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Abstract
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The current study examines the self-reported victimizations of 90 public school teachers, over one-third of whom reported school-based theft of personal property or threats of violence. The study addressed two basic questions. First, what was the relationship between these school-based victimization experiences and the level of fear expressed by teachers? Second, what was the relationship between both the victimizations and fear and teacher satisfaction with their jobs and their employers? In order to provide a thorough examination of these relationships, several recognized correlates of teacher satisfaction, including respondent's sex, age, work assignments, and racial attitudes and orientations, were included in the analysis. It was found that teacher satisfaction was influenced not only by factors normally associated with teaching, but also by perceptions of and experiences with youthful misbehavior at school. For its part, fear of crime exhibited a strong direct link to both types of satisfaction, and it apparently mitigated the influences of racism on satisfaction with one's job and employer. These observations were consistent with an emerging perspective in victimization studies, which views the link between victimizations and fear of crime as part of the more general social climate, including perceptions of one's work environment, a perspective that frees the researcher from the confines of more traditional conceptualizations about crime.
VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The objective of this study by Williams et al. was to examine the relationships among teacher victimization, fear of crime and satisfaction within the workplace, in order to evaluate teacher perceptions of their work environment.
METHODOLOGY:
The authors employed a quasi-experimental cross-sectional design with a non-probability sample of 90 public school teachers in a medium-sized Texas community in December, 1985. This sample represented a response rate of 34% of all the 263 teachers within the community's public school system. A number of different variables were included in the analysis. Personal-biographical characteristics included sex and age; race was not included as there was little variation within the sample (91% white and 9% black). Seven survey items measure teachers' attitudes towards the goals of segregation, with a scale being constructed from three of these items. Two questions measured teacher characteristics - number of students taught in all classes (low as 0-50, medium as 51-100 and high as more than 100), and school program in which most of the teaching was conducted (college preparatory or academic, general, or other, including commercial, business and vocational training). Self-report victimization asked for reports of the three most recent incidents of each of the following: theft whilst on school property, assault whilst on school property, and verbal (threats or profanity) or nonverbal (obscene gestures) abuse whilst on school property. Victimization experiences were categorized into four groups: no victimization experience, victim of threats only, victim of theft only, and victim of both threats and theft. Quality of life indicators included questions about how safe teachers felt in a number of places: in the classroom whilst teaching, in empty classrooms, in the cafeteria, in the student restrooms, in the hallways and staircases, in the teacher lounges and restrooms, in locker rooms or gyms, in parking lots and elsewhere outside on the school property. Teachers who felt very unsafe or fairly unsafe were assigned a score of 1 for that place, with the rest being scored as 0. Teacher perceptions of their work environment were measured firstly by a three-item scale evaluating their job satisfaction, and also by a three-item scale, derived from five survey items, measuring satisfaction with the employer, the school system. Analysis included ANOVA and multiple classification analysis, and examined 22 cases of personal theft and 46 cases of personal threats.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
The authors began by examining the variables that might play a role in teachers' fear of places on campus. It was found that only support for the principles of segregation and victim status made significant contributions to one's levels of fear. A moderately strong positive relationship was found between support for segregation and fear, with this factor alone explaining 17% of the variance in the dependent variable. Those teachers who had the greatest support for segregation also had the highest levels of fear. Teachers who had never been victimized and those who had been victims of theft only were less fearful than those who had been victims of threats only, who in turn were less fearful than those who had been victims of both theft and threats. Of the nonsignificant contributors, males were less fearful than females, college preparation teachers were more fearful, and those who taught larger numbers of students were also more fearful. Overall, the six independent variables of sex, decade of birth, number of students taught, principle curriculum, support for segregation and victim status were able to explain 34% of the variance in the dependent variable of fear of places on campus. The researchers also found that job satisfaction was not significantly related to sex, number of students taught, support for segregation or victim status. However, younger teachers were found to have lower levels of job satisfaction than their older counterparts, and teachers in a general curriculum were less satisfied than those who taught college preparatory of other curricula. Also, teachers who feared only one place on campus had the lowest job satisfaction. The authors suggested that this last, somewhat odd finding might be due to teachers whose sole fear is that of the classroom - an inescapable component of their daily jobs - fear of which lowers their levels of satisfaction. The total explained variance for job satisfaction was 39%, with the three significant variables each contributing approximately equal amounts to the final variance explained. Findings for satisfaction with the school system were similar to those for job satisfaction, with sex, number of students, support for segregation and victim status being non-significant. Teaching curriculum approached significance, but remained outside the .05 level. However, decade of birth and fear of places were both significant contributors, with older teachers and teachers who experienced no fear reporting higher satisfaction than those younger or those experiencing fears of places on campus. 40% of the variance in system satisfaction was explained by the seven independent variables.
AUTHORS' RECOMMENDATIONS:
The authors suggested that future research takes into consideration the broader social climate of the communities in which it is based, in order to examine the links between victimization, racism and perception of the workplace. They also suggested that programs be designed to improve teachers' racial attitudes and to provide a more realistic picture of troublesome behavior in schools - both of which could subsequently reduce work-related fears and thus enhance job and school system satisfaction.
EVALUATION:
The authors present an interesting examination of teachers' perceptions of their workplace. However, the small sample size, coupled with the fact that the largest measurement of any variable consisted of a three-item scale, suggests that the results be considered with some caution. Whilst a more thorough discussion of the findings and of the implications of the results would have been helpful, the good literature review and the clear discussion of the research provide a good basis for further study. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
KW - 1980s
KW - Texas
KW - Adult Perceptions
KW - Adult Fear
KW - Adult Victim
KW - School Crime
KW - School Violence
KW - Fear Effects
KW - Fear of Crime
KW - Fear of Victimization
KW - Fear of Violence
KW - Violence Effects
KW - Crime Effects
KW - School Personnel Perceptions
KW - Psychological Victimization Effects
KW - Workplace Violence
KW - Workplace Crime
KW - Student Violence
KW - Student Crime
KW - Juvenile Crime
KW - Juvenile Violence
KW - Juvenile Offender
KW - School Climate
KW - School Environment
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