Violence-Related Behaviors among Middle and High School Students

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of violence-related behaviors among middle and high school students in a large Southeastern community. Sample: The sample consisted of 6,827 6th thorugh 12th grade students. Instrumentation: Each student completed a modified youth risk behavior survey that in addition to the standard questions on physical fights contained questions regarding gang membership, domestic violence, self-mutilation, and bullying behaviors. Data Analysis: All data files were inported into SPSS 11.0. Descriptive statistics for each violence-related behavior were generated and analyzed by grade and gender. Findings: Percentages of middle school and high school students engaging in violence-related behaviors was alarming. For example, over 25% of high school students reported an awareness of gang activity in their school; 29.7% of both middle school and high school students reported intentionally cutting themselves; over 60% of both middle and high school students reported knowing other who practice self-mutilation behaviors.