The role of perceived school context in mediating the relationship between peer victimization and student adjustment

The purpose of this study was to examine perceived school context as a mediating factor between levels of victimization and student adjustment in high school students. Based on the social-ecological framework, levels of victimization experienced by students and their perceptions of school context were expected to affect student adjustment.;General and special education students (N = 397) in grades 9 to 12 from a high school located in a suburb adjacent to a large urban city participated in the study. Data were collected during the 2003--2004 school year.;Statistically significant differences were found for levels of victimization by grade and gender, but inspection of the one-way analysis of variance did not support this finding. Student adjustment (cumulative GPA and absenteeism) was correlated with overt aggression and overall levels of victimization. Levels of victimization was significantly associated with school environment and peer social support. While teacher caring was not related to levels of victimization, teacher support for student autonomy and parent support were significantly related to relational aggression and overall levels of victimization. This study looked at school context as a mediator between levels of victimization and student adjustment, with school context found to be a mediator for two of the three student adjustment variables (i.e., cumulative GPA and absenteeism). School context appeared to be an important factor in shaping a youth's behavior. Age, gender, grade level, ethnicity, family socioeconomic status, and with whom students lived had no influence on self-reports of victimization. Results reflecting the frequency of victimization found that 22.9% of students in the sample had a score of at least 2 on the Victimization of Self scale of the Bully/Victim Questionnaire indicating they had endured some degree of relational and/or overt aggression in the past three months. Previous research has shown the importance of school context regarding victimization in primary and middle school students, and this study provided support for its importance at the high school level.