School Vandalism in Mexico

ABSTRACT

Mexico, like other countries in Latin America, is currently facing significant problems with regard to juvenile antisocial behavior and crime. The current study explores some of the factors associated with school vandalism in public high schools. Multilevel modeling with survey data from 22,345 students from 249 schools, acquired over two years, was used to determine how much variation in the rates of school vandalism exists between and within schools, and to detect individual and contextual characteristics that explain significant proportions of the variance. Results demonstrated significant differences across schools in the rates of student vandalism, most of which were associated with gang involvement, drug use, bullying, no attachment to school rules, and unequal treatment of students by teachers. These results are discussed in relation to the literature on school vandalism, and implications for the prevention of school vandalism are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• public high school
• juvenile antisocial behavior
• multilevel modeling
• school vandalism
• vandalism prevention

Competing interests

The authors declare that there are no competing interests.

Notes

1. Animal Politico Editorial (2017, January 14). Dejan sin un peso al programa para prevenir el delito, aunque hay incremento en la violencia. Animal Politico, Retrieved from http://www.animalpolitico.com/2016/11/prevencion-violencia-recorte-presupuesto/. [Although the Rise in Violence, the Government withdraw all the money from Crime Prevention Program].