Community violence, school‐related protective factors, and psychosocial outcomes in urban youth

Psychology in the Schools, Vol. 46(10), 2009 C© 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/pits.20444

COMMUNITY VIOLENCE, SCHOOL-RELATED PROTECTIVE FACTORS,AND PSYCHOSOCIAL OUTCOMES IN URBAN YOUTH

KRISTY A. LUDWIG AND JARED S. WARREN

Brigham Young University

This study examined the relationship of two putative school-based protective factors�studentidentiÞcation with school and perceived teacher support�to psychosocial outcomes in a sampleof urban youth exposed to community violence. Participants were 175 high school students ages14�19 in grades 9�12 from a large urban school district. Results indicated that exposure toviolence was positively associated with internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Additionally,identiÞcation with school and teacher support were related to higher hope and lower psychosocialdistress. Adolescents who reported higher identiÞcation with school and higher teacher supportreported higher hope, regardless of the level of violence exposure. Results emphasize the importanceof school factors, particularly feeling connected to and supported in school, in promoting hopeand minimizing psychosocial distress for youth exposed to community violence. C© 2009 WileyPeriodicals, Inc.

Violence and poverty are a part of life in many inner-city neighborhoods (Guerra, 1997). Forexample, one study of high school students from the Boston Public Schools (Prorthrow-Stith, 2005)revealed that 87% of respondents reported witnessing one or more acts of violence in the past year,and nearly half reported personally experiencing one or more types of victimization. These highrates of exposure to violence are consistent with studies conducted in other large urban communities(Farrell & Bruce, 1997; Jenkins &Bell, 1994; Shakoor &Chalmers, 1991). Feelings of hopelessness,anger, and shame are often expressed by persons witnessing and/or experiencing violence. Youthwho witness violence report higher rates of post-traumatic stress, depression, distress, aggression,and externalizing behavior (Buka, Stichick, Birdthistle & Earls, 2001). These symptoms frequentlydisrupt current functioning andmay inßuence a young person�s future expectations (Buka et al., 2001;Schwab-Stone et al., 1999). Failure to intervene or protect against the negative psychosocial outcomesassociated with exposure to community violence often results in cycling violence, hopelessness, anddespair (Osofsky, 1997).

Although many youth exposed to violence experience serious negative psychosocial conse-quences, others appear to thrive despite these challenging conditions. This phenomenon�positiveadaptive functioning in the context of serious risk�is the primary focus of resilience research (Rutter,1990). The resilience literature suggests that there are a number of factors that can promote protec-tion in a context of risk. For example, a relationship with caring prosocial adults is one of the mostwidely reported predictors of resilience (Masten & Coatsworth, 1998; Masten & Marie-Gabrielle,2002). Parents who provide love, support, and structure also appear to facilitate important protectiveprocesses (Masten & Marie-Gabrielle, 2002). In addition, providing opportunities for young peopleto pursue interests and education appears to further promote adaptive behavior (Werner, 1994).Masten and Coatsworth (1998) suggest that increasing resources and building on adaptive processesare important strategies that can provide protection in a context of risk.

Similarly, there are several school-related factors that may provide protection in a context of riskby increasing resources and building on adaptive processes. School environments that promote highexpectations for students, provide opportunities for involvement in the classroom, and are supportiveand caring can promote competence and protect against the effects of adverse conditions (Comer,

Correspondence to: Jared S. Warren, Department of Psychology, Brigham Young University, 291 TLRB, Provo,UT 84602-8626. E-mail: jared [email protected]

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1985). Resilience can be promoted as teachers and other adults in the school (e.g., administratorsand counselors) are supportive and caring of their students (Wang, Haertel, & Walberg, 1994).School-based research indicates that teacher support and student connection and involvement withschool can protect against the effects of difÞcult conditions (Battisich, Solomon, Kim, Watson, &Schaps, 1995; Becker & Luthar, 2002; Comer, 1985; Connell & Wellborn, 1991).

Exposure to Violence and School Factors

Recognizing the importance of social support and school connection, a limited number ofstudies have examined the impact of these factors on psychosocial outcomes for young peopleexposed to violence. For example, Kia-Keating and Ellis (2007) found that a greater sense ofschool belonging or connectedness was associated with lower depression and higher self-efÞcacy,regardless of the level of past exposure to adversities. In a similar study, Ozer (2005) found thatschool connectedness, as reported by students, showed general protective effects for self-reporteddepressive and anxiety symptoms and perpetration of violence; however, school connection didnot moderate the relationship between exposure to violence and any dimension of psychologicalfunctioning. A similar study conducted by Brookmeyer, Fanti, and Henrich (2006) found that bothparents and school connectedness seemed to work together to buffer against the effects of exposureto violence on later violent behavior.

Overall, current research supports the notion that school factors can inßuence psychosocialoutcomes in youth exposed to violence; however, a number of important limitations remain in thisnascent body of literature. First, studies examining moderators of violence on psychosocial out-comes often focus on being a direct victim and/or perpetrator of violence (Henrich, Brookmeyer, &Shahar, 2005). Previous literature indicates that exposure to violence, even when it does not includebeing a victim of such violence (e.g., witnessing violence), is associated with post-traumatic stresssymptoms and increased internalizing and externalizing symptoms including the loss of hope andthe perpetration of violence. Consequently, it is important to explore in greater detail the potentialmoderators of violence exposure on psychosocial outcomes for witnessing as well as experiencingviolence. Second, the potential impact of earlier studies examining school connectedness and vio-lence exposure has been hampered by low statistical power and relatively narrow operationalizationsof school connectedness (Ozer, 2005; Voelkl, 1996). Third, social support has been found to bufferagainst negative psychosocial outcomes for youth exposed to violence; however, previous studieshave not examined the relationship of students� perceived support from teachers to psychosocial out-comes in the context of violence exposure. Given the importance of educational settings in youths�psychosocial development, it is important to examine the potential ameliorative effects of teachersupport in youths exposed to violence.

Study Aims

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship of two putative school-basedprotective factors�student identiÞcation with school and perceived teacher support�to psychoso-cial outcomes in a sample of urban youth exposed to community violence.More speciÞcally, researchquestions addressed in this study included the following: (a) What is the relationship between ex-posure to violence and psychosocial outcomes? (b) What is the relationship between identiÞcationwith school, teacher support, and psychosocial outcomes? (c) Does identiÞcation with school and/orteacher support moderate the relationship between overall exposure to violence and psychosocialoutcomes?

Consistent with research Þndings (Brookmeyer et al., 2006; Gorman-Smith & Tolan, 1998;Jenkins & Bell, 1994; Schwab-Stone et al., 1995) and given evidence that supportive and caring

Psychology in the Schools DOI: 10.1002/pits

School-Related Protective Factors in Urban Youth 1063

schools can promote competence and buffer the effects of adverse conditions (Comer, 1985; Nettles,Wilfridah, & Jones, 2000), we hypothesized that (a) higher levels of violence exposure in studentswould be associated with negative psychosocial outcomes, (b) students who reported higher identi-Þcation with school and perceived support from teachers would endorse more positive psychosocialoutcomes, and (c) identiÞcation with school and perceived teacher support would moderate therelationship between violence exposure and psychosocial outcomes.

METHOD

Participants

One hundred seventy-Þve participants aged 14�19 were recruited from two large urban publichigh schools in the northeast. The sample included 90 females (51.4%) and 85 males (48.6%).Participating students lived in the inner city and identiÞed themselves as Black or African American(27%), Haitian or Haitian American (8%), Hispanic or Latino (35.6%), Asian or PaciÞc Islander(13.1%), Cape Verdean (.6%), White (6.3%), or other (9.2%). Demographics of respondents wererepresentative of the two participating schools; one school had more Asian and White students, andthe other school had more Hispanic students. The average age of participants was 16, and studentswere in 9th grade (36.8%), 10th grade (34.5%), 11th grade (4.6%), or 12th grade (24.1%).

Procedures

Within the selected urban school district, the schools and teachers were selected based onconvenience. Two teachers at one school and one teacher at another school recruited the students intheir classes to participate, distributed and collected consent forms, and administered measures. Theparticipating classes were all mainstream regular education classes; one teacher taught primarily 9thgraders, one teacher taught primarily 10th graders, and one teacher taught primarily 12th graders.Teachers were each given the same written directions, responses to possible questions, and scriptsto use in introducing the study and administering the measures.

The study was introduced, procedures were explained, and consent forms were distributed bythe teacher to their classes during class time prior to an assigned day when the measures werecompleted in class. The consent form and the teacher explained that the researcher was interested inidentifying factors in schools that may protect against negative outcomes (i.e., depression, hopeless-ness, and aggression) associated with exposure to violence. Teachers collected consent forms andthen administered the measures to all of their classes during each class period, on a predeterminedday, to students who had returned a signed consent form. Of those students in the classes who wererecruited to participate in the study, the response rate was 67%. Students were excluded from partic-ipating in the study if they did not return the consent form or if they were not in the regular educationclasses taught by the participating teachers. Measures were in English and at a 5th- and 6th-gradereading level. The measures were completed anonymously, and the information was not connectedto individual student�s names. Of the 175 participants, 18 had missing data (did not complete oneof the measures, skipped a page so that the measure could not be scored, etc.). Only cases withcomplete data were used in the analyses.

Measures

Exposure to community violence was assessed using the Screen for Adolescent ViolenceExposure (SAVE; Hastings & Kelley, 1997). This instrument is an adolescent self-report scale thatassesses frequency of violence exposure in various community settings (i.e., neighborhood, school,



home) with 32 items. The Community Violence subscale includes direct exposure to violenceto self and/or others in a life-threatening situation (traumatic), hearing about violence in life-threatening situations experienced by others (indirect violence), or observing or experiencing violentor aggressive situations that are non-life threatening (verbal and physical abuse), and includedwitnessing, hearing about, and being a victim of community violence. The neighborhood violencealpha coefÞcient of the total violence subscale scores for internal consistency is .94, and the test�retest reliability is .92. The total subscale for Community Violence was used for the analyses, andhigher scores indicated more exposure to violence.

Student connectedness to school was measured using the IdentiÞcation with School Question-naire (Voelkl, 1996). The instrument is composed of 16 items. School connectedness is deÞned by thedegree to which students report a sense of belonging in school and value school and school-relatedoutcomes. ConÞrmatory factor analyses indicate that a one-dimensional scale may better reßect thedegree to which students identify with school than the separate domains of belonging and valuing.The coefÞcient-alpha reliability for this measure was .84. The total score was used for the analyses,and higher scores represented more identiÞcation with school.

Teacher support was assessed using a revised version of the Teacher Support Scale (McWhirter,Crothers, & Rasheed, 2000) composed of 25 questions assessing student perceptions of the degreeto which they feel supported by teachers. Teacher support is operationalized through questionsassessing areas such as expressing interest, being helpful, and conveying high expectations andpositive regard. The concurrent reliability on the original 27-item measure prior to being revisedwas .96 (McWhirter et al., 2000), and the measure displayed concurrent validity. The internalconsistency for this 25-item measure is .96 when computed from data in the present study. Theinternal consistency for this measure in the present sample was included because data are not yetpublished for the revised measure. The total score was used for the analyses in the present study,and higher scores represented more perceived teacher support.

Psychosocial functioning was assessed using the Youth Self Report (YSR; Achenbach, 1991).It is a valid and reliable measure designed to assess emotional and behavioral problems for youths11�18 years of age. The 7-day test�retest reliability reported by the test developers was .91 forthe problem scales and .83 for the competency scales for 15- to 18-year-olds (Achenbach, 1991).Criterion-related validity is supported by the YSR�s quantitative scale scores to discriminate betweenreferred and nonreferred youths after controlling for demographic effects. The t scores for totalproblems, internalizing, and externalizing scales were used as dependent variables in the analyses;higher t scores represented more psychological symptoms.

Hope, another measure of psychosocial functioning, was assessed using the Children�s HopeScale (Snyder et al., 1997). Internal consistency of the Children�s Hope Scale ranged from .72 to .86,and reliability results ranged from .71 to .73 (Snyder et al., 1997). The Children�s Hope Scale is a6-item scale, made up of agency and pathway subscales, designed to measure hope. It was designed�to reßect relatively enduring goal-directed thinking� (Snyder et al., 1997). The total score was usedfor the analyses; higher scores represented more hope.

RESULTS

Means and standard deviations of key study variables are provided in Table 1. T tests indi-cated that there were signiÞcant differences between males and females on Exposure to Violence(p = .002). Analyses were conductedwith combined data includingmales and females, and, becauseliterature suggests some differing psychosocial outcomes for males and females (Gorman-Smith &Tolan, 1998; Jenkins & Bell, 1994), the analyses were also conducted separately for males andfemales.



Table 1Means and Standard Deviations of Study Variables

Combined Females Males

Variable M SD M SD M SD

IdentiÞcation with School 46.14 6.53 46.87 6.12 45.37 6.89

Teacher Support 3.88 .67 3.98 .64 3.81 .69

Hope 25.02 5.28 24.84 5.34 25.20 5.25

Total Problems Composite 54.75 11.33 53.82 11.15 55.83 11.51

Internalizing Symptoms 54.29 11.62 54.33 10.95 54.24 12.42

Externalizing Symptoms 55.14 12.10 54.17 11.99 56.25 12.21

Exposure to Violence 62.52 24.47 57.68 19.45 67.85 28.19

Note. M: mean; SD: standard deviation.

Combined Sample

For the combined data, Pearson correlations were conducted between exposure to communityviolence, school factors (identiÞcation with school and teacher support), and the outcome variables(i.e., total problem score, internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and hope). Table 2shows results for these correlations. Exposure to violence was signiÞcantly related to higher ratingsof psychological symptoms, both internalizing and externalizing. Hope was signiÞcantly relatedto lower ratings of psychological symptoms. Higher identiÞcation with school and more teachersupport were each signiÞcantly related to lower ratings of psychological symptoms and more hope.

Moderator relationships were tested using hierarchical regression considering three causalpaths that feed into all of the outcome variables of psychosocial outcome (i.e., total problems score,internalizing score, externalizing score, and hope): the impact of exposure to violence as a predictor,the impact of school factors as hypothesized moderators, and the interaction of the moderatorsand the predictor. A moderator hypothesis is supported if the interaction of the moderator and thepredictor is signiÞcant (Baron & Kenny, 1986). Interaction terms were entered into the model afterthe signiÞcant demographic variable (i.e., age) was entered and after the interaction variables wereentered independently. To avoid the interaction effects becoming highly correlatedwith the individualvariables, the outcome variables, predictor variables, and moderator variables were centered beforetesting the signiÞcance of the interaction term (Aiken & West, 1991).

Table 2Correlations of Study Variables

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

1. Exposure to Violence �

2. IdentiÞcation with School −.249∗∗ �

3. Teacher Support −.244∗∗ .646∗∗ �

4. Hope .079 .350∗∗ .431∗∗ �

5. Total Problems Composite .403∗∗ −.375∗∗ −.324∗∗ −.326∗∗ �

6. Internalizing Symptoms .221∗∗ −.264∗∗ −.244∗∗ −.306∗∗ .857∗∗ �

7. Externalizing Symptoms .484∗∗ −.362∗∗ −.298∗∗ −.196∗ .848∗∗ .709∗∗

∗p < 05; ∗∗p < .01.



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0.00

2.00

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-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5

Exposure to Violence

Ho

pe

Low Identification With School Average IdentificationWith School

High IdentificationWith School

FIGURE 1. Interaction of exposure to violence and identiÞcation with school in predicting hope.

Hierarchical regressions revealed that the interaction between exposure to violence and iden-tiÞcation with school was signiÞcant in predicting hope (β = −.007, p < .001) and had an R2 of.245. As outlined by Holmbeck (1997) and Aiken and West (1991), simple regression lines for highand low values of the moderator variable were plotted (see Figure 1) using the following equa-tion: y = (−.185)+ (.327) age+ (.413)(IS)+ (.024)(violence)+ (.007)(IS)(violence). The simpleslope coefÞcients for hope on exposure to violence at low, medium, and high levels of identiÞca-tion with school were signiÞcant for low identiÞcation with school (b = .072, p < .001) but notsigniÞcant for moderate identiÞcation with school (b = .028, p = .071) or high identiÞcation withschool (b = −.017, p = .419). The signiÞcance of the simple slopes for this signiÞcant interactionwere tested using a program for simple slopes written by Brian P. O�Connor (O�Connor, 1998)and revealed that the medium and high identiÞcation with school are at different levels but do notstatistically differ from a ßat line.

The interaction between exposure to violence and teacher support was signiÞcant in pre-dicting hope (β = .060, p = .001) and had an R2 of .261. Simple regression lines were plot-ted using the following equation: y = (−1.185)+ (.327) (age) + (.413)(teach) + (.024)(vio-lence) + (−.007)(teach)(violence). The simple slope coefÞcients for hope on exposure to vio-lence at low, medium, and high levels of teacher support were signiÞcant for low teacher support(b = .065, p < .001) but not signiÞcant for medium teacher support (b = .026, p = .095) or highteacher support (b = −.013, p = .555). The medium and high teacher support are at different levelsbut do not statistically differ from a ßat line.

Female Sample

For the female sample, Pearson correlations were conducted between exposure to commu-nity violence, school factors, and the outcome variables (see Table 3). Exposure to violence wassigniÞcantly related to more internalizing and externalizing psychological symptoms. Hope wassigniÞcantly correlated with fewer psychological symptoms. IdentiÞcation with school and teachersupport were each signiÞcantly related to fewer psychological symptoms and more hope.

Hierarchical regressions for the female sample revealed that the interaction between exposureto violence and identiÞcation with school was signiÞcant in total symptoms (β = .019, p = .028)



Table 3Correlations of Study Variables for Female Sample

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.


2. IdentiÞcation with School −.056 �

3. Teacher Support −.176 .709∗∗ �

4. Hope −.105 .495∗∗ .582∗∗ �

5. Total Problems Composite .376∗∗ −.329∗∗ −.376∗∗ −.543∗∗ �

6. Internalizing Symptoms .288∗∗ −.287∗∗ −.339∗∗ −.513∗∗ .886∗∗ �

7. Externalizing Symptoms .403∗∗ −.291∗∗ −.318∗∗ −.386∗∗ .873∗∗ .608∗∗

∗∗p < .01.

and had an R2 of .299. Simple regression lines were plotted (see Figure 2) using the followingequation: y = (3.856)+ (−1.247) age + (−.723)(IS) + (.199)(violence) + (.019)(IS)(violence).The simple slope coefÞcients for total symptoms on exposure to violence at low, medium, and highlevels of identiÞcation with school were signiÞcant at medium levels of identiÞcation with school(b = .198, p < .001) and high levels of identiÞcation with school (b = .313, p < .001), and thesimple slope was not signiÞcant at low levels of identiÞcation with school (b = .082, p = .261).

There was also a signiÞcant interaction between identiÞcation with school and exposure toviolence in predicting hope (β = −.010, p = .012) with an R2 of .322. Simple regression lineswere plotted, with results similar to Figure 1, using the following equation: y = (−1.013)+ (.324)(age) + (.497) (IS) + (−.015) (violence) + (−.010)(IS)(violence). The simple slope coefÞcientsfor hope on exposure to violence were signiÞcant at the .05 level for high levels of identiÞcationwith school (b = −.073, p = .034). The slope coefÞcients were not signiÞcant for medium levelsof identiÞcation with school (b = −.014, p = .558) and low levels of identiÞcation with school(b = .045, p = .174).

-12.00

-10.00

-8.00

-6.00

-4.00

-2.00

0.00

2.00

4.00

6.00

8.00

-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5

Exposure to Violence

Ex

tern

alizin

g S

ym

pto

ms

Low Identification With School

Average IdentificationWith School

High IdentificationWith School

FIGURE 2. Interaction between exposure to violence and identiÞcation with school in predicting externalizing symptoms forthe female sample.



Table 4Correlations of Outcome Variables and School Factors for Male Sample

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.


2. IdentiÞcation with School −.342∗∗ �

3. Teacher Support −.275∗ .585∗∗ �

4. Hope .216 .232∗ .283∗∗ �

5. Total Problems Composite .415∗∗ −.403∗∗ −.250∗ −.091 �

6. Internalizing Symptoms .182 −.248∗ −.155 −.099 .837∗∗ �

7. Externalizing Symptoms .550∗∗ −.413∗∗ −.258∗ .012 .818∗∗ .451∗∗

∗p < 05; ∗∗p < .01.

Male Sample

For themale sample, Pearson correlations were conducted between exposure to community vio-lence, school factors, and the outcome variables (see Table 4). Exposure to violence was signiÞcantlyrelated to more total psychological symptoms and more externalizing symptoms. IdentiÞcation withschool was related to fewer psychological symptoms. Teacher support was signiÞcantly related tofewer total psychological symptoms and fewer externalizing symptoms.

Hierarchical regressions revealed that the interaction between exposure to violence and iden-tiÞcation with school was signiÞcant in predicting hope (β = −.005, p = .029) and had an R2 of.205 for the male sample. Simple regression lines were plotted, with results similar to Figure 1, us-ing the following equation: y = (−1.104)+ (.296) age + (.338)(IS) + (.049)(violence) + (−.005)(IS)(violence). The simple slope coefÞcients for hope on exposure to violence at low, medium,and high levels of identiÞcation with school were signiÞcant for low identiÞcation with school (b =.086, p < .001) but were not signiÞcant for medium identiÞcation with school (b = .053, p = .010)or high identiÞcation with school (b = .021, p = .436).

The interaction between exposure to violence and teacher support for the male sample wassigniÞcant in predicting hope (β = −.061, p = .006) and had anR2 of .230. Simple regression lineswere plotted, with results similar to Figure 1, using the following equation: y = (−1.305)+ (.338)(age)+ (3.425)(teach)+ (.034)(violence)+ (−.061)(teach)(violence). The simple slope coefÞcientsfor hope on exposure to violence at low, medium, and high levels of teacher support were signiÞcantfor low teacher support (b = .077, p < .001) but not signiÞcant for medium identiÞcation withschool (b = .038, p = .066) or high identiÞcation with school (b = −.001, p = .965). The mediumand high identiÞcation with school are at different levels but do not statistically differ from a ßatline.

DISCUSSION

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between school factors (i.e., identiÞ-cation with school and teacher support), exposure to violence, and psychosocial outcomes (i.e., totalsymptoms, externalizing symptoms, internalizing symptoms, and hope) in urban youth. As hypothe-sized, students who reported higher identiÞcation with school and who perceived more support fromteachers reported higher levels of hope and lower levels of psychological symptoms than did studentswho did not report feeling as connected or supported at school. In the combined sample, Þndingsfurther revealed that exposure to violence was signiÞcantly related to total symptoms, externalizingsymptoms, and internalizing symptoms; more speciÞcally, higher levels of violence exposure were



associated with higher levels of self-reported psychological symptoms. Hope was not signiÞcantlyrelated to violence exposure, but it was signiÞcantly and negatively associated with psychologicalsymptoms.

There were several signiÞcant Þndings that warrant more detailed discussion. First, higheridentiÞcation with school and higher perceived teacher support were each associated with higherlevels of hope. Students reporting higher levels of identiÞcation with school appear to experiencefeelings of hope that remain high even when they are exposed to higher levels of violence. In otherwords, exposure to violence does not appear to result in lower hope for students who are moreidentiÞed with school. Similarly, students reporting high levels of perceived teacher support appearto experience more hope than those reporting low levels of teacher support. Results suggest thatyouth with higher hope report fewer symptoms across various levels of violence exposure.

Second, this study revealed some important relationships between exposure to violence, schoolfactors, and psychological symptoms. For example, identiÞcation with school and teacher supportwere signiÞcantly associated with more hope and fewer psychological symptoms. Exposure toviolence was associated with more psychological symptoms, and higher hope was associated withfewer psychological symptoms. Findings indicate that students who report greater teacher supportand identiÞcation with school report higher hope and fewer psychological symptoms.

Another important Þnding was that exposure to violence was more related to externalizingsymptoms than internalizing symptoms for both males and females. This Þnding is in contrast tothose from studies (Rosenthal, 2000; Schwab-Stone et al, 1999) indicating that exposure to violencewas more associated with internalizing symptoms for both boys and girls. In a related vein, Gorman-Smith and Tolan (1998) and Jenkins and Bell (1994) found that boys, but not girls, exposed toviolence reported more externalizing behaviors. Internalizing symptoms were related to exposureto violence for females; however, the present study varies somewhat from previous research in thatit reveals that, for both boys and girls, externalizing symptoms were more highly associated withexposure to violence than were internalizing symptoms.

Third, there was a unique Þnding for female students in which psychological symptoms wererelated to the interaction between identiÞcation with school and exposure to violence. Femalestudents who identiÞed more with school experienced fewer total psychological symptoms at lowerlevels of violence exposure. At high violence exposure, the psychological symptom effects arestrong and identiÞcation with school does not appear to moderate it. Although identiÞcation withschool may not fully buffer the impact of exposure to violence on total psychological symptoms,female students who are not identiÞed with school appear to experience the same level of totalpsychological symptoms as do those who have been exposed to high levels of exposure to violence.The relationship between identiÞcation with school and psychological symptoms appears to bestrongest under conditions of low violence exposure.

Fourth, there were also some unique results that were found for male students. First, identi-Þcation with school was consistently more strongly related to psychological symptoms than wasteacher support. Calderon (1998) studied a group of immigrant students and found that self-worthrequires a sense of belonging and fair and positive treatment in school. Results of this study areconsistent with Calderon (1998) suggesting that, for male students, a sense of belonging and fairand positive treatment in school are more related to psychological symptoms than is teacher support.Furthermore, for male students, exposure to violence was related to identiÞcation with school andperceived teacher support, but for female students exposure to violence was not related to theseschool factors. Although further research is needed, this Þnding suggests that increasing connectionto school and teacher support could result in less exposure to community violence for male students.

Finally, an unexpected Þnding was observed in the interaction between exposure to violenceand identiÞcation with school in predicting psychosocial outcomes. In the combined and male-only



samples, for students reporting low identiÞcation with school, higher exposure to violence was asso-ciated with higher hope. A similar Þnding was observed in the female sample in predicting hope andtotal symptoms. The characteristics of the sample require that these interactions be interpreted withcaution. SpeciÞcally, the line in Figure 1 representing students with low identiÞcation with schoolwas generated from estimates based on values from the regression analyses; however, no individualsin the sample reported both low levels of exposure to violence and low levels of identiÞcation withschool. This observation may also apply to similar results in which interactions were observed forstudy variables across different levels of violence exposure. Consequently, these results should bereplicated with samples of varying levels of violence exposure. It is also possible that the regres-sion equations are capitalizing on some degree of nonreplicable error variance and that there is asuppressor effect occurring. Additionally, the project could be replicated measuring hopelessness asopposed to hope. The Hope Scale used to measure hope was conceptualized in a way that may bettermeasure self-efÞcacy than hope. Findings from a study by DuRant, Cadenhead, Pendegrast, Slavens,and Linder (1994) showed that exposure to violence and victimization were positively correlatedwith hopelessness and negatively correlated with purpose in life. The hope measure used in thisstudy may further explain some of the unusual Þndings related to hope.

Overall, theseÞndings do not indicate that identiÞcationwith school or teacher supportmoderatethe relationship between overall exposure to violence and psychosocial outcomes; however, theydo reveal some relationships that are consistent with previous research. Kia-Keating and Ellis(2007) found a relationship between school connectedness and lower depression despite exposureto past adversity, and Ozer (2005) found that school connectedness had a general protective effectagainst the effects of depression, violence, and perpetration of violence. The present study foundthat identiÞcation with school and perceived teacher support were related to more hope and fewerpsychological symptoms and that youth with higher hope reported fewer symptoms across variouslevels of violence exposure.

The Þndings of the present study are relevant to research in related areas of education, devel-opmental psychology, and school-based mental health services. For example, in exploring differentinßuences on academic outcomes, Sparks (2003) found that, particularly for minority students, en-couragement and support in school inßuenced academic outcomes more so than income, family, orother support. Previous research has demonstrated that, in addition to a rigorous and relevant curricu-lumwith high expectations (Haycock, 2001; Lee et al., 1999), focusing on supportive teacher/studentrelationships (Lee, Smith,&Perry, 1999) and creating an environmentwhere students feel connected,capable, and part of a community of learners (Conchas, 2001; Noguera & Wing, 2006) resulted inimproved academic outcomes. When public schools in urban areas have focused on teacher sup-port and creating environments where students feel a part of and identiÞed with school, academicachievement has increased (Conchas, 2001; Lee et al., 1999). The present study found that thesesame school factors, teacher support and identiÞcation with school, were signiÞcantly related topsychosocial outcomes and that psychosocial outcomes, particularly externalizing symptoms, weresigniÞcantly related to exposure to violence. For males, these school factors were also signiÞcantlyrelated to exposure to violence.

School-based research indicates that teacher support and student connection and involvementwith school can protect against the effects of difÞcult conditions (Battisich et al., 1995; Becker& Luthar, 2002; Comer, 1985; Connell & Wellborn, 1991). Although these factors did not fullymoderate the impact of exposure to violence and psychosocial outcomes in this study, psychosocialoutcomes and exposure to violence (for males) were signiÞcantly related to teacher support andconnection with school. Based on these relationships, the following practical recommendationscould be implemented: (a) Teachers, counselors, and school psychologists can help students tovalue school-related outcomes. Higher education and career options should be seen as attainable



and related to what students do in school. (b) Students should feel that they are respected andtreated fairly. School psychologists should be involved in school-related policies related to studentdiscipline and behavior. It is important to include clear explanations of and consistency with theimplementation of discipline policies and student support resources. (c) School psychologists couldbe invaluable in helping teachers better understand students they experience as challenging. Ifteachers are experiencing students as challenging it is unlikely that those students perceive thoseteachers as supportive. It is important to note that these are only suggestions based on signiÞcantrelationships found in this study. These recommendations once implemented would have to be testedto determine if they would result in measurable beneÞts for students.

The present Þndings are also relevant to school-based mental health research by Dryfoos (1994)and Adelman (1993). These authors suggest that schools, particularly in areas where students areexposed to high levels of violence, could be ideal locations to identify and provide psychologicalservices to young people living in urban communities who are exposed to high levels of communityviolence and who are often underserved by mental health professionals. The current study didindicate that exposure to violence was signiÞcantly related to psychological symptoms. Althoughschool factors do not appear to fully protect against psychological outcomes when exposed to highlevels of exposure to violence, perhaps schools can provide an important opportunity for intervention,particularly in urban communities with high rates of community violence. This study supports theneed for school-based mental health services, particularly in areas where students are exposed tohigh levels of violence.

Study Limitations

The present study has several limitations and possible threats to validity. This study used onemethod for assessing the variables of interest and used self-report data. The results reveal associa-tions among important variables, but cannot prove causation. For example, this study indicated thatstudents more identiÞed with school reported more hope, but this study cannot conÞrm that identi-Þcation with school causes students to have more hope. It could be that having more hope increasesidentiÞcation with school. Consequently, directionality of effects cannot be inferred through thiscorrelational study.

Future Directions

This study conÞrmed that perceived teacher support and identiÞcationwith school are associatedwith psychosocial outcomes�speciÞcally hope and psychological symptoms. Future research isneeded to identify and evaluate speciÞc domains of identiÞcation with school and teacher supportmost inßuencing youth outcomes. Identifying speciÞc domains of the school variables could helpteachers and school administratorsmakemore speciÞc applications and adjustments to promote thesefactors within schools. Additionally, future research could determine whether speciÞc interventionsfor teachers or schools would yield measurable beneÞts for students.

This study could be replicated with samples that include varying levels of exposure to violenceand may also include students with poor school attendance who are at risk of dropping out of schooland therefore not as connected to school. The study could also be replicated using multiple waysof assessing the school factors and exposure to violence. Because there are not consistently agreedupon operationalizations for school connectedness/identiÞcation with school, teacher support, andexposure to violence in the literature, future research should incorporate several assessments of thevariables to ensure that the construct is being appropriately measured and identiÞed. For example, ahopelessness scale may be a better measure of the lack of hope than is the hope scale used in thisstudy.



Future research could implement and explore the results of school-based mental health servicesfor identifying and intervening with students exposed to community violence. It would be usefulto assess the impact of teacher support and identiÞcation with school in combination with school-based mental health services for students exposed to community violence. Finally, to determine thedirection of impact or causation with regard to the relationship of psychosocial outcomes and schoolfactors for youth exposed to community violence, it would be necessary to assess these factors usinga longitudinal research design.

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Community violence, school‐related protective factors, and psychosocial outcomes in urban youth

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