6th,7th and, 8th graders' perceptions about school safety

The purpose of this study is to investigate the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders?perceptions related to school safety. The secondary purpose is to investigate whetherthere are any differences in perceptions of students in terms of school type, gender,grade level, school size, and socio-economic status (SES). For these purposes, a self-administrated questionnaire was conducted to 2.511 students from 45 elementaryschools (42 public and 3 private schools) in the city center of the province of Malatya.At the analysis stage of the research, firtsly a Levene?s Test for Homogeneitywas conducted to determine if the variances differ as homogenous. For the cases wherevariances are homogenous, Independent T-Test is used to analyze the data in terms ofschool type and gender. For other cases where the variances are not homogenous MannWhitney-U Test is used to analyze the data in terms of school type and gender.Likewise, for the cases where variances are homogenous, One Way-ANOVA Test isused to analyze the data in terms of grade levels, school size, and SES. For the caseswhere the variances are not homogenous Kruskal Wallis-H Test is used to analyze thedata in terms of grade levels, school size, and SES.Following are some of the key results of this study which intends to determineperceptions of students about school safety:• Public school students are more likely than those in private schools toreport that; (1) they know some students who bring an instrument likerazor, knife or razor blade to school (2) they know a valuable property ormoney stolen at school, (3) they know some students who intentionallydestroy or damage school properties (4) they know some students who areverbally or physically assaulted (e.g. insult, abuse, beating) by some elderor bodily stronger students.• Male students are more likely than female students to report that; (1) theyknow some students who bring an instrument like razor, knife or razorblade to school, (2) they know some places in schoolyard or on playgroundnever monitored by administrators and teachers (3) they know somestudents who bring some magazines, newspapers, and CD?s with sexualcontent to school.• 6th graders are more likely than 7th and 8th graders to report that; (1) theyknow a valuable property or money is stolen at school, (2) they know somestudents skipping school because they are afraid of some other students.And also 8th graders are more likely than 6th graders to report somestudents who make sexual harassment (e.g., molestation, verbal harassment,touching).• Students from schools with an enrollment of more than 1.500 are morelikely than students from schools with enrollment between 0-500, 501-1.000, and 1.001-1.500 to report that; (1) they know some students whobring an instrument like razor, knife or razor blade to school, (2) they knowsome students who intentionally destroy or damage school properties, (3)they know some students who are verbally or physically assaulted (e.g.insult, abuse, beating) by some elder or bodily stronger students.• Students with lower SES are more likely than students with medium andhigher SES to report that; (1) they know a valuable property or moneystolen at school, (2) the know some students who threaten others, (3) theyknow some students who are verbally or physically assaulted (e.g. insult,abuse, beating) by some elder or bodily stronger students.