School Climate and Student Approval of Nonviolent Problem-Solving Strategies

Introduction:  Qualitative follow-up of a universal social cognitive violence prevention intervention suggests that students may have perceived strategies taught in the intervention to be ineffective, resulting in reluctance to employ them.  Recent research on the effects of pre-existing school climate on violence and on intervention results also raises the question of how school climate relates to student approval of nonviolent strategies.  This presentation explores the effects of pre-existing school-level climate variables on approval of the nonviolent strategies for resolving conflicts that are typically taught in violence prevention programs.

Method:  A total of 5103 students in 37 schools and two age cohorts, participating in the Multisite Violence Prevention Project, completed measures of school climate variables including perceived school norms about aggression and nonviolent conflict resolution, interpersonal relationships among students and with teachers, and school policies regarding violence and attention to safety problems in the school.  Multivariate mixed-effects regression models examined effects on student approval of eight specific nonviolent problem-solving strategies that had been taught in a violence prevention program:  1) Apologizing to someone accidentally bumped in the hall, 2) Asking for help with a conflict from a teacher, 3) Avoiding certain areas in school, 4) Emphasizing the ability to choose not to fight with a peer, 5) Taking a deep breath, 6) Ignoring a rumor spread about one’s self, 7) Listening to another’s side of a story, and 8) Telling a peer to stop and calm down.  

Results:  Approval of each strategy was regressed on pre-existing school-level climate variables controlling for individual perceptions, and pre-existing approval.  Thus, each climate variable predicted change in approval.  The strongest effects were found among 6^th graders, for whom quality of relationships among students was associated with higher approval of nonviolent strategies generally, and school safety concerns and relationships with teachers had effects on approval of some strategies.  Effects were weaker in 7^th grade, where awareness and reporting of violence and school safety problems had effects that varied somewhat by specific strategy.  The weakest effects were among eighth graders, for whom awareness and reporting of violence had a general positive effect on approval of nonviolent strategies.

Conclusion:  These findings underscore the importance of pre-existing environmental factors in violence prevention and suggest school-level policy changes that might facilitate wider adoption of violence prevention strategies by students.