Securing Schools? Examining the Longitudinal Relationships Between Student Behavior and Engagement With Security Measures in Urban School Systems

Abstract

The use of school security measures has increased over the last two decades. Yet prior research suggests school security measures have a deterrent effect on student misbehavior. Existing studies often focus on school-level comparisons in security as opposed to examining how students within a given school differ in their interaction with security measures (i.e., within-school differences). To address this gap in the literature, the current study estimates the association between individual students’ engagement with security and multiple forms of maladaptive student behavior in school. In particular, this study is guided by two research questions: 1) What is the relationship between students’ engagement with school security measures and their engagement in problem behaviors; and, 2) To what extent do the relationships between engagement with security and student behavior problems differ by student race and ethnicity? Longitudinal data were collected from students at two separate time points in one academic year (N=359) across eight schools in one urban school district. Using a series of models to examine how students’ engagement with school security measures is related to their perpetration of student behavior, findings highlight negative associations between engagement with school security and non-serious violent and weapons-related crime. While the school security change score and students’ engagement in problem behaviors was no different for Black students than it was for students who were non-Black or non-Hispanic, the negative association between engagement with security and behavior indicated a stronger deterrent effect for Hispanic students. Findings suggest that engagement with school security should be examined at the within-school level and with consideration that racial and ethnic differences might vary from student to student within any given school. Moreover, long-term programming goals should be established when developing process for securing schools with emphasis on how security measures might influence individual students differently within the school setting.