April 4, 2017 at 12:58 pm

Alum Co-Authors Journal Article on Violence in Schools

Erica Fissel

Ohio University alum Erica Fissel ’13 co-authored “Violence in Schools: Repeat Victimization, Low Self-Control, and the Mitigating Influence of School Efficacy” in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology.

After graduating in 2013 with a B.A. in Sociology-Criminology and a minor in Psychology from the College of Arts & Sciences at Ohio University, Fissel earned her Masters of Science in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati in 2014, then stayed to continue her education in their Ph.D. program in Criminal Justice, specializing in crime prevention and victimology.

Connect with her on LinkedIn.

Co-authors are Associate Professor Marie Skubak Tillyer of the University of Texas at San Antonio and Professor Pamela Wilcox of the University of Cincinnati.

Abstract

Objectives: Examine the distribution of various forms of violent victimization among adolescents in school and the main and interactive effects of low self-control and school efficacy on repeat assault victimization.

Methods: This study used data collected from students and teachers as part of the Rural Substance Abuse and Violence Project. We calculated a simple Poisson model of the expected frequencies of adolescents to experience each number of assault, robbery, and weapons victimizations given the total number of each type of victimization reported by the sample. We then tested whether the observed frequencies differed significantly from the expected. Finally, we estimated a series of hierarchical nonlinear models to assess the main and interactive effects of low self-control and school efficacy on repeat assault victimization.

Results: All three forms of violent victimization were non-randomly distributed across students. Low self-control was associated with repeat victimization among assault victims, though this effect was weakened significantly by school efficacy.

Conclusions: Violence in schools is highly concentrated among repeat victims. Efforts to reduce violence in schools should be focused on those who have already been victimized. Schools may be able to limit the effects of low self-control on repeat assault victimization by strengthening school efficacy.