School violence has reached epidemic proportions across the United States, and represents a major health concern for students, teachers, and their families. The existence of aggressive behavior patterns in childhood and early adolescence has been shown to he very stable over time, and to pose a significant risk factor for long-term behavioral and adjustment problems. While an extensive body of research exists on aggressors, relatively few studies have concentrated on the """"""""aggressees"""""""" or victims. Little is known about the consequences of repeated verbal and/or physical victimization by peers to the psychosocial and behavioral well-being of children and adolescents. The proposed research is designed to fill this gap by identifying individual, family, peer, and school ecology factors which may place early adolescent children at risk for victimization at school. In particular, the influences of parental involvement and support, the quality of peer relations, and individual factors such as behavioral style and developmental disability on the rates of victimization in key school settings (e.g., classrooms, cafeterias, hallways, and playgrounds) will be examined. Special attention will be given to rates of victimization over time during recess. In turn, the link between the quality of early adolescents' relations with peers and parents and early adolescent psychosocial adjustment will be evaluated. Self-report paper and pencil instruments will be administered to a target sample of 250 3rd- , 4th-, and 5th-graders (ages 8-11), with both genders equally represented, and their teachers. Equal numbers of subjects will be recruited from two school systems, one semi-rural, and one urban, to allow for comparison of rates of victimization among urban versus semi-rural schools. This sample will also allow for testing whether the processes which impact victimization and aggression differ for males versus females, and for majority students versus minority student subsamples (e.g., by race, SES, or disability status). This research should advance knowledge of the degree to which continuities or discontinuities between home and school environments constrain or promote healthy psychosocial development during early adolescence. Such integrative research should enhance understanding of the precise individual and ecological conditions placing children at risk for or protecting children from school violence.
