Impact of Prosocial Behavioral Involvement on School Violence Perpetration Among African American Middle School and High School Students

The purpose of this study was to examine factors associated with school violence perpetration among African American youth. African American students in 7th through 12th grade (n = 7488) in schools within one Metropolitan area completed the Pride National Drug Survey. Chi square analyses revealed school violence perpetration significantly differed based on grade and prosocial behavioral involvement. Students in 7th-8th grade (54.7%) were more likely to engage in school violence in comparison to 9th-12th grade students (48.8%). Students with low prosocial behavior (52.8%) involvement were more likely than their counterparts (48.9%) to engage in school violence perpetration. Logistic regression also indicated females and 9th-12th students with low prosocial behavior involvement were significantly less likely than their counterparts to engage in school violence. Findings should be considered by health educators and prevention specialists when developing programs and efforts to prevent in school violence perpetration among African American students.