis for the current study. In‐depth qualitative analysis of victimization experiences are presented elsewhere (e.g., McMahon et al, 2017; McMahon, Davis, et al, 2020; McMahon, Peist, et al, 2020).…”

Programas de intervención para la prevención de la violencia escolar: Una revisión sistemática y metanálisis

“…Salta a la vista que además de ser pocos los estudios que analizan esta realidad son todavía menos los que analizan las causas, consecuencias y por supuesto, la eficacia de los programas de intervención para reducir dichas conductas. Aun tomando en cuenta lo anterior, es necesario reconocer la importancia de evaluar todas las formas de violencia, razón por la que evaluar violencia entre pares continúa siendo indispensable y puede ser considerado como un importante, aunque insuficiente paso (Lester et al, 2017;McMahon, et al, 2020;Vega-Cauich, 2019).…”

Exposure to Aggression in School and Teachers’ Intention to Leave Their Profession—A Brief Report

“…Aggressive behavior directed at schoolteachers was found to mainly involve theft of personal belongings, physical aggression, sexual harassment, as well as verbal abuse, and threats (Moon et al, 2019). Other sources describe aggression that may not be originally aimed at teachers but eventually experienced by themin such cases where they break up fights or try to settle conflicts among students or others (McMahon et al, 2020). In general verbal aggression seems to be more common in schools than physical aggression or physical threats.…”