Premium
Safe and unsafe school spaces: Comparing elementary school student perceptions to common ecological interventions and operationalizations
Author(s) -
Langhout Regina Day,
Annear Lori
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of community and applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.042
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1099-1298
pISSN - 1052-9284
DOI - 10.1002/casp.1062
Subject(s) - psychological intervention , territoriality , perception , intervention (counseling) , psychology , social psychology , medical education , developmental psychology , medicine , psychiatry , communication , neuroscience
There is a burgeoning literature on school safety in the United States. Often, researchers determine the problem and intervention. Few studies, however, examine how students understand school safety. In this study, elementary school students in the United States ( n = 225) marked safe and unsafe school places; this was correlated with other commonly used school safety measures. Results indicate that children have different perceptions of safety based on school location. Additionally, for older children, unsafe places correlated with injury data, adult absence and low levels of territoriality. For younger children, unsafe places were associated with adult absence and referrals. Safe places were places that were more likely to have an adult. Results bring into question some common safety interventions. Implications include working with children to determine what is meant by ‘safe’ and interventions. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.