The article by Janosz et al. (2018) suggests that 13-year-old students who watch violence in school have a higher risk of experiencing academic and psycho-social impairment when they are 15 years old. The researchers examined nearly 4,000 high school students in which they investigated the association between seeing school violence in the 8th grade and later antisocial behavior, emotional distress, and academic adjustment in the 10th grade. The importance of different forms of witnessing school violence and direct experience of violence in the long term was also compared.
The researchers found that seeing major violence, such as weapon carrying or physical assault, was related to delinquency and drug use later in life. Veiled or hidden violence, such as vandalism and theft, had the same effect. Seeing minor violence, such as insults and threats, was, however, related to high levels of depressive symptoms, social anxiety, drug use, and low levels of school participation and engagement.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
In the study, many students stated that they had seen violence. The article recommended that intervention and prevention approaches focused on school violence should include perpetrators, victims, and witnesses, and deal with all kinds of school violence. The article emphasized the importance of social support, such as community and family relationship, in promoting strategies for coping among students who have been physically or mentally harmed by school violence.
The article also recommended that intervention programs focused on dealing with events after violence should apply population-focused strategies that encourage the normalization of concern for people and those that do not tolerate disrespect. The study further recommended that schools should focus on empowering bystander students who do not participate directly in school violence acts instead of advising them not to be involved.
Reference
Janosz, M., Brière, F. N., Galand, B., Pascal, S., Archambault, I., Brault, M. C., ... & Pagani, L. S. (2018). Witnessing violence in early secondary school predicts subsequent student impairment. J Epidemiol Community Health , 72 (12), 1117-1123. https://jech.bmj.com/content/72/12/1117
