McDade, King, Vidourek, and Merianos, explore the impact of prosocial behavior amongst African American students as prerequisite involvement to school violence victimization (McDade et al., 2017). Many black youth that isolate themselves from their peer groups and extracurricular programs often develop antisocial behaviors and are at risk of being susceptible to school violence. With assumptions based on previous research, the authors use qualitative methods of anonymously interview 7 th to the 12 th grade students so as to establish the causes, rate, and factors that impact on violence. They further inquire into the student’s active participation in extracurricular prosocial activities and how it impacts on victimization.
The authors use a cross sectional model of evaluating data using a chi square analysis of prosocial behavior of African American students and used the results to evaluate the mental and physical health benefits of active enrollment (McDade et al., 2017).. By obtaining secondary data from qualitative questionnaires previously administered through the Pride Survey Research, they establish that prosocial behaviors reduced the level of victimization because these students developed a supportive social network that influences social control. On the other hand, those that were socially isolated showed aggressive tendencies and lack of conformity to school and social rules thereby making them become impulsive and perpetuate school violence. Furthermore, most acts of victimization was a as a result of seeking vengeance from previous incidences.
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The rationale of the study is fused in to the research purpose where the authors noted the lack of research efforts in regards to the prosocial impact of violence. The purpose of this research was to promote the use of prosocial behavior as a solution to preventing future violence (McDade et al., 2017). The research problem is well articulated where the authors aim at addressing the increase levels of African American victimization in school violence (McDade et al., 2017). . The problem raised questions aimed at determining the extent of school violence re, the impact of sex, grade, and the impact of prosocial behavioral involvement. These questions also resonated with the qualitative variables that were used to generate conclusive results that indicated that those that refrained from prosocial involvement are prone to victimization.
The article extensively uses recent peer reviewed literature from student studies to establish its rationale behind investigating the impact of prosocial behavior on victimization. The articles used elaborated on the targeting of African American students to violence due to racial intolerance and high probability of isolation. The literature included official surveys from government databases that further explained that African American students that enrolled to after school programs such as sports or drama gained respect and supportive friendships that reduced their probability of being part of school violence.
Most of the articles used in the research also previously explored adolescent psychology and the ways in which their social experiences shape their proclivity to violent behavior. The authors show evidence that individuals that withdrew from such social activities were prone to substance abuse, had neglectful family environments, or showed poor academic performance. They also developed aggressive and impulsive characteristics which contributed to violence and victimization. Prosocial activities channel these negative energies to engaging physical and mental sessions that reduce the psychological stress associated with background struggles.
Limitations of the research include the lack of articulation on theoretical framework that explains how the student behavior is linked to victimization. The lack of a victimology theory hinders the reader from conceptualizing the article in a broad context. Furthermore, there is a research gap where the authors fail to explain the racial composition of the schools used in the survey. Importance of this composition is that it increases the validity of focusing on the African American scope of participants.
Conclusion
This article is detailed in contributing to the literature on using active enrollment as a solution towards reducing the rates of school violence. The authors detail the variables that affect the prone level of targeting but also present insightful solutions by encouraging prosocial behavior to address the issue of African American student victimization. As a comprehensive solution, the researchers recommend engaging students that are in their transition grades with extracurricular activities to reduce the cases of violence that is highly experienced by this group.
Reference
McDade, R. S., King, K. A., Vidourek, R. A., & Merianos, A. L. (2017). Impact of prosocial behavioral involvement on school violence victimization among African American middle school and high school students. American Journal of Health Studies , 32(1), 26
