Linking dating violence, peer violence, and suicidal behaviors among high-risk youth.

BACKGROUND: Gaps in the understanding of how different types of violent behavior are linked have limited the ability to design violence prevention efforts that can address multiple types of violence. The objective of this study was to quantify the associations among suicide attempts, and date and peer violence victimization and perpetration and to determine any differences in these associations by gender. METHODS: Analyses, computed in 2006 and 2007, used data from the Youth Violence Survey conducted in 2004. This survey was administered to over 80% of public school students in grades 7, 9, 11, and 12 (N=4131) in a high-risk, urban school district. Analyses were restricted to adolescents who dated in the past year (n=2888). Five forms of violent behaviors (i.e., dating violence perpetration, dating violence victimization, peer violence perpetration, peer violence victimization, and suicide attempts) were examined. RESULTS: Peer violence victimization was the most common type of violence reported (33.0%), followed by date violence victimization (30.7%), peer violence perpetration (29.9%), date violence perpetration (24.8%), and suicide attempts (11.2%). Among all students, 9.8% reported involvement in at least four of the five violent behaviors examined. All five forms of violent behaviors were associated. The highest ORs were observed for victimization and perpetration within either the dating or peer context. However, associations across contexts were also observed. CONCLUSIONS: There is a substantial overlap among different forms of violent behavior, suggesting that additional research is needed to better understand the factors that contribute to involvement in multiple forms of violence.

School connectedness in the health behavior in school-aged children study: the role of student, school, and school neighborhood characteristics.

School connectedness includes liking school and positive relations with teachers and peers. School connectedness is associated with a variety of positive health outcomes. The goal of this study was to identify characteristics of students, schools, and school neighborhoods that are related to school connectedness. In the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) Study, school connectedness was reported by 13,207 students (grades 6-10) in 340 schools. HBSC measured a variety of student characteristics. Characteristics of schools were culled from data maintained by Quality Education Data, and school neighborhood characteristics were derived from the 2000 decennial census. Associations between connectedness and student, school, and school neighborhood characteristics were estimated using hierarchical linear models. Characteristics of students, schools, and school neighborhoods were associated with school connectedness. Connectedness was greater among younger students, females, students with better academic performance and greater extracurricular involvement, students with greater self-rated physical attractiveness, students with more friends, students from 2-parent families, and students whose parents were more involved with school. Connectedness was greater in smaller schools, more racially homogeneous schools, and schools with more students from relatively wealthy households. School connectedness was higher in neighborhoods with a greater percentage of non-US citizens. As the percent of renters in the neighborhood increased beyond 20%, school connectedness tended to decrease. The findings point to possible strategies for fostering school connectedness.