RT Article
T1 Students' Fear After Columbine: Findings from a Randomized Experiment
JF Journal of quantitative criminology
VO 19
IS 4
SP 367
OP 387
A1 Addington, Lynn A.
LA English
YR 2003
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1764280571
AB On April 20, 1999, the most deadly act of school violence in the United States occurred at Columbine High School. Public perceptions and media accounts suggested that fear of victimization at school greatly increased after Columbine. The actual response is unknown. The 1999 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey provides a unique opportunity to study Columbine's effect on students' fear. Experimental conditions were approximated by the NCVS sampling design that randomly allocated the 12- to 18-year-old student-respondents to pre- and post-April 20 groups. Contrary to expectations, students were only slightly more fearful after Columbine. An initial explanation for this finding is explored. As little is known about fear following highly publicized incidents of extreme violence such as Columbine and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, this research provides an essential foundation for further study and theoretical development in this largely-ignored area of fear.
K1 Perceived risk
K1 Survey Methodology
K1 School violence
K1 Fear of victimization
DO 10.1023/B:JOQC.0000005440.11892.27