title: School-level contextual predictors of bullying and harassment experiences among adolescents.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Bullying and prejudice-based harassment frequently occur in school settings and have significant consequences for the health and wellbeing of young people. Yet far fewer studies have examined the role of the school environment in peer harassment than individual factors. This multilevel study examined associations between a variety of school-level risk and protective factors and student-level reports of bullying and prejudice-based harassment during adolescence.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data come from 8th, 9th, and 11th graders who completed the 2013 Minnesota Student Survey (N = 122,180 students nested in 505 schools). School-level variables were created by aggregating student report data in five areas: academic orientation to school, internal assets, teacher-student relationship quality, feelings of safety at school, and receipt of disciplinary action.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results indicated that youth attending schools with a higher proportion of students with strong internal assets had lower odds of nearly every type of bullying and prejudice-based harassment assessed when compared to youth attending schools with a lower proportion of students with strong internal assets. Additionally, the proportion of students feeling unsafe at school was a fairly consistent risk factor for most types of peer harassment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings support the idea that prevention programs aimed at improving school-wide internal assets and feelings of safety at school may be key prevention points.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, 717 Delaware St SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414, USA. Electronic address: gowe0009@umn.edu.
authors.forename: Amy L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Gower
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of Minnesota, 308 Harvard Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. Electronic address: mcmo0023@umn.edu.
authors.forename: Barbara J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: McMorris
authors.affiliation: Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, 717 Delaware St SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414, USA. Electronic address: eisen012@umn.edu.
authors.forename: Marla E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Eisenberg
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D058445:Bullying; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008910:Minnesota; D010379:Peer Group; D012574:Schools; D012931:Social Environment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Adolescence; Bullying; Internal assets; Prejudice-based harassment; School context