College Students Reporting Responses to Hypothetical and Actual Safety Concerns

Authors

Brandon A. Hollister, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Mario Scalora, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Sarah M. Hoff, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Heath J. Hodges, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Alissa Marquez, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Date of this Version

2017

Citation

Published as: Brandon A. Hollister, Mario J. Scalora, Sarah M. Hoff, Heath J. Hodges & Allissa Marquez (2017): College Student Reporting Responses to Hypothetical and Actual Safety Concerns, Journal of School Violence 16:4 (2017), pp 331-348.

DOI: 10.1080/15388220.2015.1129498

Comments

Copyright © 2016 Taylor & Francis. Used by permission

Abstract

Campus violence prevention often includes proactively reducing crime through noticing and resolving concerning situations. Within these efforts, interventions aimed at enhancing reporting have been considered necessary. The current study explored several reporting influences on college students’ responses to hypothetical and actual campus safety concerns. Students were unwilling to report most (i.e., 52%) vignettes of pathway behavior, and most students who witnessed campus safety concerns did not report (i.e., 87%). Students who witnessed several concerning behaviors from a nonfriend perpetrator tended to be more willing to report, especially if personally victimized and understanding the violence risk associated with pathway behavior. Analyses supported campus-wide exhibitions of the dangerousness of various pathway behaviors and the fair, flexible authority problem solving available to struggling students.