| The safety of colleges and universities has been questioned in the wake of several high-profile shootings (i.e., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Northern Illinois University). Internationally, since 1966, at least 114 persons have been killed on college campuses. Furthermore, between 2001 and 2009, 71 deaths have occurred on college campuses in the United States during violent attacks. In response to these attacks, many universities have adopted threat assessment plans to mitigate threats of violence. However, this approach does not address students' problematic tendency to underreport threatening individuals, thus limiting the dissemination of important information that may help to prevent an attack. Therefore, this study examined relationships among several variables that were expected to facilitate or inhibit college students' willingness to report threats of violence. Eight-hundred and twenty students participated and structural equation modeling was used to test associations between latent variables. As expected, trust in the college support system (i.e., trust in police, administrators, etc.) was found to be positively related to students' willingness to report threats. On the other hand, students who reported a history of delinquency displayed a low willingness to report. Feeling connected to the campus environment was positively related to students' willingness to report threats directly and indirectly through trust in the college support system. Lastly, self-efficacy toward service (i.e., the belief that one can have a prosocial impact) only was related to willingness to report in the presence of trust in the college support system and campus connectedness. Thus, the belief that one can have a positive impact in the campus community does not increase threat reporting by itself. Instead, to facilitate threat reporting, it is important for students to feel connected to the campus community and to trust in members of the college support system. Lastly, contrary to expectations, students' fear of negative evaluation was not associated with their willingness to report threats of violence. |
