High School Teachers' Perceptions of School-Related Violence: Effects on Fear of Victimization and Perceived Risk

Using a sample of 204 high school teachers from nine different counties in Kentucky, this study examined the predictors of both teachers1 fear and perceived risk of victimization at school in an attempt to learn more about this adult population. The predictors that were analyzed on both fear and perceived risk of victimization are as follows: age, sex, school location (metropolitan/nonmetropolitan), victimization experience, indirect victimization experience, and perceived seriousness of school violence. Results indicate that, sex, school location, victimization experience, and perceived seriousness of school violence were all significant predictors of both teachers' fear and perceived risk of victimization. Females and those who had been previously victimized were more fearful and perceived a greater risk of victimization than did males and those teachers without previous victimizations. Results also indicated that nonmetropolitan teachers were both more fearful and perceived a greater risk of victimization than did metropolitan teachers. Neither indirect victimization experience nor age, cited by many studies as predictors of fear in adults, were found to predict either teachers' fear or perceived risk of victimization.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Department of Sociology

Year

2000

Author dc:creator

• Ungetheim, Brandon

• Education
• Sociology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/706

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.wku.edu:theses-1709