School violence and the role of the school psychologist

Abstract

Violence occurring on school campuses has recently been gaining much attention. Historically, school violence has been defined as a physically aggressive act. As educational associations have begun to conduct research on the topic of school violence, the definition has evolved to include all forms of physically, psychologically, and emotionally harmful acts. This research project concerns a review of the literature regarding school psychologists’ perceptions of school violence, experiences with school violence, and their perceived readiness to address school violence. The results of past research indicates that school psychologists continue to view violence in terms of physically aggressive behaviors. The purpose of this research is to propose an updated study regarding school psychologists’ perceptions, experiences, and preparedness under an all inclusive definition of violence to include all acts which might harm an individual physically, psychologically, or emotionally.