An Exploration of Ethnic/Cultural Violence Perceptions among Urban Middle and High School Students

Abstract

In August 1998, 178 middle and high school students from six urban school districts in the county of Wayne, Mich., completed a questionnaire assessing their perceived experiences with ethnic/cultural violence. Comparisons were made based on gender, age, grade level, and ethnicity. Variables assessed included the frequency and type of perceived ethnic/cultural violence, self-reported stress symptoms, and students mode of conflict management. The findings, based on a Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance, provided no evidence of significant differences in perceived experiences with ethnic/cultural violence among students of different ethnic/racial backgrounds. Additional findings based on a number of other statistical analyses revealed lack of significant differences in students' perceptions of ethnic/cultural violence experiences based on gender and length of residency in the United States. However, statistically significant differences existed within grade level comparisons in relationship to overt violence, with ninth grade students having the highest level of perceived experiences. Further findings showed that the majority of students preferred using a confrontational and reciprocal approach in responding to ethnic/cultural incidents of violence. The information obtained from this study could be useful in developing conflict management programs and school-community collaboration to reduce ethnic/cultural violence in urban high schools.