Fighting for Girls: New Perspectives on Gender and Violence

SEVEN: REDUCING AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIORIN ADOLESCENT GIRLS BY ATTENDING TO SCHOOL CLIMATE

149 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 149 SEVEN REDUCING AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR IN ADOLESCENT GIRLS BY ATTENDING TO SCHOOL CLIMATE Sibylle Artz Diana Nicholson Where we live, study, work, and spend our time, and the relationships that are a part of our everyday lives, affect us deeply. The characteristics, climate, and tone of social contexts and locations such as schools and communities frame the dynamics of our interpersonal relationships and contribute to our behavior in ways that serve either to support or discourage the use of aggressive and violent behavior (see Magnuson, 2002; Porter, 1991; Powell, 2003; Whitmer, 1997). The connection between behavior and context is important not only to explaining how girls may become aggressive and violent, but also to our understanding of how we might create environments that undo and change established patterns of aggressive and violent behavior (Morash & Chesney-Lind, 2009). The literature on school climate shows that students who feel a sense of belonging at school are less likely to exhibit problem behaviors (Resnick et al., 1997), and schools in which teacher-student interactions are respectful and caring, and that employ positive, proactive disciplinary methods rather than punitive, exclusionary measures (e.g., zero-tolerance policies and school suspension or expulsion), tend to have lower school drop-out rates (Christle, Nelson, & Jolivette, 2004). Dropping out of school is usually preceded by poor academic performance and low feelings of competence and acceptance by teachers and peers and for females, often involves getting pregnant and becoming a teen mother (Lan & Lanthier, 2003). 150 FIGHTING FOR GIRLS Payne, Gottfredson, and Kruttschnitt (2009), in their recent review of the literature entitled “Girls, Schooling and Delinquency,” note that student bonding elements, that is, those structural and interpersonal factors that foster school attachment, assist in protecting girls from engagement in delinquent behavior. Payne and colleagues also point out that communally organized schools (schools that emphasize collaboration, cooperation, social relations) report higher student achievement and lower levels of student involvement with delinquency (see also Sanders & Phye, 2004). Competitive social conditions contribute to the use of aggression and violence (Artz, 2004; Johnson & Johnson, 1989, 1998; Magnuson, 2002), and classrooms and schools where teachers favor certain students and exclude others on the basis of academic performance and other markers like race, class, and gender, are more violent (Morash & Chesney-Lind, 2009). We may therefore have reason to conclude that schools where competitive social conditions prevail and students experience little in the way of support and cooperation among peers and bonding between students and teachers, may also be conducive to students engaging in higher levels of aggression and violence. The past relational experiences of students, including their familial and social histories, contribute to the interpersonal climate of schools. Evident in the literature on girls’ use of aggression and violence are links between relationship-based victimization and poor school experiences (Artz, 1998; Levene, Madsen, & Pepler, 2004; Serbin et al., 1998). As well, a personal history of victimization through sexual harassment has been linked to school-based difficulties such as sustaining attention, inhibited classroom participation, getting into trouble at school, and skipping school (AAUW Educational Foundation, 2001). Victimization is also related to emotional distress, poor school achievement, low self-confidence, and behavior problems (Paul & Cillessen, 2007). Additionally, “aggressive victims” (i.e., children and youth who have a history of harsh discipline and abuse, and themselves use aggression), tend to be rejected by their peers, respond more aggressively to being victimized, struggle in school (Schwartz, 2000), and are at higher risk for disengaging from school (Graham, Bellmore, & Mize, 2006). Further, such disengagement can be exacerbated for those who have experienced multiple forms of victimization (Holt & Espelage, 2007). Victimization tends to predict an increased dislike for school over time (Card, Isaacs, & Hodges, 2007), especially if such victimization continues to be a part of everyday life at school. Finally, especially for girls and women, the relationship between strain and victimization, especially sexual victimization and involvement in delinquency, criminality, and the use of violence over the life course has been well established (see Katz, 2004, for an in-depth discussion of victimization and revised strain theory). Given the strong connection between victimization and the use of aggression and violence in schools, and the importance of a supportive and 151 REDUCING AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR cooperative school climate to lower school-based aggression and violence and to retaining students, our study1 examined several identified relationships as discussed in the literature including: (a) the victimization experiences of our participants and their use...