School Violence among Children and Adolescents in Rural Communities

Abstract

School violence gained increased attention after highly publicized school shootings occurred in a variety of different school districts across the United States. Some of these school shootings occurred in nonurban communities, suggesting that such violence can occur in all areas, even those originally thought to be immune to such violence. As a result of these incidences, more research was conducted on school violence in nonurban communities and it quickly became clear that children and adolescents from rural school districts were often exposed to school violence at similar levels as those children and adolescents from urban areas. The aim of this chapter was to review research concerning school violence among children and adolescents in rural school districts, and to make recommendations for policy and school violence reduction programs as well as future research.