Understanding School Effects on Students’ Willingness to Report Peer Weapon Carrying

• Author: Nina Barbieri,Nadine M. Connell,Jennifer M. Reingle Gonzalez
• Published date: 01 July 2015
• Date: 01 July 2015
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/1541204014544512
• Published By: Sage Publications, Inc.
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Understanding School

Effects on Students’

Willingness to Report

Peer Weapon Carrying

Nadine M. Connell

1

, Nina Barbieri

1

, and Jennifer M. Reingle Gonzalez

2

Abstract

Research on student willingness to report peer weapon carrying points to the importance of school

climate and contributions favorable to reporting. This study fills a gap by examining the etiology of

willingness to report weapons on campus using predictors at the individual- and school levels. We

utilize data from high school student self-reporting; results suggest that 34% of students reported

having seen or having personal knowledge of a weapon in school in the prior 3 months. Students

who report higher levels of school attachment, seeing or knowing of a weapon, have higher grades,

and know about security measures were significantly more likely to report seeing weapons.

Implications are discussed.

Keywords

schools, violence, weapons, delinquency

Introduction

Hardly a week goes by without media coverage of another violent outbreak in our nation’s schools.

While these types of incidents are relatively rare, recent coverage of the student stabbing outside of

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Fitzsimmons & Williams, 2014) and the memory of the fatal shooting at

Sandy Hook Elementary School in Sandy Hook, Connecticut (Barron, 2012), are often at the fore-

front of people’s thoughts. As a result, concerns about school safety and the overall well-being of

students have taken on a special significance in the last 15 years, for both the public and the aca-

demic community. One increasingly examined area of behavior is that of student weapon carrying,

with schools around the country implementing zero tolerance and other strict policies in order to

discourage and respond to internal threats, with varying levels of success (see Sullivan, Dollard,

Sellers, & Mayo, 2010, for a comprehensive discussion). Less studied, however, are the

1

The University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA

2

University of Texas School of Public Health, Dallas, TX, USA

Corresponding Author:

Nadine M. Connell, University of Texas at Dallas, 800 West Campbell Drive, GR 31, Richardson, TX 75080, USA.

Email: nadine.connell@utdallas.edu

Youth Violence and JuvenileJustice

2015, Vol. 13(3) 258-269

ªThe Author(s) 2014

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DOI: 10.1177/1541204014544512

yvj.sagepub.com