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Dissertation Information for Melissa Ricketts

NAME:
- Melissa Ricketts

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Criminology

SCHOOL:
- Indiana University (USA) (2005)

ADVISORS:
- Rosemary Gido

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Dennis Giever
- Jamie Martin
- David Myers

MPACT Status: Incomplete - Not_Inspected

Title: An empirical assessment of perceived risk and fear of school violence among K--12 teachers

Abstract: The purpose of this dissertation is to empirically examine K-12 teachers' perceived risk and fear of school violence using Ferraro's (1995) risk interpretation model. Ferraro's (1995) model hypothesizes that five factors influence fear of crime: ecological characteristics, personal factors, neighborhood traits, perceived risk, and behavioral adaptations. Ferraro's model is replicated, refined, and extended to explore whether these factors would explain kindergarten through twelfth grade teachers' fear of school violence. The data for this study were collected from a large, urban, public school district located in a southeastern state during the 2004-2005 school year. A self-report survey was administered to 481 teachers from twenty-nine different schools.

The current research contributes to the literature in three ways. First, this study provides a partial test of Ferraro's (1995) comprehensive fear of crime model that disentangles the often confused relationship between judgments of risk and feelings of fear among K-12 teachers. Second, unlike previous research, this study examines fear of school violence among teachers at every grade level (i.e., kindergarten through twelfth grade). Third, this study goes beyond previous tests of Ferraro's risk interpretation model by using multi-level path analysis. Ferraro's (1995) model contains a multi-level structure that encompasses both macro (i.e., schools) and micro (i.e., teacher) level variables. By using multi-level path analysis, this research provides more accurate insight into teachers' feelings of fear by evaluating the direct and indirect effects of the variables contained in Ferraro's (1995) model.

Consistent with previous research, the findings of this study show that K-12 teachers who perceive a high risk for victimization at school are also the most fearful. Specifically, this study found middle school teachers to be more afraid than elementary and high school teachers. In addition, without considering the multi-level structure of the present data, this study would have developed improper estimates of the links between the measures. However, when considering the multi-level structure, proper links are found among the hypothesized relationships that explain K-12 teachers' fear of student-perpetrated acts of school violence. The importance of the findings is discussed along with ways to develop or improve policies to reduce K-12 teachers' fear of student-perpetrated acts of school violence.

MPACT Scores for Melissa Ricketts

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2010-09-22 18:31:33

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