Characteristics of schools in which fatal shootings occur

School-based violence, and fatal school shootings in particular, have gained increased attention in the media and psychological literature. Most reports have focused on the characteristics of perpetrators, but there is a growing awareness that school-related factors may also influence the occurrence of fatal school shootings. The current study examined several key characteristics of all schools where random (38) and targeted (96) fatal shootings occurred in the United States between 1966 and 2009. These were compared with a group (138) of schools randomly selected to represent the population of all schools in the United States. The size of a school's enrollment, urban or suburban locale, public funding, and predominantly non-white enrollment were positively associated with fatal shootings. Universities and colleges were disproportionately associated with random shootings and high schools with targeted ones. It was proposed that characteristics of schools that allow feelings of anonymity or alienation among students may help create environmental conditions associated with fatal school shootings. Implications for future research and interventions are considered.     

Corporal punishment and child adjustment

The association between corporal punishment and children's emotional and behavioral functioning was studied in a sample of 98 non-referred children with a mean age of 12.35 (SD=1.72) recruited from two school systems in the southeastern United States. Children were divided into those who had experienced no corporal punishment over approximately a two-week period, those who had experienced mild levels of corporal punishment (i.e., 1 or 2 instances), and those who had experienced high levels of corporal punishment (i.e., 3 or more instances). Results indicated that use of corporal punishment was associated with problems in both emotional and behavioral adjustment. However, these associations were strongest for children who experienced high levels of corporal punishment, for children who were impulsive, and for children who did not experience a warm and supportive family climate.     

父母体罚、学校参与与青少年网络游戏成瘾:亲子关系的调节作用

采用问卷法对1389名初中生进行调查,考察了学校参与在父母体罚与青少年网络游戏成瘾（Internet Gaming Addiction,IGA）关系间的中介效应,以及父子关系和母子关系在其中的调节效应。结果发现：（1）在控制了性别、年龄、家庭人均月收入和父母受教育水平后,父母体罚可显著正向预测青少年IGA;（2）学校参与显著部分中介父母体罚与青少年IGA的关系;（3）母子关系显著调节中介路径"父母体罚→学校参与→IGA",即父母体罚通过侵蚀青少年的学校参与进而增加其IGA的中介效应在高母子关系青少年群体中显著,但在低母子关系青少年群体中不显著。     

Personality characteristics of the users of corporal punishment in the schools

The Rokeach Dogmatism Scale and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire were correlated with educator-reported use of corporal punishment. Respondents were from a medium-size school system in Tennessee. Results indicated that closed-mindedness, as measured by the Rokeach scale, and Neuroticism, as measured by the Eysenck Scale, were highly correlated with reported use of corporal punishment. Of the remaining two dimensions of personality measured by the Eysenck questionnaire, Extraversion was found to be moderately correlated with reported use of corporal punishment while Psychoticism showed no significant relationship. A significant negative correlation was found between years of experience in teaching and use of corporal punishment. Frequency of physical punishment used on an educator when he/she was in grades K-12 was positively correlated with reported use of corporal punishment. Heavy users of corporal punishment tended to be relatively inexperienced, close-minded, neurotic, and impulsive as compared to their peers who did not use corporal punishment.     

Differentiating corporal punishment from physical abuse in the prediction of lifetime aggression

Corporal punishment and parental physical abuse often co‐occur during upbringing, making it difficult to differentiate their selective impacts on psychological functioning. Associations between corporal punishment and a number of lifetime aggression indicators were examined in this study after efforts to control the potential influence of various forms of co‐occurring maltreatment (parental physical abuse, childhood sexual abuse, sibling abuse, peer bullying, and observed parental violence). College students (N = 1,136) provided retrospective self‐reports regarding their history of aggression and levels of exposure to childhood corporal punishment and maltreatment experiences. Analyses focused on three hypotheses: 1) The odds of experiencing childhood physical abuse would be higher among respondents reporting frequent corporal punishment during upbringing; 2) Corporal punishment scores would predict the criterion aggression indices after control of variance associated with childhood maltreatment; 3) Aggression scores would be higher among respondents classified in the moderate and elevated corporal punishment risk groups. Strong support was found for the first hypothesis since the odds of childhood physical abuse recollections were higher (OR = 65.3) among respondents who experienced frequent (>60 total disciplinary acts) corporal punishment during upbringing. Partial support was found for the second and third hypotheses. Dimensional and categorical corporal punishment scores were associated significantly with half of the criterion measures. These findings support efforts to dissuade reliance on corporal punishment to manage child behavior.

     

Mass Trauma in the African American Community: Using Multiculturalism to Build Resilient Systems

Within the last 4 years, there has been an increasing awareness of traumatic shootings of Black Americans in our society, more specifically Black American males who are likely descendants of slaves and or low socioeconomic status. This increase in media coverage of these shootings has highlighted not only the plight of Black Americans in America but also the real threat of death Black American’s live with. Americans in general have expressed outrage against these fatal shootings, which has been traumatic for many people, especially Black Americans and their community. These shootings severely impact Black American families and communities causing them to become trauma organized; losing basic sense of physical and psychological safety as well as family and community functionality. Understanding the effects these shootings have on the Black American community can help clinicians work more effectively work with this population. This article presents the Multi-Phase Model of Psychotherapy, Counseling, Human Rights and Social Justice (MPM) as a vital and necessary perspective in the treatment of traumatized Black Americans, specifically those effected by mass traumatic events, as well as a case study that applies the MPM using the fatal shooting of Philando Castile.     

Functions Served by Corporal Punishment: Adolescent Perspectives

This exploratory study investigated the functions served by corporal punishment as perceived by high school students in a developing country. A qualitative research design was used. Participants were a convenient sample of five high school students. Data were collected using the focus group interview technique. Results show that adolescents have contesting views on the functions served by corporal punishment in school. Adolescents' perspectives coalesced into three main conceptual spheres namely: hedonistic/sadistic, regulatory and instrumental functions. Teachers and other professionals, whose mandate is the welfare of adolescents, need to recognise the influence and importance of adolescent perspectives on functions served by corporal punishment.     

Child Effortful Control as a Mediator of Parenting Practices on Externalizing Behavior: Evidence for a Sex-Differentiated Pathway across the Transition from Preschool to School

An explanatory model for children’s development of disruptive behavior across the transition from preschool to school was tested. It was hypothesized that child effortful control would mediate the effects of parenting on children’s externalizing behavior and that child sex would moderate these relations. Participants were 241 children (123 boys) and their parents and teachers. Three dimensions of parenting, warm responsiveness, induction, and corporal punishment, were assessed via maternal report when children were 3 years old. Child effortful control at age 3 was measured using laboratory tasks and a mother-report questionnaire. Mothers and teachers contributed ratings of child externalizing behavior at age 6. Results showed that the hypothesized model fit the data well and that the pattern of associations between constructs differed for boys and girls. For boys, parental warm responsiveness and corporal punishment had significant indirect effects on children’s externalizing behavior three years later, mediated by child effortful control. Such relations were not observed for girls. These findings support a sex-differentiated pathway to externalizing behavior across the transition from preschool to school.     

Risk Factors Associated with Proactive and Reactive Aggression in a Child Psychiatric Inpatient Sample

Proactive and reactive aggression represent distinct functions of aggression that are associated with different risk factors, including individual and contextual characteristics. However, more research evaluating the interactive effects of risk factors is needed. The current study evaluated whether corporal punishment moderated the influence of neighborhood problems and anger coping on proactive and reactive aggression in a child psychiatric inpatient sample of 6 to 13 year olds (n?=?151). Findings were compared across child- and caregiver-reports of aggression. Consistent with expectations, anger coping was more strongly associated with reactive aggression than proactive aggression across informants. In contrast, perceived neighborhood problems were only associated with child-reports of proactive aggression, with corporal punishment moderating this association. Specifically, the association between neighborhood problems and proactive aggression was only evident at high levels of corporal punishment. Treatment implications and future directions are discussed.     

Pupil Physical Abuse by Teachers

Abstract

Corporal punishment is one of the most controversial disciplinary practices currently being used in school settings despite the vulnerability that it creates for students to be physically abused. Some cultures continue to believe that corporal punishment is a useful tool for teaching children to be respectful, honest, and productive members of society. The present study attempted to discern the nature and extent of corporal punishment used by teachers in the secondary schools located in six provinces of Zimbabwe between 1990 and 1997, as well as what actions were taken against these teachers. The results of the present study suggest that the majority of the perpetrators were male, had received official training for their position, and were sanctioned with a fine.     

An initial evaluation of the role of emotion and impulsivity in explaining racial/ethnic differences in the use of corporal punishment

The authors sought to provide an initial evaluation of the hypothesis that corporal punishment is less strongly associated with parental emotion and impulsivity among African American ("Black") in contrast to European American ("White") parents. White-Latino and Black-Latino differences in corporal punishment, emotion, and impulsivity were explored, given the lack of existing theory predicting group differences. Couples with 3- to 7-year-old children were recruited via random digit dialing, and the parents completed questionnaires and an analog parent-child conflict task in the laboratory. Group differences were tested pooling mothers and fathers via dyadic data analyses. Black parents (N = 57) had more positive attitudes toward and used more corporal punishment than White parents (N = 730). Latino American parents' (N = 78) views and use of corporal punishment were similar to those of White parents. By and large, associations of corporal punishment with parents' impulsivity and emotion did not significantly vary by race/ethnicity. The present findings, although preliminary, do not support the emotion-impulsivity hypothesis of racial differences in the use of corporal punishment suggested by K. Deater-Deckard, K. A. Dodge, J. E. Bates, and G. S. Pettit (1996).     

Perception,use and abolition of corporal punishment among high school teachers in a district in southwestern Nigeria

Students in many regions of the world experience corporal punishment in multiple settings, although what is currently known about corporal punishment is derived from parental corporal punishment. Using a convenience sample of 271 teachers in 14 public and private secondary schools in a district in southwestern Nigeria, this article describes the associations between perception, use and support for abolition of corporal punishment. Results suggest that having children, more corporal punishment of own children and higher frequency of corporal punishment by colleagues were associated with frequent use of corporal punishment. Frequency of corporal punishment by colleagues accounted for the strongest variance in frequent use of corporal punishment. Lower corporal punishment of own children was associated with higher endorsement of abolition of corporal punishment from schools, whereas being male was associated with higher endorsement of abolition of corporal punishment from society. Teachers endorsed abolition of corporal punishment not only from schools but also from society. These findings highlight the “bandwagon” effect and teacher characteristics as potential risk factors for sustained perpetration and transmission of corporal punishment and draw attention to the need for intervention on alternative approaches to corporal punishment that could facilitate the abolition of corporal punishment from home and schools.     

The Role of Race in the Association between Corporal Punishment and Externalizing Problems: Does Punishment Severity Matter?

Parental corporal punishment is frequently associated with emotional and behavioral problems among youth. Some researchers propose that this association does not exist in African–American families, although the literature is mixed. Among recent studies, there is a lack of standardization in the measure of corporal punishment, which may help explain the inconsistent findings. The present study used a community sample (N = 106, 34 % African–American, 48 % female) to test for racial differences in the association between corporal punishment and youths’ aggression and delinquency, while examining different corporal punishment types separately by severity level. The three corporal punishment variables were spanking, severe corporal punishment (hitting and hitting with an object), and total corporal punishment (a composite of spanking, hitting, and hitting with an object). Regression analyses revealed that race moderated the association between corporal punishment and delinquency, although this moderation was contingent upon the corporal punishment variable. Specifically, severe corporal punishment and total corporal punishment were associated with delinquency only for Caucasian and not African–American youth. The model testing spanking and delinquency was not moderated by race. Additionally, race moderated the association between severe corporal punishment and youth aggression. Findings suggest that corporal punishment is associated with youth externalizing problems, but that this varies based upon race, severity of corporal punishment, and type of externalizing problem.     

父母体罚与青少年焦虑抑郁的关系:同伴侵害的中介效应与亲子关系的调节效应

采用问卷法对1406名初中生进行调查,考察了同伴侵害在父母体罚与青少年焦虑抑郁关系间的中介效应,以及亲子关系对这一中介过程的调节效应。结果发现：（1）在控制了性别、年龄、家庭月收入和父母受教育水平后,父母体罚显著正向预测青少年焦虑抑郁;（2）同伴侵害在父母体罚与焦虑抑郁关系间起着显著的完全中介作用;（3）亲子关系对中介路径"父母体罚→同伴侵害→焦虑抑郁"具有显著的调节效应。     

Perceived Learner School Citizenship Behaviours in a Sample of Historically Disadvantaged South African Primary Schools

This study investigated learner in-school behavioral adjustment after the banning of corporal punishment in South African schools. Participant informants were 16 teachers from eight schools in a historically disadvantaged school district. Of the 16 teachers (females=10, age range between 35 and 56 years). They responded to a structured questionnaire which focused on the level of good citizenship behavior among township primary school learners. The data were quantitatively analyzed. Findings suggest that the teachers perceived the learners to have good behavioral adherence regarding attendance and learning participation. The teachers perceived some learners to have significant disruptive behavior and to display negative attitudes towards peers and teachers. The teachers did not perceive a role for parents in managing learners' in-school behavior. Retrospectively, it appeared the abolition of corporal punishment did not result in increased behavioral non-adherence by the learners.     

Analysis of physical abuse in American schools

This study examined variables included in press reports of excessive infiction of pain on school children over the past ten years. Cross-tabulations were used to examine the relationship between severe corporal punishment with sex of educator, sex of pupil, nature of infraction, severity of punishment, job position of staff member, and age of student. The results indicate that severe corporal punishment is most often administered by males to boys. The frequency steadily increased to 12 or 13 years of age and then decreased. There was no relation between type of misbehavior and severity of punishment. Tentative clinical and educational implications of the study are discussed.     

父母严厉管教与儿童问题行为的关系:儿童自我控制的中介作用

为探讨父母严厉管教、儿童自我控制与儿童问题行为间的关系,采用中文版亲子冲突解决策略量表、社会技能评定量表和儿童行为核查量表对济南市两所公立学校的1097名小学四到六年级儿童及其父母双亲进行测查。结果发现：（1）父母心理攻击和体罚与儿童自我控制均呈显著负相关,与儿童内化和外化问题行为均呈显著正相关,儿童自我控制与其内化和外化问题行为均呈显著负相关;（2）父亲心理攻击可以显著正向预测儿童内化和外化问题行为,母亲体罚可以显著正向预测儿童外化问题行为;（3）儿童自我控制在父亲心理攻击和母亲体罚与儿童内外化问题行为之间起中介作用,在母亲心理攻击和父亲体罚与儿童内外化问题行为关系间的中介作用不显著,中介作用模型不存在显著的儿童性别差异。综上,本研究发现父母严厉管教不仅直接影响儿童的内外化问题行为,而且会通过降低儿童自我控制水平间接导致儿童问题行为的增多。     

父母严厉管教与儿童问题行为的关系:儿童自我控制的中介作用

为探讨父母严厉管教、儿童自我控制与儿童问题行为间的关系,采用中文版亲子冲突解决策略量表、社会技能评定量表和儿童行为核查量表对济南市两所公立学校的1097名小学四到六年级儿童及其父母双亲进行测查。结果发现：（1）父母心理攻击和体罚与儿童自我控制均呈显著负相关,与儿童内化和外化问题行为均呈显著正相关,儿童自我控制与其内化和外化问题行为均呈显著负相关;（2）父亲心理攻击可以显著正向预测儿童内化和外化问题行为,母亲体罚可以显著正向预测儿童外化问题行为;（3）儿童自我控制在父亲心理攻击和母亲体罚与儿童内外化问题行为之间起中介作用,在母亲心理攻击和父亲体罚与儿童内外化问题行为关系间的中介作用不显著,中介作用模型不存在显著的儿童性别差异。综上,本研究发现父母严厉管教不仅直接影响儿童的内外化问题行为,而且会通过降低儿童自我控制水平间接导致儿童问题行为的增多。     

School shootings: Making sense of the senseless

School shootings have altered the patina of seclusion and safety that once characterized public and higher education. Callous and brutal, school shootings seem to make no sense. However, case comparisons and anecdotal reports are beginning to show patterns that provide clues for understanding both the individual factors motivating shooting events and the characteristics of schools where shootings have occurred. We describe these factors and characteristics as the bases for six prevention strategies: (a) strengthening school attachment, (b) reducing social aggression, (c) breaking down codes of silence, (d) establishing screening and intervention protocols for troubled and rejected students, (e) bolstering human and physical security, and (6) increasing communication within educational facilities and between educational facilities and local resources.