Predicting School Violence essays

Predicting School Violence essays Are There Tests That Could Predict Violence in School Students? This is an overview of the types of constructs which one might look at to determine if a student is in a high risk category for acting out in a violent manner, and the types of tests which would measure those constructs. We will look at some of these predictors, the constructs they attempt to measure, and how this might aid in predicting future behavior. There have been a lot of studies, interventions, programs, and models designed to reduce or predict violence among our youth. The strongest predictor being past violent behavior. Most of these studies have been linked to some type of deficiencies in the home environment and school environment. The overwhelming question facing America now is - Why would a student who has almost anything he desires, living in an upper middle class neighborhood, bring a gun to school with the purpose of killing his classmates and teachers? The question for researchers is - Can we predict which students are likely to engage in this type of behavior? The resounding answer so far seems to be negative. There is not any test, inventory, or self-report scale which can tell us which students will act out in this manner. However, reviewing the literature there appears to be different types of measurement when looked at aggregately, might identify those students who would be at higher risk although they do not show a past history of violence and therefore fall outside of the previously researched areas. Some of the things we would hope to assess in identifying violence-related attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors among youths would be broken into three categories: - aggression, couple violence, education and school, employment, gangs, gender roles, television, handguns 2. Psychological and Cognitive Assessments - aggressive fantasies, role models, attributional bias, depression, psychological distress, fatalism, future aspirations...