title: Supportive school climate and student willingness to seek help for bullying and threats of violence.
abstract: This study investigated the relations between student perceptions of support and student willingness to seek help for bullying and threats of violence in a sample of 7318 ninth-grade students from 291 high schools who participated in the Virginia High School Safety Study. Hierarchical linear modeling indicated that students who perceived their teachers and other school staff to be supportive were more likely to endorse positive attitudes toward seeking help for bullying and threats of violence. In schools with more perceived support, there was less of a discrepancy in help-seeking attitudes between girls and boys. Findings suggest that efforts by school staff to provide a supportive climate are a potentially valuable strategy for engaging students in the prevention of bullying and threats of violence.
authors.affiliation: Programs in Clinical and School Psychology, University of Virginia, United States. mee6w@virginia.edu
authors.forename: Megan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eliot
authors.forename: Dewey
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cornell
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gregory
authors.forename: Xitao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000374:Aggression; D001290:Attitude; D058445:Bullying / Q000523:psychology*; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology; D005178:Faculty; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012572:School Health Services; D012574:Schools; D012944:Social Support; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D014754:Violence / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology