Exploring the relations between substance use, engagement in violent behaviors, and school safety among middle and high school students

Research has illustrated that school environmental characteristics may be related to a range of high-risk behaviors; though these relations need to be further explored. Additionally, cognitive and affective developmental differences between middle and high school students suggest that the relation between these factors need to be explored by age group if effective prevention initiatives are to be developed. A validated instrument, the Communities That Care Youth Survey was administered in spring 2010 to 1,404 middle school students from two different middle schools and 974 high school students in a New York suburban school district. Pearson correlations were conducted to explore the association between variables. Linear regression was used to further explore the directionality of these relations. Correlation results indicate that a significant relation between recent substance use (alcohol, cigarettes, over-the-counter drugs, prescription drugs), feeling unsafe at school, and engaging in physical fighting with other students exists (p < .05, respectively) at the middle school level. The same results are upheld at the high school level. Results of the linear regression demonstrate that substance use is also found to be a significant predictor of fighting at school and feeling safe at school (p < .05, respectively), again at both the middle and high school level. These findings suggest that efforts to reduce rates of substance use among this population may promote a safer school environment. In addition, initiatives that take into consideration the developmental continuum of adolescence are likely to be more successful.