PARENTS’ AND ADOLESCENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF SAFETY IN

SCHOOL: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

MCH Epidemiology ConferenceDecember 7, 2005

Catherine Vladutiu†, Talia Engelhart†, Mary D. Overpeck†,

Denise Haynie‡, William Modzeleski *

†U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration

Maternal and Child Health BureauOffice of Data and Program Development

‡National Institute of Child Health & Human DevelopmentDivision of Epidemiology, Statistics, and Prevention Research

* U.S. Department of EducationOffice of Safe & Drug Free Schools

OBJECTIVES

To describe the differences in the ways parents and students perceive safety in school

To measure differences in

perceptions by age, race & ethnicity, gender, parental education, and urbanicity

HYPOTHESES

Parents perceive their children’s schools are safer than students’ believe their schools to be

Age, gender, race & ethnicity, parental education, and urbanicity will be associated with the differences in perceptions of safety.

BACKGROUND School safety is a critical component of

education, social development, and general well-being

School safety (absence of): any threat to a student’s well being that could result from human action, which may be self-inflicted or imposed by others1

School safety is associated with bullying, fighting, and weapon carrying in school

SCHOOL VIOLENCE

2002: http://www.keystosaferschools.com/Map_School_Shootings.htm

BACKGROUND

Studies have shown students feel unsafe at school, fear being hurt, and skip school to avoid violence 1,2,3,4,5

Adolescents often perceive safety in school in terms of safety in community

Studies have shown parents believe their children are safe, but not much is known about how much they know about safety in school 6,7,8

LITERATURE REVIEW

Age Older students are less likely to feel safe1,2

Race & Ethnicity Race has not been shown to be a significant

factor in school safety8, 14 Hispanic and NH Black students are more likely to miss school from feeling unsafe and more likely to be threatened at school

Gender Boys feel less safe than girls6, 7,11

Urbanicity Few children feel safe in urban schools1,2,3,13

Parental Education Not widely measured in the current literature7,

8

BACKGROUND

Safety perceptions are important because… Students’ perceptions may help to deter

or promote negative behavior Parents’ perceptions may influence their

willingness to support prevention efforts Teachers’ perceptions may influence

when/how they are willing to intervene

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Are there differences between parents’ and student’s perceptions of safety?

Are there differences in perceptions of safety by age, gender, race & ethnicity, parental education, and urbanicity?

DATA SOURCES

Health Behaviors in School-Aged Children (HBSC) (2001/2002)

After exclusion of missing responses and children <11; n=13, 685

Measures: Students’ perception of

safety Age Gender Race & ethnicity Urbanicity Parental education

National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) (2003)

After exclusion of missing responses and children <11; n=35, 439

Measures: Parental perception of

safety Child’s age Child’s gender Child’s race & ethnicity Urbanicity Parental education

MEASURES- HBSC

Perceptions of school safety: Students reported their level of agreement

with the following statement: “I feel safe at school.” Responses were classified on a five-point scale as either:

“Strongly agree” “Agree” “Neither agree nor disagree” “Disagree” “Strongly disagree”

MEASURES- HBSC Age (self-reported) Gender (self-reported) Race & ethnicity

Responses were combined into 5 categories: Non-Hispanic White, Non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, Multiple races (student endorsed more than one race), and other races.

Urbanicity Three categories of urbanicity were used: urban (city),

suburban (near a large city) and rural (not near a large city).

Parental Education Students reported parent education separately for

mothers and fathers, with the highest level of education selected: less than 12 years, 12 years, or more than 12 years of education.

MEASURES-NSCH

Perceptions of school safety: Parents or guardians reported perceptions

of their child’s safety by responding to the following question: “How often do you feel [he/she] (child) is safe at school?” Responses included:

“Never” “Sometimes” “Usually” or “Always” “Don’t know” “Refused”

MEASURES-NSCH

Age (parental report of child) Gender (parental report of child) Race & ethnicity

Responses were combined into 5 categories: Non-Hispanic White, Non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, Multiple (parents who endorsed more than one race), and other races.

Urbanicity Parents reported their zip codes and were categorized

into urban, suburban and rural classifications. Parental education

Parents reported their education level by responding to a question asking for the highest level of education attained in the household: less than 12 years, 12 years, or more than 12 years of education.

METHODS

Prevalence Risk Ratios

DEMOGRAPHICS

12%

19%

21%21%

19%

8%11 years

12 years

13 years

14 years

15 years

16 years

Age (HBSC) Age (NSCH)

16%

18%

17%17%

16%

16%11 years

12 years

13 years

14 years

15 years

16 years

DEMOGRAPHICS

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

HBSC NSCH

MaleFemale

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

HBSC NSCH

NH WhiteNH BlackHispanicMultipleOther

Gender Race & Ethnicity

DEMOGRAPHICS

05

101520253035404550

HBSC NSCH

<12 years12 years> 12 years

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

HBSC NSCH

UrbanSuburbanRural

Parental Education

Urbanicity

SAFETY PERCEPTIONS

HBSC

8% 8%

21%

34%

29%

Strongly disagree that Ifeel safe

Disagree that I feel safe

Neither agree noredisagree

Agree that I feel safe

Strongly agree that I feelsafe

NSCH

2% 12%

36%50%

Never feel safe

Sometimes feel safe

Usually feel safe

Always feel safe

HBSC NSCH

RESULTS -Age

Parental Perceptions by Student Age

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

11 12 13 14 15 16

Student Age

Always

Usually

Sometimes

Never/Not Sure

RESULTS -Age

Student Perceptions of Safety by Age

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

11 12 13 14 15 16

Student Age

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neither Agree NorDisagreeDisagree

Strongly disagree

RESULTS -Age Students:

16 year olds were significantly more likely to feel unsafe than 11-14 year olds; 3 times as likely as 11 year olds [RR= 0.98 (0.84-1.14)]

Younger students felt safer at school (43.9%) Parents:

Age was not a factor for parental perceptions of safety among those who felt their child was never safe at school (no increased risk in feeling safe or unsafe)

Parents of younger children felt their children were more safe at school (61.6%) than older children (45.4%)

RESULTS -Gender

Students: Boys were twice as likely to feel

unsafe at school than girls Parents:

No significant differences in response by child’s gender

RESULTS –Race & Ethnicity

Students: Non-Hispanic black students reported

feeling the least safe (12.2%); they were significantly more likely and at a higher risk of feeling less safe than other groups (RR=1.13)

Non-Hispanic White students reported feeling the safest at school (32.1%)

Parents: Parents of Hispanic children felt their

child was the least safe (6.2%)

RESULTS -Urbanicity

Students: Students living in urban areas were

less likely to feel safe (25.1%) Parents:

No significant differences in safety perceptions by urbanicity; suburban and rural parents felt their children were slightly more safe than urban parents

RESULTS -Parental Education

Students: Students with parents who completed

more than 12 years of education were more likely to feel safe

Students with parents with <12 years of education were at a higher risk of feeling unsafe (RR=1.05)

Parents: As years of parental education increased,

parents were less likely to feel their child was unsafe at school, but not more likely to feel their child was always safe

LIMITATIONS

Data from two different sources Year of data collection Sample size Validity of self report Framing of safety perception

questions (categorization)

SUMMARY

Parents do not have the same fear regarding their children’s safety that students have

As children aged, they felt less safe at school

Gender illustrated a greater gap between boys and girls’ perceptions of safety (boys felt less safe)

SUMMARY Students’ perceptions were more influenced

by race than those of the parents (NH Black students felt less safe)

Urbanicity status was associated with safety perceptions among students more so than among parents; urban students felt less safe

Parental education uniformly affected both students’ and parents’ perceptions; higher parental education= feeling safer in school

PUBLIC HEALTH IMPLICATIONS

Feeling unsafe at school is prevalent among students (40%) and may contribute to greater school absence, social conflicts, and low self-esteem

Parental awareness of how safe their children are at school is critical to the promotion of policies and programs aimed at improving school safety; the lack of awareness may prevent the implementation of effective change in schools

Unsafe schools perpetuate fear and anger instead of learning which may lead to negative physical, psychological, and social well-being

NEXT STEPS Further research and policy changes based on

studies like this can minimize the gap between parental and student perceptions to ensure a safer environment

Future analyses should investigate the perceptions of parents and their actual children within one study as well as examine safety perceptions among school officials and educators

School safety questions should be included in future surveys and should include specific items that may provide students’ reasons for their perception of safety

CONTACT INFORMATION

Catherine Vladutiu, MPHHRSA/Maternal and Child Health BureauOffice of Data & Program Development5600 Fishers Lane, Room 18-46Rockville, MD 20857T: (301) 443-0701cvladutiu@hrsa.gov

For more information: www.hrsa.govHRSA Bullying Campaign:

www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov

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5 Snyder HN., Sickmund M. Juvenile offenders and victims: 1999 national report. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

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8 Stockdale, MS, Hangaduambo, S, et al. Rural Elementary Students’, Parents’, and Teachers’ Perceptions of Bullying. American Journal of Health Behavior. 2002;26(4): 266-277

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