Effects of Crime and Violence in Neighborhoods and Schools on the School Behavior and Performance of Adolescents

Abstract

Drawing from a national probability sample of middle and high school students who recently completed The National School Success Profile (SSP), this article focuses on students’reports of their exposure to neighborhood and school danger, and the effects of exposure on their attendance, school behavior, and grades. Males, African Americans, high school students, school lunch recipients, and urban students tended to report higher exposure to environmental danger. Measures of neighborhood and school danger both contributed significantly to the prediction of each school outcome, especially attendance and behavior. Measures of neighborhood danger were slightly more predictive of outcomes than measures of school danger. The findings contribute to the identification of adolescents most likely to live in a context of fear and danger, and provide support for an ecological approach to promoting students’school success.