School Connectedness, Anger Behaviors, and Relationships of Violent and Nonviolent American Youth

Participants in this study (whether violent or nonviolent) decried the repressive and prisonlike atmosphere in their schools, commenting about the rigid rules, armed guards, metal detectors, lockdowns, and video cameras monitoring everything. They also held strongly negative views of "zero tolerance" policies and disproportionate punishments, such as expulsion for writing an e-mail message with curse words in it. Too often, suspension or expulsion is the method of dealing with students who commit relatively minor infractions. Schools today suspend twice as many students as they did in the 1970s (Morse, 2002). Nearly 40% of schools studied by McNeely et al. (2002) gave out-of-school suspension the first time students were caught smoking, a relatively minor offense. Is this really the desirable solution? While we all want American schools to be safe, the punitive atmosphere described by our study participants does not foster school connectedness and does not promote a positive climate for learning. Creation of support programs for isolated students and a positive, accepting school climate are more likely to decrease hatred of school and angry acting-out behavior than draconian disciplinary measures.

On the other side of the draconian discipline issue, students expressed frustration regarding school officials' inaction when they reported substantive problems of harassment and bullying.

Female students interviewed by Simmons (2002) also reported that school officials failed to take their complaints about bullying seriously. Relational aggression was often downplayed, and sometimes the victim herself was blamed. Students at Columbine High likewise said their teachers and staff did not seem to notice the bullying and aggression that had become part of the school culture (Greenfield & Juvonen, 1999). Fear of bullying causes more than 160,000 children to skip school every day (National Association of School Psychologists, cited in Orecklin, 2000).

While some students react to harassment and bullying by staying home from school or withdrawing from peers, others retaliate with fists or weapons. Victimization is a known predictor of future violence. In a study of Appalachian white and black girls, Lucas (2000) found that their violence occurred in response to an impending attack. They perceived themselves as "good" girls forced by others' violent acts to respond in a "bad" way. In a recent longitudinal study of inner-city youth (Fry, Jemmott, Hines, & Fong, 2002), victimization experiences at baseline were significantly associated at 3-month followup with hurting someone else in a tight, carrying a knife or razor, and stabbing or shooting at someone. Other research shows that the amount (and type) of aggression experienced as a target is positively correlated with the behavior performed as an aggressor (Harris, 1996).

Reducing victimization, then, is one way to begin reducing youth violence. Many schools are implementing the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, which is based on extensive research (Olweus, Limber, & Mihalic, 1999). After a Colorado school principal implemented "bullyproofing" initiatives at her school, the incidence of bullying behavior decreased. Among the strategies is "Be Cool" training in which students learn to choose between a "hot" response to provocation and the more desirable "cool" response (Labi, 2001). In a Los Angeles school, students (and their parents) sign contracts stipulating that no child can be teased or ridiculed on the basis of his/her appearance, gender, family, or grades (Labi). The Ophelia Project focuses on the relational type of aggression that is more frequently employed by girls (Simmons, 2002). The project includes a schoolwide training program, guidelines for parents, and use of high-school mentors to teach younger girls how to deal with relational aggression.