Understanding School Victimization: Influences of Neighborhood and School Contexts

School victimization poses serious threats to the well-being of students. Scholars have considered that risk of school victimization is largely shaped by school factors but also may be influenced by the neighborhood in which schools are situated. Using the National Crime Victimization Study School Crime Supplement (NCVS-SCS) (N = 37,340), we investigate the mediation effects of student-perceived school factors on the neighborhood crime – school victimization relationship. We find that students’ perceptions of neighborhood crime is positively associated with the odds of school victimization. Though students’ perceptions of school factors mediated the association between neighborhood crime and victimization risk in schools, this mediation varied by type of victimization. We find that while there are school neighborhood influences on school victimization, school context is more salient in shaping school victimization.